"Gentlemen, let's play!"

Finally a test match to watch. Cricket in its purest form. The old test matches played in England would start on Thursdays to ensure that the 3rd day would be played on a Saturday when people could come watch the most interesting day of play, a day that would make or break the test match. There would then be an off day on Sunday (being the lord's day). The first test match between England and India (both of whom are contending to be the second best team in test match cricket) is posed at an interesting point entering the third day's play.

With injuries plaguing the visitors it was expected that they would roll over to the dominance of the Indians on their home pitches. Flintoff being the lone player who has plaed in India before for the current English team, the spinning tandem of Kumble and Bhajji were supposed to bamboozle the english batsmen. The pitch at VCA, Nagpur after getting flak for the loss against Australia in the opening test match of previous series was laid out as per instructions...brown and crumbly. But a great knock by Collingwood played around with the tailenders that the analysts said would make Glenn McGrath look like Garry Sobers saw them post a respectable score after being in the hole. The fact that the Indian bowlers helped them by not bowling to a plan should not take away from the way in which Collingwood protected the tail to some extent and upped the scoring with innovative shots. More important than the 393 runs scored was the number of overs they occupied and it could be a telling factor in them salvaging a draw and scoring a few confidence points to take away to the second test. India's only hope of winning this match is to bat through the 3rd day and score a huge total and hope that the script of a spin win will ensue. But here too a cat and mouse game is being played. On a pitch which is slow and bounce becoming low, playing shots is not easy. Still the 2nd and 3rd day pitch will be good to bat on and understanding this, Flintoff in his first stint as captain has proved to be a smart one. Once Dravid and Jaffer had settled on this pitch and the ball was not doing anything, he started playing on their patience by placing a defensive field to defensive bowling. Sehwag having gotten out before getting his eye in helped the cause by not being there. Slowing down India's scoring would ensure their first aim of drawing the match. I am sure that if they get wickets, they will immediately apply pressure. Still the patience of Dravid (which can be assumed) and Jaffer (which will stand him in good stead) has ensured that the Indians carried on. I wonder if Gambhir as the opener would have stuck around to this game plan? With the pitch starting to liven up to play its predicted tricks, it sure will be a great days play to watch.

With the scale of one dayers increasing, 20-20 on the horizon, the game becoming a bowler's nightmare I was afraid that we might lose the charm of the one team sport that requires skill, patience, adaptability and determination to win. The impact of one dayers can be seen clearly on the test matches in the recent past. With great hitters of the ball whom one cannot afford to miss out on the test arena, hardly is a test match now been played on pure grit determination. Scoring rates have shot up with teams scoring close to 400 runs in a day's play. Massive first innings totals on flat pitches either taking the other team out of play or leading to a massive reply. Green wickets with not much application by the one day hitters shown leading to games being finished off in 3 days or less with scores not reaching the one day levels.

A few tests now stand out in which players, analysts, true connoiseurs of the game applaud the spirit of the game. One game in the recent past that comes to mind is the Australia-South Africa 1st test match from the 2005-2006 series. A gritty batting performance by Rudolph and Kemp on a final day pitch at Perth saw the Proteans salvage a draw after being asked to chase a mammoth final innings score on Hodge's double century. The fact that the match was a draw might lead people to think it was a drab match while in fact it was pure thrill until the last ball was bowled. Warnie threw everything in the match bowling 47 overs in the second innings but the batsmen played it out. People still applaud Sachin's innings in a losing effort against Pakistan in the 1st test match at Chennai. He batted through a sore back and sigle handedly chased down the score with no other batsman showing up for the game. His determination was applauded by all pundits.

After the recent run fest in Pakistan, this test match has been a breath of fresh air. I had expected the game to be over by 4th day but watching the determination of this English team, tactics and mind games, I predict that a lot more is to be written on this test match. I hope we are treated to a peach of a game lasting a full five days. After all we have invested a lot in the dish package and would like to get our money's worth.