Indian bowlers struck back to stop England’s early merrymaking on the opening day of

Indian bowlers struck back to stop England’s early merrymaking on the opening day of the first test match, bowling them all out for 238 England had previously stood at 107 for one. England had previously stood at 107 for one.
Skipper Nasser Hussain fulfilled the cherished dream of his father, Joe, to captain England in a test match in India. But he fell at 85, just 15 runs short of an emotional century, when he tapped an innocuous delivery from leg–spinner Anil Kumble to Vangipurappu Laxman at silly point.Playing a skipper’s knock, Hussain shared a 125–run second–wicket partnership with his vice–captain Marcus Trescothick to launch England’s challenge following the fall of opener Mark Butcher on the fourth ball of the morning.Hussain struck 13 boundaries and lifted off–spinner Harbhajan Singh for a mighty six over long–off before becoming Kumble’s first victim of the test.Trescothick shrugged off his initial circumspect approach with an expanded range of strokes. Two successive cover drives to the fence gave the Indians a glimpse of things to come after he took 29 minutes to get off the mark.He went into the top gear against Kumble after the lone slip fielder, Rahul Dravid, failed to catch an edged shot and the ball sprinted to the ropes.He sent the Indian fielders scampering with an exquisite off-driven boundary, followed by an on-driven boundary.Later, however, the England batsmen suffered one of their trademark defeats, losing their last five wickets for just 28 runs.India offered debut caps to Yohannan, Siddiqui and Bangar, while off–spinner Richard Dawson and wicketkeeper James Foster made their test debut for England..

Shane Warne was understandably dejected after falling one short of his maiden firstclass century against New Zealand here yesterday. Mark Richardson held the catch, well in from the boundary, to a chorus of groans around the stadium.”I am disappointed. I thought I played really good and just wanted to be there at the end,” Warne said. “A hundred is something I have always wanted to get but it just wasn’t meant to be I played a pretty ordinary shot, I suppose, on 99. I didn’t even try to slog it – I just wanted to get it out there for one somewhere. I will probably lie awake on my bed tonight thinking of all the shots I should have played.”Despite missing the milestone, Warne’s efforts were crucial to Australia’s recovery from a forlorn 192 for 6. The veteran was perhaps lucky to have reached 99, having twice been dropped and once given not out when he clearly nicked Chris Martin to Adam Parore behind the stumps.

But few would have denied him his maiden century after battling to within a single run with 10 boundaries in 215 minutes.Warne and Damien Martyn, who made 70, were the main architects of the Australian recovery. They put on 78 for the seventh wicket after coming together when Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist were out in the space of one run on 191 and 192.Langer looked to be on his way to a fourth consecutive Test century when he went for 75, caught down the leg side by Parore off Chris Cairns. Television replays showed the delivery was a no-ball but Langer walked without looking at the umpire, perhaps feeling guilty about being given not out when he clearly gloved Martin to Parore on 36.But if Martin, overlooked for the Hobart Test, was always a greater threat than the more experienced Cairns, it was Vettori who caused the most trouble. He had Mark Waugh, dropped at slip by Stephen Fleming in the third over, well caught at short third man by Shane Bond. Then the uneasy Steve Waugh pushed forward, got a thick edge to Parore and walked without a backward glance for just 8. Add to that Gilchrist – a bat and pad catch for 0 off his third ball – and Vettori was having a good day.But then Warne and Martyn took Australia to 270 and Warne and Brett Lee took them past the follow-on figure of 335 before a TV replay was needed to confirm that Lee had been caught at extra cover by Craig McMillan. Jason Gillespie was dismissed soon after, with Warne’s wicket the last to fall.With a lead of 183, Vettori is confident.