400 aint enough at the Oval

It’s 2:40 in the afternoon in London and the players are back in the dressing room for tea on the first day of the 3rd Test at the Oval. Michael Vaughan must surely be enjoying his tea unlike the lunch which was taken with India at 113/1, both Karthik and Dravid looking good and solid. In a space of 10 runs, half an hour before tea, the game changed. Both the batters unbeaten at tea, one nearing his century and the other having just completed his half-century, were dismissed leaving two new batsmen at the crease. India are still at a very healthy 211/3, but Oval is unlike many other grounds in the world.

As recently as 2003, South Africa lost the test after piling up a mammoth 484 in the first innings, batting first. On 25 occasions have teams batting first scored 400 or more in their first innings and yet lost the match on as many as 7 occasions. The last 5 times a team scored 400+ in the first innings of the match, twice the match was lost. So even if India reaches 400, it’s not a guarantee of security and coupled with India’s habit of frittering away their 1-0 leads in test series abroad, things don’t look the brightest. Yet, Sachin Tendulkar is still at the crease and so is Saurav Ganguly and if they bat like they did in the last test at Trent Bridge, Michael Vaughan’s blemishless record in 11 series at home may be under some serious threat.

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The Kennington Oval Trivia:

Trivia 1: Did you know that the stadium’s tapered crescent shaped Vauxhall stand end was so designed to amplify the crowd noise within the stadium!

Trivia 2: The first cricket test on English soil was played at the Oval. (September 1880)

Cricinfo describes the Oval as the world's most important general sport venue in the world.