Though it seemed stirring at the time, the Indian fightback on the second day may turn out to be quite irrelevant.

By the time India summoned the power, the energy and the will to take England’s second wicket today, the match was more or less out of India’s reach. The bird had flown. England’s total score was 191, for a lead of 43, and they had eight more wickets in hand. In the event England lost three more wickets and were 229/3 at one stage, but the young pair of Joe Root and Jos Buttler once again took the match away from India.

India’s Independence Day capitulation, being bowled out for 148 on Friday, means that they’d need a miracle to take this game into the fifth day, let alone draw or win it. The series is lost, surely.

Their batsmen are not going to perform any miracle — India’s scores after the 330 in the first innings of the Southampton Test have been 178, 152, 161 and 148.

The batsmen don’t have the skills to deal with the swinging ball; mentally, they are shot — they can’t figure out whether James Anderson is going to swing the ball in or out.

India’s bowlers are not going to perform a miracle, too. They’re tired, dispirited or simply not equal to the task.

“There seems to be no hope, because the bowlers are not taking any wickets,” says Sanjay Manjrekar. “The batsmen are struggling, it’s true, but they have no hope too because the bowlers are unable to take wickets, too.”

The Indian batsmen’s struggles against the swinging ball on Independence Day were not unexpected — the groundsman had prepared a wicket suited to the England pacemen. Rain had made it damp, there were clouds in the sky and moisture in the air — just what James Anderson and Stuart Broad love.

Today was, in contrast, just wonderful for batting. Alastair Cook, looking more confident than ever before in the series, was helped by the wayward length of the bowlers, which allowed him to get his runs square of the wicket. Batsmen on this track are going to be troubled by the swinging ball pitched up to them; the three Indian pacemen were guilty of pitching it too short too often, allowing the pressure to build on themselves. Cook got just 10 runs in the front V, but 57 on the square both sides of the wicket. His 79 was not attractive, but it was very useful for England.

He was helped by the butter-fingered Indians; Murali Vijay at first slip dropped the England skipper off Varun Aaron when he was on 65, and Ajinkya Rahane dropped him off Ravichandran Ashwin when Cook was on 70. The first was the easiest of the slip catches, the second was tougher but not uncatchable. It seemed that the Indians, certain that they could not get England out at all, had dozed off in the slips, though Vijay did wake up momentarily to catch Cook off Aaron. Cook’s third half-century of the series was supported by Gary Ballance’s 64.

England lost four for 38 at one stage in the second session — Aaron, Ashwin and Ishant taking the wickets. But just like in the Manchester Test, Root and Buttler came together to thwart India, attacking and defending in turn on a second day pitch that was less demonic than the first day.

Root and Jordan smashed the tired Indians late in the day, and 76 runs were made in the last 11 overs — India’s game is up.

Scoreboard

India 1st innings

Vijay c Root b Woakes 18

Gambhir c Buttler b Anderson 0

Pujara b Broad 4

Kohli lbw b Jordan 6

Rahane c&b Jordan 0

Dhoni c Woakes b Broad 82

Binny c Cook b Anderson 5

Ashwin c Root b Woakes 13

Kumar c Buttler b Jordan 5

Aaron c&b Woakes 1

Sharma not out 7

Extras: (b 6, lb 1) 7

Total: (all out; 61.1 ov) 148

Fall of wickets: 1-3 2-10 3-26 4-28 5-36 6-44 7-68 8-79 9-90 10-148

Bowling:

Anderson 17-4-51-2

Broad 15.1-4-27-2

Jordan 14-7-32-3

Woakes 14-7-30-3

Ali 1-0-1-0

England 1st innings

Cook c Vijay b Aaron 79

Robson b Aaron 37

Ballance c Pujara b Ashwin 64

Bell c Dhoni b Sharma 7

Root not out 92

Ali b Ashwin 14

Buttler c Ashwin b Sharma 45

Woakes c Dhoni b Kumar 0

Jordan not out 19

Extras: (b 14, lb 3, w 1, nb 10) 28

Total: (7 wickets; 105 overs) 385

Fall of wickets: 1-66, 2-191, 3-201, 4-204, 5-229, 6-309, 7-318

Bowling:

