Anderson floored and Indians celebrating ....That sums up it all……….
Not a great day for England …………………
England captain Steven Gerrard has ended his international career after his
side's disappointing World Cup performance, to focus on keeping Liverpool in
the Champions League. Gerrard, 34, won 114 caps for England, scoring 21 goals
in the 14 years since his debut. The Liverpool midfielder captained his country
to their first bottom of the group World Cup exit in Brazil this summer. Gerrard, who is England's third most capped
player ever, behind David Beckham and Peter Shilton, said: 'I have enjoyed
every minute of representing my country and it is a sad day for me knowing that
I won’t pull on the England shirt again.
Do you know or remember –
Kiran More, the diminutive wicketkeeper who played 49 Tests and 94 ODIs for
India…. He was part of the now defunct Indian Cricket League and was later
granted amnesty by the BCCI. He made his
debut in that Lords Test which India won 28 years ago.
Now at Lords, Cook won the
toss and gained huge advantage, as England had the upper hand for most of the
first day after electing to bowl on a green surface. However, after having the
visitors on the mat at 145/7, Cook's bowlers allowed India to pile up 299 as
Ajinkya Rahane struck a fine second hundred. It is long since we saw an Indian
bowler bouncing hard and ending up with figures of 23-6-74-7……….. Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan had a bowl –
but not Stuart Binny- Ravindra Jadeja turned his arms for 32.2 overs – after
that 1st ball wicket …….all that will not be talked about as Dhoni led astutely
to a remarkable win at Lords.
Ishant Sharma, bowling
short and aggressively with the old ball, produced one of the most memorable
spells in the history of Indian fast bowling to destroy England's resistance in
the second Investec Test at Lord's. As India completed a 95-run victory 50
minutes before tea on the final day, it ended a run of more than three years
without an overseas Test victory and left England befuddled and bereft as they
contemplated a winless streak of 10 Tests and the continued failures of their
senior players to contribute to a rapidly-changing landscape.
Vividly remember that
summer tour in June 1986 when Kapil Dev led us to a victory in the 1st Test at
Lords. It was India’s first Test victory at Lord's and only their second
in 33 Tests in England.
It started well for
England – RT Robinson got out to Maninder making 35 with score at 66; Gooch
made 114 and Pringle 63 as England were all out for 294. Chetan Sharma took
5/64; Roger Binny 55/3 – while Kapildev who bowled so well ended up 1/67. India
replied strongly with Mohinder 69, Dilip Vengsarkar 126 – totalling 341. In the
2nd innings England were shot out for 180 – Kapil taking 4 and Maninder Singh
3. The target of 134 was achieved losing 5 wickets. Kapil was the Man of the match – a good match
for Chetan Sharma, who is otherwise remembered for that one delivery at Sharjah
to Minadad.
When India last won at
Lord's, the team won the series. The
current side would hope to stage an encore and cruise to similar wins in the
remaining three Tests - a fitting reply to critics who had blasted them for the
whitewash here three years ago. A 1-0 lead can indeed be a perfect launchpad to
propel further into cricketing folklore.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
21st July 2014
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