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LUNCH
Well, this is turning into a procession. Rob Smyth will be here in the afternoon to tell you whether VVS Laxman and Suresh Raina can dig India out of this hole. Send your emails to him now, please, on rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk.
WICKET! Dravid 22 b Bresnan (India 75-4) Two minutes before lunch on the first day and this game could almost be over already. Bresnan has clean-bowled Dravid with an absolute jaffa. That's as good a ball as we'll see all match long, and it needed to be to do for the Wall. It straightened up off the pitch, ripping off the seam and beating the outside edge of Dravid's broad bat, then crashed into off stump. India's top-order have been routed in the last 30 minutes. They've lost 3 for 16 in 37 balls.
26th over: India 75-3 (Dravid 22, Laxman 13) Umpire Davis is giving Jimmy Anderson a ticking-off for following through on to the pitch. Laxman flicked the first ball away square for two, then spent the rest of the over blocking, ducking and weaving.
25th over: India 73-3 (Dravid 22, Laxman 11) Bresnan is back on now, and Laxman plays a lovely steer down to third man for four, squeezing the ball past the slips. Warne is dissecting Sachin's innings, picking it apart ball-by-ball - it doesn't take long, there were only eight of them. Watching it broken down like that, it comes across as what must have been one of the very worst knocks he's ever played. Rob Smyth slips his stat hat on and discovers that in the space of this series Stuart Broad has trimmed five full runs from his bowling average, which is now down to 32. And that against the best batting line-up in the world as well.
24th over: India 68-3 (Dravid 22, Laxman 6) There must be an awfully familiar feel to all this for the two men in the middle. "It seems India are in ODI modus," says Harry Tuttle. "Or are they attempting to dominate this bowling attack as they have done with so many bowling attacks passim, a balding, middle-aged divorcee dusting off his old moves for the sake of 21-year-old bemusement?"
WICKET! Tendulkar 1 c Anderson b Broad (India 60-3) What a wicket that is. Sachin is caught at second slip. Set up by Anderson, knocked down by Broad. The greatest batsman of his era is playing like a beginner, and for England it's all a little too easy. He averages 23 in this series now. Broad welcomes Laxman to the middle with a ripsnorting full delivery that just catches the inside edge and shoots away square. What a ball that was.
21st over: India 60-2 (Dravid 20, Tendulkar 1) Strauss rbings Jimmy Anderson back on to bowl at his bunny, Sachin Tendulkar. He's dismissed him seen times in nine matches now. Once more and he will be tied with Murali as the man who has got him out more often than anyone else. And Sachin does nothing to suggest Strauss is wrong as he with a wafty cut shot that misses the ball altogether. Two balls later he plays a straight drive to a ball that nips back through the gate and flies over the top of the stumps. Humiliations of the great at Edgbaston, as Tendulkar is turned inside-out by Anderson.
21st over: India 59-2 (Dravid 20, Tendulkar 0) Treasure this then - the two top run-scorers in the history of Test cricket are together in the middle. Dravid, compensating for the loss of the wicket, does nothing rash in this over, but leaving anything wide and blocking those that are straight.
WICKET! Gambhir 38 b Bresnan (India 59-2) And all of sudden my attention is snapped away from my inbox by the unexpected sound of rattling stumps. This was a wicket from nowhere, really: Gambhir leaned forward and threw a half-hearted drive at the ball, but only inside-edged it into his wicket. Some young whippersnapper called Tendulkar is now. No, I've never heard of him either.
19th over: India 56-1 (Gambhir 38, Dravid 20) Dravid hops up and down as he trots down wicket, shaking his hand as he goes. That's a fairly futile attempt to disguise the obvious agony he is in after being whacked on the bottom hand by a shortish delivery from Broad. "OBO readers will surely know that Genoa FC was founded as Genoa Cricket & Athletics Club by an Englishman, for Englishmen only, in 1893, hence the Anglicised form of the city's name," Umm, indeed, Paul Keeling, indeed. Of course we did. "The other game was introduced in 1897, and Genoa was the first football club in Italy. AC Milan was also formed as a cricket club, by an Englishman and lace-maker from Nottingham in 1899. So the better game has a long history in Italy." Actually I'm told that the current Italian team is really quite good, but only because it is stuffed full of Aussie ex-pats. The Afghan players I know say that the Italians were one of the best teams they came across in their ascent up through the ranks of world cricket.
18th over: India 56-1 (Gambhir 37, Dravid 19) A single from this over. Bresnan's five overs son far have cost just eight runs, which suggests that India are treating his bowling with a deal more respect than they were a fortnight ago.
