Date-stamped : 25 Mar94 - 14:25 India vs England The Oval, 4th Test August 30, 31, September 1, 3, 4 1979 Drawn After the most gripping closing overs in a home Test since the draw at Lord's against West Indies in 1963, a match it closely resembled as all four results were possible with three balls left. Gavaskar's inspiring and technically flawless 221 earned him the Man of the Match award and brought that rarity in recent Tests in England - a final day charged with interest.Botham played the major part in preventing an Indian victory and confirmed his status as Man of the Series. As the teams fought each other to a standstill, there were many Englishmen in the crowd who would not have displayed their customary dejection at a Test defeat. Gavaskar's innings was the highest by an Indian gainst England, overtaking the unbeaten 201 by the younger Nawab of Pataudi at Delhi in 1964, and his stand of 213 with Chauhan surpassed the previous best opening partnership for his country against England - 203 by Mushtaq Ali and Merchant at Manchester in 1936. India's 429 for eight - they were set 438 in 500 minutes - was the fourth highest score in the fourth innings of a Test. To reach their target they would have needed to set a new mark for a side batting fourth and winning, but this generation of Indian batsmen have some notable performances in that department and the job did not frighten them. England gave first caps to Butcher and Bairstow, omitting Randall and Taylor, while Willey returned after a gap of three years for Miller. Yajurvindra Singh replaced the injured Amarnath for India. The game, played in virtually unbroken sunshine, began prosaically as Butcher and Boycott dug in without attempting to dominate. Butcher's disappointing innings ended in the over before lunch and Kapil Dev, as at Leeds, extended the breakthrough by taking two quick wickets. He slanted one in to Boycott, and three balls later made one straighten at Gower, whom he has also claimed for a duck at Headingly. Willey and Gooch repaired the damage, Willey playing the strokes of the day by hooking and cover-driving with immense power. Botham achieved the three runs he needed to reach the landmark of 1000 runs and 100 Test wickets in his 21st Test, beating the 23 Tests required by Mankad for his double. But Gooch's first Test century still eluded him; he fell in the first over of the second day. Botham, as bowler and fielder, sent India sliding into trouble, taking two wickets and holding two catches, and India had subsided to 137 for five when bad light halted the game 40 minutes early. Botham's second catch was remarkable. Bairstow could only parry the ball when Vengsarkar edged Willis. The ball struck Brearley on the boot, flew upwards, and as Bairstow came across to retrieve it, Botham grabbed it one-handed at second slip. Viswanath had played exquisitely for almost three hours. England were batting again by lunch on Saturday. The regular fall of wickets, caused by much batting below Test class from both sides, had driven the match along swifter than the normal sedate progress of a Test, and this was, of course, an important factor in allowing the marvellous finish. Butcher was unable to improve significantly on his first innings form. Gooch drove one vast 6, but when Gower failed again, Willey and Boycott decided on rather pedestrian consolidation over the last 75 minutes. Later events proved their caution justified. Boycott toiled with the handicap of back trouble on the Monday in the last three hours of his seven-hour effort, Botham was run out, neglecting to ascertain Boycott's intentions as he charged up the pitch, and so England were indebted to a crisp knock from Bairstow as they moved to their declaration. At 76 for no wicket on the fifth morning, India wanted roughly a run a minute. Their rate was never brisk - 48 in the first hour, 45 in the second, and 44 in the third. Hendrick, allowing only 11 runs in 6 overs, did most to peg India's progress and, in mid- afternoon, Willey conceded only 2 runs in eight grudging overs. However, Hendrick disappeared for good with shoulder trouble after his spell, and Brearley's capacity for restriction was limited. England were desparing of wickets when, after five and a quarter hours, Chauhan edged Willis. The despair soon returned as Vengsarkar joined Gavaskar in an accelerating stand which produced 153 at better than a run a minute. Gavaskar masterminded the show, doing all the thinking and playing most of the shots. Tea came at 304 for one and, after a mere six overs between the interval and five o'clock - England ruthlessly slowed down the game - the last twenty overs began at 328 for one with 100 wanted, and India favourites. Ar 365 Botham uncharacteristically dropped Vengsarkar on the boundary - an error for which he was swiftly compensated by transforming the match with three wickets, a catch and a run-out in the remaining twelve overs. He collected a simple catch off Vengsarkar at 366 and Willey swept aside the promoted Kapil Dev. Yashpal Sharma and Gavaskar rattled the score along to 389 when Botham returned with eight overs left. It was a gamble by Brearley, for Botham had looked innocuous during the day. But he struck with a key wicket, Gavaskar drilling a catch to mid-on shortly after England had taken a drinks break - a rare move, tactically based, with the end so near. Gavaskar's memorable innings lasted eight hours, nine minutes and he hit 21 4's, most of them coming from firm clips past mid-wicket and his unexpectedlay powerful cover-drive. However, his cool control of the developing crisis was missed by India as much as his runs. Viswanath unneringly found one of the widely spaced fielders, as had Vengsarkar and Gavaskar. Then Botham firmly ended India's hopes by having Yajurvindra Singh and Yashpal Sharma lbw in successive overs and, in between, making a slick stop to run out Venkataraghavan. Botham's final four overs brought him an absolutely crucial three for 17. A target of 15 from the last over was too much, and the climax came with fielders encircling the bat. Contributed by cp (help@cricinfo.com) ====> MORE INDIA'S FINEST HOUR (Pataudi Reports from