CRICKET: When Lord MacLaurin announced it was the stated aim of the England and Wales Cricket Board to see the national side at the top of the ladder by 2007, it was greeted with guffaws. Four Tests into the summer and it is not looking so outlandish as once it might have seemed. First of all Sri Lanka was beaten in style and now, in the first Test, India are within a whisker of a hammering by a side, which on paper is weakened by the absence of key players such as Marcus Trescothick, Darren Gough, Andy Caddick and Alex Tudor, writes Mike Selvey at Lord's
India will resume this morning on 232 for six in their second innings, still needing an improbable - no, impossible - 336 to win, knowing that only the materialising of threatened thunderstorms in sufficient intensity to render the ground unplayable can prevent them being overwhelmed and going one down in the four-match series.
Only VVS Laxman of the recognised batsmen remains, having made a classy 38 and as it stood last night, he and Ajit Agarkar, 28 not out and trying hard to make amends for poor selection that had seen him play ahead of the world-class spinner Harbhajan Singh, had held things up for the last hour with an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 62.
For England this match has been characterised by some stirring individual performances encapsulated in a wonderful team effort: Nasser Hussain's diligent first-innings century and innings of precisely 100 from Michael Vaughan and John Crawley in the second; Andy Flintoff's all-round presence that can see him smash his runs like a wrecking ball does a derelict house, bowl stirring muscular pace and catch flies; and Simon Jones's introduction to Test cricket. No duckling ever took to water so readily.Yesterday afternoon was Matthew Hoggard's turn to be in the spotlight.
It was a single spell shortly after tea that will have set the seal on what should prove to be India's fate. Summoned to the pavilion end after Sachin Tendulkar, so depressingly mortal in the first innings, had announced himself with a brace of rasping off-side strokes against Jones, he struck twice in two deliveries, scattering Tendulkar's stumps and then having the Indian captain Sourav Ganguly lbw first ball, although Rudi Koertzen's lengthy deliberations appeared not to include the possibility that the ball had pitched outside leg stump. Later, as Hoggard's wholehearted eight-over spell headed towards its conclusion, Ajay Ratra was squared up so well while playing to leg that the ball skewed off the edge to gully where Mark Butcher took a fine diving catch. Three for 17 did not turn the match but it hastened the end. With England declaring their second innings closed half an hour before lunch even as Crawley was drowning in the applause for his fourth Test hundred, Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag took advantage of attacking fields with a spirited opening stand of 61 in 13 overs, before Hussain called up Jones. His second ball was fast and on the button, spearing through Sehwag's inadequate defence to send the offstump cartwheeling back to land at Alec Stewart's feet.
Michael Vaughan then collected his first Test wicket by having Wasim Jaffer caught low down at slip by the England captain, while Ashley Giles pre-empted Ratra's departure by persuading Rahul Dravid, who once again had played sublimely for his 63, to chop on to his stumps.
Overnight: India 221 (V Sehwag 84). England 487 (N Hussain 155, J P Crawley 64, A Flintoff 59, C White 53) and 184-3 (M P Vaughan 81 no, J P Crawley 56 no).
ENGLAND Second Innings
M P Vaughan c Jaffer b Nehra 100
J P Crawley not out 100
A Flintoff c Tendulkar b Nehra 7
A J Stewart st Ratra b Kumble 33
C White not out 6
Extras b5 lb14 nb5 pens 0 24
Total 6 wkts dec (64.4 overs) ... 301
Fall of wickets: 1-32 2-65 3-76 4-213 5-228 6-287.
Bowling: Nehra 14 1 80 2; Khan 11 1 41 0; Kumble 24 1 84 3; Agarkar 11.4 1 53 1; Tendulkar 2 0 14 0; Sehwag 2 0 10 0.
INDIA Second Innings
W Jaffer c Hussain b Vaughan 53
V Sehwag b Jones 27
R Dravid b Giles 63
S R Tendulkar b Hoggard 12
S C Ganguly lbw b Hoggard 0
V V S Laxman not out 38
A Ratra c Butcher b Hoggard 1
A B Agarkar not out 28
Extras b4 lb2 w1 nb3 pens 0 10
Total 6 wkts (68 overs) ... 232
Fall of wickets: 1-61 2-110 3-140 4-140 5-165 6-170
Bowling: Hoggard 14 5 45 3; Flintoff 13 2 62 0; White 9 1 32 0; Jones 11 0 38 1; Giles 16 5 42 1; Vaughan 5 2 7 1.
