The Final Act Of The Series?

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Endgame

 

August 17^th 2014

 

457, 391-9d, 295, 342, 330, 178, 152, 161, 148, …

The only questions remaining are what number India will add to this sequence of scores and just when the final defeat will come? With England close to 250 ahead, most people seem to think that the match will end tonight. The biggest doubt may be whether or not England will require the extra half hour. Despite desperate efforts to waste time and a funereal over rate, India have only been able to stretch out the last three Tests a total of 21 sessions in total so far. Few would bet on them extending that much today. It is hard to believe that this match is not even half way through.

You can always think back to 1979 and the amazing Indian fightback in the 4^th Test at Trent Bridge when Sunil Gavaskar’s 221 almost carried India to a successful chase of 438, although their collapse as the target neared meant that the match could have gone either way given an extra 15 minutes of play. Do India have someone capable of matching Gavaskar’s feat? You can imagine it but, in the 1979 series, England at the height of their powers under Mike Brearley only won the 4-Test series 1-0 and India had a strong side, with players of the calibre of Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev, Viswanath and Venkat. They were never overwhelmed as India have been since the second innings at the Ageas Bowl.

For England, the plan should be to let Root and Jordan continue their destructive partnership (67 in 61 balls, so far), enjoying themselves and trying to inflict more damage of shattered Indian morale. If Root can get his century and Jordan a useful 30 or 40, the lead will be around 300, England can declare well past the psychological barrier of 450 and set about India with a will. Hopefully Jordan and Woakes will be given a chance to do plenty of bowling and to win the match, with Broad and Anderson not being asked to do too much. I stick by my prediction: Chris Woakes will “win”  the match with a 5-for and England will not need the extra half hour. The one thing that might just extend the match into the fourth day is the threat of rain.