Dravid seeks to exploit soggy conditions
Saturday, 28 July 2007
A brief shower threatened to further delay the start, but the weather finally relented, the outfield was sufficiently dry, and Rahul Dravid had little hesitation in choosing to put England in to bat after winning the toss. Fifty-five overs have been scheduled for the day, with a tea break at 4.50pm, followed by a 110-minute last session. Both teams are unchanged, which means Sourav Ganguly has recovered sufficiently from a stiff back, reports Cricinfo.
Dravid's decision was hardly a surprise. All the indications are that the pitch and the conditions will help the swing and seam bowlers. There is a generous smattering of grass on the wicket, and the fact that it was under covers for most of the last three days is likely to further aid the bowlers. The surface isn't as hard, though, suggesting that there might be some indentations on the pitch when the fast bowlers bang it on the surface, which could lead to uneven bounce later in the game.
Dravid was a little concerned about the wet outfield, but hoped it would dry up sufficiently so that a wet ball would not affect his bowlers. Michael Vaughan conceded that he would have bowled first as well, but if his batsmen put up some runs on the board and the pitch acts up later, it could still be a good toss to lose.
Scorecard
England 1st innings:
AJ Strauss c Tendulkar b Khan 4
AN Cook not out 36
MP Vaughan c Tendulkar b Khan 9
KP Pietersen lbw b Singh 13
PD Collingwood not out 26
Extras: (b 4, lb 3, nb 1) 8
Total: (3 wickets; 29 overs) 96
To bat: IR Bell, wicket-keeperMJ Prior, CT Tremlett, RJ Sidebottom, MS Panesar and JM Anderson
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Strauss, 2.3 ov), 2-24 (Vaughan, 8.6 ov), 3-47 (Pietersen, 14.4 ov)
India team:
W Jaffer, KD Karthik, captainR Dravid, SR Tendulkar, SC Ganguly, VVS Laxman, wicket-keeperMS Dhoni, A Kumble, Z Khan, RP Singh, S Sreesanth
Toss: India, who chose to field first
Dravid's decision was hardly a surprise. All the indications are that the pitch and the conditions will help the swing and seam bowlers. There is a generous smattering of grass on the wicket, and the fact that it was under covers for most of the last three days is likely to further aid the bowlers. The surface isn't as hard, though, suggesting that there might be some indentations on the pitch when the fast bowlers bang it on the surface, which could lead to uneven bounce later in the game.
Dravid was a little concerned about the wet outfield, but hoped it would dry up sufficiently so that a wet ball would not affect his bowlers. Michael Vaughan conceded that he would have bowled first as well, but if his batsmen put up some runs on the board and the pitch acts up later, it could still be a good toss to lose.
Scorecard
England 1st innings:
AJ Strauss c Tendulkar b Khan 4
AN Cook not out 36
MP Vaughan c Tendulkar b Khan 9
KP Pietersen lbw b Singh 13
PD Collingwood not out 26
Extras: (b 4, lb 3, nb 1) 8
Total: (3 wickets; 29 overs) 96
To bat: IR Bell, wicket-keeperMJ Prior, CT Tremlett, RJ Sidebottom, MS Panesar and JM Anderson
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Strauss, 2.3 ov), 2-24 (Vaughan, 8.6 ov), 3-47 (Pietersen, 14.4 ov)
India team:
W Jaffer, KD Karthik, captainR Dravid, SR Tendulkar, SC Ganguly, VVS Laxman, wicket-keeperMS Dhoni, A Kumble, Z Khan, RP Singh, S Sreesanth
Toss: India, who chose to field first