Trent Bridge Test, Day 1
Thursday, August 8, 2002

If only we could have got one more wicket before the bad light came – 200 for 5, I'd have taken that at the beginning of the day. But Sehwag played well – with a bit of luck it has to be said – but he earned his luck at the same time. We passed his edge umpteen times in the course of the day, and all it needed was a thin brush on one of them. Still, it wasn't to be, and it's pretty evenly poised at the close.

We decided on five seamers because Andrew Flintoff has come into the game with a slight groin strain, so he can't bowl too many overs, and we felt – given the weather conditions – that we needed the extra seamer. The ball swings around a lot here, and these Indians all play spin well, so if we had played Ashley Giles we would have had to go into the match with just the one natural swing bowler in Matthew Hoggard. Gilo would have been the easy option, but when have I ever been one to take that route!

So our plan was to play Cork and take wickets with the new ball. It was a hunch and it didn't quite pay off – Dominic didn't quite get it in the right areas. Hoggy, though, was excellent once again and deserved another wicket or two. He pitched it right up to Sehwag, inticing the drive, and it was just his bad luck that Sehwag either hit them for four, or had a whoosh and missed.

When it's swinging, Hoggy is a high-quality bowler. He's officially the No. 5 in the world now, but he's a pretty level-headed guy – not a ranter and a raver like Goughie, always sounding off about his world ranking! He's down to earth, and has had a lot of ups and downs already in his short career. With him, the big problem comes when the ball doesn't swing – he needs to work on his discipline and sticking to the basics. But when it all comes together, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have in my side.

Steve Harmison had a good first day of Test cricket. It wasn't the ideal wicket for him – a little bit slow – but he was rapid and found the right areas, and was even our most economical bowler at one stage. I gave him an early bowl to get rid of his nerves, but in his second spell he was impressive, and it's good for England to have two young quicks coming through, in him and Simon Jones.

The crucial wicket, as ever, was Sachin Tendulkar. He was nervous early on, but was just starting to find his feet and must have been thinking, "I'm in here." But golden-arm Dom always comes up with something ...

I said before the match that the pitch sounded "hollow" – a bit under-prepared, but it played well in the end. It was a little two-paced at times, and the ball swung a lot, so for India to get a decent score on the board, they are already slightly ahead of the game. But tomorrow is the key, with the new ball coming up early on. There's certainly a little more here for the bowlers than at Lord's.

Nasser Hussain was talking to Andrew Miller. His thoughts will appear on Wisden.com, other duties permitting, at the end of each day of England's international cricket this summer.

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