White and Hoggard give England a stranglehold

India 357 and 99 for 2 England 617

Speaking to Michael Atherton in a recent television interview, the England captain, Nasser Hussain, stated that one of the things his team needed to do in order to move upwards from their position as a mid-table side was "seize the moment". By this Hussain meant that on those occasions when a match is in the balance, he wants his side to be brave enough to grab hold of it by the scruff of the neck.

Showing the advances they have made as a team, this is exactly what England did from the moment they went into bat, in bowler-friendly conditions, at 11.58am on Saturday morning. Under the pressure of a decent Indian score of 357, England needed a good start.

This they received in the shape of Saturday's glorious innings of 197 from Michael Vaughan who, heeding Hussain's words, was positive from the word go. And it was his century, as stylish and accomplished as any of the 10 that England's batsmen have scored this summer, that allowed the home side to take complete control of this second Test well before Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff dismissed India's openers.

This, however, was the last success for Hussain's side as Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar batted with equal aggression before bad light stopped play with India still 161 runs behind. For a man supposedly out of form Tendulkar played beautifully and it is he who England need to dismiss most today in order to win their fourth Test match in a row.

Yesterday however it was the turn of Craig White and Alec Stewart to dominate proceedings with displays of strokeplay as crisp and clean as Vaughan's the previous day. The 32-year-old White is the sort of player whose scores sneak up on you. Each time you look at the scoreboard it is a surprise to see how much his score has advanced.

This is because the strokeplay of the Yorkshire all-rounder is not violent or dismissive – other than a huge, straight six off Harbhajan Singh when he was looking for his hundred – but elegant and well timed. His shots tend to stand out less than those of some of his colleagues. However a closer inspection of his 94 not out revealed several sumptuous drives through the off-side.

Cajoling the best out of England's tail, which wagged more than Mike Gatting's finger in Faisalabad, White, along with Dominic Cork and Hoggard, squeezed the last drops of life out of India's frustrated bowlers and fielders. By the time Steve Harmison sliced a drive to cover with England on 617 – their highest score since the 653 for 4 against the same opposition in 1990, when Graham Gooch scored 333 – India looked bedraggled and their captain spent of ideas.

By keeping the visitors out in the field and putting together a record ninth-wicket partnership of 103 against India, White and Hoggard – who scored a career-best 32 – had achieved more than helping extend England's lead to 260. They had all but broken the tourists mentally.

Starting the day 16 runs behind and with five wickets in hand, Stewart and Flintoff wasted no time at all in making the most of India's indifferent bowling. It was Stewart, 15 years older than his partner, who was the dominant party in a partnership of 97 that took just 100 balls. On his way to 87, his highest score against India, Stewart ticked off another milestone in his remarkable career.

On passing 45 with a cut shot off Singh, the veteran of 120 Test matches passed Atherton's aggregate of 7,728 runs to become England's fourth highest run scorer. In his sights now are Geoffrey Boycott (8,114) – who Tendulkar passed yesterday when on 48 – David Gower (8,231) and Graham Gooch (8,900).

However it is not reaching this goal that Stewart's innings will be remembered for most but an incident when he was on 48. Facing Ajit Agarkar's fifth delivery with the second new ball, Stewart pushed at a ball that flew off his outside edge low to the left of Virender Sehwag at third slip. Diving, Sehwag appeared to cleanly scoop the ball up before it hit the ground. Stewart, questioning the integrity of the fielder and perhaps realising that the majority of such catches when deferred to a third umpire result in not-out, stood his ground.

After the usual agonising wait and with replays proving inconclusive, Stewart survived on the ridiculous law of the game that the benefit of the doubt should go to the batsman. This was an example of technology failing because, before its introduction, Stewart would correctly have been given out.

This escape, far from distracting the 39-year-old, encouraged him to show his full repertoire of strokes, much to the joy of a crowd numbering around 8,000. His best, though, were clips through the onside as the frustrated Agarkar strayed.

Stewart's and Flintoff's innings were ended in the space of three balls when Zaheer Khan knocked back both of their off stumps, but for England this was not too much of an inconvenience. It just allowed others to come in and shake the neck around which England now have a tight grip.

