Sport
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Cricket
Trescothick, Kumble corner honours
By G. Viswanath
AHMEDABAD, DEC. 11. The peril of spin again emerged for England on brownish track at Motera. A combination of wrist-spin and clever slow bowling played its part to cause a whirlpool of thoughts amongst the England batsmen, save for Marcus Trescothick, on the opening day of the second Test of the Hero Honda series here on Tuesday. They appeared vulnerable against Anil Kumble, who took five straight wickets in under a dozen overs after lunch to move closer to the landmark of 300 wickets.
Yet, in spite of all its apprehensions and trepidations, England is in a better position than it was at any given point of time at Mohali. Perhaps it is on a lap of luxury, having made 277 for six in 90 overs. Its scoreboard might have been bigger had it not been for the misfortune it faced in the form of the dismissals of two middle order batsmen, including its captain Nasser Hussain. By handing out decisions in favour of the home side or rather against the visiting side, the ICC panel umpire, Ian Robinson of Zimbabwe, is likely to face the wrath of the English team.
It was a day when England made amends for its poor show in the Mohali Test, which it lost within four days. Though, it was startled by star batsman Graham Thorpe's decision to return home immediately to attend to `personal problems', its southpaw openers - Mark Butcher and Marcus Trescothick not only baulked and bothered the Indian bowling of some mixture but also seemed firm and set to take the fight into the Indian camp with show that reflected not of heroism, but a conscious effort to counter the Indian spinners who had played havoc in the first Test.
It was, per se, a dream start that Butcher and Trescothick gave England after Hussain came out of the `toss' unscathed. He had included Michael Vaughan (for Thorpe) and left arm spinner Ashley Giles for medium-pacer James Ormond.
To run up 124 for the first wicket, after two poor team totals at Mohali, was the kind of positive start that Hussain would have anticipated on a surface that from the very first ball, bowled by Javagal Srinath, showed the propensity to travel slow and keep low.
The openers had gauged the surface to near perfection but were beaten once each in the first spell by Srinath and the edges going wide of third slip to the picket at third man region. Perhaps both the left-handers may have made a false shot when the ball was pitched short, otherwise it was smooth sailing for them in the first session, with play being reset (by the match officials and the State association) to start at 10 a.m (for all the days) to allow enough time for the ground staff to use the indigenous `Super Sopper' to remove the water caused by a heavy dew fall.
For almost three hours it was an England show before Kumble ran in to form in his tenth over. England took lunch at 79 for no loss in 28 overs with both Butcher and Trescothick in their 30s. The post lunch session did not begin well for India. Trescothick's powerful hit on the on side of Kumble found the small-made Sundar Das and soon physio Andrew Leipus was escorting him back to the pavilion. It was revealed later in the day that Das was not even taken for a precautionary x-ray and that he will bat.
Eight minutes before the first drinks interval, Kumble struck, having Butcher snapped by the wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta. It was an eventful time for both the teams because Trescothick first and Butcher later had made their half centuries.
Butcher was evidently comfortable both against Srinath and Tinu Yohannan, who ought to have discovered in his second Test the quality of the deck that was fast bowler's nightmare. Butcher drove and cut off his front and back foot and once hammered off-spinner Harbhajan Singh straight down the pitch for a classic four. Another straight hit, this time off Kumble, took him past 50. But the leg spinner struck immediately at exactly half way stage of the day and in third ball of the 40th over.
Earlier, Trescothick had crossed his half century whipping Kumble to the mid-wicket fence. He was the more conventional opener, but at the outset he showed his intentions against Harbhajan, sweeping him off his length. He played some lovely shots on either side of the wicket and never gave an impression of being subjugated by Kumble, which he though did, immediately after tea break.
Trescothick needed one run to complete his first century against India and on Indian soil. He had played himself in, thwarted the medium pacers and spinners and appeared to be in control. But somehow he appeared to be all nerves in the first four deliveries he faced from Kumble. He might have been dismissed in any of the four balls, had he not gone through with his shot. Off the fifth from Kumble, he perished, trying to run down the leg spinner wide of slip and only to edged to Dasgupta.
``I am not disappointed'' he said at the conference. ``If someone were to give me a 99 every time I got out to bat, I will take it,'' he added. He played for a little over four hours and his raising the bat to acknowledge the crowd's ovation showed, that as a sportsman he is willing to take small disappointments.
Trescothick was the fourth England batsman to fall and in-between England had reason to gripe against umpire Ian Robinson. He adjudged Hussain leg before and responded favourably to an appeal for a catch claimed by Virender Sehwag against Vaughan.
Hussain's back leg might have been outside the line of the leg stump when he attempted to drive Kumble straight. The England captain walked without putting any show of dissent. Vaughan, who was determined and stayed put for 40 minutes, indicated he had not played the ball.
Kumble picked up his fifth wicket, that of Andrew Flintoff, in his first spell of 25 overs before Mark Ramprakash and Craig White put on 59 runs for the sixth wicket. Ramprakash was delightful when he smashed Srinath straight down the ground and executed two fine shots off Kumble. He struck a purple patch when he took three fours of an over from Srinath, though the second boundary came of the inside edge.
At the other White, too, gave himself freedom to stroke hit out at Kumble and Harbhajan, who had a poor outing bowling 23 overs for nothing.
The Indian captain Sourav Ganguly had to call the `man with the golden arm' Sachin Tendulkar to try and break the partnership. Tendulkar responded immediately by getting rid of Ramprakash with a delivery that perhaps beat the right hander in the air and off the pitch. The way Tendulkar celebrated, conveyed the message that he had deceived the batsman. It was an important break-through that made India and England share the honours.
The seventh wicket pair has added 38 runs, with White batting confidently, and England, which made quite an impact on the first day, might hope for a total in excess of 300 on Wednesday.
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Scoreboard
ENGLAND - 1st innings:
M. Butcher c Dasgupta b Kumble 51
(172m 130b, 9 x 4)
M. Trescothick c Dasgupta b Kumble 99
(244m, 156b, 11 x 4, 1 x 6)
N. Hussain lbw b Kumble 1
(19m, 7b)
M. Vaughan c Sehwag b Kumble 11
(40m, 38b, 1 x 4)
M. Ramprakash b Tendulkar 37
(77m, 49b, 6 x 4, 1 x 6)
A. Flintoff c Laxman b Kumble 0
(7m, 2b)
C. White (batting) 42
(119m, 113b, 5 x 4)
J. Foster (batting) 15
(61m, 49b, 2 x 4)
Extras (b-4, lb-12, nb-4, w-1) 21
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Total (for six wkts. in 90 overs) 277
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Fall of wickets: 1-124 (Butcher), 2-144 (Hussain), 3-172 (Vaughan), 4-176 (Trescothick), 5-180 (Flintoff), 6-239 (Ramprakash).
India bowling: Srinath 17-3-71-0 (nb-3), Yohannan 12- 2-33-0 (nb-1, w-1), Harbhajan 23-6-54-0, Kumble 30-6-80-5, Tendulkar 7-0- 23-1, Sehwag 1-1-0-0.
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