Strauss, Vaughan steer England
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Andrew Strauss and Michael Vaughan settled the dressing-room nerves for England with a composed 80-run partnership for the second wicket as they went into the lunch break on 129 for 1 Monday, reports Cricinfo.
The deficit was still an imposing 154 runs, but the manner in which Strauss, unbeaten on 54, and Vaughan handled the Indian attack will give the rest of the batsmen plenty of confidence going into the second session.
The Indians had an early success to celebrate when Alastair Cook was trapped in front for the fourth time in this series, but thereafter they were thwarted by some dogged batting by Strauss and Vaughan.
The ball swung prodigiously, but Zaheer was the only bowler who controlled it. Vaughan, especially, was in all sorts of bother against the round-the-wicket line. Uncertain whether the ball would dart in or seam away, he prodded hesitantly and was beaten on numerous occasions.
RP Singh bothered him with the same line as well, but against the other bowlers he was far more confident. When Sourav Ganguly was introduced into the attack to relieve the frontline bowlers, Vaughan celebrated with a glorious flick and straight-drive, while Anil Kumble was picked off for three delightful fours when he drifted towards leg stump. A flicked single off the same bowler brought him his 5000th Test run as England gradually built a significant partnership.
At the other end Strauss batted with an assurance that has been missing recently. He presented the full face of the bat in defence, and was largely unruffled against both pace and spin. He didn't score too many in the first hour, but clipped two fours off successive balls from Singh - a pull and a cover-drive - and then tucked into Sachin Tendulkar, smashing a waist-high full toss and nudging a single to get to his 21st Test fifty. And as the partnership grew, so did the Indian raggedness in the field, which was highlighted by Singh diving over the ball when Strauss cut one from Kumble.
Dravid tossed the ball to six bowlers during the session, but apart from Zaheer, none exerted sustained pressure. Sreesanth was much better than on the third evening. Singh nearly had Vaughan with a prodigious inswinger that missed the edge, but otherwise both batsmen handled him with a degree of comfort.
Kumble drifted to leg far too often to stem the runs, and with the pitch holding up well, England had a fair shot at a huge second-innings score. For that, though, they need to replicate their performance in this session through the rest of the day.
Scorecard
England 1st innings: (all out; 65.3 overs) 198
India 1st innings R M B 4s 6s
D Karthik c Cook b Panesar 77 188 136 11 0
W Jaffer c Prior b Tremlett 62 175 123 7 0
R Dravid c Bell b Panesar 37 136 94 5 0
Tendulkar lbw b Collingwood 91 259 197 12 0
Ganguly c Prior b Anderson 79 233 156 10 1
VVS Laxman c Prior b Tremlett 54 183 152 7 0
MS Dhoni c Prior b Sidebottom 5 11 6 1 0
A Kumble c Prior b Tremlett 30 83 65 6 0
Z Khan not out 10 26 12 2 0
RP Singh lbw b Panesar 0 4 4 0 0
S Sreesanth lbw b Panesar 2 11 9 0 0
Extras: (b 16, lb 16, w 1, nb 1) 34
Total (all out; 158.5 overs; 660 mins) 481 (3.02 runs per over)
England 2nd innings R B 4s 6s
AJ Strauss c Dhoni b Khan 55 133 6 0 AN Cook lbw b Khan 23 50 1 0
MP Vaughan not out 77 137 13 0
KP Pietersen lbw b Singh 19 35 2 0
PD Collingwood not out 10 32 1 0
Extras: (b 7, lb 6, w 4, nb 3) 20
Total: (3 wickets; 63.6 overs) 204 (3.18 runs per over)
England were on 295 for 5 wickets at 10:15 pm
The deficit was still an imposing 154 runs, but the manner in which Strauss, unbeaten on 54, and Vaughan handled the Indian attack will give the rest of the batsmen plenty of confidence going into the second session.
The Indians had an early success to celebrate when Alastair Cook was trapped in front for the fourth time in this series, but thereafter they were thwarted by some dogged batting by Strauss and Vaughan.
The ball swung prodigiously, but Zaheer was the only bowler who controlled it. Vaughan, especially, was in all sorts of bother against the round-the-wicket line. Uncertain whether the ball would dart in or seam away, he prodded hesitantly and was beaten on numerous occasions.
RP Singh bothered him with the same line as well, but against the other bowlers he was far more confident. When Sourav Ganguly was introduced into the attack to relieve the frontline bowlers, Vaughan celebrated with a glorious flick and straight-drive, while Anil Kumble was picked off for three delightful fours when he drifted towards leg stump. A flicked single off the same bowler brought him his 5000th Test run as England gradually built a significant partnership.
At the other end Strauss batted with an assurance that has been missing recently. He presented the full face of the bat in defence, and was largely unruffled against both pace and spin. He didn't score too many in the first hour, but clipped two fours off successive balls from Singh - a pull and a cover-drive - and then tucked into Sachin Tendulkar, smashing a waist-high full toss and nudging a single to get to his 21st Test fifty. And as the partnership grew, so did the Indian raggedness in the field, which was highlighted by Singh diving over the ball when Strauss cut one from Kumble.
Dravid tossed the ball to six bowlers during the session, but apart from Zaheer, none exerted sustained pressure. Sreesanth was much better than on the third evening. Singh nearly had Vaughan with a prodigious inswinger that missed the edge, but otherwise both batsmen handled him with a degree of comfort.
Kumble drifted to leg far too often to stem the runs, and with the pitch holding up well, England had a fair shot at a huge second-innings score. For that, though, they need to replicate their performance in this session through the rest of the day.
Scorecard
England 1st innings: (all out; 65.3 overs) 198
India 1st innings R M B 4s 6s
D Karthik c Cook b Panesar 77 188 136 11 0
W Jaffer c Prior b Tremlett 62 175 123 7 0
R Dravid c Bell b Panesar 37 136 94 5 0
Tendulkar lbw b Collingwood 91 259 197 12 0
Ganguly c Prior b Anderson 79 233 156 10 1
VVS Laxman c Prior b Tremlett 54 183 152 7 0
MS Dhoni c Prior b Sidebottom 5 11 6 1 0
A Kumble c Prior b Tremlett 30 83 65 6 0
Z Khan not out 10 26 12 2 0
RP Singh lbw b Panesar 0 4 4 0 0
S Sreesanth lbw b Panesar 2 11 9 0 0
Extras: (b 16, lb 16, w 1, nb 1) 34
Total (all out; 158.5 overs; 660 mins) 481 (3.02 runs per over)
England 2nd innings R B 4s 6s
AJ Strauss c Dhoni b Khan 55 133 6 0 AN Cook lbw b Khan 23 50 1 0
MP Vaughan not out 77 137 13 0
KP Pietersen lbw b Singh 19 35 2 0
PD Collingwood not out 10 32 1 0
Extras: (b 7, lb 6, w 4, nb 3) 20
Total: (3 wickets; 63.6 overs) 204 (3.18 runs per over)
England were on 295 for 5 wickets at 10:15 pm