Sachin provides captivating sub-plot to first Test
John Mehaffey
Sachin Tendulkar, India's diminutive maestro, provides the most captivating sub-plot in the five-act play representing the first Test against England starting at Lord's on Thursday.
After the frenetic action of the one-day triangular series with Sri Lanka, climaxing in a dramatic win for India in the final against England, spectators will now savour the different rhythms of five-day cricket in the first of a four-Test series at, theoretically, the height of the English summer.
The stage is established for Tendulkar to overtake one of the sport's glittering landmarks, the 29 centuries scored by Australian Don Bradman, greatest batsman in the history of the game.
A century at world cricket's headquarters would place Tendulkar second in the all-time list behind compatriot Sunil Gavaskar who tallied 34.
Bradman, who died last year at the age of 92, famously identified Tendulkar as the batsman he most resembled at the crease. Certainly, no other player has endured the same idolatry and pressure to succeed from his compatriots.
"I have scored 29 hundreds," said Tendulkar modestly. "To tie Don Bradman's record was very special, but it is the only time my name can be put next to his."
BARREN SERIES
Tendulkar endured a barren series in the Caribbean this year as India sought again in vain to record an overseas series win for the first time since they defeated England 16 long years ago.
"It is part of the game and happened for the first time in 13 years," Tendulkar said. "It happens to all players. In four innings I played only 15 balls. It just had to happen but I did not feel anything was wrong, it was just one of those things."
India's affable New Zealand coach John Wright is relaxed about Tendulkar's travails against West Indies.
"I have every confidence in him being able to solve his problems," Wright said. "Because he is a great batsman, he is a great thinker. He is very strong and enjoys these types of challenges."
England's tactics against Tendulkar under their tough-minded captain Nasser Hussain present another intriguing element. During the English winter series Hussain asked left-arm spinner Ashley Giles to bowl persistently outside the leg-stump to frustrate Tendulkar.
Tendulkar's patience did snap once, throwing his wicket away after a prolonged period in the doldrums. But the keen cricketing intelligence which enabled him to destroy Australian wrist-spinner Shane Warne four years ago has surely been applied to over-coming the lesser problems posed by Giles.
RAW PACE
Hussain, though, may quickly run out of other options. His two best bowlers Darren Gough and Andy Caddick are injured, opening the way for Glamorgan's Simon Jones to make his Test debut.
Jones, whose father Jeff bowled lively left-arm for England in the 1960s, has raw pace but erratic direction. In the best of all possible worlds for England he will destroy India and go on to help regain the Ashes in Australia this year. In a bleaker scenario for Hussain he could prove ruinously expensive on a batsman friendly pitch.
Although Marcus Trescothick, currently England's best batsman, is injured the current form of the home side's batting is encouraging. Seven batsmen, including wicketkeeper Alec Stewart who sets an England record of 119 caps on Thursday, averaged more than 40 in the 2-0 series win over Sri Lanka.
"I have been on four tours with this team and on three of them we have gone into the last Test with an opportunity to win the series," added Wright. "It's a challenge we have got to get through."
Teams:
England - Mark Butcher, Michael Vaughan, Nasser Hussain (captain), Graham Thorpe, John Crawley, Alec Stewart, Andy Flintoff, Craig White, Dominic Cork, Ashley Giles, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones.
India - to be announced.
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