I posted this on a forum I'm a mod at, and thought I might as well post it here. If people want me to, I will post the 3rd, 4th and 5th day reports when written. Otherwise, I'll just leave it at this
It's quite long, so I am not sure how many of you will take the time to read it. It is written perhaps from a slightly English based view and as such perhaps focusses more on them.
Day 2 Review:
When play began on the 2nd morning England will have surely targetted 300 as a possible rescue act, when 350 was passed, suddenly England were back in the game, and thanks to Collingwoods superb 134* they ended up just 7 runs shy of 400, on 393.
It represents an excellent recovery from England, although serves to prove the point that they have really batted for a session or two less than required and are still around 100-150 runs short of a good first innings score.
With Collingwood unbeaten, he looked like he could have scored close to 200 if any of the top order batsman had stayed in and made themselves a century.
Still it does represent a good comeback from 243-7 to finish 393 all out. I thought Pathan continued to look very average with the ball, yesterday I felt he was gifted one or two wickets, although bowled a nice delivery to remove debutant Alistair Cook. Today I felt Sreesanth continued to look the more dangerous bowler, with the ball of the match so far to remove Hoggard after an obdurate performance with the bat.
If any England fans were in doubt about getting up early to watch it, Steve Harmison provided his standard cameo innings, nearly always worth the entrance fee to see him bat, sweeps, pull shots, attempted reverse-sweeps, he had them all in a very useful innings of 39 (42).
No doubt however that it was Collingwoods day, registering his first test match century, and marshalling the tail superbly. When the field came in he waited for a bad ball and went over the top. When the field was then placed back, he took the power off the shot and worked it into gaps for easy 1's and 2's to keep the strike. A fine example of how to bat on sub-continent pitches, a big congratulations to the lad.
Having fought back so strongly to now give their bowlers something to bowl at, England needed to get off to a good start with the ball, and when Sehwag was caught in the cover by Pietersen off Matty Hoggard to leave India 11-1 it certainly fit the bill. Harmison however despite batting so well looked off all day, and consistently sprayed balls wide of off-stump and down the leg side, leading to plenty of boundary balls, and a busy day for the wrong reasons for Geraint Jones.
In what could turn out to be crucial period, Monty Panesar was introduced to the attack early, given 2 overs before Tea. He responded by leaving Jaffer completely bamboozled, a word that has not been often used when descibing an English spin-bowlers spell.
However India, and Jaffer survived. Despite 3 big shouts, one of which looked most definately out, almost identical to Geraint Jones dismissal, and another that was almost identical to the ball that was given incorrectly out against Flintoff, to leave India still only 1 down at tea. It was harsh on England, and unfortunately for them India after tea began to look more comfortable.
Flintoff bowled one very aggressive spell that saw him swinging the ball in viciously and led to some half-hearted LBW appeals against Dravid, but unfortunately he speared nearly all of them towards the leg-side, and they were correctly turned down. With only Hoggard excerting any real control in the final session of the day, Jaffer grew in composure against Panesar, whilst Dravid having been very watchful and slow began to add runs towards the end of the day.
In the end, some promising signs for this depleted England side, Panesar certainly looks like he has the ability to end Englands dependence on defensive spin bowlers. He got turn and rarely were the Indian batsman able to take him on as had been expected.
For the quick bowlers, if Flintoff can find his radar tomorrow morning, he could trouble the batsman early on, whilst Harmison needs to sort himself out if he is not to leave England with only 2 quick bowlers. Hoggard was his usual dependable self, and yet again got his early wicket with the new ball, and with Sehwag back in the pavillion, it will be up to the Indian middle order to try and push on for day 3 and try to build a lead.
India looked to have made a good decision playing Jaffer, he looks well suited to play fast bowling, although maybe a tad weaker against spin than the rest of the India order, as an opener he could certainly have a big future. Dravid of course played the sensible innings, knowing that another wicket, especially his, would have put England on level-pegging, but as it is at 136-1 India should feel they are just ahead at the end of day 2.
Looking foward to the rest of the match with eager anticipation, it is well set for yet more intriguing Cricket, and whilst India are just ahead, it is very well poised for an exciting next 3 days.
