england vs india

Luke-E

Mumbai
England 400 (A J Strauss 128, O A Shah 88, A Flintoff 50, S Sreesanth 4-70) v India 89-3
Matthew Hoggard claimed two wickets in the evening session to leave England well placed after the second day of the third Test against India in Mumbai.

India finished the day at 89-3 in reply to England's first innings effort of 400, which had been underpinned by Owais Shah's debut 88.

Hoggard produced some surprising bounce with the new ball to remove both Indian openers Wasim Jaffer (11) and Virender Sehwag (6) early in their reply.

Sehwag fended to Owais Shah at first slip for, while Jaffer gloved down the leg-side trying to evade a short delivery.

When James Anderson had local hero Sachin Tendulkar (1) caught behind, India were in big trouble at 28-3.

But home skipper Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh repaired some of the damage as they batted through to stumps without further alarm.

In the morning, Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood extended their fourth-wicket partnership to 82 as they rode their luck during the first hour.

Flintoff was dropped on three occasions, twice in two balls off Munaf Patel, and also by Irfan Pathan who held the catch at fine-leg before stepping over the boundary rope.

But in the 20th over of play Collingwood departed caught behind off Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, sparking a collapse of five wickets for 30 runs either side of lunch.

Flintoff did reach his 21st Test fifty, and third in successive innings, before holing out to Sachin Tendulkar on the midwicket boundary from the next ball to give Anil Kumble his sole success.

Owais Shah returned to the crease at the fall of Collingwood to continue his maiden Test innings after cramp in his hands had forced him to retire on 50 not out yesterday.

The impressive Patel's luck changed during his second spell as he trapped Shaun Udal leg-before and uprooted Hoggard's leg-stump with successive deliveries.

With just the tail left for company Shah went on the attack, using his feet to smash Harbhajan for a straight six as he neared a maiden hundred.

In the end, the 27-year-old fell 12 short of the landmark, well caught by Dravid at slip as Harbhajan extracted some extra bounce before England's last wicket-pair of Anderson and Monty Panesar ensured they at least reached 400.

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