Saturday, Aug 10, 2002
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Cricket
By G. Viswanath
India skipper Sourav Ganguly drives Andrew Flintoff to the fence during his innings of 68 against England in the second Test of the nPower Test series at Trent Bridge on Friday.
With the second day of the npower second Test delayed by more than two-and-a-half-hours because of overnight rain and light drizzle until noon, he had spare time to contemplate on how to confront the England seam bowlers, who had not tasted much success on the opening day, though conditions were excellent to ply their trade. There must have been occasions on Friday afternoon when the England captain Nasser Hussain would have himself rued the absence of Darren Gough and one more seasoned campaigner in Andrew Caddick. Doubts of Gough not regaining top fitness before the ICC Champions Trophy were confirmed when a statement was made by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that Gough will not be available for the remaining part of the npower Test series against India and also the event in Colombo and that the Yorkshire fast bowler will undergo keyhole surgery on Friday evening. Apart from Matthew Hoggard no other England paceman who formed the five-man seam attack had looked formidable enough to trouble the Indian batsmen. In spite of losing four top order batsmen, India managed to sustain a three plus run rate, with Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman handling things cautiously enough and guiding the India first innings to over 200 without further loss. There cannot be a worse situation than watching rain and waiting in the dressing room. It can be most frustrating; especially to someone like Laxman who has been in form since the first class match he played against West Indies `A' at Arundel. The long break helped England, though Hussain had one bowler less at his command with Cork being indisposed because of a troubling right knee. With Ganguly in the middle, Hussain chose Hoggard and Flintoff to begin the proceedings. Fresh and raring to go, Flintoff troubled Ganguly the most, but the Indian captain made thundering drives off Hoggard through covers and straight down the ground. Craig White's spell turned out to be very short with Ganguly hitting two flowing drives on the off-side. Only wretched luck could prevent Flintoff from taking more than the wicket of Laxman in his brilliant spell of nine overs. Laxman was not given the leeway to add a run to his overnight 22 in the 24 balls he faced. His dismissal was akin to that of Rahul Dravid's; drawn forward into a drive and edge to Robert Key at first slip. Ajit Agarkar survived a torrid spell from Flintoff. Every time he attempted to drive, he missed the ball by miles. Agarkar looked a far cry from the day he scored a fine first Test century at Lord's. But his partnership with Ganguly that produced 67 runs turned out to be substantial. England took the second new ball when it was due, but Ganguly, though he took a blow on the side of his visor, appeared to be in control when he hit two punishing shots off Flintoff. The teams adjourned for tea when Parthiv Patel's first innings came to an end after a nine-minute, eight-ball stay. Patel, simply could not leave alone a rising ball from Steve Harmison and edged to Flintoff after the debutant fast bowler had Agarkar caught scooping a catch to Mark Butcher at third man, the fielder converting a fine low catch. At tea India had added 77 runs for the loss of three wickets.
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