There was a lot more to England’s Andrew Strauss and India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni walking out to toss at Lords overnight. It began a four-match series between the two current heavyweight champions of Test cricket: India ranked one, England two.
Dhoni won the toss, England finishing a severely rain-interrupted opening day at 2-127 off only 49.2 overs – with Jonathan Trott on 55 and Kevin Pietersen 22.
But this Test is one of major milestones, the likes of which have never been matched at one venue. And how the English like to party when tradition and history surfaces.
This one is a bonanza.
* It’s the 2,000th Test, with the first in 1877 between England and Australia at the MCG, Australia winning by 45 runs.
* It took 100 years to play the first 803 Tests, but only 34 years to play the next 1,197.
* By comparison, there have been 3,172 ODIs in 40 years.
* This is the 100th Test between England and India, and England has won 14 of their 15 meetings at Lords.
* Champion Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar is poised to make his 100th international century – so far 51 in Tests, 48 in ODIs – in his 22nd year of international cricket.
* The odds suggest the extraordinary milestone won’t be reached at the home of cricket, where Tendulkar’s top-score in Tests is 37 from seven digs, and 52 in ODIs from three.
* But there are still three Tests left in the series, at Old Trafford, Edgbaston, and The Oval.
* And the fourth milestone: Indian coach Duncan Fletcher is the first to reach 100 Tests as a national coach – 96 for England from 1999-2007, including regaining the Ashes in 2005 to end an 18-year drought, and four Tests for India, having recently taken over from Gary Kirsten for the tour of the Windies.
As if the milestones aren’t enough, there’s a huge amount of talent and experience on show over the next four days:
England’s selected Andrew Strauss (86 Tests), Alastair Cook (69), Jonathan Trott (22), Kevin Pietersen (75), Ian Bell (66), Eoin Morgan (10), Matt Prior (44), Stuart Broad (38), Graeme Swann (33), Chris Tremlett (10), and James Anderson with 60.
All up 513 caps.
India’s named Gautam Gambhir (39), Abhinav Mukund (4), Rahul Dravid (154), Sachin Tendulkar (178), VVS Laxman (124), Dhoni (58), Suresh Raina (12), Harbhajan Singh (97), Praveen Kumar (4), Zaheer Khan (79), and Ishant Sharma’s 35.
A massive 784 caps.
As an aside:
* Dravid has batted the longest time in Test career history (43,233 minutes, or a tick over 30 days).
* Tendulkar has scored the most runs (14,692), made the most centuries (51), and played the most Tests (178).
Now it’s up to Mother Nature to behave and not ruin what promises to be a rare, and historic, Test.
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