Rain forces England tie

Ravi Bopara
12 April 2012

England recorded their second tie in the space of six months against India but nonetheless clinched the NatWest Series - thanks to Ravi Bopara's career-best 96.

Confusion took over as to the outcome at Lord's for several minutes after a third interruption for rain terminally ended England's chase of 280 for five, on 270 for eight.

But it was eventually confirmed that, with England and the Duckworth-Lewis par score reading identically, these two teams could not be separated - just as at Bangalore in their World Cup group match back in March.

The hosts therefore lead 2-0 with only one match to play, at Cardiff on Friday. But whether they remain on course for an unprecedented whitewash of their opponents across all three formats this summer is perhaps a moot point.

England would have prevailed by the narrowest of margins had Bopara himself not been well-caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary off Munaf Patel, the last twist in a see-saw match and the second wicket in as many balls.

Bopara's dismissal to the last ball of the match, instantly following the run-out of Graeme Swann by Patel off his own bowling, caused a D/L recalculation which brought the teams level and cancelled out a minor advantage England had held for much of the previous half-hour.

A stand of 169 between Mahendra Singh Dhoni (78 not out) and Suresh Raina (84) had carried India to a defendable total - which England challenged strongly thanks to Bopara and Ian Bell (54).

After the early loss of both England openers to successive RP Singh deliveries, and Jonathan Trott soon afterwards, Bopara and Bell's stand of 96 jockeyed a favourable position.

But when Bell undid much of the hard work by holing out to long-off, where substitute fielder Manoj Tiwary took a good catch, it was time for Bopara to prove his worth.

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