England v India - First Test Stalemate

The firs ttest between England and India at Lord's might have ended as a draw, but England will go away with plenty of positives from a game, which in all truth, they should have won. English weather once again decided a cricket match. India were 9 wickets down in their second innings, still 98 runs off winning, and England on the attack for that one final wicket. With the dimming light, England had Panesar and Vaughan bowling, so as to stay out as long as possible. Vaughan getting his 6 deliverys down as quickly as possible to allow the dangerous Panesar to do his stuff. I couldn't help thinking that maybe Kevin Pietersen would have been a better option than Vaughan , as KP gets more revolutions on the ball, and up against the number 11 might have caused more trouble, rather than wasting the overs just to get the Montster back on.

All in all though, this was a very promising England bowling attack. It was the first time since the 4th test agains the Aussies two summers ago that at least one of Jones, Hoggard, Harmison, Freddie and Giles had not been in an England side, but it showed the strength in depth England now have. The attack was very inexperienced, Sidebottom, Anderson, Panesar, and debutant Tremlett. Everyone expected the debutant to be Stuart Broad, but with the injury to Hoggard, the selectors had a rethink, and they wanted more variety. Tremlett offers the team something similar to Steve Harmison, but with more consistency in line and length. I thought Tremlett looked promising. Having been in and out of the one day side over the last couple of years, Tremlett has struggled with injury and consistency, but from working with Shane Warne and Stuart Clark at Hampshire, he has shortened his run up and looked a much better bowler. He showed that in this test match, taking 4 wickets and economically as well. His batting needs some work though, two ducks not the best start.

The rest of England's line up seems to be in pretty decent touch with the bat though. Strauss got 96 in the first innings, but he still looked scratchy. Cook got a couple of starts and will be disappointed not to have built on that. Vaughan looked decent, as did KP once he worked out how to play the left arm seamers. His second innings ton showed real hard graft, which hopefully will satisfy some doubters about his ability to do that. His test record is looking very impressive! I was disappointed for Paul Collingwood that he had two failures, and hopefully he can get going at Trent Bridge on Friday. I am still unsure about Ian Bell as a number 6, and once Flintoff returns to the test side I feel he will be the one who misses the cut, unless England go with only four bowlers. Prior had a good second innings and I was pretty pleased with his work with the gloves.

India have a famous batting line-up. Some big names, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, amongst others, but they didn't seem to shine as was expected. Probably the last time some of these names will tour England, a lot was expected as swansong, but England's bowlers tied them down and forced mistakes. Panesar got the big wicket of Tendulkar in the second innings, who was coincidentally his first test victim. Dravid as well fell cheaply twice, which England will be delighted with. Personally, Dravid is the big wicket, as he has the ability to occupy the crease for a long time, so to get him back in the changing rooms early on is essential. Wicket-keeper Dhoni is a very dangerous player once he gets going, and if they target on the final day had not been so great, I feel he would have had a good day at getting India there. There was big talk of Sachin Tendulkar wanting to bring up a ton at Lord's as he, along with another world great, Brian Lara, have never scored a century at the home of cricket, and actually have pretty modest records at Lord's as well. Unfortunately for Sachin, he couldn't even make a 50.

India's bowling line-up started off indifferently, but they gained consistency as the game went on, and caused England plenty of problems. Left arm seamer RP Singh took five for in the second innings, showing that the young attack as a promising future. Sree Sreesanth also looks a handful, with plenty of physical aggression.

So the next test at Trent Bridge starts on Friday. It will be the same again for England I suspect, with Hoggard still out injured, and hopefully Panesar will continue to torment the India batsman. I think India will also be unchanged. They will hope the middle order picks up some runs, but they should be happy with the improvements the bowlers showed throughout the first test. The one problem with the Indians is their immobility in the field, and with fielding now such an important part of the game, England will look to take an advantage from that.

Let's hope the second test brings a positive result and better weather. Bring on Nottingham!