Tame Draw Follows Early Excitement

India 457 & 391-9 dec. (Binny 78) drew with
England 496 (Root 154no, Anderson 81)
First Test, Trent Bridge
Scorecard

England briefly threatened to put India under pressure on the final day of the first Test at Trent Bridge before the game petered out into a high-scoring draw.

After rain delayed the start, Stuart Broad took two quick wickets before Stuart Binny's half-century killed the game as a contest.

India went on to bat through the day and make 391 for nine before declaring as the final hour began to bring an end to proceedings.

The fact that one of the biggest cheers of the day came towards the very end when Alastair Cook decided to have a bowl himself was indicative of the way the match had meandered in the afternoon.

To cap what has been at times a bizarre match, Cook dismissed Ishant Sharma to claim a maiden Test wicket, leaving Bhuvneshwar Kumar unbeaten on 63.

The two sides move on to Lord's for the second Test which begins on Thursday.

Rain that swept across the East Midlands kept both sides waiting and when play did get away, England were quickest out of the blocks and Broad quickly dismissed Virat Kohli (8) and Ajinkya Rahane (24).

Kohli was trapped in front and Rahane edged through to Matt Prior and 10 overs later, Liam Plunkett bowled MS Dhoni for 11 to leave India at 184 for six.

However, Binny came to the crease and batted with all the calmness and skill of a player with 50 Tests behind him, rather than a man on debut who had failed in the first innings and then hardly been bowled.

He struck eight fours and a six and with first Ravindra Jadaeja (31) and then Kumar offering excellent support, scoring his second half-century of the match, they did more than enough to save the game.

Batting well into the afternoon, England realised that the game was beyond them and rested their quick bowlers, giving Moeen Ali and Joe Root a long bowl.

Binny was trapped in front by Ali with one that went straight on before the match descended into mild farce in the final hour.

Cook, nominally bowling off-spin, bowled his first over which included one rank lob and a slightly quicker ball before Gary Ballance delivered a maiden of reasonable leg-spin.

Then came the strangest moment of a slightly strange Test when Sharma managed to get some bat on a leg-side delivery and was caught by Prior.

He had made 13 in 55 balls and after Mohammad Shami cracked Cook to the boundary three balls lter, that was enough, Dhoni calling his players in and the players shaking hands.

Ali finished with three for 105, Broad two for 50, Plunkett two for 85, Anderson one for 47 and Cook one for six.

© Cricket World 2014