The Oval) ====> Day 1, 30 Aug 79 Mohinder's injury put paid to any plans India may have had of playing Chandrasekhar in this last Test of the series. Thankfully, the injury to Mohinder's head is less serious than could easily have been and one hopes that Mohinder, who has been hit on the head in practically every series, will now wear a helmet. It is a sensible precaution for one who finds it difficult to negotiate the bouncer. This gave Yajurvindra his first opportunity and Chauhan another chance to make amends. England, looking to Australia, also introduced fresh blood, while Brearley decided to drop down in the order and Butcher made his debut on his home ground. The Oval has a reputation for being one of the better batting wickets in the country and Venkat must have been disappointed to lose the toss on a bare and flat wicket. but he was well compensated by some fine and accurate bowling by Kapil and Ghavri, which kept Boycott on the defensive and worried Butcher. One needs to go back a long time to recall a more useful Indian opening attack. Throughout this tour Kapil has worked hard and is now capable of troubling most opening batsmen. Ghavri also has learnt not to rely on pace and has accepted that line and length pay better dividends. And when Bedi and Venkat also settled into a tantalising length, India looked on par with England for the first time this summer. Butcher was never at ease, especially against the spin which was introduced by Venkat earlier than he had done previously. Nor was Boycott happy against Bedi. Butcher went first, playing Venkat into the safe hands of Yajurvindra at forward short leg, and a few minutes after lunch Kapil, who has cultivated the in-cutter, caught Boycott in front of the stumps. Two balls later he moved one the other way to deflate Gower's average and England was 50 for 3. Willey, back in the team, and hoping for a ticket to Australia, survived the initial moments of hesitation and went on to strike the ball well off the front foot. This is a luzury which will not be allowed by the quicker Australian bowlers, though on this wicket that was patently the right tactics. He and Gooch almost played England out of difficulty but it was India's day. Willey was out immediately after a forceful 50 and Vengsarker disposed of Botham just as he was taking charge. Gooch and Brearley made sure that there were no further mishaps for England, and finished the day at 245 for 5. India has effectively restrained any English ideas of taking a stranglehold on this game, and though Gooch was looking ominous towards the end there was no reason why India bowled as she did today, England would not be limited to a reasonable total. (Thanks : Sportsworld, Volume 1 Issue 39 12 Sep 79) Contributed by Porky! (ceindian@utacnvx.uta.edu) INDIA'S FINEST HOUR (Pataudi Reports from The Oval) ====> Day 2, 31 Aug 79 After yesterday's heat and humidity, which was surprising with September so close, the weather this morning returned to normal. It was overcast and cool and in these conditions both Ghavri and Kapil swung the new ball which has been taken late last evening and had still retained some shine. Both these bowlers continued their good work. Ghavri beat Brearley's defence twice and was the first to taste success, when Gooch edged a ball outside the off stump to Vishwanath at first slip. Gooch with all his Test innings has yet to score a hundred. He has looked determined enough and played with a good blend of attack and caution. He is prepared to move down the wicket and hit over the top which makes it hard to set a field to him. So many times he has settled down, and begun to dominate the bowling, but he has not yet scored heavily enough to change dramatically the course of a game. Brearley did not last long either. Though he was more confident at number seven he must consider himself fortunate that there is no serious contender for England's captaincy. Ghavri had broken through early, and it was fitting that Bedi and Venkat should also share in the success. This was the most and the best that Venkat had bowled. He gave the ball less air and relied on slight changes of pace, and one hopes that this is the way he will bowl in the future. In spite of a good wicket England managed only 60 runs for the last five wickets and the credit must be equally shared by all the Indian bowlers. India began her innings two overs before lunch and it soon became apparent that when her bowler could move the ball in the atmosphere the English seamers would do the same, and more efficiently. Willis quickly disposed of Chauhan and Vengsarkar in one over. Chauhan, as is his wont, steered a short ball to the slips and for Vengsarkar, Willis produced a leg cutter, which moved and lifted off a length. It was a ball which Vengsarkar would never have touched had he not been in such good form. It was again a sad and familiar sight to see the scoreboard at nine for 2, as also to watch Gavaskar and Vishwanath struggle again some accurate bowling. With 47 runs on the board Botham returned to pitch a perfect outswinger to Gavaskar and India were in the same situation as England in her first innings. Some of the pressure eased when the bowling was entrusted to the spinners and Sharma very sensibly used his feet to drive anything pitched up. Willey, who replaced Miller as an off- spinner all-rounder, impressed more with the bat. He bowls from veryclose to the stumps and so resembles Fred Titmus but he has yet to develop the away floater. Sharma, thankful for the respite, made some quick runs before Willis came back to trap him lbw. Vishwanath came into his own only after Sharma's dismissal. He drove and cut in his own particular style but again fell in the 60s, much to the delight of the England team, which values his wicket as highly as that of Gavaskar. Yajurvindra, coming in to bat at a tense moment, seemed competent enough to cope and did so with assurance and was still there when bad light stopped play 40 minutes before the scheduled time. So was Kapil, and all depended on how these two played tomorrow. (Thanks : Sportsworld, Volume 1 Issue 39 12 Sep 79) Contributed by Porky! (ceindian@utacnvx.uta.edu)