Hoggard strikes to put England on brink of victory

England 487 & 301-6 dec India 221 & 232-6

At 4.36 yesterday afternoon Mathew Hoggard all but won this first Test for England. Running up to bowl the fourth ball of his second spell from the Pavilion End and, with India's little master Sachin Tendulkar getting closer by the second, his game plan would have been simple. Get the ball in the right area and let the pitch do the rest. This he did, it nipped back clipped Tendulkar's pad, and bowled the best batsman in the world neck and crock for 12.

The reaction of the England side as they swamped Hoggard, with smiles as wide as this sun-drenched ground, showed just how much it meant to them. With the value of Tendulkar's wicket as high as an Amsterdam cannabis café, the England captain, Nasser Hussain, would have known that in dismissing the scorer of a record 62 international hundreds his side had not only broken the back of India's talented batting line-up but also broken its heart.

This moment, one that Hoggard will remember for the rest of his life – it brought him his 50th Test wicket in just his 12th match – was, however, spoilt by some idiot coming on to the ground and escorting Tendulkar off the pitch. Waving his arms around in a manner that deserved a right hand, it was a reflection of the batsman's control and composure that this did not become a major incident.

Unperturbed by this worrying interruption, the Yorkshire fast bowler came roaring in again next ball with probably the same plan. The man now 22 yards away was Sourav Ganguly. India's captain, no doubt distracted by the incident, would have been hoping that he, like England's Hussain, could somehow inspire his side to get out of the mess they were in. However, scuttling nervously across his crease, he was trapped first ball lbw for nought.

Television replays showed that the ball pitched outside leg stump, and therefore he should not have been given out, but this seemed to matter little to the elated England team.

Watching from the other end and playing his way to a glorious 92-ball half-century was Rahul Dravid, but it did not take long before he, too, faced a similar walk to his colleagues when he chopped one on to his stumps from Ashley Giles.

With one end now open through the arrival of Ajay Ratra – India's first non-recognised batsmen, Hussain went for the kill and once again Hoggard was his hitman. To complete a wonderful afternoon both for him and England he then managed to find the outside edge of Ratra's bat whereupon Mark Butcher, diving to his left at gully, took a wonderful catch.

This was the last success for Hussain's side before stumps were drawn but during this 10-over spell England made sure that, weather permitting, today's action should be short and sweet with only four wickets required and the second new ball available in just 12 overs' time.

If England's afternoon went well, there could have been few complaints about the morning. Looking to build on their dominant overnight position, a lead of 450, they went about the task of putting this game beyond India in a ruthless and purposeful manner. Rattling along at nearly six runs an over Michael Vaughan and John Crawley completed excellent centuries and while neither will be remembered as a match winner, or saver, they emphasised just how far England's batting has come since Hussain took charge in 1999.

In the nine Test matches England played during that forgettable year only two centuries were scored, one by Michael Atherton and the other by Hussain. However, in the seven games they have so far played in 2002 eight players have scored 12 hundreds between them. It gets even better when you consider Craig White also passed three figures in Ahmedabad just before Christmas.

Crawley's was the more significant century. Not because it was his first on this ground but by virtue of its going a long way in securing the Hampshire batsman one of the last batting spots to Australia this winter.

Their opportunity came through Hussain's decision on Saturday not to enforce the follow-on. Criticised in some quarters it was understandable and based on more than just giving his bowlers a rest. With a healthy but far from unsurpassable lead of 266 runs, the England captain would have been aware that India were unlikely to fold so meekly second time around. And with this leaving the possibility of batting last, and chasing around 150 on a pitch whose bounce is becoming more inconsistent, Hussain chose to bat on.

Batting again also gave England the opportunity to quicken the rate at which this pitch deteriorated so as to increase the chance of variable bounce. This can be achieved via the legal method of the sun drying the surface and the heavy roller, or the sharper but equally used practice of getting your studs all over the pitch and tapping the edges of the cracks just to make these danger areas larger and even more unpredictable.

The success of such tactics and the size of India's task – the small matter of 568 for victory – became apparent in the very first over when Hoggard got the ball to misbehave. Wasim Jaffer was lucky to survive when he gloved a ball that spat at him from a good length. The openers survived until, with his second ball, the extra pace of Simon Jones burst through the defence of Virender Sehwag and sent his off-stump flying. Dravid and Jaffer battled hard until Vaughan completed a satisfying day by taking his first Test wicket. Hoggard did the rest.

LORD'S SCOREBOARD

England won toss

ENGLAND – First Innings 487 (N Hussain 155, J P Crawley 64, A Flintoff 59, C White 53)

INDIA – First Innings
Wasim Jaffer b Hoggard 1
V Sehwag b Giles 84
R S Dravid c Vaughan b Hoggard 46
A Nehra lbw b Flintoff 0
S R Tendulkar c Stewart b White 16
*S C Ganguly c Vaughan b Flintoff 5
V V S Laxman not out 43
A Ratra c Stewart b Jones 1
A B Agarkar c Flintoff b Jones 2
A Kumble b White 0
Zaheer Khan c Thorpe b Hoggard 3
Extras (b4 lb8 nb8) 20
Total (375 min, 81.5 overs) 221

Fall: 1-2 (Wasim Jaffer), 2-128 (Sehwag), 3-130 (Nehra), 4-162 (Dravid), 5-168 (Tendulkar), 6- 177 (Ganguly), 7-191 (Ratra), 8-196 (Agarkar), 9-209 (Kumble), 10-221 (Zaheer Khan).

