England, after losing the toss, were 127 for two against India at stumps on the first day of the rain-hit first Test at Lord’s on Thursday. Jonathan Trott was 58 not out and Kevin Pietersen 22 not out. Rain meant no play was possible after tea on the opening day of the 2,000th Test of all-time and the 100th between England and India.
This is the first of a four-Test series. India spearhead Zaheer Khan left the field injured. England, having lost the toss in overcast seam bowler-friendly conditions, were 127 for two when bad light forced an early tea, despite the floodlights being switched on. Jonathan Trott, missed twice, was 58 not out and Kevin Pietersen 22 not out with the two South Africa-born batsmen’s unbroken third wicket stand so far worth 65.
Left-arm fast bowler Zaheer had been the pick of India’s attack, with two wickets for 18 runs in 13.3 overs, when he suffered what appeared to be a hamstring injury and slowly walked off the field with England 107 for two. Shortly afterwards, Trott drove off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for four. But he was lucky to be at the crease at all by that stage. Before lunch he’d been missed on eight when, to Harbhajan’s first ball of the match, he got an outside edge that slip Rahul Dravid could not grasp.
And Trott should have been out for 32 in the second session when, having nicked Zaheer, he saw India captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni inexplicably fail to move across to his right for a catch that was never going to carry to first slip Dravid. Instead he went on to complete a valuable 89-ball fifty with seven boundaries. India had held England to 43 for one off 21 overs at lunch in the 2,000th Test match of all time and the 100th between the two countries after the start had been delayed by 30 minutes.
Zaheer had in-form opener Alastair Cook lbw for just 12, the first time in seven Test innings the left-hander had failed to make a fifty. Shortly after lunch, India did reduce England to 62 for two. It was a welcome sight for India after Strauss had made 78 and 109 not out against them ‘guesting’ for Somerset in their drawn lone warm-up match last week.
