N-powered day for England at Lord’s

Hussain sounded confident and determined his team would do better than what it did in the triangular one-day series. For the English captain it must have been satisfying to end the day with an unbeaten 120, cautiously accumulated with 20 fours, and with a dependable partner on the non-striking end in England’s most-capped Test player Alec Stewart.

Though Saurav Ganguly though hard tried to hide his disappointment, he must be aware that losing the toss would bring a lot of problems for his inexperienced new-ball attack. It was perhaps because of this realisation that India couldn’t take the risk of playing two spinners.

Ganguly decided to play safe, dropping Harbhajan Singh in favour of the more experienced Agarkar, and setting off a debate that could last till the end of this Test.

Initially, though, the strategy seemed to work. Nehra’s his first maiden over, with its prodigious swing, brought back memories of the young Kapil Dev. In the second over, with the scoreboard yet to move, Michael Vaughan took a hesitant half-stride across the wicket and was trapped LBW by Zaheer Khan.

The left-hander continued to mount pressure with his measured line and length and refused to concede a run in the first four overs.

Nasser Hussain and Butcher laboured to recover from the shock and took some time before they opened up, completing their fifty partnership off 108 balls.

Just before lunch, though, it was Anil Kumble who did the damage as Butcher (29) edged off a forward defensive shot to a Wasim Jaffer at forward short leg, who caught smartly.

New batsman Graham Thorpe hit Kumble’s first delivery for four as if to announce that he’d recovered from the stress of one-day cricket as well as his family problems.

The player had a long divorce battle with his wife and withdrew himself from one-day cricket to spend more time with his kids (he quit the Test series in India halfway through).

England took lunch at 76 for 2, Hussain on 37. In the second over after the resumption, four runs added to the total, Zaheer beat a too-casual Thorpe, clipping his off stump as the batsman came forward.

At 78 for 3 India seemed to be on top. And perhaps let down their guard. Agarkar was singularly unimpressive, his lack of both pace and length allowing Hussain to speed up the run rate.

At the other end John Crawley demonstrated enough confidence to torment the Indian attack, the pair accumulating 101 runs in the second session, one in which the Indian bowling went off the rails.

The third session was notable for Hussain reaching his century, off 192 balls with 17 fours; it was his third century against India, his fourth as England captain and his second at Lord’s.

Crawley fell in unusual circumstances, guiding the ball to Dravid in the slips off part-time off-spinner Virender Sehwag. And, perhaps, adding to the debate of whether Harbhajan should have been played.

That brought in Alec Stewart, a sight that wouldn’t have given the Indians much cheer. He came in to a standing ovation and was there at stumps with a typically steady 19.

Advantage the home side on Day One, then, but England will be aware that a couple of quick wickets tomorrow and they could be in the rough. And then it’s over to Tendulkar and Co.

Foster out with broken thumb

Alec Stewart’s grip on the England wicketkeeping position was strengthened on Thursday with the news that his main rival James Foster will be out of action for up to six weeks after breaking his left thumb.

Foster, 22, took over as England wicketkeeper during the winter tours of India and New Zealand after Stewart made himself unavailable. He was granted a central contract this year but lost his place to Stewart when he fractured a forearm during net practice at the start of the season.