England v India: Hosts romp to innings win to secure series 3-1

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Media caption,

Alastair Cook salutes 'almost perfect' England

Fifth Test, The Kia Oval (day three):

England 486 beat India 148 & 94 by an innings and 244 runs

Rampant England thrashed India inside three days in the fifth Test to complete a 3-1 series victory.

The pitiful tourists were skittled out for 94 in only 29.2 overs as England won by an innings and 244 runs at The Oval.

After James Anderson and Stuart Broad broke through with the new ball, Chris Jordan took four of the last five wickets to kick-start the celebrations in the south London sunshine.

England had earlier plundered a broken India for 101 runs in 11.3 overs to post 486 in reply to India's first-innings 148, with Joe Root making an unbeaten 149.

Their third successive victory capped an extraordinary turnaround since the hosts were beaten by 95 runs in the second Test at Lord's to go 1-0 behind in the series.

That defeat took England's winless streak to 10 matches, following a 5-0 Ashes whitewash in Australia and a first home series defeat by Sri Lanka.

Since then, England have won by 266 runs in Southampton and an innings and 54 runs in Manchester before taking their dominance to even higher levels at The Oval.

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew on Test Match Special

"It's a massive, massive win. It's barely halfway through the game; it's been a rout. Who would have thought this a month ago? England surrendered almost as meekly at Lord's. What a comeback. I don't think anyone on either side can believe what has happened."

India's total was their lowest at The Oval and the first time they have been bowled out for fewer than 100 since 2008.

"It was an amazing turnaround after Lord's," said England captain Alastair Cook. "India crumbled at the end but that was from the relentless pressure."

Cook praised coach Peter Moores and assistant coach Paul Farbrace, adding: "We have needed a kick up the backside and they have been brave enough to do that."

England's brutal assault with the bat on Saturday evening and Sunday morning left India facing the improbable task of scoring 338 just to make the hosts bat again.

And they made a miserable start by losing both openers cheaply before rain forced an early lunch.

Murali Vijay was trapped lbw by Anderson for two and Gautam Gambhir was run out for three when he set off for a single, turned back and was beaten by a direct hit from Chris Woakes.

After a delay of an hour-and-a-half, normal service was resumed.

Stat of the day

England are only the second team to come from behind after two Tests to win the final three Tests of a series. Donald Bradman's Australia recovered from 2-0 down to beat England 3-2 in the 1936-37 Ashes.

Anderson had Chesteshwar Pujara caught behind, Ajinkya Rahane was brilliantly caught by Gary Ballance at slip off Stuart Broad and captain Mahendra Dhoni glanced Woakes to short leg.

Jordan then took over with three wickets in two overs. Virat Kohli's wretched series continued when he edged to Alastair Cook at first slip for 20 before Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar also fell to outside edges.

Varun Aaron was run out attempting a second run and the match was ended when Ishant Sharma fended a short ball from Jordan into the air, enabling Moeen Ali to walk in from silly point and take a simple catch.

England had set the tone for another utterly one-sided day in a riotous first hour. Root completed his fifth Test hundred - and third of the summer - off 134 balls and Jordan made a breezy 20.

Broad, batting for the first time since having his nose broken by an Aaron bouncer, played with no fear as he cut and pulled short balls in a blistering 37 off 21 balls, including five fours and a six.

Broad and Anderson then set about dismantling India's top order, with Anderson closing to within three wickets of Ian Botham's England Test record of 383., external

The five-match ODI series against India starts in Bristol on Monday, 25 August, but England's Test side are not back in action until April 2015 when they take on the West Indies in a three-Test tour of the Caribbean.

Listen to Geoffrey Boycott and Jonathan Agnew review the day's play on the Test Match Special podcast.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Joe Root converted his overnight 92 into a superbly paced 149 not out

Image source, PA
Image caption,

Gary Ballance claims a superb one-handed catch to account for Ajinkya Rahane

Image source, Reuters
Image caption,

Mahendra Dhoni is well taken by Sam Robson at short leg off Chris Woakes

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Jos Buttler runs out Varun Aaron as India slip to their second heaviest Test defeat by England

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