At Lord’s England Captain Michael Vaughan won the toss and decided to Bat first on beautiful Lord’s ground. His batsman proves his decision very much in his favor when England at one stage 218/1 but towards the end of the first day play which was suspended 9.3 overs earlier due to bad light Indian bowler did a fantastic job to pick quick 3 wickets especially Anil Kumble who has taken 2 wickets and reduce England to 268/4. At stumps Kevin Peterson was not out on 34 and with him night watchman Ryan Sidebottom was not out on zero. Earlier England openers Alistair Cook and Strauss batted aggressively and England raises to 50 without loss in just 8.3 over of the inning. The new ball bowler of Indian cricket team didn’t maintain their line and length especially S. Sreesanth who bowls too much on middle and leg stump. Staruss has some luck in his favor and he is dropped when he was on 43 by Dinesh Karthik on the bowling of S. Sreesanth. By seeing England openers on fire Indian captain Rahul Dravid given the ball to “Dada” Mr. Saurav Ganguly and he done his task in the very 1st over of his spell by picking A. Cook LBW when he was on 36. So finally India got the much needed breakthrough required. M. Vaughan the England Test team captain arrive to the crease and he and Strauss played each and every Indian bowlers to the merits and carry the England score without any further damage till Lunch. After Lunch though English batsman slow down little bit but the dangerous Partnership was building and Rahul Dravid has no idea at this moment how to get these player out. Strauss continued his good form with the bat bringing up his 10th Test half-century and soon his skipper, too, crossed the 50-run mark, his 15th Test half-century before the tea break. Finally Anil Kumble give the breakthrough for Indians when he caught A. Strauss at first slip by Rahul Dravid when he was just 4 run short from Century. A. Staruss and M. Vaughan put 142 run partnership for the second wicket. Due to bad light, play stopped two times and that is why England captain looses his concentration and lose his wicket in 77th over of the England inning on the bowling of left arm pacer R.P. Singh caught by M.S. Dhoni. In the very next over Anil Kumble strike again to bring back India right into the match. Finally when played called off England were 268/4. |