17th over: India 55-1 (Gambhir 36, Dravid 19) Broad is bowling short and straight, and both batsmen are popping up on their toes and playing the ball down to their feet. As Nasser points out at the end of the over, "the later you play the ball, the closer it lands to your feet." It's been a masterclass of how to play the moving ball from these two in the last 45 minutes or so. And when Broad whistles in another yorker, Dravid whips it away square for two runs to long leg. "I was so excited by this Test series a month ago and been looking forward to it all year," says Ninder Bassi. "But now I just don't see how India could have changed it around in a week." I suspect that's a common feeling, Ninder, but I don't think there is a single cricket fan in England who would write the Indian team off given the talent and experience in their side. And England, it's worth remembering, are just a little weaker for the absence of Jonathan Trott.
16th over: India 52-1 (Gambhir 35, Dravid 17) Gambhir clatters a drive straight to short extra cover, then taps the next delivery down to leg for a single. "As an ex-colleague of Duncan Haskell (over 12)," says Andrew Kelly. "I know that suggesting to use Inzamam's bat as a weapon is useless as it would be like that immortal knight trying to wield his sword at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."
15th over: India 51-1 (Gambhir 34, Dravid 17) Yup, Broad is back on at the other end. His first ball back in the attack is a brute of a yorker, but my of my this man's technique is so good that he simply steps away to leg and jams his bat down on the ground. Like Louis Armstrong, he had all the time in the world. And that's an extraordinary shot. Dravid is in imperious form. Broad pitches another ball up, and Dravid, despite getting his feet in a tangle, swings the bat through so smoothly and with such timing that the ball races to the boundary at extra cover. Broad decides it's time to pull his length back a little, and push his line out a little wider. The result is that the next two balls shoot past the edge of the bat. This was a brilliant over, a duel between two men in the form of their lives. "Tell Elizabeth Connor not to worry," says Michael Noble. "Her boss has just tacitly admitted that he's been sneaking some OBO as well. It's all part of the general attitude to rule breaking and lawlessness that has come to define this year. Everybody, it would seem, is at it."
14th over: India 47-1 (Gambhir 34, Dravid 13) Stuart Broad trots off the pitch to powder his nose. I guess he'll be coming back on at Anderson's end in a moment. And that's the shot of the morning from Gambhir, he punches a shot down the ground, past Bresnan's outstretched right hand and away to long-off for four. He gets a littl overlooked among all the Galacticos in this side, Gambhir, but he's a brilliant player, every bit as important to the dynamic of the team as Claude Makelele was to Real.
13th over: India 43-1 (Gambhir 30, Dravid 13) "My covert attempts to follow the cricket while at work have failed," says Elizabeth Connor. "As my boss just came up to me and said 'you know you're on the OBO' ? whoops!" Schoolgirl mistake, Elizabeth. You should have used a pseudonym.
12th over: India 43-1 (Gambhir 30, Dravid 13) The batsmen swap singles off the first two balls of Bresnan's over, and Dravid then decides to call for a new bat. The one he is using has gone in the handle, and the Wall needs reliable tools to work with. So the 12th man brings out a new one for him. "For the first time in many years I retrieved my Gray Nicholls Brian Lara cricket bat from the garage last night," says Duncan Haskall. "In my head I was ready to dish out some Richard Cole style justice to anyone daring to threaten the streets of Bristol. In reality I cowered in my living room practising my forward defence, despite the complete lack of danger outside." Look, Duncan, if you're going to use a cricket bat as a riot-breaker, I'd strongly suggest you ditch your Gray Nicholls Brian Lara and invest in whatever Inzamam uses.
11th over: India 40-1 (Gambhir 28, Dravid 12) Another quiet over. "In response to Math Scott's comment in 6th over," writes Richard Saunders: "He says 'It was my debut match and took place to the mellifluous summer sounds of breaking gas'. Must have been a nervous debut."
10th over: India 40-1 (Gambhir 28, Dravid 12) The first change brings Tim Bresnan into the attack. His second ball is a gem, pitching full and swinging in towards the pads. Umpire Davis shakes his head, and that's an excellent decision. Hotspot shows there was a ghost of an inside edge on it. Later in the over he moves out wider on the crease lures Dravid in to playing a loose drive at a ball that nips off the pitch past the bat.
9th over: India 39-1 (Gambhir 28, Dravid 12) Anderson's first delivery dies after pitching, and loops past Dravid's bat as it fades down to Matt Prior's ankles. Dravid is taking guard almost outside leg-stump. He leaves an away-swinger, then drops his bat on one that went the other way, pushing it square for a single. "I've been making use of the time between tests to swot up on the MCC's Laws of Cricket in Italian," says Ian Hamilton, without even thinking to offer an explanation as to why. "So I can now say with certainty that Prior is a better 'recevitore' than Dhoni. It's good that Strauss has won 'il sorteggio' as I reckon 'registrazione dei punti' could be tricky on 'il pitch' here at Egdebaston. Hopefully Swann will turn the ball 'piazza' later on."
