By Bagpuss
March 23 2006

As we hear that Marcus may well start the season with his county, all hell is breaking out in the Third Test...over to Baggy! Has Kev Shine started yet? Is Anderson's sudden return to form because of the man from Taunton? Nah! we'll have to wait for that I think.

INDIA v ENGLAND 3RD TEST 18-22 MARCH 2006
WANKEDE STADIUM, MUMBAI

DAY 3

The cloud cover that had raised my hopes of bowler-friendly conditions had disappeared by the time I emerged from the cyberworld on to the streets of Colaba with fifteen minutes to go to start of play. If anything the weather is hotter than the first two days.

Never mind. The sooner England manage to get India out the sooner they can retreat to the cool of the dressing room. Things are going to plan when in the second over of the morning Yuvraj edges and Jones takes the catch. Possibly off the first ball of the over, which isn't given, certainly off the last, with no doubt. India 94-4 and they are down to the all-rounders and the tail. Dhoni joins Dravid and there is a suspicion that the home supporters - not so many in the ground this early in the morning - are actually pleased the wicket has fallen. Certainly there will be many rushing to get to the ground now Dhoni is batting. Hopefully England can disappoint them!

India pass the 200 and Dravid reaches 50. Flintoff hits Dhoni on the head when he is on just 14 - prompting the appearance of the India physio, ice packs then a bit of a go-slow by the India batters as there are delays almost every over. Can't remember an opposition team slowing the match this much since the famous last day in Karachi in 2000. And we all know what happened there. In the 52nd over Dhoni is dropped by Panesar, then Dravid is dropped at gully. Panesar's punishment is to be brought on for Flintoff in the 54th over but it is Anderson who gets the breakthrough next over, getting the vital wicket of Dravid with an excellent leg side catch by Jones. Dravid out for 52, India 142-5.

Anderson doesnt get the chance to follow up next over as he is replaced by Hoggard. India pass 150 in the 58th over and Udal gets an over before lunch. At the interval India are 153-5 off 60 with Dhoni 32 and Pathan 7.  Panesar and Udal continue after lunch. Initially there is little sucess, Dhoni in particular is starting to look a little dangerous, but not trying anything too risky. It is Pathan who gets the rush of blood to the head, coming down the wicket to Udal and lofting a drive to mid on where Hoggard takes the catch. 186-6. Dhoni reaches 50 off a fairly pedestrian 97 balls (7x4). This maybe is the cue for him to accelerate and in the 84th over he hits Flintoff, in the first over of his new spell, for four succesive boundaries. Maybe he is keen to nick the strike and goes for the single next ball. Anderson's throw is a direct hit. England look reasonably confident but the decision seems to take an age - surely a sign the batsman will be given in. But no - the big screen says OUT. Some controversy as this is displayed before the third umpire actually presses the button, more controversy as the replays show some doubt-the ball had hit the stumps but had the bail actually moved? Whatever, Dhoni is on his way. Anderson replaces Flintoff in the 88th over and gets Harbhajan with the third ball. India are 217-8, the score they will go to tea on with Kumble 9 and Sreesanth yet to score.

Sreesanth has a top score of 19 so there is a good chance that despite the best efforts of Kumble England will have a first innings lead well in excess of 150. Hoggard and Anderson resume, Kumble and Sreesanth resist. Flintoff replaces Hoggard in the 95th but with no ,more luck. India pass 250 and in the 99th over the ninth wicket has reached the 50 partnership. Panesar is brought back as is Anderson. It is Panesar who gets Kumble when he misses the sweep and is lbw. 272-9. Fortunately for England Munaf proves less durable than Sreesanth and Anderson bowls him with a yorker in the 105th over. India all out for 279. Sreesanth has a career best not out 29 from his mix of defence and erratic swishes. England have a first innings lead of 121.

Cant be sure of my maths but I think there are 21 scheduled overs remaining. No way will they get these in as there is only an hour or so left before the 5.30 cut off time. England would have been hoping for the solid opening partnership of the first innings so would have been disappointed to see Strauss edge a slower ball from Munaf. Dhoni had to dive forwards to take the catch and umpire Taufel looked across to Darrell Hair to confirm the catch before raising the finger. England 9-1 in the 6th. Sreesanth replaces Pathan in the 9th, Kumble for Munaf in the 10th. 11th over Bell just edges one that is moving away from him and Dhoni makes no mistake. 21-2. It is Udal who appears as night watchman rather than Hoggard and luck is with him when he is dropped in the last over of the day. England overnight are 31-2 off 15, Shah 15 and Udal 2. The lead is 152. They will be looking for something double this at the least to feel India have a substantial target to chase. But they do need to leave themselves time to bowl India out .

