Down At Fine Leg: England v India: The Lord's Test, Day 2

Once again, like Day 3 at Cardiff and the 2nd ODI at Headingley, I found myself in the stands watching this day:

Turns out taking a Sainsbury's bag full of rubber ducks is allowed. Thank you Lord's and to the security man on the gate who looked at me in puzzlement, back at the ducks, then back to me, shook his head, smiled, laughed a bit and then let me in without even asking why.

Here's what happened on day 2 at the ~~1999th~~ 2000th Test match:

Trott begins the day with a four off Kumar.

He and Pietersen survived the tricky conditions on day one and both will be looking to take advantage of the improved and more batting friendly conditions.

Trott, on 70, is rapped on the pads by Kumar...

The Indians appeal and Trott is gone.

Trott's not pleased and would probably have reviewed it had the UDRS been in place...

But even if UDRS had been in place, he would've been gone as it was all red anyway. Meanwhile, Trott drags himself off in his usual reluctant way and England are 160-3.

KP is on 49. He decides to give England fans a heart attack as he's Kevin Pietersen and that's the kind of thing he does. He glances one round the corner...

And is "caught" by Suresh Raina.

KP is not convinced and stands his ground.

It goes to the third umpire (I think, at this point nobody in the ground had any idea what was going on) and such is the case when catches like this go upstairs, the benefit of the doubt went with the batsman.

Kumar and the rest of the team are disappointed, but nobody goes all Scott Styris and the game carries on.

KP reaches his 50 soon after though, with another flick on the leg side that misses the fielder and goes for a single.

He runs the single...

And celebrates his 50.

Ian Bell smashes one for four through the off side and at lunch, England are 217-3.

After lunch, something remarkable happens. Dhoni loses the gloves, gives them to Dravid and picks up the ball to turn his wing over. And something happens. KP comes close to a delivery...

And the Indians go up. The finger is raised.

KP is not happy and immediately puts the only element of the UDRS into use, the use of Hotspot.

And KP is glad that that element of the UDRS is in place as the decision is overturned. He hit his pad and not the ball and he is able to carry on.

He reaches his century with a glorious straight drive off Ishant Sharma.

He gives Ian Bell a massive, emotional hug.

And celebrates his ton. It's his first one in England since 2008.

Bell hands Kumar his second wicket by edging behind to Dhoni.

He goes for 45 and England find themselves 270-4.

Eoin Morgan is the next man in, but he doesn't last at all long as he goes for a duck. He gets an inside edge on one from Kumar...

And goes. Kumar has three wickets.

It's disappointing for Morgan, who also didn't have the best series against Sri Lanka and it's also a couple of quick wickets for India. Prior and Pietersen survive until tea and England reach 305-5.

Prior reaches a 50 with a single to square leg.

His innings goes under the radar thanks to the man at the other end, but it's a fine innings for Prior, full of attacking shots and it's just what Pietersen needed to support him throughout his innings.

Prior is the second highest scorer when he goes chasing one outside off from Kumar.

He goes for 71 and England are 390-6. Kumar has four wickets.

In comes Stuart Broad, the man whose place is being questioned and some believe shouldn't be playing this Test. Kumar decides to give his critics something else to lap up by trapping him LBW first ball.

Kumar has a five-fer at Lord's. In comes Graeme Swann.

Swann plays one of his cameos, where he hits a couple to the boundary and thrives upon England being in such a strong position. But 28 balls later, he succumbs to Raina.