India v England ? live! | Tom Bryant and Rob Smyth

46th over: England 127-1 (need 330 to avoid an innings defeat; Cook 86, Trott 0) That was a lovely ball from Zaheer Khan, pitching on leg and catching Compton low on the shin. Meanwhile, at the other end, Cook takes his life in his hands with a swished sweep. He gets four, while a miss would have had him out lbw.

"Along the lines of Trott and catches not taken," fibs Matthew, who has a good story anyway so what the hell. "I once managed to insert my foot into the front wheel of my bicycle and fly head over handlebars onto the pavement. Convinced my parents that the neighbour kid did it to me."

WICKET! Compton 37 lbw Khan (England 123-1) Khan goes back to over the wicket and catches Compton full in front of the stumps. Slight question of whether it pitched outside leg but, no, the replays show that was fine. Dhoni must be breathing a sigh of relief after that missed stumping. Here comes Trott, on a pair.

45th over: England 123-0 (need 330 to avoid an innings defeat; Cook 82, Compton 37) Khan comes round the wicket to Compton and the batsman is late and beaten on the inside edge. Dhoni takes a tumbling catch behind. More than a whisper of reverse now. But then ...

44th over: England 123-0 (need 330 to avoid an innings defeat; Cook 82, Compton 37) Dhoni has just missed the simplest stumping. Compton came dancing down the wicket and was entirely beaten by the flight. Dhoni simply didn't react, the ball bouncing off him and harmlessly to leg. A shocker from the Indian captain.

43rd over: England 120-0 (need 330 to avoid an innings defeat; Cook 80, Compton 36) Khan's not exactly roaring in, hurling the thing down at a lick under 80mph. But there is a suspicion of reverse, a whisper at this stage. Compton appears unperturbed and prods a sharp single to Yuvraj at point. Cook scraped home by an inch. A run out then wouldn't have been exactly ideal for England. Khan then brings one back sharply from outside off and, despite the fact it hits the bat first, Khan gives it a good appeal anyway.

42nd over: England 119-0 (need 330 to avoid an innings defeat; Cook 80, Compton 35) A silly point has come in for Compton now as Ashwin does the batsman with his other one, second ball. His third raps Compton on the pad, jagging back from well outside off but probably heading past the leg stump. Leg bye, followed by a couple of singles.

"Good morning Tom," chirps the unprepared Chris Bourne. "Not being a great cricketer, even at school, I was never very well prepared. But I suppose the nadir was coming out in suede hush puppies paired with one red and one yellow sock, on account of having to borrow boots, and discovering that nobody, but nobody, had feet as large as mine.

"Now that Hope is propping at the bar with her moth-eaten falsies and her come-hither pout, we are firmly into the jinx zone, so the least said about the match the better. It is, however, another opportunity for Ian Ronald to play a Significant Innings, as opposed to knocking off centuries at the fag end of a dead rubber. I hope we don't see him until tomorrow, though."

41st over: England 116-0 (need 330 to avoid an innings defeat; Cook 79, Compton 34) Cook chops Khan to the boundary. A full wide one outside off is not something Cook needs a second invitation for. He leaves the final ball of the over, which cut in from outside off and fizzed past his off stump.

"Re. getting into hopeless situations," emails a full and frank Harry Tuttle, at this time of the morning too. "The first time I had sex with my ex she cried. We stayed together for seven years."

40th over: England 112-0 (need 330 to avoid an innings defeat; Cook 75, Compton 34) Ashwin bowls from the other end, his wobbley-armed run-up sending a series of well-pitched-up deliveries to in and around Cook's feet. The batmsan forces a single into the leg side to remove the prospect of Nelson striking. It's a noticeably less attacking field now, with just a short leg and slip in to Compton.

39th over: England 111-0 (need 330 to avoid an innings defeat; Cook 74, Compton 34) Zaheer Khan opens proceedings coming over the wicket to Compton, with two slips waiting behind. His first three are sighters at or around the off stump, his fourth is a slower ball bowled out his knuckles which Compton blocks easily enough. An attempted yorker, with a touch of reverse, from around the wicket finishes a maiden. Nelson is is still on...

Apparently Matt Prior was in the altogether moments before he was called into bat yesterday, not expecting those above him to crumble quite so ineptly. A desperate scramble for pads, clothes and dignity ensued. So, what's the least prepared you've been before an innings - we're talking string jockstrap, and rolled up newspaper as a thigh pad? Also, in honour of Jonathan Trott, we may as well hear catches that were given that you know you didn't take too.

Early news is that the pitch has apparently not fallen apart overnight, with the weather not being quite so hot as expected. So that's something for England, who will no doubt find themselves hoping to simply bat defensively for as much of the next two days as they can manage. Which reminds me - when was the last time you got yourselves into something hopeless?

What passes for a preamble at this time of the morning: In 1999, a friend and backpacked around India in the mistaken belief (on my part) we were hippies. We arrived in Ahmedabad after 48 hours in the back of a jeep that bounced and bruised us sleeplessly over the desert. Tired, ratty and spoiling for a fight, we didn't take to the place and left as soon as we could. I wrote, in my somewhat pretentious diary, that it was "the most unfriendly place on earth".

It was a statement base on supposition, preconception and fear and is likely entirely inaccurate. Had I spent longer in town, I'm sure I would have come to have loved it. But I didn't. I high-tailed it to Bhavnagar.

I mention this not because my teenaged travelling is of interest but because it bears a parallel to England's travails. Turn up to the crease in Ahmedabad, freak out and go mad (Belly?) and you're out of there before you've had time to get the feel of the place. Take the time to stick around and soak in the atmosphere, and you might find yourselves on 111 without loss, thinking 'Bugger Bhavnagar, let's stick about'. Fortunately for England fans, that's just what Cook and Compton did last night.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/nov/18/india-england-live-first-test

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