England v/s India Trent Bridge 2007 1st days play

After a very delayed start due to a poor outfield, play finally started 4 hours late. Indian bowlers were on the button. They bowled fast, got movement and hit the right lines and right lengths. Except for Sreesanth who was trying too hard, everybody did a decent job. In the 55 overs possible, England has already lost 7 wickets. But before we rejoice in this, my mind goes back to a test in Durban against the SA, which the current bowling coaches of both teams will remember well.

Venkatesh Prasad got 10 wickets in the match, 5 wickets in each innings. SA, batting first, were bowled out for 235 runs (Vekatesh Prasad got figures of 5/60) , India replied with 100 all out. In the 2nd essay, SA scored 259 all out (Venkatesh Prasad's figures read 5/93). India's chase of the target of 395 runs ended a score of 66 all out.

And that Indian batting lineup had Saurav, Sachin, Azhar and Dravid. The complete score card is available at http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63736.html

BTW, Alan Donald had figures of 5/40 and 4/14 in the above match.

So, let's keep the champagne for a little later.