LONDON, 14 August 2007 — India completed a 1-0 series win against England after the third and final Test at The Oval was drawn here yesterday.
England, set 500 to win, a target way in excess of the Test record fourth innings winning score of 418 for seven made by the West Indies against Australia in Antigua in 2003, finished on 369 for six. Matt Prior was 12 not out and Ryan Sidebottom three not out.
Kevin Pietersen top-scored with 101.
Rahul Dravid’s men, ahead after a seven-wicket win at Trent Bridge followed a gutsy draw at Lord’s, became only the third India side, after the 1971 and 1986 teams, to win a series in England in 15 tours dating back 75 years. For England the draw meant the end of a six-year unbeaten run in home Test series, encompassing eight wins and three draws in 11 campaigns, since they lost the 2001 Ashes.
England, at tea, were 232 for three, needing an improbable further 268 for victory. Pietersen was 71 not out and Paul Collingwood 23 not out. But the first ball with the new ball saw Collingwood lbw for 40 to fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth after a stand of 114 with Pietersen. Pietersen went on to complete a 10th hundred in 30 Tests, his second this series after he made 134 in the drawn opener at Lord’s, and fourth of the season after twice reaching three figures against the West Indies. South Africa-born Pietersen’s drive through mid-wicket off Sreesanth saw him to a 155-ball century with his 18th four. But four balls later Pietersen’s loose drive off the paceman was caught at first slip by Dinesh Karthik.
England, who’d been easing their way toward a draw, were 289 for five with only the tail to come after Ian Bell and Prior.
It looked as if England’s last two specialist batsmen would bat out the day but Bell, after a run-a-ball fifty, was lbw for 67 on the sweep to leg-spinner Anil Kumble, a thorn in his opponents’ side throughout this match.
England now had to survive at least 28 balls with just four wickets standing but Sidebottom held firm.
Sreesanth had earlier dismissed England captain Michael Vaughan for 42. Vaughan, dropped on 18 by Dravid, was caught behind by wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni after flashing outside off-stump.
Pietersen, before tea, exchanged angry words with Kumble after the bowler believed the non-striker had impeded him as he tried to field. England resumed yesterday on 56 without loss. Andrew Strauss was 23 not out and fellow left-handed opener Alastair Cook 27 not out. Left-arm quick Rudra Pratap Singh struck with his fourth ball Monday when Strauss, without a Test hundred for over a year, edged to second slip on 32.
Kumble then removed Cook on 43, when a genuine glance well caught low down by VVS Laxman at short backward square-leg.
India had all but ensured against defeat with a first innings 664 — their record Test total against England — which included Kumble’s unbeaten 110, his maiden century in his 118 Tests and the only three-figure score by an India batsman this series. Kumble then became Test cricket’s third most successful bowler outright, overtaking retired Australia quick Glenn McGrath’s mark of 563 wickets, when he had Monty Panesar lbw to end England’s first innings on 345 all out. Dravid, who opted not to enforce the follow-on, declared India’s second innings on 180 for six after former captain Saurav Ganguly had made 57.
England and India meet again in the first of seven One-Day Internationals, at the Rose Bowl, on Aug. 21.