TRENT BRIDGE SCOREBOARD

Fourth day; India won toss

INDIA – First Innings 357

ENGLAND – First Innings
R W T Key b Nehra 17
M P Vaughan c Patel b Agarkar 197
M A Butcher c Dravid b Harbhajan 53
N Hussain c Patel b Harbhajan 3
J P Crawley c Jaffer b Zaheer Khan 22
A J Stewart b Zaheer Khan 87
A Flintoff b Zaheer Khan 22
C White not out 94
D G Cork c Jaffer b Harbhajan 31
M J Hoggard c Dravid b Nehra 32
S J Harmison c Jaffer b Agarkar 3
Extras (b9, lb17, w4, nb15) 45
Total (648 min, 144.5 overs) 617

Fall: 1-56 (Key), 2-221 (Butcher), 3-228 (Hussain), 4-272 (Crawley), 5-335 (Vaughan), 6-432 (Flintoff), 7-433 (Stewart), 8-493 (Cork), 9-596 (Hoggard).

Bowling: Nehra 32-3-138-2 (nb9, w2) (4-0-14-0, 7-0-33-1, 5-0-29-0, 4-0-21-0, 1-0-4-0, 5-1-26-0, 6-2-11-1); Zaheer Khan 26-4-110-3 (6-2-19-0, 2-0-12-0, 5-1-15-1, 2-0-13-0, 7-1-33-2, 4-0-18-0); Agarkar 24.5-3-93-2 (w2) (3-0-11-0, 3-0-19-0, 4-0-12-1, 7-0-40-0, 2-1-5-0, 5-2-5-0, 0.5-0-1-1); Harbhajan Singh 45-3-175-3 (17-2-49-0, 1-0-7-0, 11-1-51-2, 2-0-8-0, 3-0-15-0, 1-0-4-0, 8-0-28-1, 2-0-13-0); Ganguly 5-0-42-0 (nb5) (2-0-23-0, 3-0-19-0); Tendulkar 6-0-15-0 (4-0-8-0, 2-0-7-0); Sehwag 6-1-18-0 (nb1) (3-0-8-0, 3-1-10-0).

Progress: Third day: Lunch 46-0 (Key 14, Vaughan 31) 14 overs. 50: 70 min, 15.4 overs. 100: 122 min, 28.1 overs. 150: 163 min, 37.2 overs. 200: 215 min, 51 overs. Tea: 201-1 (Vaughan 130, Butcher 43) 51 overs. 250: 263 min, 61.1 overs. 300: 320 min, 74 overs. Bad light stopped play: 7.00pm. Fourth day: 350: 375 min, 86 overs. New ball taken after 90 overs: 369-5. 400: 414 min, 94.1 overs. 450: 464 min, 102.4 overs. Lunch: 468-7 (White 16, Cork 17) 107 overs. 500: 526 min, 116.1 overs. 550: 575 min, 128 overs. 600: 632 min, 141.1 overs. Innings closed: 4.26pm.

Vaughan 50: 95 min, 77 balls, 8 fours. 100: 169 min, 123 balls, 14 fours. 150: 253 min, 187 balls, 19 fours.

Butcher 50: 152 min, 112 balls, 8 fours.

Stewart 50: 114 min, 66 balls, 8 fours.

White 50: 130 min, 81 balls, 8 fours.

INDIA – Second Innings
V Sehwag lbw Hoggard 0
Wasim Jaffer lbw b Flintoff 5
R S Dravid not out 34
S R Tendulkar not out 56
Extras (lb2, nb2) 4
Total (for 2, 91 min, 19.2 overs) 99

Fall: 1-0 (Sehwag), 2-11 (Wasim Jaffer).

To bat: *S C Ganguly, V V S Laxman, ÝP A Patel, A B Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, A Nehra.

Bowling: Hoggard 9-0-56-1 (nb2); Flintoff 4-0-24-1; Harmison 5.2-1-16-0; Cork 1-0-1-0 (one spell each).

Progress: Bad light delayed restart until 5.08pm. 50: 50 min, 10.1 overs. Bad light stopped play: 6.04-6.38pm 62-2 (Dravid 19, Tendulkar 36) 11.3 overs. BLSP: 7.13pm.

Tendulkar 50: 60 min, 44 balls, 10 fours.

Umpires: R B Tiffin (Zim) and R E Koertzen (SA).