Bowling: Hoggard 16.5-4-33-3 (3-0-15-1 5-2-8-0 8-2-10-1 0.5-0-0-1), Flintoff 19-9-22-2 (nb1) (4-2-6-0 10-4-10-1 5-3-6-1), Giles 9-1-47-1 (4-0-28-0 4-1-17-1 1-0-2-0), Jones 21-2-61-2 (nb6) (2-0-5-0 5-0-20-0 5-0-14-0 9-2-22-2), White 16-3-46-2 (nb1) (6-2-20-0 5-0-10-1 5-1-16-1).

Progress: Second day: 50 in 55 min, 12.4 overs. 100 in 120 min, 27 overs. Close 130-3 (Dravid 33) 36.4 overs. Third day: 150 in 210 min, 47 overs. Lunch 176-5 (Ganguly 5, Laxman 8) 62 overs. 200 in 331 min, 72.1 overs. New ball taken after 81 overs at 221-9. Innings closed 3.13pm – early tea taken.

Sehwag 50: 90 min, 57 balls, 6 fours, 1 six.

ENGLAND – Second innings
M A Butcher lbw b Kumble 18
M P Vaughan c Wasim Jaffer b Nehra 100
N Hussain c Ratra b Agarkar 12
G P Thorpe c Ganguly b Kumble 1
J P Crawley not out 100
A Flintoff c Tendulkar b Nehra 7
A J Stewart st Ratra b Kumble 33
C White not out 6
Extras (b5, lb14, nb5) 24
Total (for 6 dec, 280 min, 64.4 overs) 301

Fall: 1-32 (Butcher), 2-65 (Hussain), 3-76 (Thorpe), 4-213 (Vaughan), 5-228 (Flintoff), 6-287 (Stewart).

Bowling: Nehra 14-1-80-2 (nb4) (4-1-23-0 5-0-27-0 5-0-30-2), Zaheer Khan 11-1-41-0 (nb1) (5-1-9-0 4-0-23-0 2-0-9-0), Kumble 24-1-84-3 (12-1-37-2 5-0-17-0 5-0-20-0 2-0-10-1), Agarkar 11.4-1-53-1 (7-1-20-1 4.4-0-33-0), Tendulkar 2-0-14-0 (one spell), Sehwag 2-0-10-0 (1-0-1-0 1-0-9-0).

Progress: Third day: 50 in 64 min, 14.5 overs. 100 in 119 min, 27.3 overs. 150 in 166 min, 38.1 overs. Close 184-3 (Vaughan 81, Crawley 56) 45 overs. Fourth day: 200 in 210 min, 48.2 overs. 250 in 246 min, 56.5 overs. Declaration at 12.27pm.

Vaughan 50: 132 min, 78 balls, 4 fours. 100: 216 min, 140 balls, 11 fours. Crawley 50: 80 min, 76 balls, 3 fours. 100: 190 min, 132 balls, 8 fours.

INDIA – Second innings
Wasim Jaffer c Hussain b Vaughan 53
V Sehwag b Jones 27
R S Dravid b Giles 63
S R Tendulkar b Hoggard 12
S C Ganguly lbw b Hoggard 0
V V S Laxman not out 38
A Ratra c Butcher b Hoggard 1
A B Agarkar not out 28
Extras (b4, lb2, w1, nb3) 10
Total (for 6, 296 min, 68 overs) 232

Fall: 1-61 (Sehwag), 2-110 (Wasim Jaffer), 3-140 (Tendulkar), 4-140 (Ganguly), 5-165 (Dravid), 6-170 (Ratra).

Bowling: Hoggard 14-5-45-3 (6-2-28-0 8-3-17-3), Flintoff 13-2-62-0 (nb2) (5-1-32-0 5-1-13-0 3-0-17-0), White 9-1-32-0 (nb1) (2-0-5-0 2-0-6-0 5-1-21-0), Jones 11-0-38-1 (w1) (4-0-16-1 5-0-11-0 2-0-11-0), Giles 16-5-42-1 (6-0-20-0 7-3-21-1 3-2-1-0), Vaughan 5-2-7-1 (3-1-3-1 1-0-4-0 1-1-0-0).

Progress: Fourth day: lunch 12-0 (Jaffer 9, Sehwag 3) 5 overs. 50 in 44 min, 9.3 overs. 100 in 109 min, 23.5 overs. Tea 121-2 (Dravid 34, Tendulkar 5) 32 overs. 150 in 185 mins, 41.4 overs. 200 in 264 min, 59.3 overs.

Wasim Jaffer 50: 107 min, 63 balls, 7 fours. Dravid 50: 124 min, 92 balls, 7 fours.

Umpires: R E Koertzen and R B Tiffin

TV Replay Umpire: P Willey Match.

Referee: M J Procter (SA).