Cow Corner Blog

Gloom descends on sorry England

Thu Nov 20 03:28AM

IND 198-5 (40 overs) INDIA WIN BY 16 RUNS ON DL METHOD! It's all over in Kanpur, as umpires offer India the light and they gladly leave the field to take a 3-0 lead in the series. Ultimately it was a another comfortable victory for Dhoni's team, who scored far more quickly than England and batted aggressively. England once again failed to take advantage of the opening overs and aside from Bopara nobody made a decent score. We'll be back on Sunday!

SCORECARD
GALLERY

IND 177-5 (36 overs) WICKET! It's not over yet! Flintoff bounces Yuvraj and he goes bold with a swashbuckling hook shot. But for once the master mis-times and Broad takes a straightforward catch on the boundary to give England a glimmer of hope. This could be the key passage of play in this series. It's also worth noting the light, which is fading by the minute. This match could yet be decided by the Duckworth-Lewis method. 

IND 170-4 (35 overs) POWERPLAY! India are closing in on victory and take the powerplay to drive home their advantage. Yuvraj bides his tide, before skipping down the track to dispatch Swann over long-on for six. Another boundary follows and Swann has no answer. Freddie is back in the attack. England need something special. 

IND 141-4 (30 overs) England are doing a good job of keeping it tight, but you just feel they need to get rid of Yuvraj to stand a chance of victory. The left-hander is looking very comfortable indeed, as befits a man on the back of two successive centuries. It's all very interestly poised.  

IND 125-4 (25.2 overs) WICKET! What a ridiculous catch from Collingwood!!! Sehwag leans back and absolutely cracks a quick one from Flintoff from the back foot towards backwards point. Collingwood throws himself up in the air and somehow the ball sticks. He can't believe it. The crowd can't believe it. Stunned silence all round. But England have their man. Sehwag goes for 68. 

IND 107-3 (22.4 overs) WICKET! England have the breakthrough and it's Swann who claims it, finding Rohit's edge outside off stump as he tries to swat one away for yet more easy runs. Not this time. Prior holds on to a decent catch and India are three down. That's the good news. The bad news is that Yuvraj is coming to crease, and he only scores centuries in this series. 

IND 99-2 (20 overs) The spin twins are on for England, and Patel so nearly brings an end to Rohit with a caught-and-bowled attempt, but he can't quite juggle the ball into his hands. Sehwag then smashes Swann over long-on for six to bring up his half-century and Rohit dismisses a half-volley for a chipped four. These two are really enjoying themselves now. India need 142 from 29 overs.  

IND 65-2 (15 overs) Sehwag is in full flow now, milking Broad for two fours in an over and taking the fight to Flintoff. Rohit is also playing aggressively, and takes advantage of two loose balls from Anderson to fill his boots with consecutive boundaries. This partnership is beginning to look very promising for India and Pietersen will know he needs to break it, or at the very least subdue it, as soon as possible.

IND 34-2 (9.1 overs) WICKET! England are really coming into this match now. Broad gets one to hold its line to Raina and the left-hander chops down onto his stumps to bring an end to a stuttering innings. Rohit is the next man in, with Yuvraj waiting in the wings to follow him. Broad deserved his wicket, having bowled intelligently and with aggression from the outset.

IND 31-1 (6.5 overs) WICKET! Super Fred makes the breakthough, tempting Gambhir into a wild swipe at a ball outside off stump. Broad takes the catch running in from the boundary and suddenly the England players look energised. Something needed to happen, and it has. 

IND 26-0 (5 overs) Gambhir and Sehwag are soon into their shots as India begin their chase. Anderson gets driven beautifully through the covers by the left-handed Gambhir, and flicked effortlessly through mid-wicket by Sehwag in his next over. Broad starts well, moving the ball away from the right-hander, but he strays leg side and pays the penalty when Sehwag hammers the ball away to the boundary. Ominous signs for Pietersen and his troops. England need an early breakthrough.

ENG 240 ALL OUT (48.4 overs) WICKET! Patel mops up Anderson with a straight one that starts off straight and carries on that way to crash into middle stump. A woeful England innings ends with a whimper. For India, Harbhajan bowled superbly to take 3-31. England surely only have one hope now - bowl them out.

ENG 235-9 (47.5 overs) WICKET! Broad is the next man to fall on his sword, swishing at a rising delivery from Zaheer and succeeding only in nicking it to Dhoni. Up next, the batting phenomenon that is James 'Jimmy' Anderson. Oh dear, oh very dear.

ENG 232-8 (47 overs) WICKETS! Quite an eventful over from Sharma, who gives up three free hits and concedes a boundary with a ridiculous wide, before tempting Patel to hole out to Raina. Prior is next to go, shuffling across and getting bowled on leg stump. Hat-trick ball for Sharma, with Broad the new man in...WIDE!

ENG 203-6 (43.4 overs) WICKET! Having completely wasted the powerplay, England decide the next over is a good time to start launching leather into the crowd of 33,000. Shah sweeps for four off Harbhajan, but then plants one down the neck of Zaheer to give the spinner his 200th ODI wicket. Harbhajan celebrates with a strange hand gesture. Who fancies Prior for a 20-ball century?

ENG 179-5 (40 overs) POWERPLAY! England take their batting powerplay, but Dhoni reacts by returning Zaheer to the attack and he concedes just two runs from the first of four overs. Shah and Patel now have three powerplay overs to take advantage of the open outfield. Surely, if ever there was a time to swing the bat, it was now!