Kumar 24-3-86-1

Sharma 24-8-58-2

Aaron 25-1-111-2

Binny 12-0-58-0

Ashwin 20-2-55-2

London, August 16
When the economy is sinking, some sections of the industry don’t suffer as much as the others — the drinkers and the punters continue to patronise their favourites. When coming to watch cricket, the very first thing the average spectator here does every morning is to visit the tavern. Luckily, there are many of them here, right under the stands. If the queue is too long, fear not — young men with cylinders containing the good stuff strapped to their backs are ready to pour it out for you at every step.

The bettors can make useful transactions too, right from the start of play. A few years ago, there were just a handful of betting companies that were well known — Ladbrokes, William Hill, for instance. But betting companies seem to have mushroomed over the last few years, or at least they’ve become much more visible. As the football season begins, and the cricket season peaks, it’s impossible to miss the advertisements in the newspapers; the numbers are big — Betvictor, Ladbrokes, Coral, Paddypower, Skybet, Betway, Betfred, Bet365, Betfair, ComeOn, Totesport, Vermons and 10bet, among others, promote their business in the newspapers.

“You win some, you lose some,” says Jack Redfern, a punter placing his bet at the Oval outlet of Bet365, which is the official betting company for the Test series. The average household spending on betting in the UK was £166 last year — betting on sports would comprise a large part of this sum. All sorts of bets are taken — but at Bet365 today, there was no rush to place bets on India winning this match to square the series.

Eves beat England

“Get them here, bring them here,” shouted Sunil Gavaskar when he learnt that the Indian women had beaten England to win their one-off Test match at Wormsley, around 300 km from London. The implication was that the women’s team just might play better than the men’s team, which has gone from bad to worse after the Lord’s win. Over the last couple of weeks, the news for the Indian cricket fans has been very bleak. The women brought some cheer to the Indian fans — most of whom may not know that India has a women’s cricket team, or that it was playing a Test match the same time as the men, at a ground modelled after the Oval in London.

After the Indian women had shot England out for 92, they themselves could get only 114 in their first innings. England did much better in their second knock, making 202 to set India a target of 181. It seemed a bit too much to chase, for the match had been a low-scoring affair. However, skipper Mithali Raj anchored India to 183/4 in 95.3 overs, to score a stunning victory.

Guess when the Indian women last played a Test match? In 2006, against England in Taunton. The result? India beat England by five wickets then. In reward, they got an eight-year sabbatical from Test cricket. Amazing.

Mithali had made 65 and 22* in that win in 2006. That was her eighth Test match — the ninth was a long time in coming, and she desperately wants more. “I’m very happy that I got to play another Test. I don’t know how many more Test matches I will get to play,” Mithali said later. 

Colombo, August 16
Mahela Jayawardene scored an unbeaten 49 in his last Test innings as Sri Lanka took charge of the second and final Test match against Pakistan here today.

The hosts, who trailed by 12 runs on the first innings, put on a strong batting performance to move to 177-2 in their second innings by stumps on the third day at the Sinhalese Sports Club. Jayawardene and his close friend and long-time team-mate Kumar Sangakkara batted together for the last time in a Test match to put on 98 for the unbroken third wicket.

Jayawardene, who was warmly applauded to the crease by Pakistani fielders and some 4,000 home fans, played fluently to strike seven boundaries. Left-handed Sangakkara was unbeaten on 54, with Sri Lanka 165 runs ahead with eight wickets in hand on a wearing pitch expected to assist spinners on the last two days.

Sri Lanka, who won the first Test in Galle by seven wickets, are hoping to sweep the short series to give Jayawardene, their former captain, a winning farewell.

