da 888casino： Dileep Premachandran reviews the Plays of the Day on day two of the first Test between England and India at Lord’s
da prosport bet： Dileep Premachandran20-Jul-2007
Start up the chainsaw, I’m ready for a massacre © Getty Images
The Kerala Chainsaw strikes: After taking his time to get used tothe Lord’s slope on Thursday, Sreesanth was quickly into his groove withthe second new ball. Pitching the ball up and swinging it late, he got allthree wickets leg before. The celebrations after each were similar to aman trying to start a lawnmower. But since those aren’t really to be foundin Kerala, we’ll assume that it was a good old chainsaw at work.Out, In Like Flynn and Out Again: There have been some bizarredismissals down the years, but few batsmen could have been given out twicein three balls in the same innings. It happened to Kevin Pietersen in theafternoon, with Simon Taufel declaring him out even though Mahendra SinghDhoni had dived and taken the edge on the bounce. The Indians were miffedwhen Pietersen was allowed to return to the crease, after his trudge tothe pavilion ended with team-mates alerting him from the balcony. ZaheerKhan wouldn’t be denied though, and a beautiful delivery slanting awayfrom the batsman sent him back minutes later. This time, there were nocomebacks.Ball of the day – Jimmy’s time: James Anderson was identified asthe future of English pace bowling five years ago, but since then, othershave left him several rungs behind on the ladder of success. WithEngland’s first-choice pace trio all missing through injury, this was hischance, and he seized it with impeccable swing bowling. The best moment?The nearly unplayable delivery that pitched on middle stump and shapedaway to graze the edge of Rahul Dravid’s bat.Did the Earth move?: The game was meandering in the late-eveningsunshine, with batsmen strokeless and bowlers content to keep it tightwhen Chris Tremlett got one to rear sharply at Wasim Jaffer. When the balllobbed back in his direction, Tremlett, a young man built like a rugbyNo.8 threw himself forward to take the ball at full stretch an inch fromthe ground. For India, it was a seismic blow.These drops are contagious: It was a wicketkeeper, Dinesh Karthik, fielding atpoint that dropped a clanger yesterday. On Friday, it wasMatt Prior’s turn, diving across in front of slip to palm the ball awayafter Jaffer had edged one from Ryan Sidebottom. Jaffer was yet to scoreat the time.A touch of class: Lord’s may not have the atmosphere of the MCG orEden Gardens, but the punters that come through the turnstiles areusually discerning ones. When Sachin Tendulkar walked out, in what willsurely be his last Test appearance at this venue, a large number of fanswho had braved the morning showers rose as one to applaud him. There aretimes that call for partisanship, but this was a moment to fail theTebbitt Test and acknowledge one of the game’s all-time greats.