The 2000th Test - http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 – 1st Test – 2nd Day’s Summary
England 474/8d v India 17/0 (6.0 ov)
After ending the first day on 127 runs for the loss of two wickets, England succeeded in posting a humongous tally of 474 runs for the loss of eight wickets before declaring their first innings to give the tourists, India, a chance to have a few overs to
bat on the second day of the first Test at Lord’s, July 22, 2011.
After the first day saw only 50 overs due to rain, Lord’s was blessed by a blistering sun, giving England a full opportunity to bat their way to dominance, as both overnight batsmen http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KP-Pietersen-c1806 and Jonathan Leonard Trott showed impeccable touch with
the bat, taking a defiant stand against the Indian bowling onslaught.
Faced with the injury of their ace pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 to bowl eight overs during the day’s play, including a maiden.
Meanwhile, in the hyped Test series between the giants of Test cricket, much focus was given to the Indian batting than the English batting arsenal, which perhaps proved to be a blessing in disguise, as KP and Trott, out of nowhere, managed to humble the
Indian bowlers and enforced English dominance in the batting department as they took the opposition to task by playing some of the finest strokes in the game of cricket.
The two batsmen rallied a 98-run third-wicket partnership, which helped the total tally reach 160 runs; however, before the partnership could cause anymore damage it was broken by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/P-Kumar-c2143, who trapped Trott in front of his stumps, causing the batsman
to be adjudged leg-before-wicket after smacking 70 runs off 140 deliveries, the batsman clobbered nine boundaries in his prolific innings.
Then it was time for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IR-Bell-c1597 to take the crease alongside KP. He also seemed in good knick as he middled the ball well and gave the Indian bowlers a runs for their money as he kept the score board ticking.
If the Indians thought that they had made inroads by breaking the partnership between KP and Trott, they were in for a surprise as Bell managed to craft a partnership of 110 runs alongside the belligerent Pietersen, as the fourth wicket partnership proved
even more productive for the English.
After playing an inspiring innings of 45 runs off 76 deliveries, Bell lost his wicket by edging a delivery straight in the hands of Dhoni, off the bowling of Kumar. At the time of the batsman’s departure, the home side had scored 270 runs.
Two deliveries later Eoin Joseph Gerard http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Woods-c98113 at this point in time as they
knew that a total below three hundred would never be enough against the mighty Indian batting brigade.
Nonetheless, Prior did not disappoint anyone as he provided exceptional support to KP on the other end. Both batsmen scored freely and took on the Indian pacers as they exhibited impressive shots all around the park, giving Lord’s spectators plenty to cheer
about.
After scoring 71 runs off 93 deliveries, Prior clipped a delivery off Kumar for Dhoni to pounce on, the Dhoni Kumar combination once again proved fatal for the English as the batsman walked back after bolstering a 6th wicket partnership of 120
runs with all-rounder Pietersen. At the time of his departure the English had posted 390 runs on the board.
England’s newly appointed Twenty20 captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SCJ-Broad-c2465, was the next man in, but he failed to impress anyone with the bat as he was adjudged leg-before-wicket on the first ball that he faced from Kumar. In the absence of Zaheer Khan, Kumar certainly proved
dangerous as he took five wickets with an economy rate of 2.61.
Later http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501 and Chris Tremlett provided good support to Pietersen, helping him score his double century at Lord’s as the English side declared the innings after KP had accomplished 202 runs. The phenomenal all-rounder, who had been bashed by critics
for not performing well enough for England, certainly proved them wrong.
India then had time to face only six overs in the day as they avoided losing a wicket in front of the English pace attack. During the limited amount of time they were on the crease, the Indian openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/G-Gambhir-c1447 were troubled by Tremlett
as he bolted short deliveries at the batsmen.
At the end of the second day, India trail by 457 runs with 10 wickets remaining in their 1st innings.
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