England v India – live! | Andy Bull

• Hit refresh or auto-update for the latest posts • Email rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Follow Andy and Rob on Twitter, if that’s your thing • There is other cricket going on today too. Click here for the County cricket – Live! blog • Have a look at our gallery of all the best pictures from Lord’s 24th over: England 62-1 (Strauss 22, Trott 18) Another errant delivery, this time from Sharma, escapes the diving Dhoni for three byes. Trott then forces three behind backward point. Duncan Fletcher was furious with how England bowled on the first day against India at Headingley in 2002 – India eventually got 600 – and he won’t be entirely happy with India’s performance in not dissimilar conditions today. I don’t know whether India are undercooked or not, but they haven’t been quite on their game. In other news, our esteemed, cricket-loving blog editor is probably waking up on the other side of the Atlantic. I’d just like to say: Morning Busfield ! 23rd over: England 55-1 (Strauss 21, Trott 15) Strauss chases a grotesquely wide delivery from Zaheer and swishes at nothing other than the freshest air. The next delivery jags down the leg side for four byes. The ground is fairly quiet, although the atmosphere is more expectant than subdued. There’s a Before-the-Lord-Mayor’s-Show feel to the match, the series, and indeed the rest of time. “Both pairs are horrendous (especially pair 1),” says Mark Healey (and a few others). “Pair 2 have the bonus that you can play dot to dot during a Cook and Trott blocking masterclass during some part of this series however so I would go for them.” My friend says he’d love to see what travesties some of you are wearing on your feet right now. He needs new trainers, though. Come on, help him find some new trainers! 22nd over: England 50-1 (Strauss 21, Trott 15) A lucky escape for Trott in the first over after lunch. He waved his bat almost absent-mindedly at a wide, shortish delivery from Ishant Sharma, and the ball flew straight through the vacant third-slip area for four. “Congratulations to Lorraine Reese (Pre-game rambling: This is just cruel) for proving that investigative journalism is alive and well and not reliant on hacking,” says Ian Copestake. “I hear you, Smyth, will be putting out a statement shortly in response to what the press are calling ‘Swingergate’.” I have no idea what this refers to, and I suspect it’s best I keep it that way. But seriously folks – because sometimes the laughter has to stop – can we please do away with ‘-gate’ culture. A) It sounds ridiculous and B) it leaves us with nowhere to go if Gareth Southgate does something naughty. Good cause department One of my best friends recently completed the first of a series of runs in support of Sands , after the awful stillbirth of his son Ramzi last year. It’s impossible to imagine something so devastating happening to anyone, never mind someone you’ve been close to for nearly 20 years. If you’re feeling generous, his JustGiving page is here . Question Should a 35-year-old man in his thirties wear these trainers ? I can’t decide. My friend wants to know. He also wants to know whether these trainers are quite cool or utterly awful . He can’t decide. I don’t know why he keeps looking at the sale pages though. Maybe he doesn’t get paid enough for his hard work and morale-boosting quips around the office . Hello . We knew the ICC would do something special for the 2000th Test, but we didn’t know they were going to build a time machine. That morning session was straight outta 1987, with the ball swinging round corners* and the batsmen needing to achieve a higher state of consciousness just to survive. India did not bowl quite as well as they should have done, bowling too many deliveries that could safely be left alone, yet it was still a serious mental challenge for England. They are fortunate to have a top three who secretly fantasise about having their discipline tested in conditions like these. Like true love, and Hold On by Wilson Phillips, Test cricket can stimulate the soul in so many different ways. The last time England hosted the best side in the world, in 2005, the series also began at Lord’s on July 21. It opened with a flurry of haymakers; Australia were 87 for five at lunch, and 17 wickets fell on the first day. This was in total contrast, an unspoken battle of wills, yet it was almost as compelling. In many sports, the word ‘absorbing’ is a euphemism. Not in Test cricket. This is a seriously high level of sport, and both sides were respectful of that throughout a fine morning session. * The glee in Bumble’s voice was lovely, like he’d seen an animal he thought was extinct: ” Look at the swing !” LUNCH On that note I’m going to step down for the afternoon session. Rob Smyth will be here shortly, so please send your emails to him at rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk . I can’t believe that it’s taken the OBO two hours to hit the fish in the barrel: “Now that we’ve got the eagerly anticipated Strauss-Khan matchup in the middle,” says Ant Pease. “What are other OBOers’ favourite matches featuring players with the names of current or former heads of the IMF?” Yes, the players are going off . What an absorbing session that was, a reminder, perhaps, that this series is going to be about much, much more than wickets and sixes. One thing is clear – India’s fast bowling attack are going to be extremely potent in English conditions. 