England continued its ruthless march in the third Test, every step a crushing, steel-heeled stomp on India's bruised, barely alive body.
Alastair Cook isn't a violent batsman. But there's an air of grim inevitability to his run-making that affects bowlers more severely.
India's bowlers were certainly affected: they might have kept him from a triple-century — Cook holed out on 294 — but for twelve hours and forty-seven minutes, they hadn't a dream of getting past the left-hander.
Eoin Morgan, dropped twice on the second day, was determined to make the most of his luck on the third. The competition for English middle-order berths is particularly strong these days, and Morgan had no intention of refusing soft runs. He helped himself to 104, his second Test hundred.
As a consequence, England made its highest score in a non-timeless Test — 710 for seven declared — and found the time to hand Virender Sehwag a King pair.
Floodlights fail
As it has many times this series, India struggled in the field for little reward. At least the bowlers and the fielders got to go off frequently — play was interrupted several times by rain and bad light (once when the floodlights failed).
So dire was India's state that signs of encouragement had to be found in the smallest things: Sreesanth's brief spell after lunch in which he hid the ball, upped his pace, and tried to make something happen; Amit Mishra's use of a touch more body in his action to create brisker, sharper leg-breaks; Praveen Kumar's willingness to give it his all; Ishant Sharma's intensity with the third new ball after tea.
But the reality of it was that England had India for the taking. The Indian bowlers, for all their efforts, hadn't enough runs to work with; nor had they the sustained levels of accuracy that enhances wicket-taking potential. With in-out fields in place — and despite an improvement in the fielding standard — England had several options for risk-free runs.
Cook, who resumed on 182, isn't one to throw his wicket away. Openers in England, where the new ball does a fair bit, are keenly aware of the need to make the best of a start. He did just that, the bustle of his trigger movement against the quicker bowlers belying the calmness with which he gathered his runs in taps and nudges.
Morgan has perhaps the most unorthodox set-up in world cricket today: a deep crouch in which he folds like an accordion, back-foot swivelling and correcting, before the body decompresses. Exactly how it helps isn't clear; if anything, he's moving too much to keep his head steady. But after a terrible start to the series, Morgan has made 174 runs in two innings: so there's something about the method that works.
Morgan also had the stroke of the day, a surprisingly fluid cover-drive that brought one of only seven fours (he struck six, Cook, one) during his time at the crease on Friday.
India eventually got a wicket when Morgan drove a Suresh Raina off-break to cover without keeping the ball to ground. Ravi Bopara, who had watched the partnership of 222 with his pads on, came in, with England on 596 for four.
There wasn't any pressure; there was plenty of pressure. Bopara knew he had one chance to keep his name in the reckoning. He stretched forward uncertainly to Mishra; a slightly spun leg-break had him in front of his stumps. Mishra then had Matt Prior top-edging a sweep to a scurrying, tumbling Sachin Tendulkar, and India had three wickets for 13.
Tim Bresnan showed what a useful batsman he is to have come in at eight against a tired attack. But the attention was on Cook. An Edgbaston crowd, which had waited patiently all day, was disappointed, however, as Cook sliced a ball to deep backward-point. It was the unlikeliest of ends to a hard-grafted innings.
Indifferent bounce
Andrew Strauss declared England's first innings closed with the wicket, and was at first slip when Sehwag threw his hands at a wide out-swinger. It was a stroke of instinct, James Anderson's length invited it; but it could have been left on line, as Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid showed in taking India to stumps on 35 for one.
Two days of batting confront India — on a surface that's showing signs of indifferent bounce and quite acute turn.
India — 1st innings: 224.
England — 1st innings: A. Strauss b Mishra 87 (176b, 13x4), A. Cook c Raina b Ishant 294 (545b, 33x4), I. Bell b Praveen 34 (43b, 6x4), K. Pietersen lbw b Praveen 63 (78b, 9x4, 1x6), E. Morgan c Sehwag b Raina 104 (199b, 11x4), R. Bopara lbw b Mishra 7 (15b, 1x4), M. Prior c Tendulkar b Mishra 5 (11b), T. Bresnan (not out) 53 (75b, 6x4, 1x6); Extras (b-11, lb-34, nb-15, w-3): 63; Total (for seven wkts. decl. in 188.1 overs): 710.
Fall of wickets: 1-186 (Strauss), 2-252 (Bell), 3-374 (Pietersen), 4-596 (Morgan), 5-605 (Bopara), 6-613 (Prior), 7-710 (Cook).
India bowling: Praveen 40-13-98-2, Sreesanth 36-4-158-0, Ishant 37.1-7-159-1, Mishra 43-2-150-3, Raina 28-1-83-1, Tendulkar 4-0-17-0.
India — 2nd innings: G. Gambhir (batting) 14 (41b, 2x4), V. Sehwag c Strauss b Anderson 0 (1b), R. Dravid (batting) 18 (30b, 3x4); Extras (lb-1, w-2): 3; Total (for one wkt. in 12 overs): 35.
Fall of wicket: 1-3 (Sehwag).
England bowling: Anderson 5-1-18-1, Broad 2-0-7-0, Bresnan 3-0-4-0, Swann 1-0-4-0, Pietersen 1-0-1-0.