INDIA v ENGLAND THIRD TEST 18-22 MARCH 2006
WANKEDE STADIUM, MUMBAI

DAY 4

Munaf and Sreesanth start the day. Udal gets England on their way with an extra cover drive for four off the last ball of the second over. Munaf is getting frustrated and threatens to throw the ball at Udal's stumps when well in his ground, Umpire Taufel has a word to defuse the situation. Kumble replaces Munaf in the 24th over and another Udal boundary brings up the 50 for England. Runscoring is slow going, 20 are added to the total by the time of the first drinks break after 40 minutes. There is also a drinks break going on in the stands - quote from one member of the England support group

"today is going to be a good day-I've never seen so many people with a bottle of vodka up their a***s!"

Pathan replaces Sreesanth in the 27th. Wicketless in the first innings he is bowling left arm over to a 5-4 field, hardly a sign of confidence from his captain. But he finds the edge to dismiss Udal. The nightwatchman has made just 14 but survived a frustrating 66 minutes for the Indians. England 61-3. Another drinks interval is taken with the score on 65 before Pietersen slog sweeps Kumble, gets the top edge and the bowler takes the return catch. 73-4 in the 36th. The lead is still less then 200 and the advantage is swinging back towards India. England reach 85-4 at lunch off 41 overs, Shah still there on 38 and Collingwood 6.

First over after lunch the anchorman Shah is run out by a good throw from Tendulkar at wideish third man. England need another captains innings from Flintoff to help them to a realistic total to defend. He is lucky when he is dropped at silly point-one of those reflex catches that either sticks or it doesnt. In the 61st over there is another chance put down by Kumble off his own bowling. Maybe it didnt quite carry. England reach the drinks interval 124-5, the lead 245. First ball after the break it is Collingwood who uses a life, inside edging Harbhajan the ball just misses the stumps on its way to the fine leg boundary. The 66th over sees the 50 partnership, which has taken 147 balls. By tea England are 138-5 off 70. Collingwood is 31, Flintoff a subdued 19.

The lead is 259, certainly not safe but a reasonable total to bowl at. Scoring has been painfully slow going - in the 55 overs so far today England have added just 107 runs. Surely England need to get India in to bat before the close of play today which means they need to start putting runs on the board a little quicker. Flintoff is obviously the man for the job and he scores consecutive fours off Sreesanth in the first over after tea. But then is seems to be back into the shells. Starting to think that maybe England's best chance of winning this game is, ironically, if they get bowled out and soon.

Be careful what you wish for. In the 74th over Collingwood plays a straight drive to Harbhajan and the bowler dives, taking a magnificent one handed catch low to his left. Cue football-style celebrations by the Indians. Collingwood has made 32, England now 151-6. Next to go is Jones, out slog-sweeping another top edge which is caught behind square on the leg side. 157-7. Hoggard proves an ally for Flintoff, surviving to the 83rd over before he misses a sweep of Kumble and is lbw for 6. By now though England are 183-8 and the lead has passed the 300 mark, which would be a record winning 4th innings total not only at this ground but in a Test match anywhere in India. Time for a bowl, but maybe not before Flintoff gets his fourth half century as captain of England. He is on 47 and reaches the mark off the last ball of the 89th over. This is as far as it goes thought as he is out stumped first ball next over. 187-9. Just Anderson and Panesar then. Cant see them pushing the score along too much, maybe a declaration? But no, they bat on. Only until the 93rd over when Anderson edges Kumble to Dravid who hold this one. England all out 191, the lead 312.

There are ten overs for India to survive,scheduled but with little over half an hour left some of these will be lost. Sehwag has been off the field all day recovering from a bat spasm so will be unable to bat till number 7. Pathan is chosen to open with Jaffer. Anderson gets the ball ahead of Flintoff to partner Hoggard, reward for his four wickets in the first innings and he doesnt disappoint. In the 4th over he bowls Pathan off an inside edge. India 6-1 and there is a big shout by the England team for a caught behind off Hoggard next over. Simon Taufel is unmoved. Panesar replaces Anderson in the 8th, which proves to be the last over of the day. India close at 18-1 off 8 overs, Jaffer on 4 and nightwatchman Kumble on 8. Will the pitch offer the bowlers more assistance on day 5? It is a long time since England have won a test on Indian soil. But I think tomorrow they just might.

