England hold the seam at Old Trafford in fourth Test

By Chetan Narula


SOUTHAMPTON: After a barren run of ten Tests stretching back to 2013 summer, England finally tasted victory at Southampton. They beat India by a huge margin of 266 runs at the Ageas Bowl outlining a return to form for their senior batsmen, skipper Alastair Cook (95 and 70 not out) and Ian Bell (167).

But victory truly belonged to their bowlers, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali who shared 19 wickets between them. They bowled India out for paltry scores of 330 and 178 on a placid pitch. It's ironic that they did it here after wasting a perfect green-top wicket in the second Test at Lord's.

"Before this match, through the summer, there was a lot of talk about new players coming in and the responsibility of the senior players. We took too much pressure on ourselves and went defensive, and stopped enjoying the game. So, we just needed to go out and play, express ourselves," said Broad after the third day's play with India reduced to 323/8 in their first innings. The pressure told in the first two Tests.

Anderson and Broad bowled in tandem, and after the Indian batsmen saw through their spells thanks to the heroics of Murali Vijay, England's second line of attack wasn't threatening enough. Graeme Swann was missed like never before since his retirement in the winter. Then, Cook altered his plans.

It required making the hard decision to drop Liam Plunkett who scored his maiden Test fifty at Lord's. But his line and length, especially in the first innings there when India recovered from 145/7 to a match-winning 295, left a lot to be desired. In came Chris Woakes, his replacement.

Woakes went wicketless in the third Test. But in his spells of 0-60 and 0-23, his economy never went past three runs an over. He was the quickest among English bowlers, bowled tight, in tandem with either Anderson or Broad.

It allowed Cook to rotate his two strike bowlers and attack all the time, and the move did pay off.

"Broad bowled shorter spells and you saw the difference. His was up at 85 and when he hits that pace no one wants to face him. I have to mention Woakes as well - to bowl at that pace and have that control was fantastic," said an elated Cook after the victory.

When you have four bowlers pecking at the opposition's batting line-up, sooner rather than later, they will buckle under constant pressure. Anderson (5-53) did the damage in India's first innings. But their collapse to the off-spin of Moeen Ali (6-67) was nearly inexplicable. It seemed that the batsmen didn't take the 'part-time' bowler seriously enough and then the pitch roughened up enough to hand him an advantage over their nonchalance.

"We played the medium-pacers well enough, but the batsmen allowed Moeen to bowl to his strengths. He bowled the line and length he wanted to bowl with help from the pitch and that helped him get the close-in fielders as well. We could have definitely played him a lot better," mused Indian skipper Dhoni after England levelled the series. With two Tests remaining then, the key to winning this five-match series for England will be consistency.

And Anderson, who's been exonerated of the Level 3 charges for allegedly abusing Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, is ready to take the field at his home ground in Manchester starting August 7.

"England have the momentum after a near-perfect win in the third Test," said former England skipper Andrew Strauss. "Without Anderson too, the match would have been poised at 50-50. And India would have been very happy if he was banned. But now, with him available, England are favourites to win at Old Trafford." After the high at Lord's, India suddenly find themselves knee-deep in trouble.