Cricket: Cook Has All the Ingredients But England Are Left in a Pickle

India had much the best of the opening day of the series. Fearing perhaps an ordeal against spin - which will undoubtedly manifest itself later in the game - England failed to take advantage of their stand-in captain Andrew Flintoff’s success with the coin, found themselves distracted by Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, who bowled 53 overs yet took but a wicket apiece, and succumbed instead to a two-pronged pace attack.

Irfan Pathan and the debutant Sri Sreesanth took the remaining five wickets between them as England reached 246 for seven, maybe three wickets more than would have been par for the course and leaving an uphill struggle for the second day that would test the character of Sisyphus. The England batsmen were, as a group, profligate, as they had been before Christmas in Pakistan. The lesson to be learned from that experience - the absolute virtue of patience and the need to capitalize on having first use of almost any sub continental pitch - does not appear to have been absorbed across the board.

Wickets were gifted, most noticeably by Andrew Strauss, who may not be in the finest form of his life but should have known better than to execute a wild drive at a wide ball (the catch, a screamer taken at second slip by VVS Laxman, was sensational), Kevin Pietersen whose ambitious front-foot pull was under-edged on to his stumps, and Ian Blackwell - along with Alastair Cook and Monty Panesar one of three new caps in the side for the first time since Duncan Fletcher’s first match in charge at the Wanderers six years ago - who with the close in sight offered something sufficiently agricultural to win a rosette at the Somerset county show.

Instead resistance came only from the new skipper, who flirted with the slips a little too much for comfort but was generally restrained for his 43, and two batsmen, Cook and Paul Collingwood, neither of whom would have been in the side had Michael Vaughan been fit and Marcus Trescothick been in the country.

Cook, a batsman marked for great things since first playing for Essex aged 18, looked immediately at home. England have brought 14 support staff on this tourbut it is this reinforcement that could truly make a difference.

Calmly, with out fuss or frippery, Derek Randall’s former pupil put more senior batsmen to shame, making 60 before misreading Pathan’s reverse swing and, driving, losing his off stump. It was none the less a cultured innings over the course of 3½ hours, in which he worked the leg side for his bread and butter like an old left-handed pro, stood tall to cuff any errant length through the off side and once, for his first runs in Test cricket, rocking back, swiveling and sending Sreesanth’s bouncer skimming thrillingly across a slick outfield to the ropes. In all he hit seven fours.

Collingwood we know is a diligent cricketer who leaves in the dressing room nothing in terms of effort. It irks him, with justification, that he is considered a decent player and splendid fellow, good to have around, who will let no one down but cannot quite hack it sufficiently well at the highest level to justify a permanent place. He is the troubleshooter but knows he can play Hamlet given the chance. In Faisalabad he should have made a century, did not and we feared that it may have been his only opportunity squandered.

Yesterday, he sweated blood and more for an unbeaten 53, 3¼ hours of brow-furrowing concentration in searing heat that began with three exquisitely timed clips through the on side and finished with a four and six clumped over midwicket in the same Kumble over to complete his half-century.

In between times he scurried between the wickets, harried the bowlers, took his singles on the leg side and generally showed his colleagues what could be achieved with application. He got back to the cooling sanctuary of the dressing room at the close knowing that in Matthew Hoggard he would not lack for supportive effort but that much would rest on him if England were to post a halfway competitive total.

England’s selection of Panesar is progressive and may have the stamp of Flintoff on it. There was thought that in the interest of balance Blackwell’s left-arm spin might be offset by the off-breaks of Shaun Udal, with some batting competence a bonus. The Hampshire spinner has been troubled by injury on this tour though and may not be fully fit. Be that as it may, Panesar has the look of a pedigree bowler and his choice now is a victory for the specialist.

India, for their part, opted not to throw caution to the wind, play five bowlers and leave their lower ranks exposed should the mighty middle order have trouble with the England pacemen. The prospect of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, one of a new generation of batsman-keepers who are pushing back the frontiers of what is possible in that role, at No7 must be disheartening for England, and the fact that they have only two seamers is offset by the knowledge that the spinners can bowl two thirds of the day’s overs.

England will be hoping that the reverse swing that was employed by Pathan in particular will be available to them. The conditions - a bare pitch and a basically lush but close-trimmed outfield (the horticultural equivalent of Hugh Grant with a No1 crop) - would suggest that at least Flintoff, England’s best exponent of reverse swing after Simon Jones, may find some help that way.

However, the manner in which Muraf Patel hooped the ball round corners at Baroda in the process of taking 10 wickets in the match while the England bowlers failed to get it off the straight, suggests that there may be some work to do on the method. Give a burglar a set of skeleton keys and he may not be able to open a locked door: it is not just having the tools, it is knowing how to use them.