CRICKET FIRST TEST:ENGLAND ENJOYED the better of the first day of this milestone Test despite having the worst of the conditions. Put into bat by MS Dhoni, they batted with common sense and real application on a truncated day to thwart the efforts of the Indian seamers, for whom the ball moved extravagantly.
By the time play was abandoned, following a prolonged and heavy shower with a little more than 40 overs still to be bowled, it was England, on 127 for two, who had seen off the early danger and were in the process of entrenching a position.
For once it was not Alastair Cook who provided the bedrock, nor Andrew Strauss who batted steadfastly only to perish in loose fashion. Jonathan Trott, unperturbed and implacable, looked in wonderful touch, easing his way to an unbeaten 58, with eight boundaries.
In the process he helped add 60 in an unbroken third-wicket stand with Kevin Pietersen who, batting with remarkable and uncharacteristic restraint, had already spent 73 deliveries in making his 22.
None of it was pretty, the sort of attritional cricket that for many in this biff-bang-wallop age is hard to appreciate, but it was a job well done.
India have missed an early trick and should be thoroughly disappointed they did not make better use of heaven-sent conditions.
All day the clouds hung low over St John’s Wood and there was a clamminess in the air. These are the sort of conditions at Lord’s for which the swing bowlers crave, where they can expect the ball to dart and swoop around like a swallow, and they anticipate a harvest of wickets.
Yesterday, the pacemen on both sides would have been salivating, willing the toss to go their way.
If it was to India’s good fortune they were given the chance then they failed to grasp it, unable, with the notable exception of the left-arm Zaheer Khan, to make the England batsmen play sufficiently often to capitalise, not getting the luck when they did beat the bat, and suffering from fielding lapses that saw an early run-out chance spurned and a couple of catches missed in the slips.
There was further misfortune, too, when Zaheer, in his 14th over, having taken both wickets to fall and conceded only 18 runs for his pains, pulled up lame clutching his right hamstring and limped from the field.
It would be a surprise, if strain or pull it is (and cramp would not seem an option at such an early stage in proceedings), were he to miss the second Test in Nottingham, which starts at the end of next week.
Of the support bowlers, Praveen Kumar looks to be a clever purveyor of swing without possessing anything like the pace that ought to cause trouble to good players, while Ishant Sharma, piratical in appearance and bowling some dangerous deliveries, was unable to provide the consistency of line and length that places a batsman under constant pressure. Now is not the time for Harbhajan Singh’s off-spin to be brought to the fore, but he could have a heavy workload should Zaheer be absent.
England’s strategy was to get through the first day relatively unscathed, for if conditions improve, then experience tells them that as the match progresses it is likely to become increasingly hard to bowl India out.
Dismissal on the first day would put the tourists firmly in the driving seat.
From the start there was snaking movement, especially for Kumar, sending a succession of deliveries past the groping bat of Cook, who appeared to have weathered the early exchanges when Zaheer, bowling from the Nursery end, brought one down the hill to have him lbw.
If at first sight it appeared to be shading to leg then Hawk-Eye, rejected at the instigation of the Indian team for use in this series but still used by the broadcaster as a viewing aid, deemed it to be hitting.
Strauss, showing impeccable judgment outside off stump, would have been run out when on only three had Sharma’s shy from mid-wicket hit the stumps at the bowler’s end as he was sent back by Trott.
He had batted for an hour and three quarters over his 22 when Zaheer surprised him with a bouncer, well directed outside off stump which, in trying to pull, he top-edged to Ishant at long leg.
In Brisbane, on the Ashes tour before last and when India’s current coach Duncan Fletcher was in charge of the England touring side, Australia twice dismissed Strauss in this manner. Fletcher does not forget.
Twice Trott was given a life, the first time when he edged Harbhajan’s first ball low to the right of Rahul Dravid at slip, a sharp but catchable chance, and once, on 32, when he flirted at Zaheer, and got a straightforward edge.
That the ball then deviated wickedly in flight, flummoxed Dhoni, to whom it was heading originally, and wrong-footed Dravid at first slip.
At a time when India should have seized control, these were costly misses.
Guardian Service
Scoreboard
First Test at Lords.
England: first innings
A Straussc Sharma b Zaheer Khan 22
A Cooklbw b Zaheer Khan 12
J Trottnot out 58
K Pietersennot out 22
Extras(b 8, lb 4, w 1) 13
Total(for two wickets; 49.2 overs) 127
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-62.
Still to bat: I. Bell, E. Morgan, M. Prior, G. Swann, S. Broad, J. Anderson, C. Tremlett Bowling (to date): Zaheer Khan 13.3-8-18-2, Praveen Kumar 17.3-5-46-0, Ishant Sharma 11.2-3-33-0 (1w), Harbhajan Singh 7-1-18-0.
India: G. Gambhir, A. Mukund, S. Tendulkar, R. Dravid, VVS Laxman, S. Raina, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Z. Khan, I. Sharma, P. Kumar.