20th over: England 43-1 (Strauss 20, Trott 9) Harbhajan is bowling from around the wicket to Strauss, spearing the ball in towards middle stump. Strauss pushes a single out to long-on= and leaves Trott to face what should be the final ball of the session. 19th over: England 42-1 (Strauss 19, Trott 9) Another single for Strauss, tucked off his hip. After watching Trott swing and miss at a wide ball, Sharma slips a delivery past his outside edge, then purses his lips in appreciation of the delivery. Trott holds his forward defensive pose and stares at the pitch. The next delivery comes back down the slope, moving a foot and more after pitching. 19th over: England 41-1 (Strauss 18, Trott 9) The second bowling change of the day brings Harbhajan Singh into the attack. My word that’s close. His very first ball snicks off the edge of Trott’s bat and flies to Rahul Dravid at slip, he reaches down and gets his fingers to it, but no more, and the ball runs away for a single. Another chance gone begging for India then, with Trott missed at slip, and Strauss surviving a wayward throw when he could have been run out. Over the series these little inaccuracies in the field be the difference between the two sides. 18th over: England 39-1 (Strauss 17, Trott 8) We’re getting very familiar with Kumar’s smile this morning. He breaks into another one after beating Strauss’ outside edge yet again. Gautam Gambhir hobbles around the boundary rope and flings himself across the turf to try and intercept a cut shot from Strauss. He ends up palming it over the rope. He would have found that all much easier if he hadn’t been wearing shin pads. That’s the kind of small detail which will infuriate Duncan Fletcher. 17th over: England 35-1 (Strauss 13, Trott 8) from around the wicket, Ishant jags a shortish ball into Strauss’ gut, tucking him up and doubling him over. This first hour has been a real battle for Strauss, who has 13 from 52 balls. The odd scratchy run to the leg side aside, he’s been thinking only of staying in. He takes another such run now, and and Trott then pops up on his tiptoes and flicks four runs away to fine leg. Jeff Phillips, I can’t help but feel you’d be better off sharing this kind of stuff with your brother himself rather than the tens of thousands of strangers on here: “The image of that Test Match board game has made me feel a bit guilty. I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to my younger brother, whose birthday it is today, for never allowing him to play in any of the epic Test Match games that occurred in our house. Even when I had nobody else to play with I still wouldn’t let him play, despite the fact that playing on your own was a rather unsatisfactory experience. Sorry, Jon and happy birthday – you may have to wait another 25 years before I apologise for the fact that I have not bought you a card or a present.” 16th over: England 30-1 (Strauss 12, Trott 4) The score creeps on, Trott turning two runs away to leg. “Sitting on the beach in Tunisia,” gasps Mike Williams, who seems to be have turned a little delirious in the heat. “45 degrees in the shade. I’ve put the locals in the field on what looks like a turning sand strip. Intend to work the ball into the sea as often as possible. Will send sun your way when the waiter comes round again.” That reminds me of that wonderful passage in Pickwick Papers: “‘Warm! — red hot — scorching — glowing. Played a match once — single wicket — friend the colonel — Sir Thomas Blazo — who should get the greatest number of runs. — Won the toss — first innings — seven o’clock A.m. — six natives to look out — went in; kept in — heat intense — natives all fainted — taken away — fresh half-dozen ordered — fainted also — Blazo bowling — supported by two natives — couldn’t bowl me out — fainted too — cleared away the colonel — wouldn’t give in — faithful attendant — Quanko Samba — last man left — sun so hot, bat in blisters, ball scorched brown — five hundred and seventy runs — rather exhausted — Quanko mustered up last remaining strength — bowled me out — had a bath, and went out to dinner.’ ‘And what became of what’s-his-name, Sir?’ inquired an old gentleman. ‘Blazo?’ ‘No — the other gentleman.’ ‘Quanko Samba?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘Poor Quanko — never recovered it — bowled on, on my account — bowled off, on his own — died, sir.’” 15th over: England 28-1 (Strauss 12, Trott 2) The first bowling change brings Ishant Sharma in to the attack, looking like he’s just stepped out of the salon. A very different kind of challenge, this. His first two balls are short, and sharp. But his third is too straight, and Trott knocks it away for a single to long leg. Ishant switches around the wicket, and Strauss finally gets a delivery he can tuck in to. It’s short and wide and he cuts it up and over gully and away for four. 14th over: England 22-1 (Strauss 8, Trott 1) “Are England asleep at the wicket, merely snoozing or about to have a nightmare?” says Steven Fanning. “Losing Cook so early is a disastrous start.” The opposition are allowed to play well, you know. Particularly in these conditions. But it was certainly a shock to see Cook fall given his form these last few months. Kumar swings another delivery past Strauss’ outside edge, and the stands, grinning ruefully at the batsman. Strauss looks back, a cheekier sort of smile spreading across his face. “Too good for me,” he seems to be saying, “but unluckily for you not good enough to get me out.” 13th over: England 20-1 (Strauss 6, Trott 0) Bumble points out that there have been seven maidens in 12 overs so far, which shows how watchful England have been. Trott goes about the lengthy process of marking his guard. “Strip Cook of the ODI captaincy!” shouts Mark Healey, who could have a fine career as TalkSport’s cricket correspondent ahead of him if he so wished, “It’s clearly impaired his judgement! He would never have been trapped lbw like that before he started playing for England in ODI’s again!” 12th over: England 19-1 (Strauss 6, Trott 0) Billy Bowden is doing some very ostentatious foot-prodding on the wicket, seemingly suggesting that Praveen is following through too straight. This is interesting, after the uproar in the West Indies when Daryl Harper penalised Kumar for following through down the wicket. The furore that followed forced him into early retirement. It would be a strong move from Billy to do the same thing here. WICKET! Cook 12 lbw Zaheer (England 19-1) Well I just don’t know what to make of that. Stop the clocks, Cook is out. For less than a hundred. It was a good ball from Zaheer, sliding in past the inside edge, hitting the pad with a resounding thump. Up went umpiren Rauf’s finger. It was a good decision the ball was hitting the top of leg stump. 11th over: England 19-0 (Strauss 6, Cook 12) “Surprised England succeeded in not lose any wickets while I was in the shower,” writes David Naylor. “I half expected to come back out and find them 7 for3 with Praveen having taken a hat-trick. Positive signs already! I’ve already learned much of following English cricket in the past two years of learning. Think negatively, and pray for rain, right?” You’ve learned much, young Padawan. As they say, a pessimist can never be disappointed, only pleasantly surprised. Sachin seems to have plenty of advice for the bowlers today. And it must have been good because with the very next ball… 10th over: England 19-0 (Strauss 6, Cook 12) “I’d like to dispute your claim that ‘You cannot calculate the intangibles’,” pipes up Harry Tuttle. “As recently as 2009, researchers from the Cambridge Mathematics department published findings that strongly suggest one calculates the intangibles by adding four to any real number suspected of ‘omitting intangible, or otherwise non-numerical, elements’. Of course, people forget that some MCC purists argue that batting and bowling averages be expressed in complex numbers. That would really shift the terms of debate.” Sadly enough my B in GCSE mathematics means that I’m so under-qualified in this area I can’t even tell whether that’s a joke. What I can tell you is that with Strauss on strike, Kumar has changed his angle of attack, sliding the ball across the bat towards the slips. Simply enough, the Indians plan is to try and get Cook LBW early in the innings, presumably thinking that his head falls over a touch towards the off, and to have Strauss caught in the slips as he loses his position outside off. 9th over: England 19-0 (Strauss 6, Cook 12) Zaheer tinkers with his field. He only has two slips in place for Strauss now, which seems a little cautious in these conditions. he beats the bat outside off stump, and then serves up a ball that is too straight and which Strauss taps away for a single. 