London, July 28:
England strike
bowler Matthew Hoggard took three wickets in 32 balls on Sunday
to reduce the India batting to ruins and set the home side up
for a sweeping victory in the first test at Lord's.
Set 568 to win on a dry
pitch starting to show signs of wear, India were 232 for six in
their second innings with V.V.S. Laxman unbeaten on 38.
The key wicket on
Sunday was that of Sachin Tendulkar who failed for the second
time in the match. Tendulkar, who fell for 16 in the first
innings, was again unconvincing, lasting only 35 balls for 12
runs before Hoggard sent his stumps flying with the fourth ball
of a new spell. Tendulkar was Hoggard's 50th Test victim in his
12th test.
Captain Saurav Ganguly
went next ball, lbw to a delivery which appeared to pitch
outside the leg-stump and, at 140 for four, the game was
effectively over for India.
Hoggard followed up
with the dismissal of wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra (1), skilfully
caught by Mark Butcher diving to his left at gully after
left-arm slow bowler Ashley Giles had dismissed top-scorer Rahul
Dravid for a patient 63 including 10 boundaries.
The game was
effectively won and lost on Saturday when Tendulkar and his team
mates could not come to terms with disciplined England pace
bowling from what, with the exception of Hoggard, is a
second-string attack. Three first-choice pace bowlers -- Darren
Gough, Andy Caddick and Alex Tudor -- were unavailable through
injury.
Hoggard, the most
successful if not necessarily the best bowler in India's first
innings of 221 in reply to England's 487, was both this time.
He kept a consistent
off-stump line and exploited any variations of bounce to the
full to finish with three for 45 from 14 overs.
India, who started
their second innings half an hour before lunch after Nasser
Hussain had declared England's second innings at 301 for six,
began at a gallop.
Hoggard was unlucky not
to capture the wicket of Wasim Jaffer before the interval when
Giles at gully was slow to react to a ball which lobbed off the
shoulder of the bat. Then Virender Sehwag, who had not added to
his lunch score of three, was dropped by Hussain at third slip
off Hoggard, getting both hands to the ball but then seeing it
fall to the ground.
The India openers took
the total to 61, scoring at five runs an over, before Simon
Jones beat Sehwag for pace and ripped his off-stump out of the
ground. Sehwag had scored 27 with five boundaries.
Jaffer completed a
competent half-century, his third in six tests, before Michael
Vaughan followed his third test century with his first test
wicket. Jaffer, whose 53 contained seven boundaries, edged the
part-time off-spinner to Hussain at slip.
V.V.S. Laxman was again
left with the tail, but batted effectively with Ajit Agarkar (28
not out) to add 52 runs in an unbeaten seventh-wicket
partnership.
Earlier, Vaughan took
his overnight score of 81 to exactly a hundred before slicing
left-arm pace bowler Ashish Nehra to Jaffer in the gully. His
second test century at Lord's this summer had taken 141 balls
and contained 11 sweetly-struck boundaries.
John Crawley
consolidated his position in the side by following his first
innings 64 with 100 not out, after which Hussain declared.
Crawley hit eight boundaries from 132 balls.
Any hopes India might
have had of saving the game appeared to vanish when Tendulkar
fell to Hoggard. The little Indian also had an unwelcome
companion on his slow walk back to the Pavilion when a spectator
ran on to the field.
A spokesman for the
England and Wales Cricket Board said the man, a member of the
Melbourne Cricket Club, had emerged from the Pavilion, jumped
the fence and run on to the field.
"He is now in police
custody," the spokesman said.
