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3rd Test: England pile up massive 569/7 against India after Bell, Buttler cut loose Scorecard

Ian Bell Rediscovered His Form With Sparkling 167 As England Piled Up A Mammoth First Innings Total Of 569/7 To Take Control Of The Third Cricket Test Against India On Monday.

PTI | Updated on: 29 Jul 2014, 04:10:38 PM

Southampton:

Ian Bell rediscovered his form with sparkling 167 as England piled up a mammoth first innings total of 569/7 to take control of the third cricket Test against India on Monday.

After Alastair Cook, it was Bell’s turn to roar back to form with a blazing knock while debutant Jos Buttler upped the ante with a dazzling 83-ball-85 before England skipper decided to declare.

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At stumps, India were 25 for one in 14 overs as their first target will be to reach the magic figure of 370 thereby saving the follow-on. Murali Vijay (11 batting) and Cheteshwar Pujara (4 batting) were at the crease.

Shikhar Dhawan’s (6) English Summer turned from bad to worse as he edged one from James Anderson to Cook at slip.

The day belonged to senior pro Bell, who hit his 21st Test century and also crossed the 7000 run mark en route his century. He completed the landmark with a majestic straight six off Ravindra Jadeja to complete the landmark.

His partnership with another centurion Gary Ballance (156) yielded 142 runs before the left-hander was adjudged caught behind off Rohit Sharma, which later looked to be a dubious decision.

Ballance, struck 24 boundaries in 288 balls in an innings, that spanned over six hours and 15 minutes.

Joe Root and Moeen Ali were dismissed cheaply in the post lunch session by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was by far the most impressive Indian bowler with figures of 3/101 from 37 overs.

However it was young Buttler replacing Prior, who stole the show in the last session with some breathtaking hitting as he struck nine fours and three sixes. Buttler was lucky to when there was no conclusive evidence of Ajinkya Rahane taking a clean catch in the slips off Bhuvneshwar’s bowling.

Two of the three sixes hit by Buttler were flat-batted ones hit in an over from Pankaj Singh (0/146 in 37 overs).

Once Buttler was bowled by Jadeja, Cook called back the batsmen. Jadeja sent down a marathon 45.4 overs taking two for 153 in the process.

Earlier, Gary Ballance and Bell had put on 142 runs forthe third wicket as they ground the Indian bowling until lunch, plundering 111 runs in 29 overs bowled in the first session of play.

This was more runs scored in any single session of the match so far and showed how the English batsmen dominated proceedings in the morning.

Bell played more aggressive cricket, and at one stage the session scoring-rate almost touched five runs per over, with 47 runs coming off 10 overs bowled in that interim of play.  Bell reached his half-century off 99 balls then, with 7 fours and 1 six, in the 107th over. An over later he brought up the 100-run partnership for the third wicket.

India then resorted to a 7-2 field for Jadeja, sometimes on the leg-side even, but the batsmen were good enough to get boundaries through them.

Ballance in particular was in fine form, bringing up his 150 off 278 balls, with 23 fours, in the 115th over.

An over later, England breached the 350-run mark, and looked good for a tall score in the first innings.

Rohit Sharma (1-26) was then brought on as a last throw of the dice before lunch, and to England’s dismay, he struck two overs before the break.

A sharp delivery bounced quite a bit and came off his thigh pad which was well taken by Dhoni, and adjudged out by umpire Rod Tucker giving Rohit, his maiden Test wicket.

Ballance was extremely unlucky to be given out at this juncture after scoring 156 runs (288 balls, 24 fours), with India getting an opening against the run of play.

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First Published : 28 Jul 2014, 04:55:00 PM

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