India Powerless To Prevent England Taking Top Spot

India Powerless To Prevent England Taking Top Spot

England celebrate a wicket at Edgbaston - by the end of the game they were celbrating displacing India at the top of the ICC Test rankings

©Action Images / Andrew Boyers Livepic

England 710-7 dec. (Cook 294, Morgan 104) beat
India 224 & 244 (Dhoni 74no) by an innings & 242 runs
Third Test, Edgbaston
Scorecard | Day One | Day Two | Day Three

England guaranteed themselves the position at the top of the ICC Test rankings at the conclusion of their series with India by completing an innings-and-242-run win in the third Test at Edgbaston.

India were bowled out for 244 as their remarkable run of failing to reach 300 in a Test innings continued, James Anderson taking four wickets and a brace apiece for Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann also playing a key part.

England were last ranked number one in Tests in 1979 and India had held the mantle since December 2009.

India resumed on 35 for one having lost Virender Sehwag late on day three but neither Gautam Gambhir (14) or Rahul Dravid (18) could score a run on the day before being caught behind by Swann and Prior respectively for Anderson's first two wickets.

VVS Laxman became Anderson's third wicket when he too was caught behind by Prior having made just two and Suresh Raina's miserable Test series continued when he was trapped in front by Swann for two.

That was 87 for four and India were reeling at 89 for five when Sachin Tendulkar's innings of 40 in 60 balls was ended when he was run out by Swann.

By now, India were gone, but they showed some fight with Mahendra Singh Dhoni remaining unbeaten on 74 in 79 balls, Amit Mishra holding his own with 22 and Praveen Kumar smashing three sixes in a knock of 40 in 18 balls.

The merry hitting could not last, Broad eventually getting rid of Kumar, Swann having Mishra caught by Broad and the tail offered little resistance.

England wrapped things up when Broad trapped Ishant Sharma (0) leg before and Tim Bresnan had Shanthakumaran Sreesanth caught by Kevin Pietersen for five.

The outstanding Anderson returned figures of four for 85, Broad two for 28 and Swann two for 88.

England dominated the match throughout, bowling India out on the opening day for 224 having won the toss and then racking up 710 for seven before declaring when Alastair Cook was out for 294.

England clinched the series by moving into a 3-0 lead with one match remaining having won by 196 runs at Lord's and 313 runs at Trent Bridge.

The fourth and final Test at The Oval begins on 18th August.

© Cricket World 2011