CRICKET/England v Pakistan, first Test: The chattering shirt-sleeved crowd at Lord's may just have witnessed the last throes of the Michael Vaughan era as Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood, with a century apiece, placed England in a dominant position in the first Test. Suddenly the imperative to assure Vaughan's fitness does not seem quite so urgent.
Cook will resume this morning on 101, reached with a scampered single in the penultimate over, with Collingwood likewise unbeaten on 109, the pair having added 221 for the fourth wicket, a record for England against Pakistan home or away. Only in the final session, when England ground out just 67 runs in 31 overs, did Pakistan bring a little decorum to their efforts.
With England 309 for three already, the pitch playing placidly after a skittish start and the bowling mundane for the most part, Pakistan will do well to recover their equilibrium after a day in which their catching plumbed new depths even by the nine-drop standard set by England against Sri Lanka here in May. Five chances went begging yesterday, four as routine as they come at this level of the game, and three to Imran Farhat at second slip, who might try wearing his sunglasses rather than them perched on his head.
Three times Cook - once before he had scored, again at 45 and yet again on 81 - was accorded the charity of the Pakistan Benevolent Society; once, on 79, it was Collingwood, who edged to Kamran Akmal behind the stumps who missed the sort of straightforward catch for which Geraint Jones would be pilloried. The other escapee was Andrew Strauss, who had made seven when Farhat missed him too, albeit a sharper chance, the England captain making a further 23. Farhat has got a little catching up to do.
Nor did Pakistan have the rub of the green for, if Strauss appeared to get a thin edge on the delivery from Abdul Razzaq which cut into his pads and had him given lbw, then Collingwood might have been lbw in Danish Kaneria's speculative first over immediately before lunch, the ball striking him on the back leg.
Worst of all, though, was the thick edge which Cook, on 43, got to Kaneria's massive googly, which was taken by Akmal, sending the bowler into raptures but leaving Steve Bucknor unmoved. If the Pakistan bowling lacked bite in the absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, then it deserved better support than it received.
England now have an opportunity to make a huge score today, which Pakistan, without either Shoaib Malik, who has an elbow injury that has failed to respond to an injection, or, more pertinently, Younis Khan - regular second slip incidentally - who has a knee problem, will do well to match, given what must be the current state of mind.
England decided to risk Matthew Hoggard, his gashed hand deemed sufficiently healed, although fully aware that a return catch from Shahid Afridi could test it to the full.
There was symmetry in the batting of Cook and Collingwood. Back in February, in the first Test against India in Nagpur, Collingwood had completed his maiden Test century in England's first innings and was at the other end as Cook then batted his way to his own in the second. Yesterday they were together again as each completed his second hundred and his first in Tests in this country. Vaughan was a spectator yesterday and will have recognised the significance: between them they have now scored four hundreds in the 10 matches since he last led the side. His place, just as a player, is no longer sacrosanct. Nine months hence, when next he might be fit for a Test, is a long way off and he is getting left in the wake.
If both batsmen benefited from fielding lapses, then the quality of the bowling, particularly that of the seamers, played into their hands. Visitors to this country take time to adjust to the fuller length that is required and, collectively, they bowled too short, allowing Collingwood to hang back and work the ball square on both sides of the wicket and Cook to stand tall and punch it away. The arc between midwicket and extra cover was all but redundant. When Razzaq dropped short, Cook pulled him in front of square. Collingwood cuffed anything with width away as if clipping an errant kid round the ear for scrumping apples. They have hit 12 and nine fours respectively.
Despite a flyer against the new ball, used nervously by Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul, which saw Marcus Trescothick and Strauss add 60 inside 12 overs, Pakistan came back strongly before lunch. The stroke that saw Trescothick edge to the keeper was abject and, if Strauss followed unluckily in the next over, then the wicket of Kevin Pietersen, which reduced England to 88 for three, was a bonus. That Razzaq seduced the batsman into letting go a ball that cut into him was certain: whether it would have clipped the top of off-stump less so.
Guardian Service
