India v England - Fourth Test

Vidarbha C.A. Ground, Nagpur

India: *SM Gavaskar, MH Mankad, PR Umrigar, VS Hazare, M Amarnath, M Azharuddin, +FM Engineer, Kapil Dev, M Prabhakar, J Srinath, EAS Prasanna.
England: JB Hobbs, *L Hutton, WR Hammond, KF Barrington, MC Cowdrey, IT Botham, +LEG Ames, JC Laker, DL Underwood, JB Statham, RGD Willis.

Debuts: Nil
Umpires: LP Rowan (AUS) & DL Orchard (SAF)
Toss: England

Both the Indian press and public alike demanded improvement after their side's meek submission in Bangalore, but the omission of Bedi was not a popular move despite the fact that his output had steadily declined over the course of the series, and once Len Hutton won the toss and decided to bat on what was undoubtedly the quickest wicket produced on the tour thus far, things only got worse for an increasingly beleaguered Sunil Gavaskar and his team.

By stumps on day one England had amassed an imposing 393-3, and this was extended to an impregnable 609 by tea on the second day, the third highest total in England's ATG history. The innings was centred around a second wicket partnership of 239 between Hobbs and Hammond, with both players recording authoritative centuries as India's bowlers were mauled on a wicket that allowed the ball to come onto the bat beautifully. Hammond, who was dropped on 50 by Gavaskar, was finally snared by India's skipper in the slips off Hazare for 115, but Hobbs converted his first hundred of what had been a hitherto disappointing series into a big one, finally departing in the penultimate over of the first day for 174, lbw to Prabhakar after exactly six hours at the crease.

Barrington fell early on day two for a typically patient 59, but a trio of attacking sixties from Cowdrey, Botham and Ames sustained England's momentum, and India's increasingly ragged fielding betrayed the mental state of a team that had been top of the world just two Tests ago. Faced with a target of 410 just to avoid the follow-on, the Indians collapsed to 37-4 in the face of the hostility of Willis and the nagging accuracy of Statham, and after a promising partnership of 68 between Amarnath and Azharuddin was broken on the third morning the innings subsided again, this time terminally to a sorry 165 all out, nine runs less than Hobbs had made on his own. Willis grabbed three top order wickets in his first bowl of the series, Statham also picked up a trio of scalps, and only 46 from the recalled Amarnath held up England's progress in any significant way.

Hutton had little hesitation in enforcing the follow-on, and with a deficit of 444, Gavaskar walked to the wicket with the axe suddenly hanging over his tenure as captain, a position that would have been unthinkable at the start of the series. Mankad once again got out, lbw to Underwood for 29, having seemingly done the hard work, but Hazare and Gavaskar took the score to a promising 159-2 by the close of the third day, with Gavaskar's share a wonderfully defiant 90, an innings that made a statement with every stroke of the Little Master's blade. He managed to reach a thoroughly deserved hundred on the fourth morning with two powerful cover drives to the boundary off an out of sorts Laker, but by this time Hazare (32) and Amarnath (2) had both been set packing by the increasingly irresistible Underwood, and once Gavaskar himself became Underwood's fifth victim, caught by Hammond for 109, it was all over for India.

Kapil Dev went down blazing with a forceful 39, but Willis and Botham finished off the innings with the new ball on the fourth afternoon, and a total of 274 gave England their second consecutive innings victory inside four days and with it, the series. Indian expectations had been high coming into the series, and defeat with one Test still to play is a most unpalatable state of affairs, even allowing for the fact that England are the number one ranked team in the ATG world. The run making feats of the second Test, lauded at the time, are now being viewed as a 'selfish miscalculation' by much of the Indian press, and one is left to wonder whether Gavaskar's regime will survive what has been a traumatic eight days for Indian cricket.

Scores
England 1st Inns 609 (Hobbs 174, Hammond 115, Cowdrey 62, Botham 61, Ames 60*, Barrington 59; Kapil Dev 4-122)
India 1st Inns 165 (Amarnath 46)
India 2nd Inns 274 (Gavaskar 109; Underwood 5-86)

ENGLAND WON BY AN INNINGS & 170 RUNS


Man of the Match: JB Hobbs