The Wisden Bulletin
by Lawrence Booth
Wednesday, December 19, 2001

Close England 255 for 6 (Vaughan 64, Ramprakash 58)
scorecard

Another absorbing day turned on the controversial dismissal of Michael Vaughan, who became the seventh batsman in Test history to depart handled the ball (see Record Collection). It brought to an end an outstanding fourth-wicket partnership of 113 between Vaughan and Mark Ramprakash, and signalled a mini-collapse as England lost 3 for 13 to hand the initiative back to India, although Craig White (30*) and James Foster (14*) set about another repair job as the skies darkened and the floodlights blazed.

Vaughan's innings was the classiest aspect of a day that ebbed and flowed throughout and was called off with four overs to go when the players left the field for bad light for the second time. Vaughan had stroked and nurdled his way to 64, before aiming a sweep against offspinner Sarandeep Singh. He missed, and the ball bobbled up on to his thigh, before dropping harmlessly to the ground. There was no backspin on the ball, yet Vaughan instinctively put a hand on it. Deep Dasgupta, who had scrambled round from behind the stumps looking for an improbable catch, appeared unconcerned, but Sarandeep, after a moment's hesitation, appealed half-heartedly. Umpire Jayaprakash had no choice but to uphold the decision, and Vaughan trudged off like a schoolboy who had been wrongly accused of cheating in an exam. If India's sportsmanship was lacking, then so was Vaughan's logic.

Four balls later Andy Flintoff, clearly deciding he had spent long enough playing himself in, flicked Sarandeep straight to Sachin Tendulkar at midwicket for 0, and 206 for 3 had become 206 for 5. So far this series Flintoff has made 18, 4, 0, 4 and 0, and has shown as much judgement as a gin-soaked jury.

But Sarandeep wasn't finished. Four overs after that double-strike, Ramprakash pushed forward with bat tucked behind pad and was given out caught at first slip by Rahul Dravid for 58 via Deep Dasgupta's gloves. Replays suggested that while the ball definitely came off the pad, it possibly missed the bat: even so, England were 219 for 6 and for the fifth innings out of five in this series, they had bungled a solid start.

Until that moment of madness, Vaughan had played like a man desperate to make up for lost time, which in his case is about half his Test career. He stroked Javagal Srinath's first ball after lunch through midwicket, flicked Anil Kumble to fine leg, then cut him hard for four to bring up England's 100. An elegant cover-drive and a pragmatic push off the hip brought him boundaries soon after off Srinath, before he flicked Harbhajan Singh through wide mid-on. A quieter spell followed, but when Harbhajan went round the wicket, Vaughan swept him powerfully for four and reached his third Test fifty soon after. After so many injuries and near-misses, it looked like his luck was changing. Not for long.

Ramprakash had been content to play second fiddle for much of the partnership, working the leg side for singles with ruthless regularity, and batting without any headwear - a reflection, perhaps, of the new relaxed Ramps. He stroked Kumble through the covers, lifted Sarandeep over midwicket to bring up the 200, and reached his half-century with a tickle for four to fine leg off Srinath, who was going round the wicket. As with Vaughan, it took something slightly dubious to get rid of him.

His dismissal put India back in charge for the first time since the demise of Nasser Hussain, who fell shortly after lunch to leave England in a tight spot at 93 for 3. Hussain had played another aggressive innings, which got under way with a rabble-rousing pulled six off Srinath, and included some juicy, meaty drives off his opposite number Sourav Ganguly. But when Srinath, who had bowled well in the morning without much luck, found some extra bounce and movement outside off, Hussain could only nick it to Dasgupta for 43.

The morning session had begun and ended well for India, with England fighting back in between. Marcus Trescothick was first to go, caught at second slip by VVS Laxman for 8 (21 for 1) as Srinath got one to go away outside off. Mark Butcher eased into a couple of classy cover-drives, but there was playing and missing amid the strokeplay, and at 68 for 1, England would have been the happier side.

Then came England's first moment of self-destruction. Butcher set off for a single into the covers and Hussain rightly sent him back, but Dravid's throw and Dasgupta's pick-up were too good and Butcher was comfortably run out for 27. He walked off cursing, although most of the oaths should have been aimed at himself.

It was to be that kind of day.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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