ENG 167-5 (36.2 overs) WICKET! Disaster for England. Freddie is no more, trapped LBW by Yusuf shuffling across the crease to block. Perhaps he should have tried smiting the living daylights out of it instead...isn't that what he does best? Patel enters the fray, with England sprawling like a wounded rabbit in the glare of India's bright, bright light.  

ENG 162-4 (35 overs) This England innings is playing out like a BBC costume drama at the moment, with not much happening and that which is happening doing so VERY VERY SLOWLY. Freddie opens his shoulders to batter Yuvraj for four to extra cover, but it's the sole moment of release for England in the last five overs. MUST. GET. A. MOVE. ON.

ENG 133-4 (28.5 overs) WICKET! What did England ever do to Yuvraj Singh? Cricket's one-man band tempts Bopara into pushing forward, gets one to turn sharply away and Dhoni bags his second stumping of the morning. Bopara goes for 60, his highest score in ODIs. From a position of power, England are once again in all kinds of trouble. Shah is the next man in, and you have to think either he or Freddie MUST score heavily for England to stand any chance of avoiding a hammering.

ENG 123-3 (25 overs) Bopara brings up his 50 with a lovely cover drive to the boundary. It's his fourth in one day cricket and took 66 balls to achieve. Dhoni understandably sticks with the spin of Yuvraj and Harbhajan, who are both bowling tightly and forcing Flintoff and Bopara to engineer scoring shots. Freddie is easing himself in gingerly.

ENG 106-3 (21.2 overs) WICKET! What a delivery from Harbhajan! The off-spinner bamboozles Collingwood with the fabled doosra, leaving him stranded like a confused salmon washed up on the rocks. Dhoni performs the simple task of removing the bails and England are threatening a collapse. Enter Sir Freddie Flintoff. Your country needs you.

ENG 102-2 (19.1 overs) WICKET! Pietersen takes Yuvraj on and dispatches the left-armer for six over long-on. The next over he marches down the track and attempts to plant Harbhajan into the stands, but instead chips a looping, straightforward catch into the grateful hands of Zaheer, running in from long-off. Disaster for England. Collingwood is the next man in, and he faces a difficult task. On one hand he needs to play himself in, but on the other he must score freely to avoid putting too much pressure on Bopara.

ENG 79-1 (14.3 overs) WICKET! It was all going so well for England, before Bell snicks one from Munaf to Dhoni, trying to guide the ball down to third man. He goes for a fluent 46. At the other end Bopara is playing beautifully, rocking back to punch first Ishant and then Munaf to the boundary. The new man is Pietersen, who has been pushed up the order. A decent start this, but the question as ever is whether England can build on it. Somebody needs to score big. 

austin_trauf, who sounds suspiciously like a fan of India, has little faith in England's batting. "Wait and see how the trio of Bhaji, Viru and Jai put the breaks on them in the middle of the innings to trigger a collapse...and leave them just short of the 250 mark. If they make anymore than that, the Indian batsmen will have some more centuries to make."

ENG 44-0 (10 overs) England are once again making a pedestrian start to their innings, before Bell goes at three short ones from Munaf in succession - scoring 10 runs and finally lighting the touch paper. Bopara follows his lead in the next over from Zaheer, bagging two boundaries and getting on the attack. But his second is a very fortunate inside edge that misses leg stump by inches. The 10th over sees Dhoni introduce Inshant, who gets a mauling. POWERPLAY CALLED BY INDIA!

ENG 14-0 (5 overs) Bopara and Bell survive the opening salvo from Zaheer and Munaf, with Zaheer in particular looking very dangerous. The left-hander had a good shout for LBW against Bopara in the opening over, but it looked a touch high.

Meanwhile, devilwillrot is among the early risers on the messageboard. "I think England are going to get around 250, and India are going to complete the chase in 40 overs with four wickets left," he says, rather optimistically. "Another thrashing on the cards," says Eliotot. "We invented the game so why can't we start at a reasonable hour," emails Frankie from somewhere called Barns Green. Keep 'em coming. Finally, big props to the man who spotted today's teaser! It is of course Stuart Broad playing for England and not his old man Chris. Just checking you're awake people. I know I'm not.

ENGLAND WIN THE TOSS AND WILL BAT! KP calls heads and up she comes. The England captain decides to bat. "It's a good deck," he says. "But the way Yuvraj is playing we'll need to get around 450." He's not wrong there. The fog has cleared and play is scheduled to start at 4.15am, with the match now reduced to 49 overs each. The rumours are that England have reshuffled their batting order. Bopara will open with Bell, with Prior dropping down to eight. India make one change in the wake of Monday's victory at Indore, with Ishant Sharma replacing RP Singh. Here are the teams in full:

ENGLAND: Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen (capt), Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Owais Shah, Samit Patel, Matt Prior (wkt), Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

INDIA: Gautum Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wkt), Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel

DELAY! It's not just the dastardly M25 that has been blighted by fog this morning. Visibility is poor in Kanpur and as a result the match has been delayed by at least 10 minutes. We'll keep you posted. 

GOOD MORNING INSOMNIAC SPORTS FANS! Welcome to our Cow Corner blog following the third one-day international between India and England in Kanpur. The big news is that Graeme Swann will start as expected for England, who trail 2-0 in this seven-match series. Steve Harmison is the man to miss out. As ever, we welcome your comments below. Alternatively you can send emails to wtidey@eurosport.com

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