London, July 14 (IANS) Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes were amongst the wicket-takers on Day Five of the third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series to put England within touching distance of a 2-1 series lead at Lord’s after reducing India to 112/8 at lunch on Monday.

Resuming Day Five at the overnight score of 58/4, India needed 135 runs to get a fine victory. But Stokes and Archer picked three wickets, including those of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul, in the first hour. Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy stitched a stubborn 30-run stand before Woakes took out the latter for 13 at the stroke of lunch to put England on course for a memorable win.

Under cloudy skies, the day began with Pant whipping a poor delivery from Archer for four, before taking off his injured bottom hand four times while dealing with 140kmph and above pacy deliveries from the fast bowler, who constantly attacked the stumps.

After Pant creamed Archer for a one-handed drive through mid-on for four, the fast bowler bounced back by getting one to straighten past his outside edge and send the left-hander’s off stump on a cartwheel ride to dismiss him for nine.

A tireless Stokes conjured up magic yet again when he got one to nip back in sharply and hit Rahul on the back pad. Despite the passionate appeal, the umpire gave it not out, and Stokes got to turn the decision on review, as replays showed the ball hitting the top of the stumps, leaving him and England jubilant.

Archer created another moment of brilliance by taking a one-handed catch to his right in his follow-through to dismiss Washington Sundar for a four-ball duck. From 82/7, Jadeja and Reddy rotated the strike while defending at every possibility to ensure India crossed the 100-run mark in the 32nd over.

With the ball going soft, it helped Jadeja and Reddy hang around, despite the former getting into a collision with Brydon Carse while going for two runs. Reddy finally got India its first boundary in 80 balls with a well-timed uppish drive going past diving cover for four, before inside edging just past his stumps for a streaky brace.

But at the stroke of lunch, Woakes found Reddy’s outside edge via a short ball angled from wide of the crease, and Jamie Smith took a simple catch behind the stumps to end a stubborn partnership and ensure England require just two wickets to win the match once the post-lunch session commences.

Brief scores:

England 387 and 192 lead India 387 and 112/8 in 39.3 overs (KL Rahul 39, Ravindra Jadeja 17 not out; Jofra Archer 3-41, Brydon Carse 2-21) by 81 runs

–IANS

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