by John Wisden
This Test put paid to all such consolation-within-consolations, for it proved Mumbai was no one-off. Anderson reversed the ball better than any Indian and, for the second match running, Swann and Panesar outspun Ashwin and Ojha. Batting with authority and purpose, Cook looked good for a triple-century, but had to settle for 190, in the process extending his own world record to a hundred in each of his first five Tests as captain. Only four other visiting batsmen – Everton Weekes, Garry Sobers, Ken Barrington and Andy Flower – had scored centuries in three successive Tests in India. Cook was batting differently, too, and later gave the game’s shorter formats the credit for his extra aggression. At times, as he lofted India’s spinners, there were gasps from his countrymen in the crowd.
India had passed 600 in each of the three previous Kolkata Tests, but now squandered an important toss by making only 316. Against an attack that included Sharma, drafted in as a second seamer to balance the line-up in place of Harbhajan Singh, Cook then put on 165 with the adhesive Compton and 173 with Trott. That helped take England to 523, a total bettered at Eden Gardens among visiting teams only by West Indies (twice – in 1958-59 and 1987-88). And when India lost nine second-innings wickets wiping off the deficit, Sehwag sighed: “Only God can save us now.” More practical believers wondered whether God wasn’t, in fact, biased towards those who helped themselves. Ashwin’s imitation of the boy on the burning deck brought him a fine unbeaten 91, but he was in the team as an off-spinner – and, in his main job, he was a let-down.
The public spat between Dhoni and Prabir Mukherjee, the Eden Gardens groundsman who had described the captain’s call for a turner as “immoral”, kept pre-match discussions moored at a low level. The track chosen was brown, unlike the grey pitches which flanked it, and the bowlers’ run-ups were still visible from the Ranji Trophy match played on it barely a fortnight earlier. In the end, though, it wasn’t the pitch, or its refusal to turn from the start that defeated India, but a better organised England side coming to terms with their own demons in a country where they had not won a series since the days before their captain could even crawl.
India’s consolation was no real consolation at all. Tendulkar’s first fifty in 11 innings was a scratchy knock, serving to highlight his determination but also his decline. When Panesar had asked him to sign the ball with which he had dismissed him for his first Test wicket in 2005-06, Tendulkar had written on it: “Once in a blue moon, never again”. But he had already been proved wrong. And now his struggle against Panesar’s left-arm spin, inside-edging and slicing attempted drives, was symbolic. The gap between the two standing ovations Tendulkar was receiving per innings – one walking out to bat, the other returning – had been getting smaller, so his 76 here, which took him past Sunil Gavaskar’s Indian record of 2,483 Test runs against England, at least provided temporary respite. Yet he could do nothing about a delivery from Anderson – the first after the drinks break on the first evening – that reversed just enough to take the edge. And for those who see significance in such things, the Indian flag on a building outside the stadium was at half-mast.
That wicket reasserted England’s early grip on the match, which had been helped by a terrible piece of running between Gambhir and Sehwag after they had raced to 47 in ten overs on the first morning. England never let go and, at stumps on the second day, were 216 for one, with Cook dominant on 136 – his 23rd Test century, to overtake the national record he had equalled only 11 days earlier in Mumbai. He was not yet 28, prompting many to believe that at least some of Tendulkar’s batting records might one day be his. Cook also went past 7,000 runs in his 86th Test, faster than Viv Richards, Ricky Ponting and Greg Chappell. He was also the youngest to reach the mark, at 27 years 347 days; Tendulkar was seven months older. And Cook’s fluency allowed Compton to find his form in his own time and with his own methods, though he was unlucky to be given out leg-before on 57: replays showed the ball had brushed his glove as he swept Ojha.
India’s big chance had already come and gone when Cook, on 17, edged Zaheer Khan low to first slip, where Pujara couldn’t hold on – another area where Dravid was being missed. When Cook finally fell, having batted eight hours 12 minutes and faced 377 balls, it was refreshing to know that the superman who loomed large in the nightmares of Indian bowlers was in fact human after all. He had never been run out in first-class cricket, but now Pietersen turned Zaheer into the leg side to Kohli, the Indian fielder most likely to pull off a direct hit. Backing up, Cook motioned to regain his ground, only to flinch – bat in the air, and still out of his crease – as the throw whizzed past him on to the stumps. He knew instantly he was out, and later called it a “brain fade”. Only Arthur Morris, Garry Sobers and Younis Khan had been run out in the 190s in Test cricket before; only Mike Gatting and Graeme Fowler, in the same game at Madras in 1984-85, had scored more for England in a Test innings in India.
