Fourth Test Match, Day Three
The Oval, London
Admission: £85.00
Programme: £6.00
Attendance: 25,000 (approximate)
Originally, I was supposed to be visiting Tottenham Hotspur's new stadium today, for their club's Womens Super League fixture. However, when my partner discovered that tickets would be available for the Test Match today, I very happily went agreed that that would be a much better proposition. Back in the nineties, I was more interested in cricket than football, being a member at Sussex County Cricket Club, and it was only when my interest in groundhopping really took over, and the "modernisation" of county cricket meant it became more inconvenient to watch cricket in midweek and in the evenings, that I welcomed something of a rest from sport during the summer months (the football close season). And so this would be my first visit to The Oval in at least 20 years, and my first ever time watching the England cricket national team in any format, and so I very much look forward to taking in the day's play today.
The Oval is about a ten minute walk from Vauxhall train station, the most convenient option for me, however Oval underground station is even closer. The Oval is absolutely steeped in history, with records of a match being played here as far back as 1724. Surrey County Cricket Club played their first match there in 1845, in 1868 it hosted the first ever touring side to England (the Aboriginal Australians), and hosted the first Test Match to be played in England, against Australia in 1880, and Australia's win at The Oval in 1882 gave birth to The Ashes. The history goes on and on throughout the years, and the stadium is a really impressive facility these days, still with the imposing Members Pavilion steeped in history rising tall above the rest of the ground with various tiers of seating and corporate boxes included within in. Uncovered seating then stretches square of the wicket on both sides, although attached to the left of the Members Pavilion, a double storey uncovered stand has been installed above the seating in the last year. At the Vauxhall End, the bowl of seating continues throughout, with a upper tier and some boxes now installed, along with a high roof, which has a modern and attractive design to it. Plenty of food and drink options were available underneath the stands, with beer prices at between £6.20 and £6.80. Our seats were in the front row of the Galadari Stand, which offered an excellent view of the action. Programmes were available, and the 84 page publication was a very decent read indeed.
In previous test matches in this series, the first Test at Trent Bridge was rain affected, ending in a draw with India probably favourites to win, chasing 209 to win and at 52-1, when the final day was abandoned without a ball being bowled. India won the second test at Lords by 151 runs, after England were bowled out for just 120, but England comprehensively won the third test at Headingley, with India bowled out for just 78 in the first innings despite choosing to bat, and eventually England won by an innings and 76 runs. So, the series was level at 1-1, and this match was also quite intriguingly poised after the first two days' action. After the first day, I was a little concerned as to whether I would get a full days' play on the third day, after India were bowled out for 191, and England made a less than convincing start to their reply, closing the day on 59 for 3, with talisman Joe Root falling in the final half hour of the day. Day Two saw England carve out a 99 run first innings lead, finishing up on 290, with Ollie Pope top scoring with 81 and Chris Woakes scoring 50, coming in at number 9. There was a string feeling that England should have carved out a bigger lead though, with the pitch expected to flatten as the match continues. India made a solid start to their second innings, accumulating 43 without losing any wickets from the 16 overs bowled.
On a very overcast day, with a cool breeze blowing across the ground, this proved to be not the most exciting day of cricket, as India batted very sensibly, mindful of there being plenty of time left in the match to occupy the crease, eek out the runs and build an advantage to set England a challenging target in the final innings. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul looked assured, slightly surprisingly as the overcast conditions would have been expected to have given the England fast bowlers some swing. At 11.35, with the score on 71-0, Rahul was given out lbw by the onfield umpire following a delivery by Ollie Robinson, but the decision was overturned by DRS, with ball tracking showing the ball would have missed leg stump. Soon after, Rohit, on 31, offered a very difficult chance to Rory Burns, but the ball just escaped his grasp at full stretch low down to his right at second slip. But at 12.26, England finally did get the breakthrough, although the onfield umpire originally gave not out, but DRS verified that Rahul did get a faint nick on a delivery from James Anderson, and Jonny Bairstow caught the ball behind the wicket. India went into the lead overall just before lunch, and although off spinner Moeen Ali asked for an lbw decision to be checked on DRS, it was given not out. Indeed, it was not even close, quite some way wide of the off stump. India went in at lunch on 108-1, a lead of 9 runs overall.
Pujara duly completed his half century soon after tea, and the match seemed to be continuing to drift towards India, with little sign of where the next wicket was coming, and the feeling that there needed to be some "oomph" from somewhere. As it turned out, that came from the new ball, with the very first delivery with it taking the wicket of Rohit Sharma off the bowling of Ollie Robinson, awkwardly hitting the ball to deep square leg off the top edge, sending the ball into the clutches of Chris Woakes. That certainly livened the crowd up, and the England players too it seemed, as Robinson's same over also claimed the scalp of Pujara, with DRS having to overturn the umpire decision, when the ball took an inside edge, bounced of Pujara's body and into the hands of Moeen Ali at gully. Finally it felt that England were making things happen, but the new India batsmen, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, saw the storm out. At around 5.30, conditions that were overcast and gloomy all day deteriorated, to the extent that England had to bowl spin from both ends, with nothing to suggest that either Moeen or Root would grab a wicket from their single over each, and not wanting to waste the new ball that was only ten overs old, Root asked to put Woakes back on to bowl, which inevitably caused the umpires to deem that it was too dark to allow any fast bowling, and so the players went off for bad light. There was little sign that the light would improve sufficiently this late in the day, and sure enough, when the clock ticked past 6pm, the scheduled close of play time, the umpires called stumps to bring a close to the day's play.
A few minutes after lunch, Cheteshwar Pujara hit a four but as he approached the non strikers end, his ankle game way, causing a lot of pain and distress, requiring extensive treatment for almost ten minutes before deciding he was fit to continue. The afternoon session really did seem to drift for England, with a lot of toiling without the Indian batsment looking in any danger, as Rohit Sharma went on to complete his century, his first century outside of India, and Pujara closing in on his half century as tea arrived.
So, this was a day which India dominated, putting themselves in a very good position to build a commanding lead on what looks a flat pitch, and will become all the more so with sun forecast for the remaining two days, and India look favourites to bat themselves into a position from which they could not lose, but a lot will depend on whether England can snaffle some early wickets on Day 4.
This was not the most entertaining day of cricket to watch it must be said, but it was still a really enjoyable experience and I look forward to coming again next year.
Highlights of the day's play can be viewed by clicking here
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