By Matt Somerford
Captain Alastair Cook’s day was split by fortune as England were left with a long-haul batting task in the first Investec Test against India at Trent Bridge.
A record last-wicket stand of 111 between Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami left England with 457 to chase to earn first-innings parity.
It appeared that target would be far fewer when, for the second successive day, Cook and his men earned rich reward for invention immediately after lunch.
India lost four for two during a devastating 21-ball burst that left them on 346 for nine and someway short of the sizeable total they might have envisaged when Mahendra Singh Dhoni opted to bat first on an unresponsive wicket yesterday morning.
England’s persistence and planning had deservedly been rewarded at that point, but Bhuvneshwar and Shami then reminded, over the course of almost three hours, that any lapses over this five-Test series will be punished.
When Moeen Ali finally forced a miscue from Bhuvneshwar – not before both men reached their maiden Test half-centuries - England were left with 17 overs to bat out the day.
It was a task Cook was unable to manage as his day soured further after its encouraging beginning.
The skipper was bowled around his legs by Shami for five after the ball hit his thigh pad and then, with Cook having moved along way across his crease, thudded into his leg stump.
Opening partner Sam Robson and Gary Ballance ensured there was no further damage, reaching the close at 43 for one, to bring an end to a day punctuated by frustration.
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Evening session
6.25pm - STUMPS! Eng 43/1; Robson 20 Ballance 15 - After Cook's early exit Robson and Ballance were largely untroubled as they saw England to stumps. The task tomorrow is to bat all day and eat up most of India's first-innings score.
6.07pm - Glorious cover drive from Gary Ballance. Ishant Sharma over pitches and pays for it by watching the ball fizz away to the rope.
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6.01pm - Ravindra Jadeja is being brought into the attack with six overs left today. England are 28 for one.
5.46pm - A slightly hairy moment for Robson as he misjudges a leave to a Shami inswinger that narrowly misses his off stump. 'Ooohhs' and 'aaahs' from behind the wicket follow. The TV replays suggest the ball missed the stumps by 4mm.
5.41pm - Bhuvneshwar strays on to the pads and Robson does not miss out, clipping him away through midwicket for three. There is still a bit of movement - the ball is only seven overs after all - so a watchful brief is required over the final 10 overs of the day.
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5.27pm - WICKET! Cook b Shami 5; Eng 9/1 - When your luck is not in, it's not in. Cook gets across to play away Shami to the leg side, but when he misses the ball is slightly redirected off his thigh pad and onto his leg stump.
5.25pm - Robson gets off the mark from his 11th ball as he steers Bhuvneshwar away for a boundary.
5.16pm - Alastair Cook and Sam Robson see off the first of 17 overs they must face tonight from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was getting the ball to tail away from the right-hander. Cook took a single from the first ball - squeezing an inswinger off his pads.
5.03pm - END OF INNINGS! Bhuvneshwar c Root b Moeen 58; Ind 457 - It's over. A ball after lofting Moeen for a boundary, Bhuvneshwar miscues trying to repeat the dose and Joe Root holds a simple catch at mid-on. It was almost three hours ago when the last-wicket pair came together. In between time they added a record 111 runs.
4.49pm - FIFTY! Shami (73b 6x4 1x6) - Shami launches Anderson into the stand of long-on to follow his partner to the milestone. His previous best was 11. That also brings up the century stand. Ouch.
4.48pm - FIFTY! Bhuvneshwar (133b 4x4 0x6) - Bhuvneshwar Kumar takes a single into the off side to reach a maiden Test half-century.
4.41pm - Plunkett beats the bat a couple of times. Mohammed Shami is still playing freely, lofting James Anderson over cover for another single. Frustrating times for England.
4.30pm - The players are back out in the middle and Liam Plunkett continues his bodyline bowling around the wicket.
Afternoon Session
4.12pm - TEA! Ind 433/9; Bhuvneshwar 46 Shami 39 - After four wickets almost immediately after lunch that session turned into a bit of a nightmare for England as the last-wicket pair put on an unbroken 87-run stand.
4.08pm - There is a half-hearted appeal for a caught behind against Shami. Cook is convinced he's out, but no-one else is, including umpire Bruce Oxenford. The replays show Cook was right. Shami edged it.