8th over: England 18-0 (Strauss 5, Cook 12) Oddly, Praveen seems to be swinging the ball less now that the lacquer has come off, which is the opposite of what you would expect. He’s tightened his line though, all six balls landing on middle-and-leg and moving a touch towards off. Cook deadbats all six of them. Alan White is another OBO reader experiencing Test Match induced flashbacks thanks to that earlier photo: “We used to fold the mat in half when packing it away which left a selection of slightly curved creases running down the middle of the wicket. With just a tiny alteration of line the ball would follow the path of these creases, allowing us to swing it both ways like Anderson in his pomp. DOES IT GET BETTER THAN THAT? No. No, it doesn’t.” 7th over: England 18-0 (Strauss 5, Cook 12) That’s a chance! Ishant throws at the stumps from mid-on, with Strauss out of his ground. The ball whistles by. If it had hit he would have been out. Cook clips three runs away to mid-wicket, and Strauss eases a single away square. “I get that sly look you refer to from my tailor,” writes Paul Billington. “He’s always wrong though.” 6th over: England 12-0 (Strauss 2, Cook 9) Strauss steers a single past the slips, and Cook then picks a delivery from Praveen that comes back the other way. He whips it away square and takes two runs. He plays a slightly less graceful version of the same shot to the next ball, and England take two more. Cook looks in impeccable touch. “Two friends of mine in their Test Match heyday (c.1987) decided in their boredom to alter one of the game balls, altering the smooth sphere with badly-applied varnish to create the a different delivery option,” Tom Oxley rambles on, “Rolling it slower down the bowler’s chute allowed the ball to stick to the miscreant fibres of the fluffy playing surface. In other words, spin.” Goodness Oxley, that was like listening to a particularly incoherent anecdote from an inebriated MCC member. 5th over: England 7-0 (Strauss 1, Cook 5) Cook collects a leg bye, and later in the over Strauss gets his first single too. “On the subject of Indian fans and their chants, there’s certainly an element of lost in translation, but also something more sinister at times,” says Will Russell. “We were in Nagpur for the 1st test in 2006, where Alastair Cook (and Ian Blackwell!) made their Test debuts. After a day or so of listening to the crowd, we concluded that they were chanting ‘Hoggy is a bastard’, in the direction of our favourite Yorkshire dog-lover. They must have been annoyed that he took 6-57 in the first innings. Hoggy then rode the Man of the Match motorbike around the outfield after the match. Good stuff.” To be fair, the England fans can be just as bad at times – look at how they taunted Mitchell Johnson and Jason Gillespie. 4th over: England 5-0 (Strauss 0, Cook 5) Praveen switches back over the wicket. His first ball is too short, and Cook cuts England’s first runs away square. Harbhajan lumbers after it like a donkey chasing a carrot. Later in the over Praveen beats the bat with a straight delivery, it hits Cook on the pads in front of leg stump, but the umpire shakes his head. And rightly so, it pitched outside leg and was passing over the top of the stumps. But it was a first reminder that at some point in this series India are going to have real cause to regret their dogmatic resistance to the DRS, which is not being used for lbw decisions in this series. “Three maidens,” scoffs Tarun Baloch. “Are England preparing for Timeless Test already?” Well, they’re up and running now. Cook collects another single at the end of the over. 3rd over: England 0-0 (Strauss 0, Cook 0) Zaheer is now bowling too wide to trouble Strauss. He shows enough restraint to leave the first three balls alone, and then strides out to play a worrying sort of shot at a ball that just swings by his outside edge. Three maidens to start with then, and at the end of this over Zaheer stops mid-wicket, puts his hand on his hip and shoots Strauss a sly look that seems to say, “I’ve got your measure, fella.” Bikram Shivkumar is following the OBO from Chennai: “Yup, palms are sweaty, feeling slightly feverish…the symptoms before a big India game are all present. A quote from someone way more articulate than I am: ‘You will hear people say that there is no sentiment in sport. Of course there is. A touch of sadness, a bit of joy, a lump in the throat and hope in the breast, that is what we watch and play sport for. Take away sentiment and emotion and sport grows cold.” 2nd over: England 0-0 (Strauss 0, Cook 0) Praveen Kumar starts at the other end, which is interesting. Like Zaheer, Praveen is a bit of an artist with the ball. These two must be the slowest opening pair in world cricket. He won’t get it up above 80mph, but he will swing the ball. My word. What a first delivery, and what a second delivery too. Praveen is getting an absurd amount of movement in his first