Kolkata, Dec 7: For the second time in three Tests England have played themselves in a position from where they cannot lose a match. After the thumping 10-wicket win in Mumbai, the visitors have strengthened their stranglehold on the Kolkata Test with two days still to go.
As has been the case right through this series, it was skipper Alastair Cook whose bat put England in the driver’s seat. Cook wasn’t content by becoming the highest century-maker for England in Tests on Day 2. He wanted to make it big, and he did, scoring 190 before his innings ended on an anticlimactic note.
Cook was run-out in a bizarre way, trying to avoid the ball from hitting his body and failing to ground his bat in the crease. Jonathan Trott, who shared a 173-run partnership with Cook, said that his captain was unfortunate to get out to a “freak dismissal”.
“I think had he put his bat down first and then lifted it to avoid the ball, he would’ve been no out,” Trott, said. “I think he was trying to do that but just caught in between. It was very disappointing for him and the team to get out like that on 190.
“He would be obviously very disappointed. He’s not the one to show too much of emotions or disgust. But deep down I know he’d be very upset with himself. However, we’re all very happy with the job he did,” Trott said.
Trott, who had scores of 0, 17 and 0 in the first two Tests, was also pleased to have arrested his poor form with an innings of 87. Despite being a bit disappointed for falling just short of a three-digit score, Trott was satisfied with his contribution to put his team in a commanding position.
“Having had a good day yesterday, today we just needed to back that up. We knew that we had a job at hand so Alastair and myself had to continue the work that he and Nick Compton did yesterday. It was pleasing to be able to put up a good partnership with him but disappointed not to score a few more myself,” he said.
Like in the second Test, in Mumbai, the England bowlers have seemed much more effective than their Indian counterparts at the Eden Gardens. After dismissing India for 316, England are now 509 for six, and lead by 193 runs. However, Trott put down the difference on the change in conditions. He conceded that James Anderson got a better track to bowl on as compared to Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.
“There was a lot more bounce on the first and the second day. It wasn’t much the case of reverse swing but the ball swinging and bouncing. I think it was just the liveliness of the pitch and the ball carrying to the slip fielders. Now it is a bit lower and slower,” he said.
Trott also refuted the suggestion that the Indian spin duo of R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha has lost the bite that troubled the England batsmen in the first Test, in Ahmedabad. Instead he credited the England batsmen for adapting to their bowling quickly.
“They’re a good pair and they bowl well together. As we saw in the first Test match, they can be a handful. We’re seeing it now too that when the wicket starts to turn and the ball takes a bit of wear, they become trickier to play as any spinner would. Since they’re very accurate, you’ve got to find a way to manoeuvre the ball in different areas. It has been tricky but I just think that we’ve played them a lot better in these last two games than in the first,” Trott said.
Trott felt that with a sizeable lead of 193, England are exactly in the position after Day 3 that they had planned to be in.
