England take control at home of cricket (review of Eng v Pak 1st test, 1st day)

I wont be able to do one tomorrow or Saturday due to various commitments, but thought I'd share my 2 pennies anyway...if you wondered why I hadn't posted for a long time, I've been writing this 'little' piece on todays play.

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On an intriguing day of dropped catches, dubious umpiring and two test centuries, the anticipated return series between England and Pakistan got underway at Lords today.

Despite the quality of the cricket being threatened by serious injuries to key players on both sides such as Simon Jones, Shoaib Akhtar, Rana Naved and Michael Vaughan (who with the possible exception of Akhtar will miss the whole series), and minor injuries to the likes of Andrew Flintoff, Mohammed Asif, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan which has ruled them out for the 1st test at least, there was plenty to talk about at stumps after the first day.

In the absence of Vaughan and Flintoff, a beaming Andrew Strauss led England out on his home ground. Strauss's debut as test captain was a proud moment for the Middlesex man that was enhanced by winning the toss and despite overcast conditions, choosing to bat as the wicket looked a good one.

Marcus Trescothick and the England captain came out to bat, while Mohammed Sami, back in the test team and promoted to strike bowler, opened the bowling, along with the young and eager Umar Gul. Trescothick hitting 2 punishing fours in Sami’s opening over provided a window into the events of the first hour, as first the opening Pakistani pair and then Abdul Razzaq were comfortably dispatched to the boundary by England's openers. Although Strauss survived a half-chance to slip off Sami, both opening batsmen rarely looked troubled and were scoring at a very healthy 4.5 an over.

However, half way through the morning session, Umar Gul provided the breakthrough by drawing a loose shot from Trescothick and Kamran Akmal took a comfortable catch behind the stumps. With the score on 60-1, in came the new batsman Alistair Cook, and Pakistan knew this was a chance to create some pressure. It wasn't Cook that fell prey to a rejuvenated Pakistan though, as Abdul Razzaq begun to bowl beautifully and trapped Strauss leg before without the score moving.

Pakistan at this stage were right back in the game, but it wasn't the most upsetting wicket for the Lords crowd as it triggered the appearance of Kevin Pietersen, who strode out to huge noise. This proved only to be a cameo as Pietersen played some glorious drives down the ground reminiscent of any great player, but once again Razzaq struck with a peach of a ball, this time when Pietersen had reached 21. Pietersen thought he could leave a ball outside the off stump, but it came back into his pads as he shouldered arms and Australian umpire Simon Taufel had no hesitation in raising the finger. The crowd was distraught and replays showed the ball may have been going over the stumps but it didn't matter, Pakistan were on top at 88-3.

Alistair Cook and the new batsman Paul Collingwood, often seen as guys who will just push singles all day, began to score fluently around the wicket and kept their heads, knowing how important a big fourth-wicket stand was. Cook had been dropped at slip by Imran Farhat when he was on 0 and Collingwood looked out lbw to the lively legspinner Danish Kaneria when he hadn't scored either, but England's luck held out (in a way, they deserved a break after the poor Pietersen decision) and the pair guided England to an edgy 118-3 at lunch. England had scored a satisfying amount of runs but the dismissal of their openers and their best player Pietersen had left them on the back foot.

England made a superb start after the 45 minute break, avoiding any kind of alarm for over an hour and picking up numerous boundaries off Sami, Gul and Kaneria. They were watched by Michael Vaughan, who would have loved to be out in the middle but was reduced to glumly observing from the stands along with his crutches, which denoted another nasty knee injury.

However, with the score on 192-3 came a turning point of sorts. A googly from Kaneria spun sharply in the 46th over and the Pakistani fielders were convinced Cook's edge had been found by this snorter, especially Akmal who took the catch in his wicketkeeping gloves; they were right! But Steve Bucknor said not out. Had the right decision been made, England would have brought up their 200 with 4 wickets down, and anything could have happened, but it was not to be. Once again, 10 minutes later Cook should have been out, offering Kaneria a simple caught and bowled, but Kaneria proved why he is so notorious for his fielding and dropped the chance.

From here, Pakistan began to lose control. Cook brought up a rather patchy fifty (ironically with a fantastic pull shot), to join Collingwood who had completed this particular milestone half an hour earlier. Despite the 'partnership breaker' Shahid Afridi being brought on for a spell before tea, England played his legbreaks well and reached the tea break at 242-3. The England pair had added 124 runs since lunch without losing a wicket - it hadn't been rip-roaring cricket but had dug England out a hole, and their fans would have been delighted with the session. The partnership of Cook and Collingwood now stood at an impressive 156, which far surpassed the expectations of many, including your writer!

If the afternoon session for Pakistan had been poor, the evening session was a disaster. The first ball after tea gave an indication of the way Pakistani's heads would be bowed until the close of play, as Cook got another stroke of luck, edging the ball through slips for four. Shortly after, with the 250 up, Collingwood edged through to Akmal but the best rising wicketkeeper/batsman in world cricket produced a shocking drop.

