Cricket: England lost Paul Collingwood inside the first hour this morning but bad weather continued to dominate the second Test.
Collingwood, who went through the opening match of the series without being dismissed, was undone by a fizzing delivery from Anil Kumble which turned from leg stump and kissed the top of the off bail.
That meant England had lost half their side for 180 and all hopes of a challenging first-innings score appeared to rest with captain Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones.
They took the score to 200 for five before accepting bad light a mere 62 minutes into the second day.
Flintoff began a morning session brought forward half-an-hour, in a bid to make up time lost to rain yesterday, with a booming drive for four through extra cover off debutant Munaf Patel.
Another straight drive found the ropes in Patel’s next over, moments before Kumble dismissed Collingwood.
Flintoff’s response was to loft Kumble for an aerial four and then produced a deft sweep to the fine-leg boundary later in the same over to bring up the tourists’ double hundred.
Even though umpires Darrell Hair and Simon Taufel ordered the floodlights to be turned on to improve visibility in the middle, they adjudged play was not possible and an early lunch was called.
But the scheduled 6.50am (12.20pm local time) inspection was hijacked by further rain and the officials left as the square was fully covered.