LEEDS (England), Aug 25: England captain Nasser Hussain and veteran keeper-batsman Alec Stewart staged a defiant rearguard action that kept India at bay on the fourth day of the third Test Sunday.

At stumps England, following-on, were 239 for four with Hussain 90 not out, having batted for just short of four hours, facing 171 balls and hitting one six and 15 fours.

Stewart, England’s most capped player, was 40 not out off 112 balls with six fours.

With Hussain, he put on 91 in a stand lasting two and-a-half hours and then survived the final four overs of the day against the new ball

However, England still need a further 116 to avoid an innings defeat and so prevent India levelling the four match series at one apiece after the tourists had piled up 628 for eight declared in their first innings.

And when England started the final session on 166 for four, still 189 behind, with Hussain 47 not out and Stewart 12 not out, there was a chance India could wrap up victory with more than a day to spare.

But crucially, to the last ball before tea, Hussain was dropped by teenage wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel after gloving leg-spinner Anil Kumble.

But India restored control through left-arm quick Zaheer Khan, who bowled six consecutive maidens to Hussain.

Hussain only managed five singles in 45 balls but, more importantly from England’s perspective, he was still in the middle.

At lunch England were 56 for one with Robert Key 29 not out and Mark Butcher 11 not out.

But four overs after the break, and 20 runs later, England lost Key, in his second Test for 34, lbw to Kumble.

Then left-hander Butcher (42) drove loosely outside off-stump against medium-pacer Sanjay Bangar to Rahul Dravid.

Butcher had helped his captain add 40 but England, now 116 for three, were still 239 behind.

Hussain continued to attack where possible, advancing down the pitch and lofting off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for six over long-on.

But John Crawley (12) then lobbed an easy catch off Bangar to Virender Sehwag in the covers, although the fielder needed two grabs at it before England were 148 for four.

Openers Key and Michael Vaughan had started the second innings positively.

But Vaughan, who had made two successive Test hundreds coming into this match on his home ground, soon fell lbw for 15 to medium-pacer Ajit Agarkar.

Earlier, Stewart was left on 78 not out, as England added nine runs to their overnight score to be 273 all out in their first innings.

He batted for 11 minutes short of three hours in an innings which saw him face 120 balls including 11 boundaries.

Harbhajan, who did the bulk of the damage Saturday, finished with figures of three for 40 from 18 overs.

Scoreboard

INDIA (1st Innings) 628-8 declared (S.R. Tendulkar 193, R.S. Dravid 148, S.C. Ganguly 128, S.B. Bangar 68).