England clinch series after tie

By Owen Phillips
BBC Sport

There were confusing scenes at the end of a pulsating game at Lord’s

England clinched the one-day series against India as a gripping fourth game ended in a rain-affected tie in a confusing finale at Lord’s.

The tourists seemed set to secure their first win over England this summer after posting a challenging 280-5.

Ravi Bopara scored a magnificent 96 to guide England to the brink of victory.

But with the rain falling and England needing 11 to win from seven balls, three rain delays eventually saw the Duckworth/Lewis method come into play.

Both teams were guilty of using delaying tactics as a confusing final few overs saw both sides in pole position at different points.

England were ahead of the required rate going into the penultimate over but Graeme Swann was run out by Munaf Patel and the same player had Bopara caught on the boundary to ensure the match was declared a tie after a further delay.

And although the result was a probably a fair one, it was a shame such an entertaining encounter should end in such comical circumstances.

Despite missing out on a century, Bopara’s brilliance ensures England head into Friday’s final match in Wales with an unassailable 2-0 lead.

The tourists have suffered a miserable summer, coming second best in all forms of the game.

But they showed commendable fighting spirit with both bat and ball and looked on course for victory and able to salvage some pride from a hugely disappointing three-month tour.

There was certainly a determination about their batting that had been lacking on so many occasions.

Unsurprisingly England skipper Alastair Cook took little time in deciding to put India’s fragile line-up in on a bowler-friendly surface.

And the tourists, no doubt mindful of their disastrous start in the third one-day international at The Oval, began cautiously on a green pitch that once again favoured England’s seam attack.

India edged to 9-0 after five overs and Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel barely played an attacking shot in the opening seven overs.

But the pair accelerated in spectacular fashion with Patel pulling James Anderson for six for the first boundary and a combination of some fine attacking strokes and some unlucky bowling – particularly from Steven Finn who was recalled for Jade Dernbach – saw the tourists look well set at 75-1 after 15 overs.

Stuart Broad slowed the progress, making the breakthrough with a full delivery that trapped Rahane lbw and the Nottinghamshire paceman followed that up in his next over by having Patel sky a catch to Ravi Bopara.

Not to be outdone, Broad’s county colleague Swann was soon in on the act, taking two wickets in his first over.

Dhoni scored some spectacular boundaries

First Swann outfoxed Virat Kohli, who edged a fine delivery to wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter, and then he took a smart caught and bowled to get rid of key man Rahul Dravid.

Swann’s miserly bowling (2-8 in four overs) put the game firmly back in England’s favour and after 33 overs India had only reached 128-4.

But Mahendra Dhioni (78no) and Raina (84) did not panic and they rebuilt the innings steadily.

Skipper Dhoni laid the platform, reigning in his attacking instincts and allowing Raina to play the more fluent, attacking knock as they batted sensibly and kept wickets in hand for a devastating finale.

And they both cut loose in the final 10 overs, bludgeoning the ball to all parts in scoring 109.

Dhoni demonstrated his class with a second successive half-century, hitting three sixes – the highlight of which was clubbing Swann for a huge six over midwicket.

Raina was equally as effective, smashing a massive maximum off Broad as all bowlers took some serious punishment in a wonderfully entertaining spell that saw the pair post the best fifth-wicket stand for India against England in on-day internationals.

Broad’s stint ended in doubly painful circumstances, as he was unable to complete the final over after pulling up with an injury to his right arm.

With the momentum with India, England’s response started badly, with Craig Kieswetter and skipper Alastair Cook both falling to the much maligned RP Singh.

Jonathan Trott soon followed, playing on to Praveen Kumar as he looked to up the run rate on the powerplay but Bell and Bopara set about rebuilding in much the same way as Dhoni and Raina had done.

Bell’s innings ended when a rare, rash shot saw him attempt to loft Ravindra Jadeja towards long off and he was well caught by Manoj Tiwary.

Ben Stokes quickly followed Bell back to the pavillion and although Tim Bresnan’s fine 27 from 22 balls gave England hope.

But then the rain – or the very real threat of it – took over.

With the clouds gathering England did their best to get ahead of the required rate and Bopara did a wonderful job of doing so before that crazy 49th over which saw India claim two wickets.

The tourists thought they had done enough to win but eventually found out they had not pegged the series back to 2-1 and now go Wales knowing they are just playing for pride.

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