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Singh on song Indian off-spinner sparks England collapsePosted: Monday December 03, 2001 10:56 AMUpdated: Monday December 03, 2001 11:15 AM
MOHALI, India (AP) -- Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh shaped England's collapse with a dramatic spell on the opening day of the first test match in the northern city of Mohali on Monday, triggering off a panic in the touring team's camp. Singh claimed five wickets for six runs in his post-tea spell as the English batsmen made heavy weather of tackling India's spin attack and crashed out for 238 after an impressive start. India was 24 for one at the draw of stumps, having lost opener Shiv Sundar Das for two. Opener Deep Dasgupta on 19 and night watchman Anil Kumble on one were at the crease. Singh's haul of five for 51 stretched his five-wicket spells to five successive innings at home -- beginning with the second test against Australia this year -- and left England's players scratching their heads. "We need to find a way to tackle Harbhajan pretty quickly if we want to stay alive in the series," England's vice-captain Marcus Trescothick said. "We've seen a lot of his videos, but realized he's bowling a lot of straight ones here. And an odd one turn sharply. "The turns them into the right hander ... Then an occasional one slides with the arm." Six England wickets perished for 14 runs as Singh, wicketless in his first 12 overs, got into the act after the tea break by having Mark Ramprakash caught by Das at silly point for 17. Andrew Flintoff, James Foster, Richard Dawson and Matthew Hoggard thereafter fell in a heap as Singh extracted prodigious turn from the track that was expected to help seamers. But Trescothick remained optimistic of England's batsmen finding a way to tackle Singh. "We've tackled other great off-spinners like Saqlain Mushtaq and Muttiah Muralitharan in the past ... There's no reason we can't do that again," Trescothick said. "But the pressure will be on our top five or six players as we've got pretty minimal experience," he said. Clueless batting by England's middle order undid the good work by skipper Nasser Hussain and Trescothick, who shared a brisk 125-run stand for the second wicket. Hussain and Trescothick were going great guns before India struck back to deny Hussain a century. It was Hussain's first appearance -- and as England captain in a test match -- in India, where he was born and his family lived until migrating to England in 1973. Hussain on Monday fulfilled the cherished dream of his father, Joe, to captain England in a test match in India, from where his family migrated in 1973. Hussain scored a fluent 85 but fell short of an emotional century when he tapped an innocuous delivery from leg-spinner Anil Kumble to Vangipurappu Laxman at silly point. Hussain struck 13 boundaries and lifted off-spinner Singh for a mighty six over long-off before becoming the first of Kumble's two victims. Trescothick repelled the Indian attack for 13 boundaries in his 152-ball knock of 66 and dealt Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly a setback after he asked England to bat first. Trescothick and Hussain led England to an impressive 107 for one at lunch despite Mark Butcher's departure in the first over. Debutante medium-pacer Tinu Yohannan, who had earlier dismissed Butcher on his fourth ball in test cricket, struck back to clean bowl Trescothick as he shouldered his arms to an in-seaming delivery.
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