Close England 257 for 4 (Hussain 120*, Crawley 64)
scorecard

Six years ago, Nasser Hussain scored his first Test hundred against India in the first match of the series at Edgbaston. With the additional responsibility of captaincy on his shoulders, he uncorked a century of similar vintage – laced with grittiness and stubborn determination – at Lord's today, to leave England in command at stumps on the opening day of the series against India.

Hussain combined watchful defence and a few lashings of luck with some imperious strokeplay. He was helped immeasurably by John Crawley, whose classy and composed 64 was a fitting rejoinder to his many critics. They had come together with England in some strife at 78 for 3. By the time Crawley departed midway through the final session, having added 144 with his captain, the innings was in ruddy health.

It went pear-shaped for India after tea. Hussain used his feet beautifully to take on the spinners, unafraid to take the aerial route down the ground or over midwicket. Crawley too played the slow bowlers with assurance and it was a surprise when he fell to Virender Sehwag, part-time offspinner of no particular distinction. Crawley attempted to cut one too far away from the body and the ball flew off the edge to Rahul Dravid at first slip (223 for 4). His departure paved the way for the record-breaking Alec Stewart to come to the crease.

It made little difference to Hussain, who carried on regardless, a ferocious pull off Anil Kumble illustrating his intention to end the day on top. He had reached three figures with a single to square leg, and no pointed gestures to the press box, and by day's end, 20 fours had come off his blade, mostly off the middle.

The new ball was taken after 82 overs and though the run-rate slowed, the wickets never materialised. Zaheer Khan was the pick of a poor bunch, bowling beautifully at times and never bereft of enthusiasm. Ashish Nehra veered from good to poor, while Ajit Agarkar was just dismal. Nehra won few points with some lackadaisical fielding either and a piece of shoddy footwork on the point boundary – no chance of Sir Alex Ferguson going into the market for him – summed up his work.

Hussain won the toss on a wicket that promised to be a batsman's paradise and had gone the way providence dictated with the assurance of a sleepwalker. But the patrons were barely in their seats by the time Vaughan was back in the pavilion for a duck. Zaheer bowling the second over of the day, got one to jag back sharply and rap him plumb in front. It was the perfect start for India, but despite Zaheer's best efforts and Nehra's erratic offerings, they couldn't consolidate.

Zaheer started with four successive maidens, bowling a lovely line and length for the most part and moving the ball sharply back into the right-hander. Butcher, sidelined by injury for several weeks, was fortunate to survive an lbw shout off one that nipped back the other way as he scratched around unconvincingly. Hussain too started edgily and barring a crashing cover-drive off Zaheer, there was little initiative shown on a pitch that looked an absolute belter.

That changed after drinks, when Nehra and Agarkar came up with a load of rubbish to send England on their way. Hussain played some superb strokes, including a splendid straight-drive off Nehra and a crashing cut for four off Kumble, while Butcher was content to fine-tune his cover-drive against Agarkar, who dropped it in the slot time and again. Ganguly could only watch as England started to motor away.

But the loss of Butcher ten minutes before lunch, to a moment's laziness, altered the picture drastically. He prodded forward to a Kumble delivery and a sharp chance was well taken to his right by Wasim Jaffer. Butcher made 29, and England were 71 for 2.

A corker from Zaheer then saw India start the afternoon session as they had the opening one. There was just a hint of movement off the pitch and Graham Thorpe played inside the line to have his off stump knocked back (78 for 3). He made only 4 and it was just reward for Zaheer who had never let up since he took the new ball in the morning.

Hussain kept England ticking over though. When Anil Kumble was re-introduced, Hussain's response was to come down the track and whack one down to deep midwicket. Crawley lived up to his reputation as one of England's better players of spin with two fine cuts for four off Kumble. The flurry of strokes left Ganguly with more than a biscuit or two to chew on at teatime. By close of play, he must have felt more than a rumbling of indigestion.

Teams
England 1 Michael Vaughan, 2 Mark Butcher, 3 Nasser Hussain (capt), 4 Graham Thorpe, 5 Alec Stewart (wk), 6 John Crawley, 7 Andy Flintoff, 8 Craig White, 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Simon Jones, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

India 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Ajay Ratra (wk), 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Anil Kumble, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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