England’s cricketers saved their most dominant day’s work for the last rites of their five-Test series against India. They managed more runs in half a morning’s batting than their opponents managed in the whole of their second innings to wrap up a crushing innings-and-244-run victory and secure a hugely satisfying 3-1 series win. For Alastair Cook, so crestfallen after Lord’s and seemingly on the brink of resignation, this will surely count as his most satisfying series victory yet.

After resuming under heavy skies with a winning position already established, England added 101 runs in 69 riotously received deliveries with Joe Root racking up his fourth Test century of the summer before running out of partners on 149 not out. His morning’s work amounted to 57 runs in 36 balls, including impish reverse sweeps and one flat-batted clout for four that had echoes of Kevin Pietersen’s grandstanding on this very ground in 2005.

If that wasn’t enough to prove that India were a spent force then Stuart Broad’s performance at the other end was ample confirmation. He batted as if he had a vendetta against cricket balls following his nose-squashing at Old Trafford, clattering five fours and a six in rampaging to 35 from 14 balls before Ishant Sharma removed him via a dubious gloved catch to the slips.

James Anderson was the last man out, lbw to Ravi Ashwin for 1, but then the carnage really began. Anderson was quickly back into the action as Murali Vijay’s tortured 20-ball stay ended with an inswinging lbw for 2. From the outset India batted like a catastrophe waiting to happen, and that is what occurred on the stroke of lunch when Gautam Gambhir set off for a non-existent single, failed to offer a dive as Chris Woakes’ direct hit pinged down the stumps, and before the players had reached the pavilion the groundstaff were hauling the covers into place to deal with a torrential downpour.

Play resumed 90 minutes later but at 9 for 2 there was no prospect of a revival. Cheteshwar Pujara was tortured by Anderson’s lateral movement before nicking the one that held its line before Ajinkya Rahane – his glorious hundred at Lord’s seemingly a lifetime ago – was outstandingly snaffled by Gary Ballance in the slips, who dived low and to his left to cling on one-handed from a thin Broad nick.

Five balls later, India’s last hope of salvation had been and gone. MS Dhoni, such a forceful presence in an otherwise hopeless first innings, failed to get off the mark second time around. Instead Woakes found some extra lift from a good length and Sam Robson under the lid sent him on his way.

At 46 for 5 India’s only remaining target was to reach three figures but two of the more competent tailenders in world cricket, Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, could do little to get them there. Both were victims of Chris Jordan and the slip cordon – Ian Bell at second slip was the catcher on each occasion, though he required a parry from Ballance to account for the first of those scalps. The upshot was a scoreline of 74 for 8, and utter humiliation was beckoning.

Woakes had the pleasure of a seven-man cordon as Stuart Binny was left to shore up the innings, but his partner Varun Aaron found an alternative means to continue the rot. His attempt to take on Moeen Ali’s arm at backward square leg resulted in a comedy run-out, courtesy of a smart gather from Jos Buttler, and victory was sealed at 4.22pm as Ishant Sharma lobbed a bouncer to Moeen Ali under the lid.

A tour that had begun in such promise had degenerated into farce. If the 4-0 whitewash in 2011 remains the statistical nadir of India’s recent encounters with England, the collapse of their resolve from a winning position on this occasion deserves to be remembered with even greater regret.
(thecricketer.com)