The last four wickets fell quickly on the fourth morning, yet there was no hint of the drama to follow when India went to lunch at 86 without loss, 121 behind, with Sehwag in battling form. Swann sneaked the first ball after the break between his bat and pad – and soon, as they struggled for breath, India were reeling at 122 for six. Pujara was run out by a brilliant throw from Bell, before Anderson and Finn, finally recovered from a thigh injury and chosen ahead of Stuart Broad, bowled superbly. It was the session that decided the Test – and, it transpired, the series. Finn bowled with pace, angling the ball in to the batsmen, troubling them with bounce, and inducing edges with the one that held its line. Anderson’s control of reverse swing precluded any Cook-like vigil from the Indians. And Tendulkar’s brief stay was up when he misread a straight delivery from Swann and edged to slip.
But to the delight of a gratifyingly large crowd, Ashwin kept fighting, driving the new ball and shielding last man Ojha to avert an innings defeat and a four-day finish. Their stand was worth 50 on the final morning before Ojha fell to Anderson – the off bail taking an age to topple after being kissed almost imperceptibly – giving the fast bowlers six wickets to the spinners’ three. England needed 41 for a 2–1 lead, but slipped to eight for three, including Cook, who became only the second batsman – after England’s Archie MacLaren at Sydney in 1894-95 – to be stumped in the first over of a Test innings. But Bell, back in place of Jonny Bairstow, settled the issue with Compton.
Clearly, India were not handling transition well. Many of those who had helped place them on the pedestal had retired. And those who remained, such as Tendulkar, Harbhajan and Zaheer – who was immediately dropped for the Fourth Test, along with Yuvraj Singh – were floundering. The fielding had also gone backwards, and the many justifications of fielding coach Trevor Penney painted India as a team in denial: “We don’t need specialists,” he said, loyally backing the stragglers. A banner in the crowd read: “Dhoni, we will stand by you.” But India needed more than loyalty.
Man of the Match: A. N. Cook.
Anderson 28–7–89–3; Finn 21–2–73–1; Panesar 40–13–90–4; Swann 16–3–46–1. Second innings— Anderson 15.4–4–38–3; Finn 18–6–45–3; Panesar 22–1–75–1; Swann 28–9–70–2; Patel 1–0–9–0.
Zaheer Khan 31–6–94–1; Sharma 29–8–78–1; Ashwin 52.3–9–183–3; Ojha 52–10–142–4; Yuvraj Singh 3–1–9–0. Second innings—Ashwin 6.1–1–31–2; Ojha 6–3–10–1.
Umpires: H. D. P. K. Dharmasena and R. J. Tucker. Third umpire: V. A. Kulkarni.
Referee: J. J. Crowe.
INDIA v ENGLAND
Fourth Test Match
RICHARD HOBSON
At Nagpur, December 13–17, 2012. Drawn. Toss: England. Test debuts: R. A. Jadeja; J. E. Root.
A Test match that felt like a throwback to a sleepier past produced a series result that was just as unfamiliar to the modern audience: an England win in India. The draw confirmed a 2–1 scoreline, and the sluggish rate of scoring over the five days on a desperately slow pitch mattered not a jot to the victorious Cook, who took the Man of the Series
award to boot. The fact that so much rested on the outcome lent a soporific contest a strange kind of tension. Ultimately, though, England batted out their second innings in comfort, and there was something rather low-key – like a County Championship match petering out on a Saturday afternoon – about the conclusion, with hands shaken 50 minutes after tea on the final day. The result had been a formality for several hours as the Warwickshire pair of Trott and Bell stretched their abstemious partnership to 208.
And yet nobody predicted such a dry, dour contest. Following England’s win at Kolkata, pundits expected the surface at Nagpur to generate a positive result, perhaps even inside three days. In truth, there was no meaningful precedent. Curator Praveen Hingnikar – banned by the BCCI from talking to the media before the game following the outbursts of his Eden Gardens counterpart – had relaid the topsoil earlier in the year; this was the first contest since. Hingnikar was more surprised than anyone that cracks in the new surface refused to widen under sunshine. Dhoni remarked phlegmatically that the game could have continued for another three days and still ended in a draw.
