By Ashish Shukla
Jonathan Trott was at the centre of England's revival as India dropped a couple of catches to allow the hosts to wriggle out of early trouble on the rain-marred opening day of the first Test at the Lord's.
Published: Jul 21, 2011, 05:44 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 21, 2011, 05:44 PM (IST)
Jonathan Trott in action on the first day of the opening Test at Lord’s © Getty Images
By Ashish Shukla
London: Jul 21, 2011
Jonathan Trott was at the centre of England’s revival as India dropped a couple of catches to allow the hosts to wriggle out of early trouble on the rain-marred opening day of the first Test at the Lord’s.
Only 49.2 overs of play was possible in which home team reached 127 for two courtesy a patient half century by the England No 3.
The right-handed Trott was unbeaten on 58 and added 65 runs for the undefeated third-wicket stand with Kevin Pietersen (22 batting) after Zaheer Khan sent back both the openers.
The Indian pace spearhead dismissed Alastair Cook (12) and skipper Andrew Strauss (22), and could have had Trott too had skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni attempted for a regulation catch that went through him and the first slip after the batsman got squared up.
Zaheer who missed out on the trip to Caribbean due to injury, had excellent figures of 13.3-8-18-2, before he went away clutching the back of his right thigh, later diagnosed, according to reports from dressing room, as mere cramps.
Trott flourished in Zaheer’s absence, completing his half century from 155 minutes batting, hitting seven fours from 89 balls.
His application, despite his lucky breaks, clearly showed why the right-hander has made 712 runs in his last eight Test matches which has three centuries including a double hundred.
The let-off in the slips wasn’t the only chance which came Trott’s way. He was on eight when Rahul Dravid at first slip was slow to react to an edge off Harbhajan Singh.
The opening day of the historic Test, the 2000th ever in Test annals and the 100th between the two nations, began half an hour late due to slight drizzle and stopped completely after 20 minutes before the scheduled tea break.
There was a possibility at the fag end of the day when umpires decided to squeeze in an hour but rain again played truant.
Put into bat by Indian captain Dhoni, English openers really had a tough opening session when new-ball bowlers Zaheer and Praveen Kumar probed away relentlessly on the off-stump and neither Strauss nor Cook were entirely comfortable.
England scored their first runs in the fourth over as the first three were maiden overs with both Zaheer and Praveen never drifting down the leg-side and slip fielders agog in anticipation.
Dhoni fortified his slip cordon and kept two gullies against the two left-handed openers of England after watching his bowlers keep a tight leash on the opposition.
The first runs came as Cook played a cut shot off Praveen which went past point region.
The much-anticipated Strauss vs Zaheer contest lived up to expectation as the England captain found the Indian left-arm pacer a far more difficult proposition than the warm-up game against Somerset.
After Strauss weaved and dodged Zaheer’s seaming deliveries, he finally pushed a delivery into the covers for a sharp single against the paceman who is likely to give him some sleepless nights in coming weeks. The single came after Zaheer had locked him up at one end for 14 deliveries.
Despite the excellent bowling, England were solid without being spectacular but for couple of anxious moments when Praveen went up for a leg before shout against Cook but the ball had pitched beyond the leg stump.
There was a more realistic chance of a breakthrough when Cook pushed Zaheer to mid-on in the seventh over and took a step out of his crease only to find Strauss rushing down from the non-striker’s end.
Ishant Sharma at mid-on fielded the ball but his shy at the non-striker’s end was off-target with the rival captain well short of his ground.
Zaheer was almost at the end of his first spell when he got a ball to straighten up and hit Cook on the pads who missed an attempted flick after batting for 45 minutes to be wrapped on the pads. Umpire Asad Rauf adjudged the batsman leg before. Cook had scored 12 hitting a boundary in his 36-ball knock.
This is the first time in his last seven innings when Cook has failed to score a half century for England. Zaheer gave himself one more over before ending his first spell with excellent figures of 7-3-9-1.
Strauss broke the shackles when Ishant, replacing Zaheer from the nursery end, bowled a short and wide delivery and the left-hander ferociously cut it for a four.
It was the 48th delivery that Strauss had faced in his innings for his first four. He followed it up with a superb thrust past midwicket off Praveen for another boundary.
Brief Scores: England 127 for 2 (Jonathan Trott 58*, Kevin Pietersen 22*; Zaheer Khan 2 for 18) vs India.
© PTI
