(updates at tea)
By Richard Sydenham
NOTTINGHAM, England, July 30 - England captain
Michael Vaughan was nearing a 17th test century as he defied
India's bid for victory in the second test at Trent Bridge on
Monday.
England reached 221 for three at tea on the fourth day and
still require a further 62 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
Vaughan, who passed 5,000 test runs in the morning session, was
batting at his fluent best on 91 not out after batting for just
short of four hours, while Paul Collingwood had 13.
England lost opener Andrew Strauss eight balls after lunch
when he played a poorly executed cut shot to a short and wide
delivery from Zaheer Khan and was caught behind for 55.
Just as England were recovering from the loss of Strauss an
explosive four-ball sequence set up the departure of Kevin
Pietersen.
Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, already warned by umpire Ian
Howell for brushing past Vaughan in the morning, bowled a beamer
that caused Pietersen to collapse to the floor to avoid the ball
from striking his head on the full.
Although Sreesanth immediately apologised and indicated the
illegal delivery was an accident, the batsman reacted angrily.
At the start of the next over, bowled by Rudra Pratap Singh,
Pietersen wafted at a wide delivery and survived a caught behind
appeal. Next ball he was trapped lbw to an in-swinger to which
he played no stroke.
Umpire Simon Taufel made his second correct lbw decision of
the day, putting the memory of two controversial decisions on
Sunday out of his mind.
India last won a test series in England 21 years ago, while
England have not lost a home test for 13 months.
The first test ended in a draw.