Pietersen described the first-day pitch as the least conducive to strokeplay he had ever encountered. Only towards the end of the match, as fresh grass allowed a little more pace, could batsmen feel confident about playing the odd shot. But by then England had no cause for urgency. Except against the new ball, both captains placed fielders for mistimed drives rather than edges, and it was not unusual for batsmen to shape to duck against deliveries that eventually reached them at hip height. The second day produced the most runs, 218; eight individual fifties were compiled from an average of 127 balls; three hundreds from 271. Timeless Tests of yore must have followed the same tempo.
India did not help themselves with an unbalanced selection. Putting all their snakes in one basket, they chose three specialist slow bowlers, plus Ravindra Jadeja, a left-arm-spinning all-rounder handed a debut in place of Yuvraj Singh. Jadeja proceeded to bowl more overs (70) in the match than either Ashwin or Chawla, the leg-spinner picked in place of Zaheer Khan for his first Test since April 2008; a gap of 49 Tests between appearances was an Indian record. The selectors’ error became clear during the game’s opening spell, from Sharma, now the lone seamer, which brought two wickets.
With no bite for their spinners, India were at least spared the threat of Steven Finn, missing because of a back injury when his height might have coaxed something from the surface. Bresnan, his replacement, made little impression, yet one England hunch on selection proved inspired, as the 21-year-old Yorkshire opener Joe Root – replacing Samit Patel, and unexpectedly chosen ahead of both Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan – marked his own debut with a display of rare assurance in an unfamiliar slot at No. 6.
Cook himself suffered his only bad match of the series. After winning his first toss in six Tests as captain, he received two questionable decisions from umpire Dharmasena in a contest that left England repeating their support for DRS. Trott, though, could blame only himself, as he left a ball from Jadeja that went straight on, and Bell succumbed to a timid push to short extra cover, having matched Cook in taking 28 balls over a single. When Pietersen flicked to midwicket to end a restrained 73, the England first innings was tottering at 139 for five. But Root showed the temperament and the light footwork that had persuaded the management his technique would hold up against spin. Prior dug in to confirm his maturity as a batsman for all situations and, by stumps, England were an old-fashioned 199 for five from 97 overs, having faced the equivalent of 80 overs of dot-balls. Next day, the pair extended their stand to 103, and a relatively brisk half-century from Swann – his first in Tests for three years – took England beyond 300. Root’s 73 came from 229 balls, in 11 minutes short of five hours, and he was furious with himself when a leading edge supplied a return catch to the inoffensive Chawla.
A total of 330 looked like par, but superb swing bowling by Anderson on the second afternoon defined the middle of the game. The third ball of the innings nipped in to expose Sehwag’s leaden footwork. Tendulkar was then bowled via an inside edge by a ball keeping a shade low, a dismissal that stirred, rather than advanced, the debate about his future; it was a record ninth time that he had fallen to Anderson, one clear of Muttiah Muralitharan. A series of inswingers set up the left-handed Gambhir for the one going across, and the wicket of Jadeja was Anderson’s 528th in all international cricket, equalling Ian Botham’s England record. Pujara, meanwhile, had already fallen to a fine right-handed catch by Bell at short leg off Swann, although replays showed the ball had deviated from forearm rather than glove.
Crucially, Anderson had forced India – 87 for four at the second-day close – to consolidate when the state of the series required them to be positive. Kohli and Dhoni (to some surprise, he had promoted himself above Jadeja who, a fortnight previously, had become the first Indian to score three first-class triple-centuries) responded by taking 507 balls over a stand of 198, watching every one of them like hawks. Neither man had batted for as long in a Test before, with Kohli in particular fighting against poor form as well as his instinct to attack. He eventually departed straight after drinks in the final session of the third day, having completed his third Test hundred from 289 balls. But, excruciatingly, Dhoni fell for 99, run out by a direct hit from Cook at mid-off as he attempted a desperate single. It was his first risk of the innings, an unthinkable liberty had he been on 98 or 100. The pressure of being in the nineties for more than an hour had finally told.
