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| March 2, 2006 | Thursday | Safar 1, 1427 |
Depleted England wobble as Irfan strikes thrice
NAGPUR (India), March 1: India paceman Irfan Pathan grabbed three wickets to leave injury-depleted England struggling at 246-7 at the end of day one of the first Test on Wednesday.
The left-arm bowler struck two late blows after a polished 60 from debutant opening batsman Alastair Cook seemed to have steered England out of early trouble before the home bowlers took control.
All-rounder Paul Collingwood was 53 not out at stumps, his third consecutive Test 50, to keep England afloat on a pitch where spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh are expected to prove decisive.
Cook, 21, was fast-tracked into the side this week from the ‘A’ team after the loss of Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, who have both returned to England.
He looked set for a big score until he was bowled by Irfan, who took three for 52, and leg spinner Kumble trapped well-set England captain Andrew Flintoff for 43 after tea.
Flintoff and Collingwood shared in a 67-run fifth wicket partnership to steady England but they then lost three wickets for 44 runs to make 300 look an unlikely target.
Debutant paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth grabbed two wickets after bowling a lively spell on the unresponsive Nagpur pitch.
Flintoff is leading England in the absence due to injury of captain Vaughan and Trescothick, who returned home due to personal reasons.
Cook calmed England’s nerves after Flintoff won the toss and chose to bat in the morning.
He hooked paceman Sreesanth to square leg for four to get off the mark and drove him past cover and straight for three more fours to reveal his talent and temperament.
He put on 56 with fellow left-hander Andrew Strauss (28) for the opening wicket and then dug in for over two-and-half hours to reach 50.
He played elegant drives for most of his seven fours until he made his first mistake, playing a loose drive against a sharp in-swinger by Irfan to be bowled between bat and pad.
Strauss was the first to go, edging a wide ball from Sreesanth to second slip where Vangipurappu Laxman took a reflex catch.
Off-spinner Harbhajan then removed Ian Bell for nine, the batsman edging a doosra to Rahul Dravid at first slip where the India captain took a sharp catch on the second attempt.
The 23-year-old Sreesanth struck after lunch to remove Kevin Pietersen for 15.
The South Africa-born player was dropped at slip chasing a wide ball from the bowler but still went for a reckless pull to play onto the stumps four balls later.
Flintoff, who had played a disciplined innings, was threatening to go after the bowling when Kumble trapped him leg before with a straight delivery. Flintoff hit six fours in his 70-ball knock.
Debutant all-rounder Ian Blackwell (4) was then bowled by Irfan attempting a big heave with the close just a few overs away, making it 244 for seven.
Collingwood, in good Test form after hitting 96 and 80 in the third Test in Lahore late last year, played attacking shots before lofting Kumble over long on for six to reach his third Test 50.
England included three debutants, including left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, while Indian opening batsman Wasim Jaffer made an international return after four years.
England are bidding to win a Test series in India for the first time in 21 years.
Scoreboard
ENGLAND (1st Innings):
A.J. Strauss c Laxman b Sreesanth 28
A.N. Cook b Irfan 60
I.R. Bell c Dravid b Harbhajan 9
K.P. Pietersen b Sreesanth 15
P.D. Collingwood not out 53
A. Flintoff lbw b Kumble 43
G.O. Jones lbw b Irfan 14
I.D. Blackwell b Irfan 4
M.J. Hoggard not out 0
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-6, W-1, NB-12) 20
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 90 overs) 246
FALL OF WKTS: 1-56, 2-81, 3-110, 4-136, 5-203, 6-225, 7-244.
TO BAT: S.J. Harmison, M.S. Panesar.
BOWLING (to-date): Irfan Pathan 17-5-52-3 (7nb); Sreesanth 18-4-56-2 (2nb, 1w); Harbhajan Singh 26-4-59-1; Kumble 27-9-61-1 (3nb); Tendulkar 2-0-11-0.—Agencies
INDIA: V. Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, R. Dravid, S.R. Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Mohammad Kaif, M.S. Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, A. Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, S. Sreesanth.
UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and I.L. Howell (South Africa).
TV UMPIRE: I. Sivaram (India).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).—Reuters
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