England v India Day Three: Close of play summary

England Cricket / Andrew Hughes / 12 August 2011 /

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Cook fell just 6 runs short of a triple century

"But such is India’s inferiority at the moment that England’s lack of urgency today is unlikely to be punished."

It was another day of total English dominance and another gargantuan innings from Alastair Cook. Andrew Hughes rounds up Friday's Edgbaston action.

This was one of the dullest days Test cricket we've seen this summer, with Alastair Cook plodding on slowly towards his triple century and Andrew Strauss delaying the declaration far too long in order to allow him to get it. But such is India's inferiority at the moment that England's lack of urgency today is unlikely to be punished. Amit Mishra and Suresh Raina did, eventually manage to get a bit of turn, but it was far too late and all that will have done is encourage Graeme Swann.

With an Indian win long ago rendered impossible, their only hope is to somehow cling on and bat two days for a draw, which is currently priced at [9.2] They did it in Napier in 2009 and Gautam Gambhir alluded to that battling rearguard action in his press conference on Thursday night. He played a leading role in that match and he is a good bet to lead the resistance and top score in India's second innings at [4.6] But nothing we have seen from India so far in this series suggests they can bat out one day against England's rampant bowlers, let alone two.

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