Monday, Aug 12, 2002
Monday, Aug 12, 2002 |
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Cricket
By G. Viswanath
England's Craig White square drives Harbhajan Singh in the second Test at Trent Bridge on Sunday. — Photo: N. Sridharan
The overtime play gave sufficient time for Tendulkar to exhibit an array of shots from his repertoire, outstanding of which were the straight drives off Matthew Hoggard, and make his first half century in four Test innings on this tour. India will have to be mentally prepared to play out a maximum of 105 overs on the last day and prevent England from taking a 2-0 lead in the npower series. After England removed the India openers by the second over, both Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer falling leg before victims, Dravid and Tendulkar reduced England's lead to 161 runs putting on an unbeaten stand of 88 runs. The umpires abandoned play at 7-12 p.m. after offering the light to the two batsmen. Earlier, England with a first innings total of 617 opened victory possibilities amassing a record total in 132 Tests and in a dozen years. In the the four-and-a-half hours of play before tea break, in which India bowled one ball short of 62 overs, England added 276 to its overnight 341 and when Wasim Jaffer held a stylish square drive that tailender Steve Harmison failed to keep down off the bowling of Ajit Agarkar. His dismissal left Craig White six runs short of what would have been his second century in Test cricket and against India. Nasser Hussain delayed the declaration to provide a chance for White to reach the three-figure mark after the Yorkshire allrounder White and Matthew Hoggard had put on a record partnership of 103 (off 159 balls) for the ninth wicket. White made a serious bid for the hundred clouting Harbhajan Singh for a straight six, but eventually he was stranded at 94 made in four hours and five minutes of sensible batting. Any team, in this case England, averaging close to 62 (per wicket) in an innings must be straightaway considered to be in good form. A ten-point increase from the first Test a fortnight ago also revealed a fact that the England batsmen are at considerable ease in time-honoured home conditions and when the oppositions bowling force is a far cry from the conventional seam bowling. In the Lord's Test England had averaged a little under 50 in pitch conditions that were looked upon as more spin-friendly and the climatic conditions typically Mumbai-like. It was just that England showed a significant improvement on the fourth day. After Michael Vaughan's wonderful exhibition of strokes on Saturday, it was the turn of the overnight-undefeated pair in Alec Stewart and Andrew Flintoff and every succeeding batsman who followed them to up the scoring rate, which they did with a bit of boldness and a bit of luck. India's bowling combination, which did not appear to be formidable at any stage of the England innings on the third day when Vaughan produced magnificent strokes and built partnerships with almost every batsman who was with him in the middle, was put to the sword again on Sunday. Full penalty was exacted by even the lower order batsmen, who took England's lead past the 200-run mark three quarters of an hour before tea-time, whichwas extended by 30 minutes. England piled up the runs, and thus the pressure on the Indians, though Zaheer Khan, pulled up his socks in his second spell with the new ball and got rid of both Flintoff and Stewart in three balls after the sixth-wicket pair had taken England from 335 to 432. There was a bit of a drama after the second new ball was claimed on the completion of the 90th over (369 for five) and Stewart had swept Harbhajan and on-driven Agarkar. The former England captain did not walk after an edge off his bat went down and to the left of Virender Sehwag at third slip. The Indians appealed, but Russel Tiffin referred the decision to the third umpire, Jeremy Lloyds, who indicated that the catch claimed by the fielding side was not fair. As was evident in the first hour itself the Indian bowling simply fell away. Having taken England past India's 357, Stewart and Flintoff cut loose against Zaheer and Agarkar, who shared the new ball. Zaheer's fuller length deliveries and longhops were struck with the disdain it deserved. Flintoff was severe on Nehra, who replaced Zaheer, and Agarkar. Stewart was a trifle lucky against Agarkar, whom he edged twice, the first one bisecting wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel and Rahul Dravid at first slip. Stewart was seen in different light the following over despatching balls to the on-side boundary when Agarkar bowled at his pads. Agarkar's seven-over spell, four of it with the second new ball, cost him 40 runs, Stewart and Flintoff punishing him for eight 4s. Zaheer celebrated the dismissals of Flintoff and Stewart almost in the same manner, but the breakthroughs came too late in the day. The departure of Flintoff and Stewart saw the reappearance of Dominic Cork on the field after two days and without a runner. These two did not spare India the agony, putting on 60 for the eighth wicket, before Cork turned Harbhajan into the hands of Wasim Jaffer at short-leg. India's suffering did not end at the fall of Cork's wicket. From here on began another ordeal for 10 minutes short of two hours after Hoggard's arrival and his determination to rub it in on the Indian bowling attack.
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