8th over: India 39-1 (Gambhir 28, Dravid 11) Broad is bowling around the wicket to Gambhir, hanging the ball out outside his off-stump. After watching three balls pass by, Gambhir decides to tuck in to the fourth, and drives it away through extra cover for his sixth boundary of the morning.
7th over: India 35-1 (Gambhir 24, Dravid 11) "Just to add to Hoppsy's non-riot cricket update," writes Lord Selvey, "Yesterday brought another calm night in Chaddesley Corbett." You say that, Selves, but the front page of this week's edition of Worcestershire News suggests otherwise. Dravid takes two from the final ball, which means India are ticking along at exactly five an over. What a curious first 30 minutes it has been. It seems the Indians have resolved not to get stuck in the mud, prodding and groping at the swinging ball.
6th over: India 32-1 (Gambhir 23, Dravid 9) Dravid threads four past mid-off. What a glorious shot. Oh, and that's even better. The ball purrs on the grass as it speeds across the outfield, all the way out to extra cover for four more. Ravi Bopara hares after it, but doesn't get close before it crosses the rope. "Not all cricket carries on through a riot," says Math Scott. "Back in 1989 I was playing for now-defunct Dewsbury CC in the Central Yorkshire League. It was my debut match and took place to the mellifluous summer sounds of breaking gas, crowd noise and sirens as the race riot raged on the road next to the ground. Unfortunately people began to spill into the ground - peacefully - until there was simply no option but to call the match off (it was that or allow the fielding team to play with a couple of hundred slips). I was just walking out to bat, too. Still, I did get to watch the local pub burn down."
5th over: India 23-1 (Gambhir 23, Dravid 1) Dravid knocks a single away past gully. It's a quiet over otherwise, so here's Phil Rhodes: "Given the, ahem, lack of newsworthy events this week I am amazed that the following bit of fielding by Angelo Matthews hasn't got more coverage. Its absolutely stunning ? greatest piece of fielding ever? Its up there with Roger Harper for sure. Its disappointing we didn't see more of him earlier in the summer." If you haven't seen what Phil is talking about, well... prepare to be amazed.
4th over: India 23-1 (Gambhir 23, Dravid 0) Broad concedes his first runs as Gambhir taps two to mid-wicket and then nudges four more to fine leg. He has 23 off 17 now. Who needs Sehwag? "I noticed yesterday that the Telegraph's deputy cricket correspondent had been despatched to the centre of Birmingham to report on the violence," says John Marshall, who has been reading the opposition. "Any chance that you'll be ordered to venture out of Guardian Towers to report on the real world? I do hope not as I assume that the ICC have banned the use of substitutes for OBO writers." No, Smyth and myself are stuck firmly in the toy department. David Hopps on the other hand, well... I'll let him tell you: "I fear I am on Riot Watch from Edgbaston. Naturally, there will be nothing much to watch. This is a normal cricket crowd watching a normal cricket match and there is absolutely no sense of underlying tension. Sehwag is not in a very good mood, one presumes, and neither is Jonathan Agnew after MS Dhoni refused to fulfil his obligation to talk to the BBC, a Rights Holder, at the toss. Two plump policemen were strolling up Pershore Road with nothing much to do as I queued through the pre-match traffic, presumably the officers least able to chase rioters. And on the skyline there has been a plume of black smoke from a burning scrapyard. If anybody has any Birmingham riot anecdotes, do tell."
3rd over: India 17-1 (Gambhir 16, Dravid 0) England are all over India right now. Anderson's first ball swings back in towards off stump, and hits Gambhir's pads. Another LBW appeal follows. Umpire Taufel shakes his head. Gambhir replies by creaming the next ball for four through extra cover, as if to say "you're not going to have it all your own way". Anderson replies with a brilliant in-swinger which slips through the narrow gap between bat and pad. It flies through to Prior and England appeal again, this time for a catch behind. Another shake of the head from Taufel. If he had any sleep in his eyes when he came to the crease he will have shaken it off by now. And there's another four from the fourth ball. It's a classic case of point-counterpoint. This one shot past the gully for four. Anderson has bowled two good overs but has the bizarre figures of 2-0-17-0.
WICKET! Sehwag 0 c Prior b Broad (India 8-1) So much for the saviour. Umpire Davis' decision is reversed and Sehwag has gone for a golden duck. In comes the second of India's band of superheroes, Rahul Dravid. This is a brilliant first over from Broad. His first ball to the Wall flies over the top of the stumps, and his third jags back and hits his pads in front of leg stump. England appeal, but the ball was missing leg-stump.
REFERRAL! Sehwag 0 c Prior b Broad England are calling for a review off the very first ball Sehwag has faced. And I think they're right too. Good bowling by Broad, whose first ball was straight. Sehwag swayed away from it and tried to drop his hands but didn't get them low enough. The ball just grazed his glove as it flew through, and he's out. What a start for England.
