LONDON July 24: England hopes to shrug off another disruptive buildup to a Test series when it takes on India in the first Test at Lord’s Thursday.
While a rejuvenated India has 16 inform players to choose from, England will enter the four-match series opener without opener Marcus Trescothick (broken thumb) and seam bowlers Darren Gough (sore knee), Andy Caddick (side strain) and Alex Tudor (shin splints).
England found itself in a similar situation 12 months ago before its first Test against Australia in the Ashes series.
Despite recent problems, England skipper Nasser Hussain has been upbeat and quietly predicting India’s downfall.
England will have to nullify the threat of star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, from whom the rest of the Indian batting draw inspiration.
Australia paid a hefty price for this 19 months ago when Laxman and Dravid led India to an unprecedented 2-1 series win over Steve Waugh’s side, ending the Aussies’ record-breaking 16-match winning streak.
England’s young and inexperienced attack will be tested this series, especially at Lord’s where the pitch has favored the batsmen this year.
Matthew Hoggard has not been in great form recently while Simon Jones, 23, will be making his test debut.
Allrounders Dominic Cork and Craig White have only recently been recalled to the England squad and will be vying for one of two team spots with leftarm spinner Ashley Giles.
England has plugged the holes in its batting by promoting Mark Butcher to opener with Michael Vaughan while Hussain returns to his favorite No. 3 spot.
Hussain had the luxury of seven specialist batsmen against Sri Lanka here earlier in the summer, but with only six named for the test against India, Hussain would hope Andrew Flintoff and Cork or White will chip in if England finds itself in trouble.
Ganguly will be keen to keep India’s impressive record intact and make winning tests outside the subcontinent a habit.
After taking a 1-0 lead against the West Indies in the Caribbean, India lost the series 2-1 but coach John Wright felt the side had turned a corner.
Since Mohammed Azharuddin’s side beat England 2-0 in 1986, India has failed to win outside Asia in 17 series.
Unlike its Asian neighbor Sri Lanka, who let England off the hook, India’s bowling looks more potent with match-winning spinners such as Harbhajan Singh and legspinner Anil Kumble.
PROBABLE TEAMS
ENGLAND:
Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain (capt), Graham Thorpe, John Crawley, Alec Stewart (wkt), Andrew Flintoff, Craig White/Dominic Cork, Ashley Giles, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard
INDIA:
Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (capt), Venkatsai Laxman, Ajay Ratra (wkt), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Anil Kumble.—AP