England high on Hussain hundred
Faisal Shariff
After eighty overs were bowled India skipper Sourav Ganguly took the second new ball under the graying London clouds and watched helplessly as his opening bowler Ashish Nehra sprayed the ball down the leg-side over and over again.
Standing in the covers, chewing his nails and glancing at his navel with a touch of desperation, he summed up the mood in the Indian camp.
The bowlers had failed the skipper on a forgettable opening day of the Test series, and barring an English collapse early on day two, India seem to have botched up its chances of winning the Lord's Test.
Ganguly's by-the-book captaincy hadn't helped the team's cause. His over-reliance on leggie Anil Kumble and reluctance to experiment with the part-time tweakers helped the English cause.
The three-seam bowling attack formula taken by the skipper flopped, with Ajit Agarkar bowling a despicable length all day. Nehra's shoddy seamers took the steam off the hard work put in by Zaheer Khan.
Riding on the back of a fluent, unbeaten 120 by skipper Nasser Hussain, England piled up a steadfast 257 for 4 by the end of day one.
Morning session
The Lord's wicket was a dry, flat strip, devoid of grass, and offered hope for the seamers. India coach John Wright had stated that he was tempted to play both spinners, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, alongwith two seamers for the Test. The Indian skipper though, backing his instinct that has been steadfast through the tour so far, picked three seamers and a lone spinner in Anil Kumble in the final eleven.
With the arid wicket expected to offer uneven bounce, two spinners would have given India that slight advantage against an England team without their best player of spin, Marcus Trescothick, sitting out injured.
Whether it is a tactical error or a masterstroke would unfold over the next four days.
India, though, started the Test series on a positive note, by pushing Virendra Sehwag up the order with Wasim Jaffer.
"We need to be positive over here. Sehwag can terrorise the bowlers and push England on the back foot," said Wright, on the eve of the Test.
Sensing India's aversion to the prefix 'fast' in front of the word bowlers, the hosts gave Simon Jones his Test cap in the absence of their first-choice bowling attack of Darren Gough and Andy Caddick. All-rounder Craig White edged out Dominic Cork while middle-order bat John Crawley prolonged young Ian Bell's return to Test cricket.
Nasser Hussain won the toss and chose to make first use of the flat track. He almost rethought his options when opener Michael Vaughan was dismissed in Zaheer Khan's first over.
Zaheer pitched on middle and moved the ball a tad back into the batsman, who was stuck to the crease. The ball smacked the pads, bang in front of the stumps, and Trescothick's absence loomed large in the Englishmen's faces as Vaughan walked back to the pavilion without scoring.
Zaheer, making the ball swing with uncommon accuracy, pinned the batsmen to the crease. Angling the deliveries across to the batsmen, he seemed unperturbed by the left-right combine of Hussain and Butcher, forcing both to play at deliveries all the time. He bowled four maidens in his opening spell of five overs for a single run and a wicket.
Ashish Nehra, at the other end, exacted prodigious swing but was wayward, spraying the ball either side of the wicket. The first hour of play was devoid of any stroke play as the hosts watched against keeping their wickets undamaged.
Hussain got his first runs off the 14th ball he faced. From thereon, he settled into a fluid mode, scoring at a better pace than Butcher. He picked Agarkar out for special treatment, pulling him through mid-wicket for four, and after almost playing the ball onto his stumps, slashed a short and wide delivery for four over gully. The fifty-run partnership came off 97 balls, in the 18th over
The early movement for the seamers was seen off and the batsmen searched for the boundaries. Hussain drove Nehra straight, cut Kumble crisply for four, seizing the initiative. Butcher drove Agarkar -- over pitching time and again -- through the covers as the damage of Vaughan's early dismissal was dealt with.
Kumble got India the second breakthrough seven minutes from lunch when he tossed the ball up, forcing Butcher to poke forward at it. The ball flew off the edge and Jaffer, at forward short-leg, completed a neat catch to his right. A neat knock of 29 was terminated just as it seemed to coast England to safety.
England went into lunch at 76 for 2.
India coach John Wright had said: "If you think you are favourites going into a two- horse race, you can be surprised and we don't need that." After the first session of play, India failed to surprise the hosts with their tame bowling display. With the wicket easing out and run-making getting easier by the minute, the Englishmen seem set for a tall first innings total.
