Vaughan dismissal rocks England

Bangalore, December 19: Michael Vaughan was out in bizarre fashion, given out handled the ball, to trigger an England slump late on the opening day of the third and final Test against India on Wednesday.

The touring side, at one stage looking well placed on 206 for three, closed on 255 for six with all-rounder Craig White at the crease trying to protect the England tail.

Vaughan missed a sweep against off-spinner Sharandeep Singh and, as the ball dropped off his front pad, he put his hand on the ball and rolled it away.

The bowler made a belated appeal and the umpire had no option but to rule the batsman out.

The 27-year-old Yorkshire batsman's dismissal for 64, just when he looked to be finding his best form of the tour, saw England lose two more quick wickets for the addition of only 13 runs.

Play ended early due to bad light.

The visitors, needing a win to level the series, seemed to have recovered after being reduced to 93 for three soon after lunch until Vaughan's 113-run fourth wicket stand with Mark Ramprakash (58) ended.

Vaughan was only the seventh player — and the second England batsman after Graham Gooch — to be dismissed in such fashion in Tests and the first since Australian skipper Steve Waugh in Chennai earlier this year.  

Vaughan had played both the spinners and Javagal Srinath's pace with confidence.

He hit eight fours in his 138-ball knock spanning three hours after completing his third Test 50 as he, along with a patient Ramprakash, rebuilt the innings after Nasser Hussain was out for 43 soon after lunch.

The England skipper was forced to edge a fine lifting delivery from Srinath which moved away late to give wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta a simple catch.

He hit five fours during his 64-ball knock which included a confident pull for six off Srinath in the morning.

Ramprakash lofted Sharandeep Singh over long-on for four to bring up England's 200 before completing his 12th Test fifty and looked set to step up his scoring tempo.

But he was out soon after Vaughan, getting a faint edge against Sharandeep to be caught by Rahul Dravid in the slips.

While Vaughan and Ramprakash were together they seemed to justify Hussain's move to bat first on a pitch expected to help spinners.

Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly, who shared the new ball with Srinath after including Sharandeep as the third spinner, even asked Sachin Tendulkar to bowl one over of his occasional spin to try and break the partnership as England reached 176 for three at tea.  

But Vaughan's dismissal suddenly opened the doors for India as Andrew Flintoff flicked Sharandeep Singh to Tendulkar at midwicket in the same over to be out for duck.

The off-spinner struck again to remove Ramprakash before Craig White and James Foster added 36 runs for the seventh wicket without being separated.

England had suffered an early blow in the morning when in-form opener Marcus Trescothick (8) edged Srinath to the second slip, where Vangipurappu Laxman took a sharp catch.

Fellow left-hander Mark Butcher (27) and Hussain then steadied the innings in a 47-run second wicket stand before the opener was run out after a mix-up.

Butcher drove Harbhajan Singh to wide mid-off and set off for a run but failed to beat Dravid's accurate throw to Dasgupta after being sent back by Hussain.