The Bowlers can Bat

...but can they bowl. Resuming at 246-7 the England tail wagged like a dog on heat. All three tail enders hung around, Hoggard with 11 of 41, Harmison with a cavalier 39 of 42 and Panesar 9 of 43. This allowed Paul Collingwood score his maiden test century and he finished undefeated on 134. This was a mammoth effort by Collingwood and meant that the England first innings finished on 393, which is a lot more promising than anyone thought going into the first session this morning.

The trouble is on this kind of track its not going to be enough, the batsmen have failed to deliver the big total just as they did in Pakistan. Whilst 393 is semi-respectable the Indian top order were soon able to make huge in roads into it finishing the day on 136-1. Hoggard took an early wicket but after that there were very few chance on offer for the bowlers.

The thing the England batsmen fail to recognize is that on the sub continent it is very hard to score at four an over, like they do over here and in Australia. This is one of the reasons why even the great Australia struggle to win out there. If we are to continue to go with Pieterson batting at number four then he needs to learn that you don't have to score at a run a ball. Collingwood and Flintoff have learnt it, hopefully Ian Bell has learned it, it's now time Pieterson did. We are going to need this if we lose are number three cheaply.

The bowlers are also going to have to keep it tight, the more they can frustrate the Indian batsmen the more chance they are going to take and the more wickets we will take. Good in theory but can we put it into practice. We'll have to wait until close of play tomorrow to find out.