Three cheers for extras

Dean Headley, the former England fast bowler, was at The Oval today. He misses being there, but only like everyone else. "I don't think of it negatively, as in I wish I was still playing. I think of it positively, like anyone else in the ground and say, 'I wish I was still playing'.There's a fine difference, if you know what I'm saying." Yes, Dean, of course we understand.

A small round of applause went up around 4.45. It wasn't for a batsman, bowler or fielder. It wasn't even for a landmark. It was because the innings extras had just reached 50. 33 byes, 13 leg-byes, 2 wides and six no-balls. It was the seventh 50-plus score in the innings and The Oval crowd didn't miss clapping for it.

A trumpeter provided royal entertainment for the crowd towards the end of the Indian innings. Bugling numbers like "Escape to Victory" and "Rocky" he tried to inspire England for one last burst. It seemed to inspire India's last pair instead: Sreesanth cracking three fours in a row and Kumble reaching his hundred.

Shane Warne and Anil Kumble. Both quality legspinners but neither, until today, had a century. Warne went through 145 Tests without a hundred (his highest score was 99 at Perth). "Warnie came really close. That thought was definitely there when I was batting that I should not slog and get out on 99," said a cheery Kumble at the end of the day. Now he has 10 in a match and a hundred. Surely we can forgive him for not spinning the ball (actually he does that too...but anyway).