Trotting Along - Day One at Lord's

First days of test matches are rarely conclusive, particularly when truncated by rain, but this was, nonetheless, a fascinating opening to what promises to be a fascinating series. Geoffrey Boycott is fond of telling us that teams can’t win test matches on the first day but that they can lose them (which makes fans of logic wonder what the other team are doing), but England will be happier with their day’s endeavours.

This was a good toss to win, under heavy cloud and with a little drizzle in the air, and MS Dhoni had no hesitation in putting England in. Zaheer must have been purring as he marked his run up and he proceeded to bowl beautifully, moving the ball at a decent pace and discomfiting all of the England batsmen.

Cook’s astonishing run had to come to an end at some point and he was palpably leg before to a beautiful delivery from Zaheer. Strauss, in the meantime, looked in better touch than he had against Sri Lanka, presumably buoyed by his hundred guesting for Somerset. He will not look on his dismissal with any great joy, however, for, on a day when only certain scoring opportunities should have been considered, Zaheer’s bouncer was too wide of off stump for the hook shot to be viable and he duly perished.

In Jonathan Trott, England had the perfect man for the situation. In similar conditions against Pakistan last year he alone had stood firm and he brought the same qualities to bear in this innings, defending resolutely, leaving judiciously and punishing the bad ball. At the other end, Kevin Pietersen looked rather less composed, at times seemingly at odds with both his body and his game, but he too was resolute in reining in his more swashbuckling instincts and will come back in what promise to be more favourable conditions in the morning.

They did have one significant slice of good fortune, however, when Zaheer pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury. If he is unable to bowl again in the match then it will be a massive blow to India, for although Kumar bowled nicely, Ishant looked out of sorts and Harbhajan is the shadow of the bowler that he once was. A fascinating day’s play is in prospect.