Story England host India, South Africa [C2005] (Eng 81-0,1st Ings, Ind 412 all out)

[m_vaughan]

David Gower: Welcome back. And as you can see the two England openers are already out in the middle, and we hand you over to our commentators in the box, Michael Holding and Sunny Gavaskar.

 

[m_vaughan]

Rain stops play

England vs India
1st Test, Lord's

Michael Holding: Well rain has arrived, and the umpires have stopped play as a result of that. England had got off to a flying start with Trescothick hitting two boundaries off Pathan.

Anyways we will now have to wait till this shower ends. Stay tuned to Sky Sports 1 for updates.

Summary

England - 1st Innings - 8-0 (0.3 Overs)
Marcus Trescothick 8*(3)
Andrew Strauss 0*(0)

India - 1st Innings - 412

 

[m_vaughan]

5:00 PM update

England vs India
1st Test, Lord's

David Gower: Welcome back to Lord's. Well it is still raining here, and the umpires have said that they are willing to wait till 5:30 PM maximum or else will call off the day's play. Should the rain stop before that then the umpires will immediately inspect the pitch and make a decision.

From what we know, this rain is expected to continue, and even if it does stop before 5:30, thats another half an hour away, the outfield will still not be in playable condition, and I doubt that the umpires will allow play to continue. But then we can never trust the weather, can we? So lets remain hopeful that we will get some play atleast.

Stay tuned to Sky Sports 1 for updates.

 

[surendar]

India got a great score..i feel there are great chances of draw inspite of rain!!!

 

[m_vaughan]

No more play today

England vs India
1st Test, Lord's

David Gower: Well its 6:00 PM now, and its still raining. The umpires have officially declared that there wont be any furthur play today. So with that day 2 of this first npower test match comes to a close. We'll take a short break now after which we will review the day's play.

 

[m_vaughan]

England vs India
1st Test, Lord's

David Gower: Welcome back. And as you know play has been called off for the day, with England on 8-0, after India posted an impressive 412 in their first innings.

Lets have a look at the scorecards. Trescothick is on 8 from just 3 balls hitting two boundaries off Pathan.

Earlier India were bowled out for 412, with Yuvraj Singh missing out on double hundred by just four runs. For England, Simon Jones finished with figures of 4-88.

So the match summary at the end of a rain affected day 2, stands like this:

Summary

England - 1st Innings - 8-0 (0.3 Overs)
Marcus Trescothick 8*(3)
Andrew Strauss 0*(0)

India - 1st Innings - 412 (131.3 Overs)
Yuvraj Singh 196(297)
Mahendra Dhoni 51(106)


Simon Jones 4-88
Andrew Flintof 2-88


England trail by 404 runs


Join us tomorrow for LIVE action from day 3 of this test match. By the end of tomorrow we will have a good idea of which way this match will be heading.

 

[surendar]

If India can get some quick wickets in the morning session then they wud be right back to this match!!! Pieterson's wicket is crucial!!! Otherwise, 90percent would be a draw!!! :happy

 

[m_vaughan]

Tomorrow is crucial - Strauss
England opener Andrew Strauss believes that the first test against India will depend hugely on what happens tomorrow.

Strauss will hope to build on his good record at Lord's

"Both teams can take the upper hand in this test match on the basis of what happens tomorrow. We will try and put up a good first innings score, most of which has to be scored tomorrow itself. We will be looking to first get off to a good start, and get past the follow on score of 213.", said Strauss.

"If they can however pick up a few wickets early, then we will be under pressure. But for us its important that does not happen."

"Hopefully by tomorrow night we'll be on top of India because I really do believe that tomorrow's play will set the tone and put the pressure on for the rest of the game so the tomorrow is important," added the Middlesex batsman.

About the wicket, Strauss still believed that it was good for batting, and that the only challenge for the batsmen was the swinging ball.

"The wicket's still very flat, but the ball is moving around, and once you can adjust to that, there arent much problems. But we also have to watchful against their spinners."

England faced just three balls, before rain prevented any furthur play on day 2. England's score currently stands at 8-0, and more importantly 404 runs behind India.

 

[m_vaughan]

Day 3 begins

England vs India
1st Test, Lord's

David Gower: Hello and welcome to this third day's play of the first npower test match between England and India here at Lord's. In the studio with me I have former England coach, David Lloyd and former Indian allrounder, Ravi Shastri. Good morning gentlemen.

Ravi Shastri: Good morning

David Lloyd: Good morning

David Gower: Well before we get the comments of these two experts, lets have a look at the pitch for today with our very own Michael Atherton.

Michael Atherton: Thanks, David and a very good morning to all of you. Well for the third day in a row the conditions are still overcast which means the ball will continue to jig around, thereby making it harder for the batsmen to play their shots. The wicket on the other hand has become a bit moist owing to yesterday's rain and the early morning dew, so it is getting, overall, harder to bat. The England batsmen will have to be a lot more watchful.

Back to the studio now.

David Gower: Thanks Michael. Well Ravi, even though they have faced just three balls, England will be the team under pressure at the start of the day's play.

Ravi Shastri: That is why it is so important to put up a good first innings score. No matter how good the wicket is for batting, when you up against a big score, the pressure builds, and even the best of the batsmen make mistakes. India, I think can give it their best shot and try to get wickets, if not, then they already have a good first innings score behind them, so as of now there is nothing to lose.

David Gower: How do you think England should pace their innings? Should they get runs quickly so as to put the draw out of the equation, or should they get past the follow-on mark first, and then go for quick scoring?

David Lloyd: Well the sensible thing would be to get to the follow-on score first without losing too many wickets. Then according to the wickets in hand, they can pace the rest of their innings. Say if they get to 213 without losing more than 2-3 wickets, then they should definately try and match India's score and even get a lead if possible.

David Gower: Well thanks a lot both of you for your comments. Any predictions for today?

Ravi Shastri: Well the first session is crucial. Which ever team starts off well today, will eventually dominate the day I feel.

David Lloyd: I think Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss are gonna whip some Indian butt today, and put England on top.

David Gower: (laughs) Well David Lloyd inner self has spoken finally. We'll have to wait and see how correct his inner voice is. Join us after the break for LIVE action from day 3 of this 1st npower test match between England and India, from Lord's. We leave you with some of the training snaps from both camps. Enjoy!

 

[Cricket_60]

Simon Jones bowled well for England in the first innings, pity for them he isn't avaliable to play in real life

Seems like a good batting pitch so the openers would want to make a good solid start early this morning

Keep up the awesome work mate :hpraise

 

[m_vaughan]

Trescothick reaches 50

England have started off well on day three, and opener Marcus Trescothick raced to his 50 in just 60 deliveries. England have put up 81 runs without the loss of any wicket.

 

[treva]

Nice to see you starting again mate

Can't wait for this as I voted for you in last months poll!!

Should be fantastic!

 

[Cricket_60]

Like Tev said, nice to see this story back up and running. It's going to be a great series

 

[Pakistani Army]

Man this story was going soooo well aswell
Sorry about the Bump m_vaughan

 

[Hooper]

Well batted Tresser, actually pretty quick too!

Man, don't use imageshack. The older pictures are gone already...I'm trying to read up on this story