Zaheer shines through

On a day when their new-ball bowlers were smattered in the first session, their third seamer over-stepped on 15 occasions and their fielders let slip three catches, the Indians could take heart from Zaheer Khan's spell in the middle session, one that read: 7-3-10-2. It was an effort that both Andrew Strauss, captain of the England Lions, and Venkatesh Prasad, India's bowling coach, spoke highly of and would serve as a consolation at the end of a tough opening day.

A year back Zaheer was uttering phrases like "all I want to do is be back in the side" and "I'm desperate to return". He was at Worcestershire, troubling batsmen in the second division of the County Championship, and doing his best away from the spotlight. It was an experience that got him fitter, gave him a chance to bowl long spells and enabled him to return to England as India's spearhead. He ended as the highest wicket-taker in the division (78 wickets in 16 games) and helped Worcestershire gain promotion.

He wasn't at his best on the opening day at Chelmsford. He struggled with his length in the first spell, though he got rid of the out-of-form Andrew Strauss, struggled with his line in the second, when he strayed down leg, before turning up for an inspired seven-over burst in the middle.

He showed the value of experience - keeping it on and around off - and mixed his length well. Jonathan Trott, who recently made his England one-day debut, was forced to edge to first slip in a sequence that read yorker, slash and miss, leading edge, outside edge. Tim Ambrose, the Lions' wicketkeeper, was taunted from over-the-wicket before he quickly changed to round the stumps and induced the edge. The bowlers had discussed a specific plan at the lunch break, as Prasad was to reveal later, and decided to avoid the trap of keeping it too full or too short. Bowling back of a length and mixing up the angles worked just fine.

"Being a left-armer adds something to your armoury, something most batsman aren't used to and he can swing it both ways," said Strauss of Zaheer. "He knows what he's doing with the ball and is someone to watch out for from the Indian side."

The fact that Sharma sent down 15 no-balls, on a day when he hardly threatened, didn't seem to worry Prasad. "He's just 18, he's bowling well in the nets and this is a chance for him to learn. He's shown signs of improvement and will be better off after this experience."

But were India anywhere close to deciding their third seamer for the first Test at Lord's? "RP Singh has been the most impressive," said Prasad providing a clear indication but quickly added, "Ranadeb Bose and Ishant have done well too. It's upto the team management to finally decide."

Strauss said he was happy with the total but cautioned that they'd get an indication of how good a total it was only when they bowled on the pitch tomorrow. "Bresnan batted exceptionally well and both he and Broad saved us today," he said. "Broad showed what talent he has with the bat and Bresnan we all knew had a lot of capability anyway. At 380-odd at the end of the day we're pretty happy with that, a few guys have shown what they can do."

Strauss himself didn't make much of an impact though, and couldn't get much practice before the first Test at Lord's, starting on July 19. "I was looking forward to getting a big one but there is a second innings to come and hopefully things will turn around. I was feeling pretty jaded at the end of the last Test at Durham [against West Indies] and felt I needed some time away. It was a case of getting myself ready for the Tests and part of it involved technical work indoors before hitting the ground running with Middlesex. Hopefully I can get a good score in the second dig, before the first Test."