Upul Tharanga made 45 in an opening stand of 54 with Kaushal Silva before both batsmen were dismissed by left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman in the post-lunch session. Pakistan seamer Junaid Khan did not take the field in the second innings as he was taken to hospital and kept under observation after complaining of giddiness.

Earlier, Pakistan's wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed smashed a maiden Test century and Sri Lanka's spinner Rangana Herath became the first left-arm bowler in history to take nine wickets in an innings. Sarfraz hit a gutsy 103 as Pakistan carried their overnight score of 244-6 to 332 before they were all out at the stroke of lunch. — PTI

Brief scores: Sri Lanka: 320 & 177-2 (Sangakkara 54*); Pakistan: 332 (Ahmed 103, Shehzad 58; Herath 9-127)

Cincinnati, August 16
Five times Cincinnati winner Roger Federer blunted Andy Murray's attempt at a comeback, while women's world No. 1 Serena Williams roared to victory as they moved into the semifinals at the Western & Southern Open on Friday.

The second-seeded Federer defeated Murray 6-3 7-5 after the Scot had taken a 4-1 lead in the second set. Williams, bidding for her first title at the Ohio hardcourt tournament, romped to a 6-1 6-3 win over Serbian Jelena Jankovic in just 58 minutes.

World No. 3 Federer said he had "lost a little bit of the rhythm" before rebounding against the eighth seeded Murray in the second set. "I snuck in a quick break, and next thing you know, I'm back. I feel like I stole that second set," Federer said.

Federer will face Canadian fifth-seed Milos Raonic in the semifinals with surprising Frenchman Julien Benneteau meeting Spain's David Ferrer in the other.

Raonic breezed past 15th seed Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1 6-0 in a quarterfinal mis-match that lasted only 57 minutes. Benneteau delivered the day's shock with a 1-6 6-1 6-2 ousting of Swiss world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka to reach his first Masters semifinal. Benneteau belted nine aces and broke serve four times as he earned his second victory over a top-10 opponent this year and became the first Frenchman in 14 years to advance to the Cincinnati semis.

Ferrer outlasted fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-4 3-6 6-3 a day after Robredo, the 16th seed, had stunned world number one Novak Djokovic.

In the women’s quarterfinals, Williams needed just 25 minutes to claim the first set against Jankovic. She fell behind 2-1 in the second with an early break, but won five of the next six games, closing out the match with back-to-back aces. Williams, unsuccessful in five previous attempts at Cincinnati, will face Dane Caroline Wozniacki in the semis.

The other semifinal will match Maria Sharapova, who edged second-seed Simona Halep, against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

The 12th-seeded Wozniacki upended fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4 7-6(5). Sharapova, seeded fifth, outlasted Romanian Halep 3-6 6-4 6-4 and Ivanovic beat Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-2 6-3. — Reuters

Patiala,August 16
Kheta Ram of Rajasthan set a new meet record in the men’s 5,000m race at the 18th Federation Cup at NIS, Patiala, on Saturday.

He eclipsed the meet mark with a brilliant time of 13:49.17 that improved Surender Singh’s seven-year-old record of 13:51.64.

ONGC runner Suresh Kumar (13:53.58) and Tamil Nadu’s G. Lakshmanan (13:57.07) took the next two places while defending champion Nitender Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand) ended in eighth place. Incidentally both Kheta Ram and Suresh Kumar came within the qualifying mark (13:54.11) fixed by the Athletics Federation of India for the Asian Games.

OP Jaisha defended her 5,000m title clocking 15:54.21, the fastest time by an Indian woman this year and a tremendous improvement from her last year’s winning mark of 16:39.43. National record-holder Preeja Sreedharan (Kerala) was second in 16:23.07 while the bronze medal went to Maharashtra’s Swati Gadhave (16:46.46).

Reigning Asian Games champion Ashwini Akkunji of Karnataka made her way into the final of the women’s 400m hurdles after winning her heat in a time of 58.45 seconds.