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4.04pm - Shami flicks a Broad full toss off his pads for four. He moves to 37 - his highest first-class score.
4pm - The scheduled tea break has come and gone. This pair have been batting for almost two hours and Shami has just top-edged a swipe that has somehow not gone to hand. It might have, but Joe Root thought it was not his catch and the hesitation cost him any chance of getting under the ball.
I'm fairly confident the England fans inside Trent Bridge are sternly aware of the meaning of frustration right now.
3.49pm - Shami slices Plunkett over the slips and just short of Broad at third man as he makes a good diving stop. The run is enough to make this the highest 10th-wicket stand for India against England. Their stand is worth 74 and there could be more to come.
3.28pm - India go beyond 400 as Bhuvneshwar edges Stokes through a vacant second slip and to the boundary. What started as a tremendous session has turned sour thanks to this last pair.
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3.19pm - This 10th-wicket partnership is now worth 50. Shami, whose highest first-class score is 33, dances down the wicket and whacks Moeen to the long-off boundary. Shami is now 22 and India are 397 for nine.
3.09pm - Anderson serves up a leg-stump half-volley and Shami flicks it away to the square-leg rope. Both of these batsmen are on 18 and their stand is worth 38.
3.05pm - Alastair Cook throws the ball to Moeen Ali and he finds Shami's edge in his first over. The ball slips past Anderson in the cordon, though, and to the boundary.
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3pm - This last-wicket stand has now been going for almost an hour to frustrate England. Shami is starting to feel at home in the middle too as he launched Anderson towards the river Trent for a one-bounce four. India are 374 for nine.
2.50pm - Plunkett is operating around the wicket and aiming at Bhuvneshwar's body. The tailender ducked into a short ball that didn't bounce as much as he expected in that over and the ball thudded into his glove. He showed no pain though and remains steadfast too. With Mohammed Shami he has added 20 runs now.
2.38pm - Bhuvneshwar times Plunkett through midwicket. Stokes dives to try and make the stop on the rope, but the replay shows his feet were touching the boundary as he flicked the ball back. India are 361 for nine.
2.26pm - Bhuvneshwar Kumar is showing signs he could yet add a few late runs. He smacks Broad high over mid-off and sees the ball bounce just short of the rope. Broad does manage to keep him off strike for the next over from Liam Plunkett.
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2.09pm - WICKET! Ishant b Broad 1; Ind 346/9 - The India tail is folding. Ishant Sharma shoulders arms and watches the ball cut back into his off stump. He sheepishly tucks his bat under his arm and walks off. What a session for England.
2.07pm - Stuart Broad appeals confidently for an lbw decision against Ishant Sharma. Umpire Kumar Dharmasena turns down the claims though and the replays show the ball was slipping down leg.
2.02pm - WICKET! Binny c Root b Stokes 1; 345/8 - And another. Three wickets in 14 balls. Binny flashes a drive at Stokes that flies away to Joe Root at gully. The Yorkshireman holds on with his fingers pointing towards the sky in front of his face.
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1.58pm - WICKET! Dhoni run out (Anderson) 82; Ind 345/7 - Just like yesterday, England strike twice straight after lunch. It is a super piece of fielding from James Anderson that catches Mahendra Singh Dhoni just short of his ground. Dhoni called for the single, but did not bank on Anderson's direct hit.
1.50pm - WICKET! Jadeja c Prior b Stokes 25; Ind 344/6 - Ben Stokes strikes with his third ball after lunch. Ravindra Jadeja chases a wide delivery and feathers an edge behind for Matt Prior, who almost allowed it to bounce out of his hands. Debutant Stuart Binny walks to the crease.
Morning Session
1.03pm - LUNCH! Ind 342/5; Dhoni 81 Jadeja 24 - More hard graft for England in that session. Anderson claimed the only wicket of the morning to finally prise out Vijay after almost eight hours at the crease. Dhoni should have exited in the third over of the day too, when Prior spilled a chance away to his right off Broad. The India skipper has since edged towards a century.
12.59pm - A huge shout as Anderson thinks he has got Jadeja to feather an edge behind to Prior. The England players were all up as one, but umpire Oxenford was unmoved. Replays show the Aussie official was right. Good call.
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12.55pm - Moeen has been taken out of the attack after his three overs cost 20 runs. Most of those came from Jadeja's two big blows last over to send him out of the attack. Plunkett is back, and bowling around the wicket, to take us to lunch.