over, landing the ball on middle-and-leg and making it loop past the outside edge. He switches around the wicket for the final ball, and Cook swings and misses at a delivery that hardly gets through to Dhoni. This has been a wonderfully old-fashioned start to the match, a real test of technique. “On the jubilee line this morning there were a group of Indian fans sporting flags and the Ishant “display bust in a down market jeweller’s” look,” writes Dom Hastings. “They were singing “who’s the fat man in the hat?” to no one in particular, pausing occasionally to fall about in mirth. When they disembarked at St John’s Wood the song changed to “Graeme Swann, he’s a duck!!” and as the door closed and the train sped off towards central London I was left slightly perplexed – something lost in translation?” 1st over: England 0-0 (Strauss 0, Cook 0) Zaheer’s first ball cuts back in off the seam, past Strauss’ outside edge. There didn’t seem to be too much pace on the ball, so the slips shuffle up a little closer. The Indians in the crowd are already making a racket, crying out “ZA-HEER! ZAHEER!, ZA-HEER, ZAHEER!” His length is already full, and his line hovers around off-stump. He knows what he is doing. A couple of balls pass by the bat, and the others are patted down into the ground. It’s a maiden. Zaheer, looking a little wide around the middle bowls a pair of practice deliveries and then turns to face Andrew Strauss… I can’t stop top appreciate the quality of Wither’s story, because India are gathering in to a huddle and England’s openers are walking out to the middle. “Spine-tingling moments for every player…” opines Athers. Ladies and Gents, let’s begin… “John Dalby’s misty-eyed reminec-, remenisc-, RECOLLECTIONS mentioning the majestic Test Match board game take me back to only a few years ago,” writes Neil Withers. “When as a late 20-something I returned to my parents home with a few friends to watch my local football team play an early season game. Now, my parents were abroad at the time (as the middle class retirees they are) so the day after the game my friends and I got out the old faithful Test Match and played a few games, carefully smoothing the faded green plasticky cloth onto the living room carpet to get a true playing surface. When the time came to leave, we picked up all the players and peeled back the faded green plasticky cloth to reveal… a perfect (if sticky) green hexagon on my parents’ beloved beige living room carpet. Never has my life resembled a Yellow Pages advert so closely! After much (MUCH) cleaning, scrubbing, scouring and chemicals later, we had to leave, unsure whether the dark patch was just because the carpet was still a bit wet. I’d love to pretend my parents are none the wiser, but as a dutiful son (who also went back while they were still away to check) I told them after they got back – while they were too jet-lagged to get properly annoyed.” The gangling Ishant walks down the pavilion steps, a ball clutched in his hand , and over in the stands Alec Stewart rings the silver bell that signals five minutes to the start of play. More hot montage action from Sky , and by the time it has faded out we are just about ready to start. “I don’t grudge your mancrush on Sachin,” says my wife Prasanna A. But “tatters and all, pauper people, lifelong anxiety of being Indian” is just pure hogwash.” [Hogwash, poetry, sometimes they're functional synonyms for one another, no? Anyway...] “Think Indian self-esteem is several notches above what it used to be in seventies and eighties. And due to various factors which may or may not include sports. I am Indian and let me tell you that Sachin has let me/us down as many times as he has lifted our spirits. On the other hand, since the 2001 Ind-Aus series, the Indian batting line-up has collectively lived up to its lofty reputation. So the rational Indian puts his faith in the team or more specifically in Sehwag, Dravid, Sachin and VVS. And without Sehwag, we are going to be under the cosh most of the series. It will take all of Dhoni’s self confidence to wrangle a drawn series. So please stop projecting your converter’s zeal re Sachin on the whole Indian population.” That’s all very true, Prasanna. I should have been more specific. Sunderan wrote that in the mid-90s, when it had more of a ring of truth about it than it does now. But it is still a serviceable shorthand for the pressures the man has endured over the length of his 22-year career. I’m a little surprised that England have chosen Stuart Broad , unless they’re still entertaining thoughts about the relative weakness of the Indian batsmen against short-pitched bowling. As James Himsworth says: “Stuart Broad has got to do something to warrant his selection here, he was poor in the Ashes before he was injured and he was poor