Sport

Strauss composes a patient century

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

DOUGHTY DISPLAY: England opener Andrew Strauss applied himself to come up with a well-crafted century on the opening day of the first Test against India in Chennai on Thursday.

Chennai: It was a day of fluctuating fortunes at Chepauk. The England openers laid a solid platform before the host came back hard in the final session.

At stumps, England was 229 for five on the opening day of the first Test on Thursday. The pace of run-getting was often slow but cricket on view was engrossing.

Opener Andrew Strauss (123, 233b, 15x4) spent the better part of the day in the middle before being done in by the dip in leg-spinner Amit Mishra’s flight.

Strauss’s 13th Test hundred was marked by application rather than flourish. His innings was constructed rather than conjured.

Zaheer Khan can take the ball away or straighten it into the left-hander from over-the-wicket. Strauss played the left-armer exceptionally well, picking the line early, covering the movement and being decisive in his judgment around the off-stump. Importantly, he was on top of the ball rather than attempting to play around it.

The 31-year-old also displayed a rather old-fashioned doggedness. During the innings, Strauss crossed 4000 runs in Test cricket.

Earlier, Kevin Pietersen won a crucial toss on a bald, sand-coloured pitch. However, the visitor may have lost a wonderful opportunity to bat India out of the Test and then apply pressure with a combination of pace and spin; the surface could assist spin from day three.

Pietersen’s walk-and-whip approach in the post-tea session had the English camp on the edge. The skipper soon walked back, attempting an audacious pull from outside the off-stump and perishing to Zaheer.

Paul Collingwood was desperately unlucky though. The ball was nowhere close to his bat or glove when he was adjudged caught at short-leg off Harbhajan Singh.

Then, Mishra flung himself to signal the end of Strauss. From 118 for no loss, England had slumped 221 for five. There was a greater hope and urgency in the Indian huddle.

To their credit, the Indians maintained the pressure on a hot, tiring day. Dhoni employed semi-defensive or semi-attacking fields and England was not allowed to break free on a surface lacking pace and threatening bounce. For the bowlers, it was a hard day’s work.

In the morning, Strauss and Alastair Cook blunted the Indian attack. Strauss left as much as he played and Cook displayed the full face of the blade. Both these left-handers can play the waiting game.

Given his natural incoming delivery to the right-hander, Ishant can be a threat to the southpaws. He was handled well by the Englishmen who cleverly played inside the line.

Spin was introduced in the ninth over reflecting the nature of the surface. The ball gripped for Harbhajan but it was only in the afternoon that the off-spinner bowled with greater consistency.

Strauss attempted to disrupt Mishra’s length by employing the slog sweep to deliveries pitched around his off-stump. It was an interesting duel and Mishra had a confident shout turned down; third umpire Suresh Shastri ruled the ball had bounced off the ground to a diving Dravid at slip.

Cook complemented Strauss well. Extremely well-balanced in his on-side play, Cook also straight drove Zaheer with poise and timing. Eventually, Cook (52, 116b, 5x4) was sucked into a fatal slog sweep from the off-stump by a slower, looped up ball from Harbhajan.

Ian Bell was trapped in front by Zaheer soon after tea. The right-hander played around a delivery that pitched in line and swung in a shade from the leg-stump. Zaheer got the ball to reverse in an impressive post-tea burst. Ishant bowled with greater rhythm in the latter stages of the day.

For England, much revolves around Andrew Flintoff. The big-hitting all-rounder has so far faced 64 deliveries for a determined unbeaten 18.

Before the match began, the teams stood silent for a minute in memory of the victims of the terror strikes in Mumbai.

SCOREBOARD

England — 1st innings: A. Strauss c & b Mishra 123, A. Cook c Zaheer b Harbhajan 52, I. Bell lbw b Zaheer 17, K. Pietersen c & b Zaheer 4, P. Collingwood c Gambhir b Harbhajan 9, A. Flintoff (batting) 18, J. Anderson (batting) 2, Extras (lb-4) 4; Total (for five wkts. in 90 overs) 229.

Fall of wicketss: 1-118 (Cook), 2-164 (Bell), 3-180 (Pietersen), 4-195 (Collingwood), 5-221 (Strauss).

India bowling: Zaheer 17-7-36-2, Ishant 15-2-29-0, Harbhajan 26-2-67-2, Mishra 20-4-63-1, Yuvraj 11-2-22-0, Sehwag 1-0-8-0.

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