2nd over: India 8-0 (Gambhir 8, Sehwag 0) Stuart Broad will start at the other end, with the ancient Sumerian God Gozer the Gozerian on strike.
1st over: India 8-0 (Gambhir 8, Sehwag 0) Anderson's first two balls are wide of off-stump, and Gambhir steers the second of them through the slips for four to third man. India are off and running. As the over goes on, the ball begins to zip through to Matt Prior. "Not altogether sure about inserting a much stronger batting line-up than we have seen so far this series," muses Gary Naylor. "Does Strauss really think his attack can bowl this side out in a day, because anything less than that will have India ahead in the match? There's a whiff of hubris about the decision, something England have been very good at avoiding recently." And as if to punctuate Gary's observation, Gambhir ends the over by patting four more off his pads away to fine leg.
Play! says Umpire Taufel. Jimmy Anderson will take the first over, with Gambhir on strike.
Jerusalem sounds particularly pertinent this morning, no doubt KP is reflecting on the irony of using Blake's dystopian vision of England as a patriotic anthem even as he stands in the huddle and listens to Andrew Strauss'; pre-match speech.
Strange days indeed. According to Micheal Zeheter, Smyth has become a bastion of the English establishment: "I would be looking forward to following a day's cricket on the OBO from the quiet security of a German university town but I have to proof-read my doctoral dissertation. It has some positive side-effects, though. Looking on the Oxford English Dictionary's homepage this morging I found that (incidentially) "doosra, n." is today's word of the day. Clicking on it, I found this gem among the quotations: 2005 R. Smyth in M. Adamson et al. Is it Cowardly to Pray for Rain? 79 For a frightening split second then I thought Gilo had unveiled the doosra. In fact it was his stock ball?it didn't turn."
Robin Hazlehurst is in a philosophical mood: "Maybe this is all part of some great cosmic plan. In five days time England could be number one in the world at cricket just at the moment when civilisation ceases to exist. Could these facts be linked? Maybe the riots and the financial collapse are a consequence of England's cricketing prowess. When English cricket is number one in the world, we will have no further need of society, perfection will have been achieved, the world can officially end and Armageddon arrive. Is an Indian victory the only thing that can now save us from the end of days? And if that is so, what should an England fan hope for?" Time join the Church of Sehwagology John.
"Good pitch to bowl on" says Old Iron Bottom. "There won't be much pace but there should be some sideways movement."
While I pop off to top up my coffee cup, have a look at Sharda Ugra's excellent match-preview over on Cricinfo for an insight into what it has been like to be an Indian visiting Britain in these last few days.
I if the spirit of the times spreads we may see something a little like what Tom Stoppard predicted in the Real Inspector Hound: "Sometimes I dream of revolution, a bloody coup d'etat by the second rank ? troupes of actors slaughtered by their understudies, magicians sawn in half by indefatigably smiling glamour girls, cricket teams wiped put by marauding bands of twelfth men."
Elizabeth Connor read my mind: "Anyone else see the headlines about cricket continuing despite the riots and suddenly get a 'Carry on up the Khyber' image of the cricket continuing complete with supporters while the riots went on around them, the only disturbance being where someone walks across the wicket to avoid some debris and is told off by the umpire."
And England look like this: AN Cook, AJ Strauss, IR Bell, KP Pietersen, EJG Morgan, RS Bopara, MJ Prior, TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, GP Swann, JM Anderson.
So, India look like this:V Sehwag, G Gambhir, R Dravid, SR Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, SK Raina, MS Dhoni, A Mishra, P Kumar, I Sharma, S Sreesanth.
Buckle up, in 30 minutes Virender Sehwag will be out in the middle. India have also bought in legspinner Amit Mishra as a replacement for Harbhajan, and Gautam Gambhir is also back to open the batting.
England have won the toss, and will bowl. MS Dhoni admits that he wanted to bowl first too, because he expects the ball "to do a lot in the first hour."
"There's a bit of a buzz about the city" says Goldenhair Gower. "But sadly not because of the cricket."
Morning everyone. Society may be falling apart, the markets may be in meltdown, there may be panic in the streets and looters in the shops, but that's not going to stop us pitching a set of stumps and playing a game of cricket. Especially when England are one win away from becoming the World's No1 side. Which would be some consolation to us all if the country disappears down the gurgler. I love the fact that despite everything - 109 people were arrested in Birmingham last night - no one has seriously broached the idea of calling this Test off. The football? That was canned straight away. But cricket? Well, lets all keep calm and carry on. We'll still be playing cricket in England when the rapture comes. The first world war was two months old before they got around to cancelling the county championship.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/aug/10/india-in-england-2011-england-cricket-team
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