England Close in on Win Against India

Southampton: England will be confident of wrapping up victory over India in the third Test at Southampton to level the series.

After bowling the tourists out for 330 early on day four for a lead of 239, captain Alastair Cook did not enforce the follow-on but anchored England's second innings with an unbeaten 70.

England's 205-4 set India a target of 445 - which would be the highest fourth-innings chase in Test history.

India were 112-4 at the close and must bat through day five to force a draw.

Earlier, a rapid second innings effort, powered by captain Alastair Cook's 70* and Joe Root's 41-ball 56 prompted England's second declaration of the match on 205 for 4, setting India a target of 445 to win the third Test at the Ageas Bowl. England scored at over five runs an over, giving themselves a little over four sessions to bowl India out defending a total that has never been chased before.

Twenty-five balls was all it took for England's bowlers to wrap up India's innings for 330 on the fourth morning, and despite the visitors falling short of the follow-on target by 39 runs, Cook led his team out to bat for a second time, 239 ahead.

James Anderson's short ball ploy earlier resulted in the wickets of overnight batsmen MS Dhoni and Mohammed Shami as he finished with 5 for 53, his 16th five-wicket haul in Test cricket and third against India as they made short work of India's first innings.

Sam Robson was out early to Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 13 as Shikhar Dhawan held on to a catch at first slip, but Dhoni's decision to bring on the part-time spinners indicated resignation as the hosts ran away with the advantage.

Cook and Gary Ballance had taken England's lead to 319 as they went into lunch on 80 for 2, but Ballance was unfortunate as the umpire adjudged him caught at short leg to Ravindra Jadeja for 38, even though replays suggested otherwise. England resisted the temptation to promote Jos Buttler up the order in search of quick runs, but Ian Bell (23, 21b, 4x4) and Root ensured the hosts kept the momentum during the second session.

Bell was bowled round his stumps as Jadeja got one to turn in from the rough and Root suffered the same fate, but his sixth Test half-century had meant England had opened up a 444-run lead, enough to sound the declaration.

Brief scores
England - 569/7d (Bell 167, Ballance 156, Cook 95, Buttler 85) and 205/4d (Cook 70*)
India - 330 (Rahane 54, Dhoni 50, Anderson 5-53, Broad 3-65) and 112/4 (Ali 2-33)
Status - India need 333 runs to win