England’s middle order collapsed dramatically after tea to leave the tourists under the kosh despite a fine century from Andrew Strauss.
Despite general forecasts of little hope for England, they had made a good start, with Cook and the supposedly under-prepared Strauss putting on 118 for the first wicket. Once Cook had gifted his wicket to Harbhajan with a misguided shot, however, the rot started to set in. Bell made just 17, Pietersen a mere 4, Collingwood was unlucky, and Strauss eventually fell for 123.
India look likely to make 500 on this sort of wicket, so England will need a good 350 or so to have a fighting chance. With only Flintoff (18 not out at the close) and Prior (next in) left of the ‘proper’ batsmen, that looks like it will be a tough task.
them playing so slowly was one of the biggest reasons, have they learnt nothing from adelaide at all ??