Close England 341 for 5 (Vaughan 197, Butcher 53) trail India 357all out (Sehwag 106, Ganguly 68, Harbhajan 54) by 16 runs
Scorecard

An innings of outstanding quality from Michael Vaughan put England well in control of the second Test at the end of the third day's play at Trent Bridge. He made 197 out of the 341 runs that England scored, and in the process topped his highest first-class score and made his third hundred of the summer. Sadly, he fell a mere three runs short of a well-deserved double-hundred.

India's bowling was largely mediocre, but that should take nothing away from a magnificent knock. The day started under overcast skies, but the weather cleared even as Vaughan uncorked his champagne innings, and by the time the seven-hour day wound to a close with nine scheduled overs still to be bowled, England were only 16 runs adrift of India's 357.

Unlike the England seamers, who got the ball to move prodigiously throughout India's innings, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan hardly got the new ball to dart around at all. Robert Key looked the part in his brief innings of 17. He got off the mark in confident fashion, easing Nehra through cover for three, and impressed with his ability to leave deliveries just outside off. A longer innings was on the cards when he under-edged an attempted pull off Nehra onto his stumps (56 for 1).

Then came the partnership of the day. Mark Butcher began circumspectly, playing and missing against Harbhajan Singh, and surviving a difficult caught-and-bowled chance off him, but Vaughan oozed class from the outset. On a slow pitch, he latched on to anything even fractionally short – a couple of vertical-bat pulls off Nehra were superb. And when the bowlers overcompensated by pitching it up, Vaughan served up some classical cover-drives and flicks.

If he dealt the Indian seamers with contempt, then he was equally assured against Harbhajan, India's best bowler today. Harbhajan got appreciable turn, and some bounce, but Vaughan judged the length to perfection and played close to his body. Some of the back-foot flicks off Harbhajan fetched him only a run or two, but it demonstrated supreme confidence and consummate skill.

The assurance rubbed off on Butcher too, who shook off his diffidence and played a few sparkling shots, none better than the down-the-pitch straight-drive off Harbhajan. The extended afternoon session produced a whopping 155 runs at an Australian run-rate of 4.30, with Vaughan contributing 99 of those runs.

England threatened to overtake India's total by the end of play, but India pulled it back somewhat with three wickets after tea. Butcher's vigil at the crease ended when he was finally nicked one from Harbhajan to Rahul Dravid at slip for 54 (221 for 2), ending a mammoth 165-run partnership.

Harbhajan struck again in his next over, having Nasser Hussain glove an attempted sweep to the wicketkeeper for 3 (228 for 3). Parthiv Patel couldn't have asked for a simpler first Test catch than the dolly he got, but it was just reward for some nifty glovework behind the stumps. His one lapse – a dropped catch down the leg side from Vaughan off Harbhajan in the last over before lunch – proved to be an extremely costly one, however.

John Crawley and Vaughan had put together 137 in the second-innings at Lord's, but managed just 44 this time before Crawley was given out caught by Jaffer at gully off Zaheer for 22 (272 for 4).

Alec Stewart kept the momentum going with a typically busy knock, while Vaughan moved along calmly towards his double-hundred. A superb extra-cover drive off Ajit Agarkar took him to 197, but next ball he attempted to repeated the shot, and only managed to nick it to give Parthiv his second catch. The Trent Bridge crowd rose to give him a standing ovation, and he deserved nothing less.

Earlier, Harbhajan stole the show in the first 50 minutes of play, stroking his way to the second-fastest half-century by an Indian in Tests. His 37-ball 54 helped India add 55 runs to their overnight score of 302 for 8. Nasser Hussain would have backed his bowlers to finish off India's innings quickly, but Harbhajan pulled and flicked with aplomb, and with Zaheer providing good support, the ninth wicket added 61.

The entertainment ended when Harbhajan was surprised by one from Steve Harmison which bounced more than he expected it to, forcing him to check an attempted drive and spoon a catch to Hussain at cover (356 for 9). Harmison got his third wicket of the innings, but figures of 3 for 57 were extremely flattering for some unimpressive bowling. India's innings folded up soon after, when Hoggard had Nehra caught behind off a superb away-swinger. Hoggard finished with 4 for 105 and was by far England's best bowler.

At close of play on the second day, a draw might have been odds-on favourite. However, Vaughan's magnificent innings has given England a real chance of forcing the issue. A lead of about 120 runs could ask severe questions of the Indian batsmen's temperament and resolve in the second innings.

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