12.48pm - Jadeja responds to his close call by clouting Moeen for a pair of straight sixes. Moeen then slipped the last ball of the over through his defences, but a close shout for lbw was turned down by umpire Kumar Dharmasena.
12.44pm - CHANCE! - Stokes narrowly fails to run out Ravindra Jadeja. Dhoni dropped the ball just forward of point and Stokes raced in before unleashing a full-force throw that would have caught Jadeja well short. He missed and, to add to the frustration, the ball raced away for four overthrows.
12.34pm - WICKET! Vijay lbw Anderson 146; Ind 304/5 - Vijay's long innings is ended by an Anderson delivery that nips back in and catches him playing on the back foot. The ball struck high on the pad, but he was so far back in the crease that umpire Bruce Oxenford was able to line up his decision and raise his finger.
Hawkeye shows that the decision would have been over-turned on DRS. That bit of technology, of course, is not available to the players in this series.
12.30pm - Moeen Ali has his first bowl of the day. Dhoni tries to reverse-sweep the first delivery and the ball runs away for a couple of leg byes. Otherwise another two is all that came from a tidy over.
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12.17pm - Vijay confidently flicks a Plunkett half-volley through midwicket and the ball races to the rope to bring up India's 300. Vijay is 146. That was his 25th four, a century of sorts.
12.10pm - Dhoni's strange morning continues. He again jumps across his stumps and shovels out a cover drive of sorts that flew at a catchable height past the stacked off-side field. He did not appear to have complete control over where that ball was going, although you can never be quite sure with India skipper's unique style. Certainly he would not have intended to play the ball in the air with so many fielders in wait.
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12.02pm - The first drinks break of the day. We've had 15 overs so far with 31 runs scored. Vijay has done the bulk of the run-making with 20 added to his overnight score while Dhoni, who has had a curious morning, including being dropped by Prior, is 10 runs better off.
11.56am - Another Dhoni swish. It's not a marketable shot, but it comes with the territory with the way he plays. At the other end Vijay is a picture of technique and timing as he draws down onto one knee and slides a Stokes delivery through backward point for four. Glorious stroke.
11.45am - CENTURY PARTNERSHIP! - Dhoni and Vijay take their stand into three figures from 241 balls. Interestingly, this is the sixth time in the past 10 Tests against England that India's fifth wicket has put on 100.
11.41am - Double change as Liam Plunkett replaces Anderson while Ben Stokes is fit to go as he comes on for Broad, whose spell this morning was 5-3-8-0.
Plunkett's first over was a good one with a big shout for lbw against Dhoni, however, he had stepped far enough across his stumps to be hit outside the line. That is a tactic Dhoni has looked to employ to counter the low bounce.
11.36am - Vijay has played a few lovely strokes this morning, but none have been better than in the last over when he carved Broad through point off the back foot for four. It was a fair piece of placement too as the off side is well stacked.
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11.28am - Murali Vijay inside edges Broad, but the ball bounces well clear of the stumps. No reward as yet for this spell from the tall right-armer.
11.19am - Broad is bowling well this morning. He is teasing Dhoni with a good line outside off stump. The India skipper is prone to wafting without moving his feet. He's already been dropped doing just that and in the last over he swished again without making contact.
11.09am - CHANCE! - Matt Prior puts down a chance he might expect to take to give Mahendra Singh Dhoni a life on 50. Prior is having to stand quite close because of the inconsistent bounce and the ball was on him quickly. He got a good glove to it though, diving to his right, so he will feel he should have taken that.
11.03am - Stuart Broad starts the day with a maiden. The most notable moment of the first over was the second ball, which hardly bounced - albeit well wide of off stump.
Pre-Play News
10.55am - We're five minutes away from a start. The plethora of people who stand on the ground before play have all made their way off and we're ready to go.
10.45am - Ben Stokes was off the field for a period last night with what appeared to be an injury. He has been doing his bowling run-throughs this morning, albeit at half pace, so it will be interesting to see when Alastair Cook is ready to turn to him.
10.30am - Welcome to our live blog for the second day of the first Investec Test at Trent Bridge. There was speculation we could be in for some wet weather, however, we could not have a better morning. The sun is out and there is hardly a cloud in the sky.
