Century-maker Dravid powers on as England delay

Greg Stutchbury, Reuters, London

Unbeaten Rahul Dravid completed a third successive test century against England as India finished on 315 for four after the third day of the deciding fourth test on Saturday.

His 131 not out forced England's pace bowlers to resort to a run-denying tactic of short-pitched bowling in the final session as the touring side finished exactly 200 runs behind England's first-innings total, keeping their hopes alive of stealing the series at The Oval.

Vangipurappu Laxman, the side's last specialist batsman, was 14 not out.

Play, which was delayed for 15 minutes at the start of the day due to overnight rain, ended 6.4 overs early because of poor light.

"I think there is still a lot of work to be done," Dravid said when asked if India could win. "Test cricket can be a funny thing and the first session tomorrow will be crucial.

"If we can bat well and be in a position to push on then anything can happen."

Dravid batted throughout the day after resuming on 31 not out and shared in successive partnerships of 91 with Sachin Tendulkar (54) and 105 with captain Saurav Ganguly (51) as the Indian batsmen attempted to wrench back the initiative heading into the fourth day.

Tendulkar and Ganguly were particularly aggressive as they forced up the run rate in an attempt to set up India's first test series victory outside the sub-continent since 1986. The series is tied 1-1.

Tendulkar, after bringing up his 34th test half-century and perhaps with half an eye to becoming the fifth man in history to score a century in his hundredth test, was trapped by a ball from quick bowler Andrew Caddick that hit him full on the boot.

He was at his scintillating best throughout, smashing 40 of his first 50 runs in boundaries.

Ganguly continued to play his natural attacking game but after he brought up his 20th test half-century with a deft dab past slip for three off left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, was out playing a poor shot to swing bowler Dominic Cork.

Cork seemed to be wasting his energy bowling short to both Ganguly and Dravid with neither player prepared to hook.

Ganguly, however, after being pegged down by an impressive spell from Giles who was extracting turn from the pitch and the bowlers' footmarks, finally succumbed and only succeeded in gloving the ball behind to wicketkeeper Alec Stewart for 51.

The catch was Stewart's 200th as a wicketkeeper. He has 36 other catches as an outfielder.

Caddick said the plan to bowl sustained periods of short- pitched bowling had been devised because of the pitch.

"It is very flat, probably the flattest Oval pitch I have played on," said Caddick. "The ball was also not swinging so the plan was not to pitch it up otherwise it would have gone for four.

"Sometimes you have to sit back and wait for them to make something happen and we were really waiting for them to make mistakes."

It was Dravid's day, however, as the 29-year-old reached his 13th test century by flicking Giles behind square for a single in the middle session.

He had scored 385 runs in the series against England at an average of 77 prior to his Oval innings.

He scored 115 in the second innings of the drawn second test at Nottingham before making 148 in India's only innings in their third test victory at Leeds.

Opener and all-rounder Sanjay Bangar was the only other wicket to fall on Saturday, caught by Mark Butcher at slip off quick bowler Matthew Hoggard for 21.

Caddick was the pick of the England attack, taking two for 51 off 21.2 overs, while Giles also impressed by conceding 69 runs off 30 overs.