No Cheer for Gloomy England

Durham's first adventure with day-night international cricket was also an experiment with summer-winter play, for steady evening rain fell alongside the darkness here last night ruining this NatWest Series match.

An iridescent century from Sachin Tendulkar, his first against England at this level, shone through the damp gloom and maintained India's impressive start to the tournament. But in the end it counted for nothing. The match was declared 'no result' with England just 12.3 overs into their innings. That suited both sides, but especially England.

Tendulkar's unbeaten 105 from 108 balls will be placed alongside the masterpieces of the genre, for it was made on an uncooperative pitch and, perfectly paced, it moved smoothly through the gears of obduracy, acquisitiveness, controlled aggression and, finally, slog mode.

It propelled India, who had won their two opening fixtures, to a daunting total of 285 for four. But then both sides were frustrated by steady rain. And the enthusiastic crowd, who had seen last year's international washed out without a ball being bowled, began to resemble a Lowry painting as they slouched home in the night.

England could not have made a better start after India had won the toss and, by floodlit tradition, chosen to bat. With the first ball of the match Darren Gough pitched it up, moved it in a fraction and caught Sourav Ganguly on his crease.

Expecting India's batsmen to consolidate, however, is about as naive as expecting Brazil's footballers to tuck in behind the ball in the hope of sneaking a 1-0 win. Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Mongia now put on 48 in 48 balls for the second wicket.

The pitch, though, while far from treacherous, was not in the mood to bestow favours on batsmen. It lacked pace and bounce and sometimes the ball scurried through low, like a guilty secret. Strokeplay was not a straightforward business, especially for players who had recently partied at the Oval.

England broke through again in the eighth over when Sehwag, attempting to loft to leg, skied to Marcus Trescothick at midwicket. Then, three overs later, Mongia flicked Gough, rather tamely, into the capacious hands of Flintoff at short midwicket and India were 52 for three.

Their innings was now restructured by Tendulkar and Dravid who put on 169 runs in 34 overs. Tendulkar, at first outpaced by Dravid, spent 72 deliveries scoring his 88th fifty at this level and his six and two fours reflected his early caution.

In the 28th over, though, his growing authority was evident as he first lifted Paul Collingwood over mid-on for six before driving through extra-cover for four. With 10 overs to go India, at 179 for three, were well poised for the flail.

Audaciously, Tendulkar raised the 150-stand by reverse sweeping Ashley Giles for four. He lost Dravid at 221, caught at deep midwicket boundary, but this merely released Yuvraj Singh from the traps. He hit an unbeaten 40 from 19 balls, including four fours and a six over wide mid-on off the first ball of the last over, bowled by Gough. England's last 10 overs cost 106 runs, with 51 coming from the last four.

Giles and Collingwood, who made up England's fifth bowler, went for 89 between them. With two such outstanding all-rounders as Alec Stewart and Flintoff there really should be room for four specialist bowlers.

Irani cost just 23. Wisely, he did his work early and took shelter from the storm. Flintoff was also admirable. His ration went for just 36.

Under lights, England's target was immense before their innings got underway. The match tilted further away from them in the sixth over when Trescothick, who had hit three fours in a 26-ball 23, was lbw playing across a straight ball from Zaheer Khan.

At this point Nick Knight, another strokeplayer who sometimes appears cowed by Trescothick's greater power, started to play more exotically. But at 53 for one after 12 overs rain drove the players off and though they returned 15 minutes later there was time for only three balls before they retreated once more.

Essentially, the outcome here was never likely to count for much. Both these sides were always likely to qualify for the final tomorrow week, so this was just another fancy dress rehearsal. You don't need to have studied trigonometry at school to realise that all sides in this particular triangle are not equal. It would be dangerous to totally discount Sri Lanka's chances, even though their captain Sanath Jayasuriya is not exactly Pythagoras-like in his calculations.

How they stand

P-W-L-D-NR- Pts

India-3-2-0-0-1- 10

England-4-2-1-0-1- 10

Sri Lanka-3-0-3-0-0

Remaining fixtures

Tomorrow: India v Sri Lanka (Edgbaston)

July 7: England v Sri Lanka (Old Trafford)

July 9: England v India (the Oval)

July 11: India v Sri Lanka (Bristol d/n)

July 13: Final (Lord's)