With time of the essence, India’s approach on the fourth morning was baffling. Ashwin initially chose to turn down singles to keep Ojha away from strike, and only 29 runs came in the first hour – which suited England – before Dhoni declared four runs behind. England had merely to avoid mishaps, and never allowed themselves to be fazed by their slow progress. Cook had one run to his name from 46 balls by lunch, while Compton hit a single four in 134 deliveries before being adjudged leg-before despite an inside edge (although the ball flew straight to gully, so he was out one way or another).
The afternoon roused passions as Trott, in typically single-minded pursuit of runs, opted to hit a boundary off Jadeja from a ball that had slipped from his hand on to an adjacent strip. Although Trott was within his rights, other batsmen might have allowed the umpire to call dead ball. At the close, Ashwin suggested it had been unsporting. Before then, India had suffered more frustration, when Trott survived a strong (but unproven) appeal for a catch behind off Sharma. Ashwin later threatened to run Trott out at the bowler’s end for backing up too far. But Trott remained steadfastly Trott, his self-absorption tailor-made for the situation. By the time he flicked Ashwin to leg slip to depart for 143, made in 405 minutes, England’s lead had advanced to an impregnable 306. It proved the only wicket to fall on the final day. Bell ended a 403-minute innings with 116 not out – his first Test hundred in India – tired but satisfied, while the home crowd were generous but resigned. England cracked open the beers, and began to think of Christmas.
Man of the Match: J. M. Anderson. Man of the Series: A. N. Cook.
Sharma 28–9–49–3; Ojha 35–12–71–0; Jadeja 37–17–58–2; Chawla 21.5–1–69–4; Ashwin 24–3–66–1. Second innings—Sharma 15–3–42–0; Ojha 40–14–70–1; Ashwin 38–11–99–2; Chawla 26–6–64–0; Jadeja 33–17–59–1; Gambhir 2–0–4–0.
Anderson 32–5–81–4; Bresnan 26–5–69–0; Panesar 52–15–81–1; Swann 31–10–76–3; Trott 1–0–2–0; Root 1–0–5–0.
Umpires: H. D. P. K. Dharmasena and R. J. Tucker. Third umpire: S. Ravi.
Referee: J. J. Crowe.
LV= COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP, 2012
NEVILLE SCOTT
There were times last summer when British life seemed so grotesque you thought you were in the pages of a novel by Tom Sharpe or Mervyn Peake. The Leveson inquiry revealed that the prime minister shared gushing emails with the soon-to-be-arrested editor of a tabloid newspaper, who rode the ranges of Oxfordshire alongside him on a charger su
pplied by the Metropolitan Police, several of whose senior officers faced allegations of corruption. Vince Cable, the government’s business secretary, described areas of British banking, so critical to the economy, as “a massive cesspit”. And surface-to-air missiles were sited on the roofs of tower blocks up the road from where Graham Gooch first clasped a bat, in innocent days when children still played cricket in London’s East End. To top it all, Derbyshire won their first trophy for 19 years.
Yet seeking sanity in the Championship was to find that the heavens had turned more absurd still. Snow preceded the first day of the season, sleet stopped play at Scarborough on May 4 (when temperatures in torrid Hove soared to 5°C)), swan-upping in mid-July was cancelled due to floods, and the rain barely relented. Out of the cesspit, into the monsoon.
In the words of Captain Scott, counties “bowed to the will of Providence” and, in the face of the non-stop deluge, just 38% of Division Two matches had produced a result by August 18. The season can be starkly summed up: only 68 (of 144) games were won, and 27 of these wins arrived in the first and last fortnights. In between, summer came and went in late May, during seven days that granted another seven results. Half the victories in 2012 were thus secured in five weeks. The rest was rain and pitch inspections.
Worse, of the 13 results that emerged from 14 games in that frigid first fortnight (all rain-interrupted), several were played on pitches that rendered cricket almost a game of chance. By May 6, when a quarter of the campaign had already passed, the overall average cost of a wicket was 24 runs. Batsmen floundered like airline pilots suddenly having to fly without benefit of onboard computers. There were five counties by that date who, in a combined total of 22 games, had managed three batting points between them from a potential maximum of 110; one of them, Nottinghamshire, held second place in Division One.