Cricket story by Georgina Scane, Fri, 03 Mar 2006 13:24:00 GMT


NAGPUR, India - Matthew Hoggard was at his miserly best as England rocked India in the first session of Day 3 of the first Test at Nagpur. Starting the day on 136-1, India was in trouble early on as they lost skipper Rahul Dravid on 40 in the third over of the day. Replays showed that the ball could have missed the leg stump, but Aleem Dar upheld Hoggard's appeal.

In his next over, Hoggard got Jaffer to dive straight to Flintoff's hands and trapped Laxman in front of the stumps. India were struggling at 149-4 and the situation got worse when Monty Panesar picked up his first wicket in tests in the form of Sachin Tendulkar.

Dhoni also sis not last long and edged Flintoff to Jones for 5. India went into lunch at 190-6 and their troubles were compounded just after when Hoggard snaffled Irfan Pathan for 2. Then came a frustrating 128-run stand between Mohammed Kaif and Anil Kumble that guided India to 318 before Harmison got Kumble for 58.

The lanky leg spinner was lucky since he was dropped by Geraint Jones off Harmison when his personal score was 9 and India was at 217-7. In the next over Panesar got the dangerous Kaif for 91 with a peach of a delivery that spun from the middle stump to hit off. At the close of play, India were 322-9 still, 71 runs adrift of England's first innings score of 393.

Match Summary Day 3
England 1st innings 393 all out - Collingwood 134*, Shreesanth 4-95
India 1st innings - 322-9, Kaif 91, Kumble 58, Hoggard 5- 57

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