Alastair Cook has marked his 291st and final test innings in fairytale fashion with a century as England closed in on victory over India on the fourth day of the fifth test.
The 33-year-old scored 147 in a 259-run third wicket partnership with skipper Joe Root as England moved on from 2-114 to 8-423 declared on Monday.
Cook, England's most-capped test player and highest run scorer, was given numerous standing ovations from the crowd who flocked to the historic Oval ground, the longest and loudest when he completed his 33rd test century before lunch.
His 286-ball knock, which included 14 fours, helped Cook climb to fifth on the all-time list of test run scorers.
Root weighed in with 125 from 190 balls as he returned to form with his first Test century for a year.
Root and Cook were dismissed in consecutive balls by part-time off spinner Hanuma Vihari and a flurry of wickets went down as England looked to top up their total for a declaration.
Set a notional 464 for victory India lost their first three wickets for two runs with James Anderson removing Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara lbw in his second over.
When Stuart Broad removed Indian run machine Virat Kohli for a golden duck India were in disarray.
Anderson, 36, needs one more wicket to surpass the 563 of Australia's Glenn McGrath and become the most successful fast bowler in Test history.
India, looking demoralised as their hopes of salvaging a consolation victory from a losing series evaporated, steadied the ship somewhat to end the day on 3-58.
Opener KL Rahul played some attractive shots to reach 46 at the close with Ajinkya Rahane on 10.
Despite Anderson's late burst, the day belonged to Cook and the final overs were played out to a chorus of fans chanting the name of England's most prolific batsman.
With 218 runs in his 161st match Cook guaranteed he will retire with a Test average of 45.
And, fittingly, his final contribution for his country with the bat was a century against India -- the team he scored a debut ton against 12 years ago in Nagpur.
His total of 12,472 test runs puts him behind only India's Sachin Tendulkar, Australian Ricky Ponting, South Africa's Jacques Kallis and India's Rahul Dravid on the all-time list.
Alistair Cook career achievements
* The left-hander hit an unbeaten 104 on his test debut against India at Nagpur in 2006, and made his one-day international debut against Sri Lanka the same year.
* Scored 766 runs in seven innings in the 2010-11 Ashes tour to seal England's first series win in Australia for 24 years.
* Made 294 against India in 2011, his highest test score, and was named the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Test Cricketer of the Year.
* Succeeded Andrew Strauss as England ODI skipper in 2011 and as test captain in 2012.
* Scored his 23rd century in 2012, against India, to break the record for most test tons for England. Became the youngest to pass 7000 test runs and was named one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year.
* Led England to the final of the 2013 Champions Trophy, losing to India. He lost the one-day captaincy and a place in the 2015 World Cup squad due to poor form.
* Captained England to a 3-0 home Ashes win in 2013, but a 5-0 whitewash Down Under led to criticism of his captaincy.
* Passed Graham Gooch's 8900-run tally during the 2015 series against New Zealand to become England's leading run scorer in tests.
* Led England to a surprise 3-2 Ashes win in 2015, and was named captain of the ICC's test team of the year.
* Ended 2015 as the year's third-highest test run scorer with 1364 at an average of 54.56.
* In 2016, became the first English batsman and 12th player from any country to score 10,000 runs in test matches.
* Stepped down as England test captain in February, 2017 after a 4-0 series loss in India at the end of 2016.
* Led England in 59 tests, more than any of his predecessors.
* Is England's most prolific test batsman, with 12,472 runs in 161 matches. Became the fifth-highest scorer in the format on Monday, overtaking Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (12,400).
* Announced last week that he would retire after the fifth test against India at The Oval. After scoring 71 in the first innings, he signed off in style with 147 in his final knock.
Reuters