Close India 66 for 1 (Bangar 17*, Dravid 31*) trail England 515 (Vaughan 195, Trescothick 57, Butcher 54, Cork 52, Harbhajan 5-115) by 449 runs
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Nobody likes a bore draw, least of all in a series decider, but that looks like the likeliest outcome after a drowsy day at The Oval. After England plodded past 500, India launched a solid reply to reach 66 for 1 at the close. This pitch will have to deteriorate considerably if there is to be a positive result.

England's 515 was their fifth 500-plus score of the summer, but it represented a poor return on an overnight total of 336 for 2. This was definitely India's day. England seemed scared of a repeat of what happened to them against Sri Lanka here in 1998 - when they batted first, scored 445 on a similarly belting track, and were thrashed by ten wickets on the final day - and cut their cloth accordingly. After Michael Vaughan fell early on for 195, Dominic Cork, who made his third Test fifty, was the only one to get out of first gear. Apart from those two, the rest of the batsmen mustered 90 runs off 269 balls between them today. It was lugubrious stuff.

The Indian bowlers deserve plenty of credit, though. A charming spell of bowling from Harbhajan Singh brought him a five-for, and the chalk-and-cheese duo of Zaheer Khan and Sanjay Bangar - Zaheer steaming in purposefully, Bangar's wobblers giving England just enough rope to hang themselves - muzzled England in an intelligent spell of swing bowling in the morning session.

Zaheer grabbed Vaughan with a fine delivery that slanted across him and took the faintest of edges on the way through to Ajay Ratra (349 for 3). The hushed disappointment of the crowd at Vaughan's second dose of the nervous 190s could not detract from a truly epic innings, the value of which became even clearer as England blundered through a tortuous morning, adding only 57 runs in 26 overs for the loss of three wickets.

Bangar jagged a short one back to pin John Crawley lbw for an 87-ball 26 (367 for 4), and England's innings was beginning to wheeze and splutter like a smoker after one Marlboro too many when Nasser Hussain (10) threw the kitchen sink at one of Bangar's gentle outswingers and slashed straight to second slip, where VVS Laxman took the chance at the second attempt (372 for 5).

The good work of the first day was being wasted, but Cork rolled up his sleeves to bat with vim and vigour. He added 62 with Alec Stewart, whose sedate 23 ended when he was caught behind off Harbhajan as his hard hands pushed out at a ball that didn't turn as much as he expected (434 for 6).

Harbhajan took that as his cue to scythe through the tail. Alex Tudor guided a top-spinner to slip (446 for 7), and Cork's innings ended at 52 when he was lbw to a quicker ball (477 for 8). The English patient limped past 500 before India finally put them to bed. Ashley Giles edged Anil Kumble to slip, where Rahul Dravid took another classy catch, and Matthew Hoggard was lbw first ball to Harbhajan. It was Harbhajan's ninth five-for in Tests; bizarrely, all nine have come when India have fielded first.

When India's turn came, Virender Sehwag gave England the early wicket they wanted. After racing to 12 off only eight balls, he drove loosely at his ninth and Cork, an unlikely figure at second slip, pouched the catch safely.

But then it was Headingley revisited, as Dravid mixed impregnable defence with heavenly strokeplay while Bangar (17 off 70 balls) just defended, stoutly and with the minimum of fuss. England's seamers rarely looked like breaking through, and Hussain turned to Giles and Vaughan for the last three overs of the day. If England are to get blood out of a stone and win this match, these two may have to be the main men.

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