Bresnan stars as England thrash India

England's Tim Bresnan (L) and Stuart Broad (R) leave the field at the end the fourth day of the second cricket Test match at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, central England on August 1, 2011. England won by 319 runs. -AFP Photo

NOTTINGHAM: Tim Bresnan shone with both bat and ball as England crushed India by 319 runs at Trent Bridge here on Monday to win the second Test with more than a day to spare.
England’s margin of victory was a record in terms of runs in tests between the two sides. England’s victory, achieved despite Sachin Tendulkar’s fifty, gave them a 2-0 lead in this four-match series as they looked to knock India off top spot in the ICC’s Test Championship table.
Andrew Strauss’s side will replace India at the summit if they maintain or better their lead in the remaining two Tests.
“We are just going to focus on winning the next Test, the rest of that stuff will look after itself,” said Strauss.
“This was an outstanding performance where we had to dig deep a couple of times, get ourselves on top and make it count.”
Strauss was also full of praise for India captain Mohendra Singh Dhoni for reprieving England batsman Ian Bell after he was run out on Sunday, carelessly leaving his crease to head to the pavilion for tea.
“It was a very commendable decision,” he said. “It was the right thing for cricket. As captain it is a very difficult decision to take and I think Mohendra has set a great example for me and other Test captains.”
Set a record victory target of 478, India were bowled out for 158 with Tendulkar top-scoring with 56 but still left searching for an unprecedented and elusive 100th international hundred.
Bresnan, who only came into the side when Chris Tremlett was ruled out with injury, made 90 batting at number eight in England’s second innings 544 and then did the bulk of the damage with the ball.
He took a maiden Test five wicket haul of five wickets for 48 runs in 12 overs, including two in two balls before tea.
“Tim Bresnan has never let anyone down,” said Strauss. “He was outstanding with bat and ball. It makes the selection decisions harder and harder.”
Before lunch England, who won the first Test at Lord’s by 196 runs, saw off Rahul Dravid, who made 117 in India’s first innings, for just six when he was caught behind off a lifting delivery from man of the match Stuart Broad.
Venkatsai Laxman, another of India’s star batsmen, was then clean bowled by a superb James Anderson delivery for four.
Opener Abhinav Mukund, dropped on nought, struggled to three off 41 balls before gloving Bresnan’s fifth ball, a bouncer, to first slip Strauss.
Bresnan succeeded with the short ball again when Suresh Raina hooked straight to substitute Scott Elstone at long leg.
Tendulkar had struck some typically sublime straight drives off Anderson but he could do nothing as Bresnan took two wickets in two balls.
First Yuvraj Singh gloved a rising delivery to Alastair Cook at backward silly point and was out for eight.
Next ball Dhoni, inexplicably playing no shot, was lbw for a golden duck to leave the tourists 55 for six and Bresnan on a hat-trick at the start of his next over, which Harbhajan Singh survived.
Tendulkar completed his first fifty of the series with his eighth four before Harbhajan slogged off-spinner Graeme Swann for six.
But Tendulkar was undone by a good length inswinger from Anderson, taking his wicket for the seventh time in eight Tests.
Harbhajan exited for 46 when a hook off Bresnan was caught by Elstone, giving the 26-year-old Yorkshire seamer, in his eighth match at this level, a new Test-best, surpassing his four for 50 against Australia in Melbourne in December.
Broad ended the match by bowling last man Shanthakumaran Sreesanth for nought. England resumed Monday on 441 for six with Matt Prior 64 not out and Bresnan 47 not out.
Wicketkeeper Prior was out for 73 to end a seventh-wicket stand of 119 at nearly a run-a-ball when he was caught behind off Praveen Kumar, who led India’s attack with four for 124.
Broad, who had top-scored with 64 in England’s first innings 221 and had then taken a hat-trick on his way to Test-best figures of six for 46 in India’s 288, followed up with 44.
But a ball after Broad was run out, Bresnan’s quest for a maiden Test hundred ended when he fended Kumar to Dravid in the gully.
Bresnan, whose Test-best score remains the 91 he made against Bangladesh in Dhaka last year, faced 118 balls with 17 fours. The third Test starts at Edgbaston on August 10.

