England on the back foot

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew says England were unlucky with some poor umpiring on the opening day of the Ahmedabad Test.

England suffered a series of disappointments at the tired and distinctly seedy Ahmedabad cricket stadium.

Rocked by the early news that Graham Thorpe had decided to fly home for personal reasons, they ended the day in an uncertain position.

While Duncan Fletcher and Nasser Hussain will still be harbouring hopes of registering a total in excess of 350, India's bowlers will know that, in fact, they could hustle out the remaining four wickets in no time.

That would have potentially dire consequences for the tourists as the pitch is almost certain to assist the spinners increasingly as the match progresses.

England's mood will have been lifted, though, by Hussain winning the toss for once, and further still by the rollicking opening stand of 124 between Trescothick and Butcher.

TV replays showed Hussain was unlucky

By early afternoon, it seemed that England could move on to score at least 400 but they were undone by a loose stroke from Butcher, who dabbled unwisely at Kumble on 51, and two awful umpiring decisions by Ian Robinson.

It is important to make the point that Robinson has just jetted in from Perth - where he also made some glaring errors, incidentally - and so had little time to acclimatise.

Why on earth does the ICC persist with this policy of allowing international umpires just one match at a time?

Double setback

Steve Bucknor stood in Mohali and was as efficient as always but, having developed a 'feel' for the series, the players involved and, importantly, the conditions, he has now been despatched and Robinson had to start from scratch.

Having said that, his decisions against Hussain and Vaughan were poor and suddenly England were starting to flounder at 172 for three.

It would have been easy for the team to feel thoroughly dispirited.

Flintoff, who has to alter his approach of thrusting a pad down the pitch to the spinners if he is to score a run here, was out for a duck but White and Ramprakash added 59 in good time.

White and Foster batted sensibly

Ganguly seemed to be searching for options when he summoned Tendulkar to twirl up some occasional leg breaks, but he baffled Ramprakash with a googly, and bowled him for 37.

India felt they were back in the hunt again, but great credit must go to James Foster, whose debut at Mohali amounted to just five runs, and White who responded to the crisis positively, and upon whom England's hopes rest in the morning.

Poor decisions aside, one must admire Kumble for creating danger in the most benign conditions.

He barely turned a ball off the straight, but bamboozled his victims with his usual assortment of flight and trajectory.

England must condition themselves to treat him more like a gentle medium pacer than a spinner, but that is much easier said than done.