Apologies

for not having blogged over the past few days.

Having spent a substantial part of my day on Prem Panicker's blog, discussing and arguing and opining on the state of the day's play, I find myself devoid of ideas by the time I am ready to blog.

That being the case, normal blogging will resume once the test match ends.

Take care :),

Homer

England v India, Lords, Test 1 Day 1

Toss:- England

Teams

England - 1 Andrew Strauss, 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Chris Tremlett, 9 Ryan Sidebottom, 10 James Anderson, 11 Monty Panesar

India - 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Dinesh Karthik, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 RP Singh, 11 Sreesanth.

Session 1

14/0 in the 3rd over and it appears that the Indians are trying too much too early. Plenty of field changes, Sreesanth going over and round the wicket, no consistency in line and length.

40/0 in 5. Okay, so the Indians cant get thier lines right. But can we get a square leg in place please? Anything straight or on the legs is being dispatched with alarming regularity. And when we are bowling on and around off stump, we are bowling way too wide.

Over 8.3 Ravi Shastri got it right. Rhul Dravid has been reactive rather than proactive. And the Indians are bowling without a plan.

Over 12 - The Poms are controlling the pace and tempo of the game right now. And India are doing nothing to - either slow down the game or quicken the tempo. And of course, bowling tripe doesnt help the cause either.

Drinks - England 76/0 in 14.

WICKET! England 76-1 (Cook LBW b Ganguly 36) Sourav Ganguly is on for Sreesanth - and that's why! He beat Cook second ball and then trapped him LBW with the fourth, which nipped away and beat Cook's desperate defensive stroke. Hawk-Eye actually had it missing off stump but it looked out live, and it was beautifully bowled.

Lunch Day 1 - England 115/1 in 28 overs.

England's session all the way. And India did not help its cause by dropping a catch and being all over the shop with the ball.

Pre lunch, India gave England gifts and England accepted them. Post lunch, India will have to be lss charitable. India needs to control the tempo of the game and if we can stem the flow of runs right after lunch for about half and hour or so, we will gain control of the game. Too many four balls in the first 3-4 overs after lunch and we can say good bye to getting anything from the days play.

Two days to go...

Harmison’s absence for the three-Test series against India, along with that of Andrew Flintoff, was not greeted with regret by two of their senior players, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. The pair have contrasting records at the home of cricket, the former never having made a hundred there, save in a charity match, and the latter having scored 131 on his Test debut in 1996. It is an omission that “The Little Master” is keen to correct.

Geoffrey Dean

Yuvraj Singh, one learns, isn’t out of the frame for a place in the XI for the first Test against England.

LOKENDRA PRATAP SAHI

Ganguly can be annoying as much as he can be entertaining, speaking absolutely in cricketing terms. To the connoisseur, that elegant nudge of the ball - through the covers - can be delightful and in the same breadth, that shirt-twirling affair here at Lord’s five years back, irksome.

K Shriniwas Rao

In the silver-haired winters of their life, will they ever call each other, on wistful days, to remember how they fashioned history? Will they accidentally meet at airports, and stop for a comfortable instant, not firm friends perhaps but having seen closest each one’s finest triumph and cruellest humiliation.

Rohit Brijnath

This conflict of the ages will not be lost on Rahul Dravid. He has brought to England an Indian Test squad that has, on one hand, a well-worn middle order, a veteran leg-spinner, a left-arm seamer of some experience, and, on the other, a bunch of fresh faces, some less fresh than the others

S. Ram Mahesh

Yuvraj for Ganguly?

What does one make of Yuvraj coming in at 3 in the second essay against the Plions?