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| December 20, 2001 | Thursday | Shawwal 4, 1422 |
Bizarre Vaughan dismissal leaves England reeling
BANGALORE (India), Dec 19: Michael Vaughan was out in bizarre fashion, given out handled the ball, to trigger an England slump on the opening day of the third and final Test against India Wednesday.
The touring side, at one stage well-placed on 206 for three, closed on 255 for six with all-rounder Craig White at the crease trying to protect the England tail.
Vaughan, after putting on 113 with Mark Ramprakash for the fourth wicket, missed a sweep against off-spinner Sharandeep Singh and, as the ball dropped off his front pad, he carelessly put his hand on the ball and rolled it back.
The bowler made a belated appeal and the umpire had no option but to rule the batsman out.
The 27-year-old Yorkshire batsman’s dismissal for 64, just when he looked to be finding his best form of the tour, saw England lose three wickets for 13 runs to lose the initiative.
Nasser Hussain’s side, who opted to bat on a pitch expected to take spin early, need to win to level the series.
The Vaughan incident was doubly disappointing for them, following a good fightback after being reduced to 93 for three soon after lunch.
Vaughan was only the seventh player — and the second England batsman after Graham Gooch — to be dismissed in such fashion in Tests, and the first since Australian skipper Steve Waugh in Chennai earlier this year.
The laws of the game clearly state a batsman must not touch the ball with his hand without the fielders’ consent. Most such dismissals, though, occur when a player does so to protect his wicket.
Vaughan, who later complained that his dismissal had not been sporting since the ball was not threatening his stumps, had played both the spinners and Javagal Srinath’s pace with confidence, hitting eight fours in a 138-ball knock which spanned three hours.
Moments after his departure all-rounder Andrew Flintoff fell to a lazy drive straight to short midwicket for a duck and Ramprakash, after a patient 58, completed the collapse.
He lofted Sharandeep over long-on for four to bring up England’s 200, completing his 12th Test fifty, only to get a faint edge to a Sharandeep delivery which went, via the wicket-keeper’s glove tips, to Rahul Dravid in the slips.
White and wicket-keeper James Foster added 36 runs for the seventh wicket without being separated before play ended early due to bad light.
England had suffered an early blow in the morning when in-form opener Marcus Trescothick (8) edged Srinath to the second slip, where Vangipurappu Laxman took a sharp catch.
Fellow left-hander Mark Butcher (27) and Hussain then steadied the innings in a 47-run second-wicket stand before Butcher was run out after a mix-up with his captain.
He drove Harbhajan Singh to wide mid-off and set off for a run but failed to beat Dravid’s accurate throw to wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta after being sent back by Hussain.
Hussain, looking for his third half-century in consecutive Tests, was out for 43 soon after lunch.
The England skipper was forced to edge a fine lifting delivery from Srinath which moved away late to give Dasgupta a simple catch.
He hit five fours during his 64-ball knock which included a confident pull for six off Srinath.
Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly shared the new ball with Srinath after India selected three spinners.
Scoreboard
ENGLAMD (1st Innings):
M.A. Butcher run out 27
M.E. Trescothick c Laxman b Srinath 8
N. Hussain c Dasgupta b Srinath 43
M.P. Vaughan handled the ball 64
M.R. Ramprakash c Dravid b S’deep 58
A. Flintoff c Tendulkar b S’deep 0
C. White not out 30
J.S. Foster not out 14
EXTRAS (B-5, LB-3, NB-3) 11
TOTAL (for six wkts, 86 overs) 255
FALL OF WKTS: 1-21, 2-68, 3-93, 4-206, 5-206, 6-219.
TO BAT: R.K.J. Dawson, A.F. Giles, M.J. Hoggard.
BOWLING (to-date): Srinath 18-6-49-2; Ganguly 7-0-30-0 (1nb); Kumble 22-5-59-0; Harbhajan Singh 19-4-45-0 (1nb); Sharandeep Singh 17-4-45-2 (1nb); Tendulkar 3-0-19-0.
INDIA: S.S. Das, D. Dasgupta, R.S. Dravid, S.R. Tendulkar, S.C. Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman, V. Sehwag, A.R. Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, J. Srinath, Sharandeep Singh.
UMPIRES: A.V. Jayaprakash (India) and E.A.R. de Silva (Sri Lanka).
TV UMPIRE: F. Gomes.
MATCH REFEREE: D.T. Lindsay (South Africa).—Reuters
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