cricket

England clinched the one-day series against India as a gripping fourth game ended in a rain-affected tie in a confusing finale at Lord's. The tourists seemed set to secure their first win over England this summer after posting a challenging 280-5. Ravi Bopara scored a magnificent 96 to guide England to the brink of victory. But with the rain falling and England needing 11 to win from seven balls, three rain delays eventually saw the Duckworth/Lewis method come into play. Both teams were guilty of using delaying tactics as a confusing final few overs saw both sides in pole position at different points. England were ahead of the required rate going into the penultimate over but Graeme Swann was run out by Munaf Patel and the same player had Bopara caught on the boundary to ensure the match was declared a tie after a further delay. And although the result was a probably a fair one, it was a shame such an entertaining encounter should end in such comical circumstances. Skipper Dhoni laid the platform, reigning in his attacking instincts and allowing Raina to play the more fluent, attacking knock as they batted sensibly and kept wickets in hand for a devastating finale. And they both cut loose in the final 10 overs, bludgeoning the ball to all parts in scoring 109. Dhoni demonstrated his class with a second successive half-century, hitting three sixes - the highlight of which was clubbing Swann for a huge six over midwicket. Raina was equally as effective, smashing a massive maximum off Broad as all bowlers took some serious punishment in a wonderfully entertaining spell that saw the pair post the best fifth-wicket stand for India against England in on-day internationals. Broad's stint ended in doubly painful circumstances, as he was unable to complete the final over after pulling up with an injury to his right arm. With the momentum with India, England's response started badly, with Craig Kieswetter and skipper Alastair Cook both falling to the much maligned RP Singh. Jonathan Trott soon followed, playing on to Praveen Kumar as he looked to up the run rate on the powerplay but Bell and Bopara set about rebuilding in much the same way as Dhoni and Raina had done. Bell's innings ended when a rare, rash shot saw him attempt to loft Ravindra Jadeja towards long off and he was well caught by Manoj Tiwary. Ben Stokes quickly followed Bell back to the pavillion and although Tim Bresnan's fine 27 from 22 balls gave England hope. But then the rain - or the very real threat of it - took over. With the clouds gathering England did their best to get ahead of the required rate and Bopara did a wonderful job of doing so before that crazy 49th over which saw India claim two wickets. The tourists thought they had done enough to win but eventually found out they had not pegged the series back to 2-1 and now go Wales knowing they are just playing for pride.