Worse was to follow. England meandered through the next half an hour quietly and then came another drop - it was Farhat again, making it a hat-trick of slip drops for the day. Cook had got away with an edge, yet again, who at this stage must have been feeling invincible. Pakistani bowlers and fielders had lowered the run rate below 4 by this stage but knew that meant nothing in the face of their constant failure to take wickets.

Collingwood completed his century by moving from 95 to 100 in a couple of balls, with first a lovely loft over long-off for four, and then a single. Collingwood isn't the most popular figure among Pakistanis due his dismissive remarks of them prior to both this series and the winter series between Pakistan and England in the subcontinent, but this knock followed up an excellent display from Collingwood against the same side in Lahore, the last time he played them, where he made 96 and 80 in 2 innings. Against this particular opponent though, he had never quite made a hundred, and now this hoodoo had been lifted.

The crowd hadn't been treated to the most thrilling test cricket ever since lunchtime but woke up to applaud the Durham all-rounder, recognising the importance and quality of this knock, and Collingwood himself looked delighted. England then went about their business of bringing up the 300 without losing any more wickets, bringing up the 200 partnership - they had already broken the record for an English fourth wicket stand against Pakistan comfortably.

There followed a period of tension, as Cook crawled his way through the nervous nineties in the hope of reaching his century under great pressure. It looked like we might see a similar situation to Steve Waugh in Sydney, where the former Aussie captain reached his century from the final ball of the day. Despite being stuck on 99 for what felt like hours, Cook finally pushed the ball away with 6 balls to go in the day and there was a frightening split second as it looked like the single wouldn’t be there. However, every run counts and Cook had completed his 2nd test century with the helps of Collingwood’s running. True to form, the pair who had been fighting since the morning session saw England safely home to reach 309-3 at stumps.

Overall this day was certainly England’s. Even with their weakened batting lineup, the platform they have created on this first day looks a rock solid one, and the Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq will have a lot of thinking to do if he wants to inspire his team to get themselves back into the contest over the next couple of days. Two new names have appeared on the Lords honours board today to put England in control, of the two centuries one was scratchy and dogged and the other, superb. Andrew Strauss and England coach Duncan Fletcher will be delighted to reach this position after a surprise in the morning session and will have been very glad to win the toss, with difficult batting conditions anicipated in the 4th innings.

Pakistan have taught us in the past that they can fight back from almost any scenario so we should look forward to a fascinating test match. England will look to push on tomorrow and will get a bowl when they are either bowled out or in a position to declare, at which point we will see what this in-form Pakistan team is really made of.

By one of PakPassion’s resident pommies, Whippysquash

So day 1 honours go england and messers cook and collingwood.

Andrew strauss made a good start as skipper and won toss and decided to bat 1st on a what looks like a belter of a wicket. Both Gul and sami were wasteful with the new ball and didnt seem to adjust to bowling on the lords slope. Pakistan threw the initative away early. Once pakistan made the breakthru thou it looked like game could turn on its head. Razzaq bowled very well in his 1st spell and pretty much all day.

He used all his experience even when bowlers went after him and he took 2 vital wickets. Umar gul also seemed to improve at this time period. At 88/3 pakistan were back in the game. At this point pakistan could have been even further on top if cook had been taken for a duck.

sadly pakistans fielding got worse as day went along and cook and collingwood got stuck in and should great resolution. They didnt run away like a steam train but they both put away the bad balls and also occupied the crease. Both scored deserved tons and both will be happy to be there at close of play. Kaneria toiled away without sucsess but razzaq/gul showed there is sumat in the wicket if u get ball in right areas even thou wicket overall is good for batting. Sami was pretty subdued and poor all day and there was no shock there.

day 2 prospects?

Pakistan need early wickets and not just 1 or 2. Pakistan will need to get into englands tail as soon as they can. For england they will look to bat till tea or even close of play and wrack up 550-600 and make sure that they cant lose the game.

Pakistan need to pick their game up and comeback stronger. They have started series poorly and slowly before. Same is needed tomorrow.

Great work Whipster.

I wouldnt loose heart so quickly all is not lost its just one day and we all know cricket can change in a matter of minutes and there are still 4 more days to go.

England will look to extend their score to more than 500 surely. With Collingwood and Cook set, Bell and Jones about to come they have a good chance of reaching that target. Pakistan will have to strike in the early hours of play and look to finish it off as soon as possible. The more the score, more the stress will be on the batsmen and they will commit more mistakes. So its highly imperative that Pakistan start with a bang tomorrow

Razzaq bowled very well all day without much reward, while Kaneria tried everything in his 30 odd overs, but could not pick up a wicket. Gul was also decent, Sami was way below his best but he can only improve and he will inshallah. I felt Afridi should have bowled more overs than his seven. Very well played, Colly and Cook.

