Trent Bridge Test: 'Batsmen' Bhuvi, Shami's heroics give India the advantage

India number 11 Mohammed Shami embarrassed England with the bat and then ensured home captain Alastair Cooks poor run of scores continued as the tourists seized control of the first Test at Trent Bridge India piled up 457 on Thursdays second day on the back of a record lastwicket stand against England of 111 between no 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar 58 and last man Shami 51 not out Both batsmen scored maiden fifties at this level as they exceeded their previous Testbest innings of 39 Kumar and 11 Shami respectively England skipper Alastair Cook C is bowled out for five runs in the first Test between England and India at Trent Bridge in Nottingham central England on Thursday PicAFPShami then made it 25 innings for Cook since the last of his England record 25 Test hundreds when he bowled him round his legs for five after the ball deflected off the lefthanded openers thigh padCooks exit left England nine for one with both Kumar and Shami who took one for 15 in five overs finding a degree of swing with the new ball that largely eluded the home pacemenHowever Sam Robson 20 not out and Gary Ballance 15 not out saw England to 43 for one at stumpsEngland had looked like dismissing India for under 400 which would have been a decent effort on such a sluggish surface when the tourists slumped to 346 for nine after several selfinflicted woundsBut for the second time in as many Tests at Trent Bridge England found themselves on the receiving end of a huge lastwicket stand after Australias Phil Hughes and Ashton Agar put on a world record 163 last year in a match Cooks side won nonethelessEngland might have been expecting some runs from Kumar who has a firstclass hundred behind him But the batting of Shami who prior to this match had a Test average of 333 was something elseTheir stand comfortably surpassed Indias previous highest tenthwicket partnership against England of 73 shared by Anil Kumble and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth at The Oval in 2007It also emphasised what a good toss it had been for India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to win and how tired Englands seamers had become after charging in on a shirtfront pitchIn the circumstances Stuart Broads economical return of two for 53 in 33 overs on his Nottinghamshire home ground was especially creditableMeanwhile newball partner James Anderson extended his own record for most Test wickets at Trent Bridge to 52 with three for 123 in 38 oversBut Englands lack of a specialist spinner and the workload problems this could lead to in a fivematch series crammed into six weeks was emphasised by parttime offbreak bowler Moeen Alis expensive return of one for 97 in 18 oversMohammed Shami L and Bhuvneshwar Kumar celebrate after scoring halfcenturies in the first Test between England and India at Trent Bridge in Nottingham central England on Thursday PicAFPIndia resumed Thursday on 259 for four with opener Murali Vijay 122 not out and Dhoni unbeaten on 50 Given the conditions on another sunny day England could illafford to spurn chances But when Dhoni still on his overnight score edged a fulllength Broad delivery wicketkeeper Matt Prior diving to his right dropped the onehanded catch Vijays near eighthour innings eventually ended when he was lbw to Anderson having faced 361 balls including 25 fours and a six He also put on 126 for the fifth wicket with Dhoni India were wellplaced at 342 for five at lunch But shortly afterwards they lost four wickets for two runs in 21 balls thanks to a mixture of poor shots allied to Dhonis needless run out for 82 But England without a win in eight Tests then ran into Kumar and Shami Cooks unusual field settings and the seamers efforts to rough up the lastwicket pair came to nothing Kumar completed a 133ball fifty with a single off Anderson And the very next ball saw Shami reach the landmark in style with a straight six off the England spearhead having faced just 73 balls including six fours Shami eventually chipped Ali to midon but the damage to England had long since been done