against Sri Lanka, whereas Big Timmy Bres has been in sublime form.” “Now India are going to bowl, I wouldn’t really mind if it started raining quite a lot…” Oh, Piers Barclay, has it come to that already. Soothe yourself with calming thoughts of Jonathan Trott’s forward defensive. That’s a great start to the series for India then, not that we’ve had a ball bowled yet. Rob Smyth has arrived in the nick of time too. He scowls at the TV and mutters “Trent Bridge, 2007 all over again” to himself. So we’re all set to start. Except that the match has been delayed by a wet outfield, so we’ll wait a little longer yet. “I am bound to say your normal sound judgement is wobbling over Tendulkar,” writes Jon Perraton. Remember the all time test batting rankings . There are more things in heaven and earth, Perraton, than are dreamt of in your statistics. You cannot calculate the intangibles. And England look like this: AN Cook, AJ Strauss, IJL Trott, KP Pietersen, IR Bell, EJG Morgan, MJ Prior, GP Swann, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson, CT Tremlett. Praveen Kumar takes the final slot in the Indian bowling line-up, so they look like this: G Gambhir, A Mukund, SR Tendulkar, R Dravid, VVS Laxman, SK Raina, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, I Sharma, P Kumar. And England have picked Stuart Broad, not Tim Bresnan . “It gives better balance to our side and certainly to our bowling attack,” says Strauss. He admits he would have bowled first if he had won the toss. Sorry, sudden flush of excitement there . “Any news on the teams?” asks Ant Pease. “Surely Sky have had the decency to have bugged the dressing rooms?” Well, for starters, Yuvraj has been left out of the Indian team. !!!!!!!!! Time for the toss! And India have won it! They will bowl first. Here’s John Dalby, coming over all misty-eyed: “The recent tiresome debate over the ICC all time XI got me to thinking about an altogether more interesting ATG-type list. If I shut my eyes and try to imagine the perfect cricketing scene, what do I see? The skies over Newlands are a striking blue with the clouds enveloping Devils Peak providing a hint of weather to come. Taking guard is the Little Master, scratching his mark in the crease, demonstrating complete ambivalence towards anything going on about him. Malcolm Marshall stands what seems half a mile away, looking as harmless and pleasant as he was chillingly effective. Carl Hooper stands at the non-strikers end, floppy sun hat and all, quietly surveying the scene with a serenity of a man whose heart-rate has never risen above 45. Jonty Rhodes skips about at point, like the PE Teachers pet, all athleticism and cat-like reflexes eager to please his master but sneering towards anyone whose ability doesn’t match his own. And so it goes, the players change positions, I sometimes have Hooper at slip, alongside the incessant jabbering of Adam Gilchrist, with Gower at his flowing peak, almost horizontally relaxed at the non-strikers end. Who is grazing out at cow corner? Who are the umpires? Basically, what is the pitch perfect snapshot of a cricket match that you would sell your children and your prized Test Match game from the 80′s to be able to watch?” The toss will be held at 11am . By the end of the series I will be in South Korea . No, don’t ask. “Mr Kumar can have the first e-mail of the series, but can I pitch for the last?” asks Gary Naylor, who has surely earned the right to. “Well, what a series. People will claim that the highlight was Sachin’s 100th 100 at Lord’s, but I’m going for Laxman turning back the clock ten years with a double ton to give India another win after following on at Edgbaston. But you can’t argue with England’s 3-1 win to go top of the World Rankings, Broad’s three five-fers or KP’s return to his best. We didn’t expect this starting out on a grey morning at Lord’s when David Cameron was still Prime Minister and Sky was still broadcasting.” If Don Bradman had experienced the level of scrutiny that Sachin has been subject too , his reputation both today and in time gone by would have been very, very different. But that may be a story for another time. “Be careful what you wish for” says Daniel Beckell. “…it might come true; There seem to be a lot of bloggers/pundits hoping for a fairytale Tendulkar ton today. I’m not one of them. I want England to win and, if Tendulkar does score a ton, it increases the chances of an India win. As such, and I acknowledge this is more than a little one-eyed, I hope he treads on his stumps first up. There, I’ve said it.” Out in the middle Sachin Tendulkar is in his tracksuit, facing a few throwdowns and creaming a few straight drives down the ground . He pauses to have a little chat with Fletch, who is no doubt reminding him about how to play the forward