Nothing to panic about. Tomorrow, we need to go out their, get the new ball, get some early strikes with it. Then hopefully, Afridi and Kaneria will mop up the tail. We should aim to get England AO for 425, or less.

ive not lost heart, pakistan are still in the game but we need early wickets and we will need to bat well 1st inns to get on a par with england in the game.

A superb summary of an interesting days cricket at Lord's. You've really got every little moment in there especially in the Cook and Collingwood partnership. A great read, well done Whippy.

Great review Whippy!

That is the thing most are worried about. Hopefully England follow Pakistan's fielding antics and drop a lot more than us

Nice one Whippy! Well written.

Missed some of the play cause i fell asleep and to be honest i rather read than watch highlights : P

Great read Whippy, you are quite a writer.

MODS, are we having writeups done for this series? If so, I can do one. It won't be as good as Whippy's, but I hope it will be decent.

Hope we see a 2nd inns collapse, thats our only chance of winning, apply pressure in 2nd inns, sami has to bowl well to bring pressure, then dani from other end is the way to go, with afridi now and then

well our top 3 of farhat, butt, iqbal will be tested against hoggy/harmison and they need to stick around and set a good platform!

Definately. one of them 3 need a biggie, simple as that, inzi/moyo cant do everything..then we move onto all rounders, so top 3 will be influential if we are going to be taking anything from late 2nd day

Imran Farhat should be made to sit outside the hotel tonight.

harsh but true!

You know just in the first few overs of the day I was saying how much Pak's feilding has improved, especially when Faisal Iqbal took that diving field, saving the 4. And look how much things changed. Karma maybe?

Now on top of a set Collingwood and Cook, and a depleted bowling attack, things will have to be extra special tomorrow. No misfields, and no wayward bowling. Pakistan need to stop England quickly, and can't let them go over 400, or there will be trouble.

Then there is the question of battting. That also has to be good. All the pressure can't be put on Inzi and Yousuf. Butt, Farhat, and Faisal will have to put up a hefty amount of runs, before they can lose their wickets. Minimum of 200. Of course, I expect Farhat to reprimend his mistakes with the bat tomorrow. But they'll have be careful, because Harmison and Hoggard are no easy bowlers.

Although the stiches on Hoggard's hand should slow him down...

We havent requested any because of unreliable reporters either forgetting, not bothering or submitting days after their alloted slot.

So Just as Whippy has done, do it - post it and we will put it on the homepage for you.

Day 2 prospets

ENG....435 all out
PAK....205/4

great read whippy. A horrendous day for Pakistani cricket in the field they better fix this or there will be a certain can being opened up here

Will do.

Maybe one tomrrow, inshallah.

Fielding - the perpetual, blasted weakness of Pakistani cricket.

Despite a painful and cringe worthy day for us pak fans a good (and very fair) read. Nice one whippers.

Imran Farhat effigies being burned as we speak and the paks join the indians for some bucknor abuse

With this bowling attack PAK don't have the ability to blast back in to the test match, so ENG can really milk the tomorrow and make a daunting score! Having said that PAK always start slow and then catch up later so we should see a better performance tomorrow!

We have been bloody unlucky today...fielding let us down..... England wont last too long with a new ball, 2 more wickets and were into the tail....& with the turn Danish & Afridi are generating from a ball 25 overs old... englands first innings will not be much over 450.... i'm hoping..

Personally i feel england batted a little slow compared to what Pak score on first days..

pak usually start off slowly in test series...they'll get better.

Good report Whippy. I was there today so I'll add my two peneth worth.

Firstly can I say I was a little dissapointed with the crowd. Firstly at the lack of Pakistanis. I understand there was a ballot and it really would not surprise me if something fishy happened but nothing can be proven so I might as well shut it. Secondly at the lack of atmosphere. Given that it was day 1 of the 1st Test of the main series I expected the crowd to be a bit more lively and went to the ground looking forward to an electric atmosphere. It felt more like a Gardners World Readers Grandfather's convention.

Secondly.....Pakistan's performance. We did everything right apart from our catching. Simple as that. The bowlers were pretty good and continued to cause England's batters problems on a pancake pitch. If Farhat knew how to catch we would probably have bowled England out today. Just check how long their tail is. Our ground fielding was good, our throwing was good, our bowling was good, Inzi's captaincy was pretty decent, our catching was **** **** **** **** **** **** etc etc.

Thirdly what happens now? The new ball tomorrow will be crucial. If we can get a couple of early wickets then we should be able to contain England to a total around 420 given their long tail. That does not put us completely out of the game (ie....we CAN still win it with a special performance) but given the flat nature of the pitch and given the depleted bowling for both sides, a draw is probably the most likely result here.

Finally I would like to say that I love the Pakistan team.