Zaheer Khan out of second Test

Zaheer Khan runs around the outfield during a practice session at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.—AFP

NOTTINGHAM: India fast bowler Zaheer Khan has been ruled out of the second Test against England at Trent Bridge with a hamstring injury, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said Thursday.
Left-arm quick Zaheer broke down in the first Test at Lord’s, which India lost by 196 runs, after taking two wickets for 18 runs in 13.3 first innings overs and didn’t bowl again in the match.
The 32-year-old was instrumental in India’s seven-wicket win in the corresponding Trent Bridge Test against England four years ago, taking nine wickets for 134 runs in the match.
Now his place is set to go to either fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth or seamer Munaf Patel.
“I think he is ruled out of this game,” Dhoni speaking to reporters at Trent Bridge on Thursday, the day before the second Test starts, said of Zaheer.
“It’s always good to have him in the side because he is our most experienced bowler, especially when it comes to England, he has played a lot of cricket over here for counties and the last time India were here (in 2007) he bowled really well.
“It’s a bit disappointing not to have him for selection in the first XI but it is something that is beyond our control and it gives a chance to the other bowlers to prove their mettle when it comes to international cricket.”Dhoni added: “Overall it’s a win-win situation for the Indian team because we can’t really sit and say Zaheer is not there. We have to look at the positive, which is some of the other bowlers will get to have a look at international cricket.”
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dhoni, who refused to divulge the identity of Zaheer’s replacement at Trent Bridge, said he hoped India’s spearhead would be fit in time for the third Test of this four-match series, starting at Edgbaston on August 10.
“We are expecting that. He started light training yesterday (Wednesday) but again it is something we can’t 100 percent be sure about but most likely it seems he will.”
India also have a doubt over opening batsman Gautam Gambhir, who suffered an elbow injury when hit fielding at short leg at Lord’s.
“We’ll give him some time, and see how he goes through the net sessions today (Thursday),” Dhoni said of Gambhir.
“He’s the only person who can judge the right amount of pain he can go through and still be able to perform.”
If Gambhir were ruled out Rahul Dravid, as happened in the second innings at Lord’s, would be promoted to open the innings with Yuvraj Singh in line to fill the vacancy in an XI where opener Virender Sehwag is still missing as he recovers from a shoulder injury.

India series as big as the Ashes: Pietersen

-File photo

LONDON: England’s series-opening victory over India at Lord’s has presented the home players with what they say could be their most crucial summer for six years.
Monday’s convincing 196-run win sets up a real possibility that England could get the two-match winning margin it needs to unseat India at the top of the test rankings, an achievement that man-of-the-match Kevin Pietersen said could be as important as winning the Ashes back from Australia was in 2005.
“Potentially, this is as big,” Pietersen said after a record fifth-day attendance of 28,500 at Lord’s. “You can see that from the number of people who turned up in the morning. As we drove here, the lads were commenting on the number of people outside. For us, as players it’s magnificent that the public think it’s such a big series.”
England won the Ashes for the first time in 18 years with a 2-1 victory in 2005 and has now won three of the past four series against its old foe.
That sort of form has propelled England up to 3rd in the test standings, within striking distance of India. The second test begins Friday, giving England the perfect opportunity to keep up momentum.
The short break should certainly help England, rather than injury-hit India.
The England and Wales Cricket Board picked an unchanged squad for the Trent Bridge test, with pace bowler Tim Bresnan included alongside the 11 players who excelled at Lord’s.
But any changes to the attack are unlikely.
James Anderson jumped to second place in the International Cricket Council’s bowling rankings after his second-innings 5-65, while Chris Tremlett’s four wickets took him up to a career-best ninth. With spinner Graeme Swann in third place, England currently has three of the top 10 bowlers in world cricket _ more than any other side.
“I think over the two innings that was as close to the perfect bowling performance we’ve had in the last two years,” England captain Andrew Strauss said.
“And that is saying a lot because we have had a lot of exceptional bowling performances.
“It was an outstanding bowling performance by the whole attack over five days.”
Things look very different for India, with several players exhausted after the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.
Spinner Harbhajan Singh fell from the top 10 after struggling at Lord’s, while pace lynchpin Zaheer Khan could sit out the second of the four tests after pulling his hamstring on Thursday.
“It became quite tough for us after losing Zaheer Khan in the first session on the first day,” India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said. “It was very difficult to bowl with three bowlers. We just needed that one extra bowler and things could’ve been different.
“We have three days but I’m not 100 percent sure if we will play him or not. It is a long series and we don’t want to risk any individual if he is only 90 percent fit.”