press. On the subject of Sachin, earlier this year I had the privilege of watching him score his 98th and 99th international centuries during the World Cup in India. They were a perfect pair of innings, one efficient, the other explosive. If you’ve seen Sachin bat in India, you’ll become a believer. Since then I honestly think he is neck-and-neck with Bradman as the best batsman international cricket has known. The pressur and expectation he lives with has never been better expressed than it was by the poet CP Sunderan: “Batsmen walk out into the middle alone. Not Tendulkar. Every time Tendulkar walks to the crease, a whole nation, tatters and all, marches with him to the battle arena. A pauper people pleading for relief, remission from the lifelong anxiety of being Indian, by joining in spirit their visioned saviour.” I’m thoroughly fed up with all the foreplay . Can we start already? The groundstaff are doing the hokey-cokey with the covers , and for the moment the toss is going to be delayed just a touch. Gah. This is just cruel : “I’ve been re-reading the OBOs from the previous two Ashes series (for fun) and found this 2009 gems from Rob Smyth,” writes Lorraine Reese. “‘There is sincerely more chance of me slicing off my swingers and donating them to charity than there is of me going on Tw*tter.’” Oh Bobby . Mike Holding is wondering exactly what Duncan Fletcher can tell the senior batsmen in India’s team. Not much, he reckons. Reluctant as I am to contradict Mikey, the word from Fletch is that he has already been doing a little technical tinkering with Rahul Dravid in the West Indies. If anyone had any false impressions about just how good India are , it’s worth remembering that they have never lost a Test series under MS Dhoni’s captaincy. That’s the kind of consistency that takes you to No1 in the world. The first email of the series comes from Anand Kumar . Because he really wanted it. Let that be a lesson to the rest of you. “I wanted to be the first person to be on OBO for this “can’t wait for the damn thing to begin” test series. Being a scarred Indian fan who endured the humiliation of overseas defeats for a long time, I have a very strange feeling about this one. In 96-97, When India toured SA, I thought SRT would score a 100 in the first test. 100 was scored but by the whole team! Again, on the recent tour to SA, I was hoping for great 1st innings things and on a rain shortened day, we were bundled out. Considering the overcast conditions in Lord’s and the number of Saffers in the English team, I am scared this will happen again. Please say it won’t! Please!” England have a great opportunity to take a lead here at Lord’s . Half of India’s team are still trying to readjust from the conditions they faced in the West Indies, and the rest haven’t played a Test match in over six months. There’s a little grass on the pitch, and a lot of moisture in the air. It should be a good morning to bowl. The power of a good montage knows no bounds. Sky have just run a highlights reel of the key match-ups in this series, and my excitement levels have shot up. But they won’t really peak until Rob Smyth arrives in the office, he’s been giggling like a schoolgirl all week. He even threatened to get out of bed early this morning. Not that early, obviously, because he’s not here yet. Morning everyone . How are you feeling this morning? Palms a little moist? Brow a touch fevered? Thoughts about the respective merits of Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad inexplicably dominating your inner monologue? It’s time, at last. The 2000th Test, the 100th between England and India, and the most eagerly anticipated match in this country outside of an Ashes series since the West Indies were in their pomp a whippersnapper’s lifetime ago. This being the proper start of the summer it’s probably worth checking the weather. A quick look outside the window from the top floor of Guardian Towers eastwards across the cityscape shows a solid gray morass of cloud, stretching from here to eternity St John’s Wood. We might not start on time but the weathermen say that we’ll get plenty of play, perhaps interrupted by a shower or two in the middle of the afternoon. I’m going to need to drink another cup of coffee or two before I can get into this in earnest . While I do that, why don’t you go watch Goldenhair Gower and other highlights from series gone by. Or, if your boss is so mean that he doesn’t allow you to watch YouTube at work, here’s a whole page load of ways to waste the final hour before the start of play reading about what we’re about to see unfold. India in England 2011 England cricket team India cricket team Cricket Andy Bull guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 21, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.