Watching the TV coverage of England v India you could hear Matthew Prior groan every time the batsman played a shot. I found it vaguely irritating after a while. According to Steve James. who clearly had the benefit of a stump mike this was what he was saying to Karthick and then Dhoni.
Clearly it spurred Dhoni onto better things and saving the game. It strikes me there’s not much point to sledging unless it contains some mordant wit or an essential truth, and “Yuvraj Singh is batting brilliantly in the nets,” slips into neither category. And as Prior found out it can backfire against you. It’s obviously not just Lara that you don’t sledge.
India First innings – 201 all out
Looking at England’s second-string bowling attack and India’s star batters before the game began I was apprehensive. But Anderson and Sidebottom bowled with a consistency that has escaped Harmison, for instance, over the last couple of years. With Anderson and Sidebottom in tandem it was good to see some conventional swing bowling from both ends. Whether this is the Alan Donald effect it’s difficult to say, but Anderson looked relaxed and in control, with no free gifts for the batsman. I can’t recall him bowling like this since he came into the team in 2003. On this performance you’d pick the bowlers to hold their places for the next test
Despite being behind on first innings, India must fancy knocking over the English top order. If they can get the home side out for less than 150 that would leave a gettable 250 in the fourth innings.You sense that this will be a low-scoring test with a result in prospect.
Dravid must have been thinking it was a good toss to lose at Lords with the cloud cover and movement and England at the crease. But Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan have been bowling some unthreatening lines, failing to exploit the conditions, and RP looks accurate but of no great pace. Just the thing an out of form batsman like Strauss needs. I’m sorry to have seen Munaf Patel so unceremoniously dumped – I bet he’d fancy a bowl on this.
