CRICKET:This was a remarkable day, not so much in the cricket, although that provided sufficient action to move the game along nicely, but in the fact there was any play at all for the supreme optimists who had hung on through a morning of the foulest weather.
It rained, two inches of it, climaxing in a deluge of such gothic intensity that the Victorian pavilion all but disappeared from view and the outfield was transformed into a lake. Two hours later, shortly before two o'clock, the sun was out and play began. If Mick Hunt and his team can work miracles such as this, they should turn their attention to global warming.
The cricket, when it arrived, was heady stuff. Resuming at 268 for four, England lost their last six wickets to the second new ball inside an hour, three of them to the devilish Sri Sreesanth, for the further addition of 30 runs. As plummets go from a position of strength, this was up there with some good old England corkers of the past: the last eight wickets for 46, nine for 80 in 27 overs and two balls from the time Andrew Strauss was out, ending his partnership of 142 with Michael Vaughan.
In response, Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson bowled with real control and verve, the former removing Dinesh Karthik lbw to his sharp late inswing and the latter finding a wicked delivery to send The Wall tumbling, Rahul Dravid touching his away swinger to the keeper as soon as Vaughan had posted in his eye-line a short mid-on almost on the cut strip. Contributory? Perhaps, perhaps not, but it still looked like good proactive captaincy.
It was to be England's last success for a while, however, as Wasim Jaffer, with wristy elegance, and Sachin Tendulkar redressed things with a partnership that was bourgeoning ominously until Anderson dismissed the Little Master.
Jaffer survived a chance to Matthew Prior before he had scored yesterday and countered the moving ball well subsequently, hitting eight boundaries in passing his half-century.
For Tendulkar, this had been a mission to erase an anomalous blot on his record against England. But having made 37, his highest international score here, he pushed outside a delivery that came down the hill and was lbw.
India had come out with an intensity to match the rainfall, responding one would hope to a full and frank dressingroom discussion after the inadequate performance of the first day.
Dravid soon took the new ball, and RP Singh ripped a perfectly straight ball through the barn door that was the nightwatchman Sidebottom's defence.
Ian Bell announced his arrival by driving his first ball sumptuously through mid-off before Kevin Pietersen, having added three to his overnight 34, first found himself involved in controversy and then dismissed. A Zaheer Khan delivery, angled across him, seemed to have done the trick, for the low edge was scooped up in triumph by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with the batsman walking off even before the umpire Simon Taufel raised his finger.
Pietersen had almost reached the gate when he noticed his team-mates urging him to remain, pending a third-umpire referral, Steve Bucknor apparently suggesting to his colleague that he may have been hasty. The ethics, or indeed the legitimacy of this are hazy (if the batsman was happy and the umpire gave him out anyway then that would seem to be sufficient). The replay suggested the ball might have got to Dhoni on the half-volley and the batsman survived. India will claim honour was satisfied when, two balls later, in Zaheer's next over, without addition, he edged and was gone.
Guardian Service
