Anderson leads a mighty thrashing

India collapse after tea on final day at Lord’s, lose opening Test by 196 runs.

LONDON:

England recorded a sensational 196-run victory in the first Test at Lord’s as India lost their last five wickets for 36 runs after the tea interval on the final day.

Fast-bowler James Anderson, the destroyer-in-chief, claimed five for 65 in the second-innings and, together with Stuart Broad, destroyed the fancied Indian batting lineup on the final day when the tourists needed 458 for an improbable win.

Broad finished off the match as he trapped Ishant Sharma lbw to spark celebrations at the home of cricket after India had gone to tea, comfortably placed at 218 for five.

Survival was the need

With the chase never in the question, it was a matter of surviving the final session but Chris Tremlett started the rout, picking up India captain MS Dhoni who had put on 60 with Suresh Raina to put his side back on track after the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar.

Anderson then sent Harbhajan Singh, known for his rearguard actions, back before Praveen Kumar fell to Broad. But the prized scalp was of Raina’s, the left-hander dismissed for 78, as Anderson took his fifth of the innings and finished with seven for the match.

Tendulkar denied again

Earlier, England denied Tendulkar his 100th international hundred as they maintained their bid for victory in the Test that takes them closer to the top ranking. India were placed at 218 for five in the final session, still needing a further 240 runs to reach what would be a record victory target of 458 as no side has made more in the fourth-innings to win a Test than the West Indies’ 418 for seven against Australia in Antigua in 2002-03.

Raina was 54 not out and Dhoni 16 not out after Tendulkar had fallen for 12. The Indian legend got off the mark with a legside clipped four off Anderson but rarely looked comfortable.

India benefit from absence of DRS

England were convinced Broad had him lbw for 11 and replays showed the ball would have hit middle stump. But with Billy Bowden ruling in the batsman’s favour and, thanks to Indian objections to ball-tracking technology, no reviews of lbw decisions this series, Tendulkar survived.

However, Tendulkar spent 38 balls on 11 and, with Raina also unable to up the tempo,

England were dictating terms. But two balls later, Anderson nipped one back to strike Tendulkar in front of his stumps and this time New Zealand’s Bowden raised his finger to end a becalmed 85-minute innings.

The tail failed to wag as England completed a convincing series-opening win.

Andrew Strauss

“Pietersen’s innings was one of the best I’ve seen by an England batsmen in a long time. It’s tough to bowl sides out on the final day, if you’re going to do it you have to be very disciplined and I can’t praise the bowlers enough.”

MS Dhoni

“We missed Zaheer and it wasn’t spinning much for Harbhajan. After that it was hard, we missed Sachin who was out with an infection and Gambhir got injured so we were an unfamiliar order but I’m happy how we played.”



Kevin Pietersen

“Brilliant for the team. But we know that it’s just one out of four. It’ll be a tough job to dominate this Indians. It reminded me of 2005 at Old Trafford, which was a special occasion. All bases seem to be covered.”



Matthew Prior

“It is a flat deck, a quick outfield and the sun shines whenever I walk out to bat here at Lord’s. It is a special place. I made my debut here and started pretty well, I always love coming back to Lord’s.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th,  2011.