Thursday 6 September 2018 13:41, UK
England's scintillating 60-run victory over India at The Ageas Bowl handed them an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match Test series.
The action now moves on to The Oval for the fifth and final Test, which you can watch live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Friday, September 7
Before then let's reflect on the top moments from the fourth match, including another five-wicket haul in Southampton for Moeen Ali, an entertaining week for Bumble, more runs for Sam Curran and a maiden Test century in England for Cheteshwar Pujara...
Moeen returned to the Test side in fine style as the spinner picked up nine wickets in the match and struck an important 40 in the first innings, repeating his match-winning feats with the ball against the visitors four years prior. Having produced a man-of-the-match performance, the allrounder admitted he needed a rest from the red-ball international scene, saying: "I needed a break to appreciate Test cricket. I have played so much in the last few years that I just felt that it was not a bad thing to go back and play county cricket and some IPL and to really enjoy my cricket again."
In contrast, Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin appeared to struggle, especially during the hosts' second innings. Bowling too fast on occasion and unable to hit the footholes regularly that Ishant Sharma had created in his followthrough meant Ashwin picked up just three wickets in 51.5 overs.
Virat Kohli singled out Curran for special praise following the end of the fourth Test as the India captain admitted the difference between the two sides in the series has proved to be the middle-order. In Southampton, a combination of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen and Curran added 281 runs during the match batting at No 6, No 7 and No 8. In contrast, just 48 runs were scored by Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Ashwin and India captain Kohli said the fearless nature of Joe England's lower-order batsmen was the reason for their victory. "I would like to congratulate Sam Curran, he has been a nice find for England and he is doing really well for them," Kohli told Michael Atherton at the post-match presentation.
England's continued struggles at the top of the order saw a rejig in the second innings at the Ageas Bowl, with Moeen coming in at No 3 and captain Root returning to his preferred position of No 4. The skipper looked back to his best and only fell short of a half-century after being run out when Stokes called through for a tight single. Root spoke with Nasser Hussain about feeling back to himself with the bat and admitted that while moving down to No 4 was a decision made for this Test only, it could be something considered going forward. Meanwhile, Moeen was happy to come in up the order and hopes to have further opportunities to bat higher up the order. Could the allrounder be the solution to the home side's No 3 problem?
There may have been a Test match going on but that did not stop David Lloyd getting up to some more entertaining antics while down south. Bumble and Rob Key took to the water in Southampton to reflect on the absorbing series so far before Bob Willis joined David in a classic remake. Bumble and Grumble went all Smith and Jones at The Ageas Bowl with the pair chewing the fat on topics ranging from Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, Jose Mourinho and scallops!
There were plenty more entertaining episodes of our summer features during the fourth Test intervals. The final instalment of Mind Games saw Charles Colville investigate what the future holds in sport and how technology is helping to shape the athletes of tomorrow. Visiting Queen's University Belfast, Charles tried out a virtual-reality headset which transfers budding sportsmen to top sporting venues, such as Lord's. Michael Atherton also went behind the scenes with the Rajasthan Royals as they made their IPL comeback after two years away from the tournament. And, Benedict Bermange told the story of two cricket players from World War One - Colin Blythe and AEJ Collins - who left their mark on the record books.
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