Day 3 Close India 516 and 231 for 2 (Sehwag 142, Bangar 73*) lead Essex 279 all out (Harbhajan 7-83) by 468 runs Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag were the stars as India had another profitable day in their warm-up match against Essex. Harbhajan snaffled 7 for 83 as Essex were bowled out for 279 in reply to India's 516. Then, Sehwag slammed 142 as India ended the third day on 231 for 2, an overall lead of 468.

Essex started the third day at 173 for 3, with Andy Flower unbeaten on 45. Flower had won many a battle against the Indian spinners in the past, but this time added just 14 more runs before Harbhajan had him caught by Sourav Ganguly at slip.

Buoyed by this success, Harbhajan ran through the rest of the batting with minimal assistance from the other bowlers. Last man Joe Grant resisted with an aggressive 30 before he was bowled by Sehwag.

India chose to open with Parthiv Patel and Sanjay Bangar, but Patel managed just 1 before he was dismissed by Mark Illot (8 for 1). Sehwag then joined Bangar and proceeded to blast the hapless Essex bowlers, reaching his century in a mere 110 balls. He was finally caught and bowled by Ravinder Bopara for 142, including 18 fours and 5 sixes.

At the other end, Bangar made a sedate, unbeaten 73 from 171 balls. India have an opportunity to declare at their overnight score and press for a morale-boosting win before the third Test at Headingley, which starts on August 22.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd