India set tough target as Atherton ducks out

MIKE ATHERTON was first in line for one of his coach's famous "cuddles" last night after adding another one day failure.

David Lloyd has promised to put an arm around those in need of comfort - and England's captain looked a deserving cause as he wandered back to the Old Trafford pavilion without a run to his name.

Atherton's second ball duck left a rejigged and apparently revitalised Indian team believing they could win the final Texaco Trophy international and share this rain marred mini series.

The skipper could consider himself unlucky on two counts. Javagal Srinath's fourth delivery nipped back sharply enough off the pitch to suggest it might well have missed leg stump.

And, within a couple of minutes of umpire David Constant's lbw verdict, slate grey skies ditched their heavy load to wash out play for the day with England two for one in reply to India's challenging total of 236 for four.

Having slumped to 96 for five at The Oval on Thursday before the heavens opened, and then mustering a mere 158 at Headingley yesterday, the tourists made another unpromising start here when Saehin Tendulkar fell for a single, edging Dominic Cork to Graeme Hick at second slip.

But with Mohammad Azharuddin producing a gem of a half century and finding the sort of support he will need this summer, England's bowlers found themselves under mounting pressure.

Azharuddin was dejected by his team's lacklustre performance in Leeds. But he must have been heartened by opener Vikram Rathore's diligent innings of 54 and the useful contributions from newcomers Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

Rathore assumed responsibility after Tendulkar's early departure, while Ganguly went for his shots almost immediately - driving and pulling to good effect as Cork, Chris Lewis, Darren Gough and Peter Martin all failed to end a stand of 92.

Spinner Neil Smith had no luck either, and with Ronnie Irani strangely discarded once again it needed the only occasionally seen medium pace of Graham Thorpe to bring England relief.

Thorpe claimed his first international wicket by persuading Rathore to drive a catch to long on and then quickly doubled his haul when Ganguly was smartly stumped down the leg side by Alec Stewart four short of a half century.

That left Azhar on centre stage - and he rose to the task splendidly while roaring to 73 not out off 64 balls.

Cork did strike again, removing Ajay Jadeja with the help of Stewart's superb one handed catch at full stretch. But Dravid made sure that his skipper's good work was not wasted by contributing a sprightly unbeaten 22.

India had managed to gather 86 runs from their last 10 overs, leaving England with a testing target.