Post Lunch session
A 99-run partnership for the fourth-wicket between skipper Nasser Hussain and John Crawley gave England the honours in the second session of the day as they went into tea at 177 for 3.
India began the second session much like the first --.an early wicket, hopes of dominating the game and then the downward slide. Their bowling, on a wicket that offered lateral movement early on, dozed off for the rest of the day as the Englishmen batted themselves into a position of strength.
Zaheer Khan began the post-lunch session by getting through Graham Thorpe for just four. A whiff of movement off the wicket deceived Thorpe to play inside the line of the ball. It crashed into the stumps and England had lost their third wicket before reaching three figures. (78-3)
Hussain found the fence twice to take England past the 100-run mark and combined well with John Crawley to notch up a 50-run partnership. Crawley then cut Kumble for two fours and skipper Ganguly was thinking about his decision to go in with three seamers on a flat track.
Agarkar’s opening spell, which released the pressure tap off the English openers, combined with Nehra’s inconsistent performance, handed the initiative to the Englishmen.
Butcher, who struggled against Zaheer, and Nehra to some extent, flourished against Agarkar, scoring 18 off 25 deliveries of him, while Hussain took 14 off the 17 deliveries he faced from the lanky seamer.
Agarkar’s spell of 10 overs for 45 runs cost India dearly, as Zaheer struggled without support from the other end.
Kumble bowled a tidy spell, extracting appreciable turn from the track. Ganguly did not utilize the handy off-cutters of Sehwag, or Tendulkar’s tweakers, when Kumble dried up the runs from one end.
Crawley was a revelation at number five and repaid the faith the selectors had invested in him. He batted with ease, never failing to punish the bad balls -- which were in abundance -- and was content playing second lead to Hussain.
The skipper led the way with an innings laced with flowing drives on either side of the wicket and fierce cuts off Kumble. He seemed on course for a successive hundred against India -- though in different forms of the game -- with the Indian bowlers spraying the ball all over the wicket except the ideal good length mark.
England went into lunch at 177 for 3, with Hussain undefeated on 82 and Crawley batting on 48. 101 runs had been scored in the session for the loss of one wicket.
Post Tea session:
Crawley sauntered through for a single, off Kumble, to register a 100-run partnership with Hussain. Another single, off Zaheer, got the Lancashire batsman to 50. England soon passed the 200-run mark, which included 31 boundaries and an equal number of singles.
The England skipper, meanwhile, roared away immediately after tea, elegantly driving a half volley from Zaheer through extra-cover for his 15th boundary. Off the next over from Kumble, he danced down the track and spanked the ball to the long-on fence. He followed it up with an audacious cut past point to race to 99. A flick to square leg, off Zaheer, got him to his 11th Test century off 192 balls and 17 fours.
With the toothless frontline bowlers gifting the game away to the hosts, Ganguly turned to Virender Sehwag and was rewarded for the move almost immediately.
Sehwag, bowling accurately -- though failing to turn the ball much, saw Crawley cut one straight to Rahul Dravid at first slip. Crawley’s knock of 64 had given the English dressing room reason to cheer. His 144-run alliance with Hussain set the hosts towards a total of 400-plus.
Alec Stewart, playing a record-breaking 119th Test -- the most by an Englishman ever -- walked out to a standing applause from the staid English supporters in the pavilion stand.
With the news that the young James Foster will be out of action for another six weeks, Stewart seemed more relaxed, at least for the moment, as he batted with confidence, square driving Sehwag to the fence.
The scoring rate slumped but the damage had been done to the Indian cause as Hussain’s century took complete advantage of winning the toss and electing to bat. Hussain brought up England's 250 by ripping Zaheer to the third man fence.
England ended the day at 257 for 4, having scored 80 runs in the 32 overs of the post-tea session. Hussain was undefeated on 120 while Stewart was giving him support at the other end, on 19.
India seemed to be battling on with a one-man pace attack. Barring Zaheer, none of the other seamers offered any semblance of a fight. Every good delivery was followed up with a loose one. At one stage of the match, England seemed to be dealing purely in boundaries.
Until India reassesses its bowling options and the bowlers get their lengths right, this game seems to be heading towards anything but an Indian win.
