Print

Mail

wiki links

Late wickets give India some hope

Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss shared a solid second-wicket stand for England on Thursday before India took three wickets in the last session to reclaim some control by stumps on the opening day of the first Test.

Led by a 142-run partnership by Vaughan and Strauss, England reached 197 for one by tea, but after the loss of the pair and Paul Collingwood, finished the day 268 for four at Lord's.

With India's wayward pace attack providing little trouble for England, veteran spinner Anil Kumble bowled the most overs. Kumble dismissed Strauss for 96 and Collingwood for a duck either side of Vaughan's dismissal to Rudra Pratap Singh for 79.

Kevin Pietersen was unbeaten on 34, with nightwatchman Ryan Sidebottom yet to score.

England, who were looking to continue their recovery after the disastrous Ashes defense in Australia, reached 115 for one by lunch.

India's inexperienced pace attack of Zaheer Khan, Singh and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth toiled without reward in warm sunshine, prompting captain Rahul Dravid to introduce Sourav Ganguly to provide some variation.

The middle-order batsman trapped opener Alastair Cook leg before wicket with his fourth delivery just before lunch.

Cook, who scored 398 runs at an average of 56.85 in the recent 3-0 series win over West Indies, was given out by umpire Steve Bucknor to a ball that appeared to pitch just outside off stump. He had scored 36 off 39 balls.

Vaughan, who won the toss and decided to bat first, joined Strauss with the score on 76 for one and settled in typically steady fashion after sitting out the one-day series defeat against the West Indies.

Strauss was almost out for 43 in the penultimate over before lunch when he was dropped by Dinesh Karthik off Sreesanth at backward point.

The chance was so easy that Strauss, who struggled with his form in Australia and was the only one of the top seven batsman not to hit a century against West Indies, did not see the spilled catch because he dropped his head and stared at the ground thinking he was out.

"I was berating myself for playing such a terrible shot and was mentally walking back to the dressing room," Strauss said.

India gave Kumble two overs before lunch in an effort to dislodge the pair, but there was only minimal turn in the pitch.

Ganguly continued to bowl after lunch, but failed to repeat his surprise breakthrough of the morning session, as Strauss and Vaughan added another 82 runs to the total.

But Strauss added just 12 runs after tea before edging Kumble to Dravid at slip. It was just the second time Strauss, who had looked set to score his first hundred for almost a year, had failed to convert a score in the 90s into a century.

Kumble's intervention was vital since Strauss and his captain were largely untroubled by the seamers.

"I felt going into this match as relaxed and as positive as I have for a long time," Strauss said. "I knew that if I backed my game there was no reason I couldn't get some runs. It was not a free flowing innings by any means, but it was one that was very important for me to have and to contribute to the team."

Vaughan was joined by Pietersen and looked like he might reach 100, but, after two breaks for bad light, he was caught by wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni off Singh.

It was a big disappointment for Vaughan, who hit his first Test hundred in almost two years in the third Test against West Indies, but then got stuck in the 40s three times in his subsequent four innings.

Collingwood fell three runs later to make it 255 for four, leg before to Kumble.
This story has been viewed 1110 times.