England followed their comprehensive victory over India at Lord’s with another victory within the week at Nottingham, this time by an even larger margin. However it was a test match with more to it than met the eye, with India having the hosts in trouble at 124-8 on day one of the test. A recovery from this position of peril to a victory margin of 309 runs was a remarkable turnaround.
The biggest story of the match however, and the incident for which the game will be remembered most in cricketing annals, involved a run out that was successfully appealed for before being later withdrawn. With the last ball before tea, Eoin Morgan played a shot to the leg side boundary which Praveen Kumar did well to overhaul before it crossed the ropes. Ian Bell, however, had an idea in his mind that the ball had gone for four, and left his ground upon completing the third run to wander off for tea. The ball was relayed back from Kumar via MS Dhoni, to Abhinav Mukund who broke the stumps at Bell’s end and appealed for the wicket. Bell was stopped before crossing the boundary rope to leave the field by Tim Robinson, the match referee, who explained that Billy Bowden the third umpire was checking the replays to ensure that Kumar had prevented the boundary from being scored. On satisfying himself that this was the case, Bowden informed the onfield umpires who then gave Bell run out.
Following some rather angry gesticulating from Bell the players retired to their dressing rooms for tea, whereupon the England captain and coach, Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower, visited the Indian dressing room to ask MS Dhoni, the Indian captain, to reconsider his appeal. The Indian team were booed back onto the field upon the resumption of play, but upon Ian Bell’s re-emergence from the pavilion the boos turned to cheers. With the situation later explained fully for the somewhat bewildered crowd over the PA system, MS Dhoni was given a standing ovation.
The about turn from Dhoni was later heralded as a wonderful act of sportsmanship by many commentators and by the head of the ICC. There were others who thought Dhoni was fully entitled to stand by his original appeal as it did not fall upon Bell to decide whether a ball had gone for four or when tea should bring proceedings to a halt for the session. There seems no doubt that Dhoni’s act was a noble one, and allowed the match to continue in a civil and healthy atmosphere. However the more pertinent point the affair raised, was the now increasingly muddy waters of the spirit of cricket. The phrase “that’s just not cricket” has entered the lexicon of the English language, but it harks back to a now distant era when players walked without waiting for the intervention of the umpire when they had edged a ball and left the field of play when an opposition fielder claimed a catch.
These traditions are now utterly defunct and the introduction of the DRS review system, while in many ways improving decision making surrounding the game, have opened up a further avenue of gamesmanship with the question mark over the reliability of the hotspot feature for catches. Bell himself, has in the past successfully gambled on reviewing a caught behind against Australia he must have known he had touched, based on the knowledge that hotspot doesn’t always show edges. The snick-o- meter, a much more reliable piece of equipment, but one which isn’t used because of the time delay before providing its findings, showed Bell to be out on that occasion. The idea that Bell could hoodwink the system (and he is by no means alone in using DRS as an opportunity to gamble on overturning correct decisions against a batsman) but feel an entitlement to be given not out in the Trent Bridge test match, citing the spirit of the game, is a little too much to take. Andrew Strauss later remarked that the incident of the run out that never was showed that cricket had a sporting element that other games could look towards. It’s true that cricket matches are played in a far better spirit of accord between the two sets of players than many other sports. However, this is partly due to its tempo and lack of direct physical conduct and no longer because of an honesty between the competitors. “Bellgate”, rather than underscoring the spirit of cricket’s rude health as has been suggested by Strauss, and in other quarters, served only to show how far it had eroded and how inconsistent its application now is.
The test match as a whole involved some great performances, not least by the aforementioned Bell, who lit up Edgbaston on day 3 with a sublime 159. He’s one of the best pure batsmen in world cricket at the moment, with his touch and skill in piercing the infield a joy to behold. He had been elevated to number 3 in the batting order in England’s second innings after Jonathan Trott had been injured fielding and Bell’s success raised the issue of who should hold that spot in the order in the longer term. For all Trott’s success in that position, Bell has an ability to score quickly that Trott simply doesn’t have. The bold move would be for the two to swap their positions in the order.
On day 1, the day belonged to India’s bowlers and Stuart Broad equally. The visitors’ bowling attack belied the absence of their lynchpin, Zaheer Khan, by bowling out England for little over 200, albeit in helpful conditions. Praveen Kumar continued to show his control over the swinging ball, and Sreesanth impressed on his return to the side. Stuart Broad continued his allround renaissance that had begun at Lord’s with 64 counter attacking runs to deliver England to a more respectable score from the depths of 124-8.
This renaissance went from strength to strength on day 2, as Broad took a hat trick, and finished with figures of 6-46 to restrict India to a lead of less than 70, when they had threatened to extend their lead to well over 100 with Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh in situ at the wicket. Dravid followed his century at Lord’s with another for the test match scrapbook, this time from the unfamiliar position of opener. It was a breach he had filled upon the withdrawal of Gautam Gambhir before the start of the test match. It’s wonderful to see Dravid enjoying such an Indian summer, late in his career, and long may it continue. Broad’s hat trick was aided by a fortuitous lbw decision against Harbhajan Singh for the second of the three wickets. However, in a wider sense his success was well earned with his continued persistence with a fuller, more attacking (in a wicket taking sense) line and length.
With the match in the balance overnight after Alastair Cook’s dismissal late on day 2, day 3 totally belonged to England and was the turning point of the match. From the start of day 3 until the match’s conclusion late on day 4, it could barely be said that India won a single half hour passage of play much less a full session. Their second innings bowling and fielding display was utterly woeful, despite Bell’s previously mentioned skilful batting. Pietersen, Morgan and Prior helped themselves to further half centuries with few alarms and rarely a sweat broken.
England continued on their merry way on day 4, with Tim Bresnan advancing his overnight score to 90 before being dismissed just shy of his maiden test match century. India were set 478 to win and the game was up within an hour after a lunch with 4 wickets down for less than 50 runs. Tim Bresnan made the day an all round success with a 5 wicket haul. His wholehearted efforts with the ball, not to mention the not inconsiderable skill with which he bowls, make England’s seam bowling reserves that much stronger. India’s only slightly bright spots on another dismal day were the batting form of Sachin Tendulkar, who made a classy half century, and a few breezy blows from Harbhajan Singh late in the piece. The wicket held few demons, and the capitulation to 158 was inexcusable.
The series takes a break for 8 days now, until its resumption at Edgbaston on Wednesday week. The good news for the Indians is that Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir should be fit to return, and most excitingly of all, so should be Virender Sehwag after his recuperation from a shoulder operation. It is to be hoped for the sake of the series that these additions will make the remaining two contests much closer than the rather lopsided first two test match. I firmly believe they will, and India will want to come back very strongly after a week licking its wounds. England faces a dilemma in terms of the make up of its bowling attack with Chris Tremlett likely to be fully fit by next Wednesday and his replacement at Trent Bridge, Tim Bresnan showing such fine form. However this is a selection headache of an altogether more pleasant nature than has typically dogged England in the modern era of test match cricket and is further indication of the rude health they find themselves in currently.
