Stephen Lamb
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1st Test: India v England at Mohali, 3-7 Dec 2001 Stephen Lamb |
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England 2nd innings:
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The session started quietly, with Thorpe and Ramprakash, England's last two specialist batsmen, conscious of the need for survival against Yohannan and Kumble.
The 50 partnership came up (off 92 balls) as Ramprakash steered Yohannan past point and ran three as Harbhajan chased down to third man.
Harbhajan himself, inexplicably ignored for much of the morning by his captain, eventually came on to bowl the 53rd over of the innings, and was greeted by a sumptuous drive by Thorpe to the extra cover boundary. Ramprakash produced a quality stroke of his own in Kumble's next over, deftly using the pace of the ball to run it down for four to third man.
But Kumble inflicted another body blow on England when he trapped Ramprakash, plumb lbw back on his stumps with a quicker, skidding delivery to leave England on 159 for 4. Flintoff began with a boundary on his 25th birthday, but that was as far as the celebrations went. He was on his way next ball, caught by Ganguly at silly point of bad and pad to leave England deep in the mire. Craig White also began aggressively, with boundaries off Kumble through the covers and Harbhajan over mid-off. After 60 overs England were 178 for 5.
After the double loss of Butcher and Trescothick, there was further agony for England as Nasser Hussain tried to cut a ball from Anil Kumble that was too full for the shot and bounced more than he expected, chopping it into his stumps. The England captain had made 12 and departed with the score on 87 for 3.
Graham Thorpe then had the hearts of England supporters in their mouths with a fearful waft outside off stump which Deep Dasgupta failed to gather cleanly behind the stumps. Thorpe then relieved some of the tension with a flowing off drive, before Siddiqui replaced Yohannan.
The England hundred came up with a single pushed behind square by Thorpe, who then ran Siddiqui down to the third man boundary. Harbhajan replaced Kumble for the last over before lunch, and Ramprakash took his first two boundaries with sweeps behind square leg. At the interval England were still 104 runs behind with seven wickets left.
As India began the morning with Tinu Yohannan and Harbhajan Singh, England's openers resumed their watchful approach of the previous evening. Trescothick was the more productive, taking two early boundaries with square drives from Yohannan. The Somerset left-hander was fortunate to edge an excellent, lifting ball from Yohannan between the slips and gully for another four to third man. A big lbw appeal was followed by two runs to square leg, and another boundary backward of point brought up the tourists' 50.
It wasn't until the eighth over of the morning that the two changed ends, as Butcher took a single off Harbhajan. After Trescothick swept a boundary behind square, a similar shot off the next ball hit Shiv Sunder Das painfully on the shoulder at short leg, forcing his exit from the arena. With Connor Williams already substituting for Sanjay Bangar, a second substitute, Jacob Martin, came on to replace Das.
Butcher took his first boundary of the morning from Yohannan as Sourav Ganguly bungled a dive at extra cover. But after taking two more in the same area, Butcher was late on a pull shot, got a top edge and perished as the ball went high in the air to be pulled down by Martin at midwicket. Butcher had made 18.
Nasser Hussain swept Harbhajan for two to get under way, and then hit two flowing boundaries off Anil Kumble, one through the covers and the other through mid-on. But Tinu Yohannan struck a second blow to England's hopes of saving the game when Marcus Trescothick failed to get on top of a hook and was brilliantly caught by Iqbal Siddiqui, running round from the long leg boundary. After 35 overs England were 85 for 2.
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Date-stamped : 06 Dec2001 - 14:40