In the other heat, M. Arpitha of Karnataka clocked a personal best 58.87 secs to win the race ahead of Anu Raghavan of Kerala (59.14).

In the evening session, namesakes Manpreet Kaur (both hailing from Punjab) clinched the first two spots in women’s shot put by heaving the 4-kg iron ball to 16.20m and 15.06m respectively.

Their state-meet Navjeet Kaur Dhillon, representing ONGC, finished third with a 14.16m toss.

Interestingly the winner Manpreet’s mark was the third best in the Federation Cup history after her predecessors Harbans (16.94m) and Harpreet (16.22m) Kaur’s effort in 1997.

BRIEFLY

Chennai
Mudgal committee questions Srinivasan and Meiyappan:ICC chairman and BCCI's president-in-exile N Srinivasan and his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan were among those who were on Saturday questioned by Supreme Court appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal panel members in relation to the IPL-6 betting and spot-fixing case. Senior IPS officer BB Misrawas the primary investigator. "A team of officials representing the Supreme Court appointed Justice Mudgal Commission arrived here yesterday and had inquired other Chennai based persons and they will leave for Delhi either tonight or tomorrow," a source said.

BANGALORE
India, Pakistan resume rivalry on football pitch:India and Pakistan resume their rivalry on the football pitch as they lock horns in the first of two friendly matches on Sunday, bringing to an end a nine-year old hiatus. It will be the first such series between the two countries since 2005 when India visited Pakistan for a three-match competition. The second friendly between the two U-23 teams is scheduled for August 20.

New Delhi
India to part ways with foreign TT coach after Asiad:German coach Peter Engel's year-old stint with the struggling Indian table tennis team will end with the Asian Games 2014, TTFI secretary general Dhanraj Choudhary said on Saturday. Choudhary said Engel's removal is part of the way-forward strategy post India's worst performance at the Commonwealth Games, where it managed only a silver in the Glasgow edition in comparison to the record five-medal haul in Delhi four years ago. "Engel's contract was till the Commonwealth Games but now it has been extended for the Asian Games. However, we have decided not to renew his contract after the Games in Incheon. Though we need to move on with a different approach, I must say Engel gave his best in this one year," Choudhary said. Sports Authority of India, the sports ministry's nodal agency, was paying Engel around $6,000 per month. Choudhary said he and other officials came to a conclusion that the money could be put to better use. "Foreign coaches are paid handsomely in India. Now we are thinking it is better to hire two professionals for the salary paid to a foreign coach. One coach will be with the junior team and the other with the seniors. Change of coach doesn't make much of a difference to the male players, who are anyway playing in Europe."

Manchester
Swansea stun United to ruin Van Gaal's League bow:Gylfi Sigurdsson struck a 72nd minute winner for Swansea City as Louis van Gaal's (in pic) first Premier League game in charge of Manchester United ended in a 2-1 defeat on Saturday. Sigurdsson, back at Swansea after signing from Tottenham Hotspur, fired in from close range to stun the hosts who had drawn level through skipper Wayne Rooney shortly after halftime.

SYDNEY
Watson out of Zimbabwe tour after stepping on ball:Injury-prone all-rounder Shane Watson has been ruled out of Australia's one-day tour of Zimbabwe after standing on a ball and twisting his ankle at training in Brisbane on Saturday. Batsman Phillip Hughes will replace Watson for the Aug. 25-Sept. 6. triangular series that also involves South Africa.

Mumbai 
Michael Chopra signs up for Indian Super League:Former Newcastle United striker Michael Chopra, an Indian-origin English footballer, on Saturday confirmed his participation in the inaugural season of Indian Super League. Chopra said: "I'm delighted to be part of the new Indian Super League. It's an exciting time for Indian football and an honour for me to be involved in this new era,” he said. The 30-year-old made his UEFA Champions League debut in December 2002, as a substitute against Barcelona. — Reuters