Sharma demolishes England middle-order at Lord’s

India's Ishant Sharma, second right celebrates taking the wicket of England's Kevin Pietersen. -AP Photo

LONDON: India opening bowler Ishant Sharma turned the first test against England on its head on Sunday with three wickets in the space of 16 balls on the fourth morning at Lord’s.
Bounding in from the Nursery end, Sharma accounted for Kevin Pietersen (1), Ian Bell (0) and Jonathan Trott (22).
Altogether four wickets fell in 32 balls for eight runs and at lunch England were 72 for five in their second innings, an overall lead of 260, with five sessions remaining.
Pietersen, England’s first innings hero with an unbeaten 202, edged a steepling delivery to Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps. The same combination accounted for Bell in the same over, nibbling fatally outside the off stump.
Openers Andrew Strauss (32) and Alastair Cook (1) also succumbed in the morning session after England had started the day well placed on five for no wicket after dismissing India for 286 on Saturday evening in reply to their 474 for eight declared.
Strauss, who has had a lean test run in the English summer so far, looked in good order, taking 10 runs off a Praveen Kumar over including consecutive leg-side boundaries.
But he lost Cook with the total on 23, caught by Dhoni off Kumar from a delivery moving just enough to catch the edge of the left-hander’s bat. It was only the second ball Cook had faced from Kumar and his first on Sunday in 43 minutes at the crease.
Trott hooked Sharma to the boundary and Strauss slashed Kumar for another four but there was still plenty in the pitch to interest the bowlers and both batsmen were forced on occasion to hurriedly adjust their shots.
Strauss, who had scored only 49 runs in his previous five test innings in the English summer, was dismissed lbw by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh trying to sweep a ball which would have hit middle stump.
Pietersen and Bell departed in a double wicket maiden from Sharma who then knocked Trott’s off stump back as the batsman went to drive.
Eoin Morgan, who failed to score in the first innings, and wicketkeeper Matt Prior were both on five at the interval.
Zaheer Khan, who left the field in England’s first innings with a hamstring strain, was still missing on Sunday morning while Sachin Tendulkar was also absent with a virus infection.
Scoreboard:
England first innings 474-8 declared (K. Pietersen 202 not out, M. Prior 71, J. Trott 70; Praveen Kumar 5-106)
India first innings 286 (R. Dravid 103 not out)
England second innings (overnight 5-0)
A. Strauss lbw b Harbhajan Singh 32
A. Cook c Dhoni b Kumar    1
J. Trott b Sharma 22
K. Pietersen c Dhoni b Sharma 1
I. Bell c Dhoni b Sharma 0
E. Morgan not out 5
M. Prior not out 5
Extras (b-3, lb-1, w-2)    6
Total (five wickets; 31 overs)    72
Fall of wickets: 1-23 2-54 3-55 4-55 5-62
Still to bat: G. Swann, S. Broad, J. Anderson, C. Tremlett
Bowling (to date): Praveen Kumar 12-1-39-1 (1w), Ishant Sharma 13-6-15-3 (1w), Harbhajan Singh 6-0-14-1