England v India - 3rd Test, Day 4: England in firm control (Lunch report)

Southampton, July 30 (IANS): England were in firm control at lunch on day four of the third cricket Test after bowling out India for 330 runs and choosing not to apply the follow-on. The hosts then sped to 80 for two in their second outing to extend their lead over the visitors to 319 runs at The Rose Bowl here on Wednesday.

James Anderson recorded his 16th five-wicket haul after taking India's final two wickets in the morning session. India managed to add just seven more runs to their overnight total before captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (50) and Mohammed Shami (5) were sent packing without much fuss.

England came out all guns blazing in the second innings and smashed the Indian bowlers all over the park to continue their dominance. Sam Robson (13) was the first English casualty in an otherwise near-perfect day.

Captain Alastair Cook (29 batting) and Gary Ballance (38), who had combined so well in the first innings, once again forged a 58-run stand for the second wicket. Ballance, who scored 156 in the first innings, was in punishing mood smashing five fours and a six in his 48-ball stay.

Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Ballance in the last action to take place before lunch. Replays, though, showed that the English batsman was once again unlucky to be given out, like in the first innings.

Earlier, Dhoni failed to add to his overnight score and was dismissed by an Anderson bouncer. Shami tried his level best to delay the inevitable but had no answer to the English pacer's guile and swing.

Scorecard:

England (first innings 569/7 declared)

India (first innings, overnight 323/8)

Murali Vijay b Broad 35

Shikhar Dhawan c Cook b Anderson 6

Cheteshwar Pujara c Buttler b Broad 24

Virat Kohli c Cook b Anderson 39

Ajinkya Rahane c sub (SP Terry) b Ali 54

Rohit Sharma c Broad b Ali 28

Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Buttler b Anderson 50

Ravindra Jadeja lbw b Anderson 31

Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Ballance b Broad 19

Mohammed Shami c Buttler b Anderson 5

Pankaj Singh not out 1

Extras (b 16, lb 14, w 8) 38

Total (all out in 106.1 overs) 330

Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Dhawan, 6.3 overs), 2-56 (Pujara, 23.2), 3-88 (Vijay, 29.5), 4-136 (Kohli, 47.6), 5-210 (Sharma, 66.2), 6-217 (Rahane, 70.1), 7-275 (Jadeja, 88.1), 8-313 (Kumar, 98.4), 9-329 (Dhoni, 104.2), 10-330 (Mohammed Shami, 106.1)

Bowling:

James Anderson 26.1-10-53-5

Stuart Broad 25-7-66-3

Chris Jordan 17-4-59-0

Chris Woakes 20-8-60-0

Moeen Ali 18-0-62-2

England second innings:

Sam Robson c Dhawan b Kumar 13

Alastair Cook batting 29

Gary Ballance c Pujara b Jadeja 38

Extras 0

Total (for two wickets in 20.5 overs) 80

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Robson, 6.4 overs), 2-80 (Ballance, 20.5)

Bowling:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 7-0-34-1

Pankaj Singh 5-3-5-0

Mohammed Shami 2-0-14-0

Rohit Sharma 3-0-17-0

Ravindra Jadeja 2.5-0-9-1

Murali Vijay 1-0-1-0