INDIA v ENGLAND THIRD TEST 18-22 MARCH 2006
WANKEDE STADIUM MUMBAI

"Rahul Dravid, Rahul Dravid, you could have won the match
But when you won the toss you put England in to bat"

(To the tune of My Darling Clementine . . . .)

DAY 5

Ninety overs to bowl out India before they reach a record fourth innings total on home soil of 313. And therewill be no mucking around with the timewasting cos so long as the light holds the teams have to complete the overs. It was advantage England after they took one wicket in the eight available overs yesterday evening. Hoggard opens the bowling this morning and he gets Kumble, nightwatchman but a stubborn thorn in the England side on several ocasions this tour. 11th over, lbw, 21-2. Captain Dravid joins Jaffer - this has probably been the most sucessful Indian pairing of the series so it is good to see Flintoff getting Jaffer in a juice with some nifty bowling. Flintoff comes out on top in this particular contest when he gets an inswinger to pin Jaffer lbw for 10. 33-3 in the 19th over.

The ground has filled quickly this morning-crowds only really turn up to watch India bat in the Tests- so Tendulkar, booed just a few days earlier by his home crowd, is greeted like the prodigal son. A few butterflies amongst the england supporters as he begins to time the ball well and is playing his shots. Much as we all admire the Little Master's talents now is not the day we want a return to form. A mini flurry of runs takes the run rate close to 2.5 an over - they still need over three but the initiative is moving a little away from England. It is Hoggard and Panesar, soon replaced by Udal, who slow things down a bit until lunch, when India are 75-3 off 33 overs. They still need 238 runs off minimum 75 overs but if Dravid (9) and Tendulkar (already on 34) can stay together for most of the afternoon session there are hitters aplenty waiting for the final push. England will be happy to have taken a couple this morning but there is a lot of work to do.

After lunch Flintoff and Udal resume. Flintoff finds the edge of Dravid's bat, Jones takes the catch. Dravid had made just 9 off 60 balls but the loss of The Wall seems a crucial moment for the Indian line up as the wheels come off. Next over Udal secures the prize wicket of Tendulkar, out without adding to his lunchtime score India are now 76-5. Sehwag is hampered by his "bat spasm" as well as being a little stiff in the lumbar region and Anderson takes advantage getting him lbw for a duck. 77-6 and hope is turning to expectation amongst the England supporters.

We are vastly outnumbered by Indian fans though and the gravity of the situation does not seem to be apparent to them as they cheer Dhoni to the crease. Never mind playing for the draw these guys want sixes and plenty of them. Bouyed by the enthusiasm of the crowd and without a suppressive nerve in his body he goes for the big drive of Udal. The ball is in the air an age as Panesar waits for re-entry only to spill the catch. Dhoni obviously thinks he is on to a good thing as he repeats the shot, but this time seems surprised when Panesar holds the catch. 92-7 in the 45th, just an hour of play since lunch has seen India go from hopeful to no-hopers.

The only remaining question seems to be how long the remaining India batters can keep the Barmy Army from the bar. About another twenty minutes is the answer as Udal has Harbhajan caught at fine leg then Flintoff mops up the last remaining recognised batter Yuvraj, the thick edge going to Collingwood. It remains for Udal, who lets be honest may well be playing his last Test should Giles be fit for the summer, to take the winning wicket when Munaf repeats the Harbhajan shot and Hoggard takes the final catch. India all out for a nice round 100 - after all our debating on what would be a suitable declaration target is seems the first innings lead was enough. The team celebrations on the field were akin to when they one any of the tests last Ashes series and spoke volumes of the pressure this depleted and written-off team has been under.

Interesting crowd reaction to the presentation. Many had started to leave when the eighth and ninth wickets went down, but still over half the Mumbai crowd were present to see the formalities. A picture of Greg Chappell on the big screen elicited boos from all corners, whilst the words of Dravid were drowned out by chants of "We want Sourav". It all just added to my general disillusionment with crowds in India and especially here in Mumbai. Flintoff was named man of the match - Andrew Straus should maybe think he was robbed, though not sure his feet would have reached the ground had he won the motorbike. Flintoff also was named Man of the Series, in a series where there were not really any stand out performances throughout the tests.

So of now for some sun, some beer and some partying before packing to leave for Jaipur tomorrow morning. The one-day circus is about to roll into town.