England v India: second Test

England v India: second TestEngland v India: second Test

18th over: India 42-1 (Vijay 20, Pujara 8)

Another edge, another boundary. This time it flies to the right of the man at gully. And then Vijay pushes the ball past Broad at mid-off, making him sprint after it all the way to the ropes but also giving him no chance of actually catching it. Another four. "Here in Germany it’s cauliflowersoup (Blumenkohlsuppe) fruitsalad (Obstsalat) or even treacletart (Melassentorte) so that all makes sense to me," writes Berlin-based Martin Dixon of that lunch menu.
12.20pm BST

17th over: India 34-1 (Vijay 12, Pujara 8)

Anderson gets a breather, with Stokes getting a bowl. And a decent over it is to, getting much closer to the length everyone (except the ones bowling) have been demanding this morning. There's one lbw shout, but the ball is on its way across Pujara's stumps and out the other side. "Is nitpicking one word, too?" wonders Adam Czarnowski. Touché.
12.16pm BST

16th over: India 34-1 (Vijay 12, Pujara 8)

A good over from Plunkett, who has Vijay squirming repeatedly. How the batsman got through that over without edging the ball into someone's grateful mitts, or indeed anywhere else (to be fair he did edge one, but it landed well short of fourth slip) I simply do not know.

"I once met an ergonomist at a party (no kidding - he had a PHD and everything)," recalls Robert Wilson. "He was an irritable kind of man, tortured by a wife who put bookshelves in front of light switches and tables in front of electrical sockets. He told me two things. That I had the worst posture he had ever seen in a healthy adult and that cricket bowling was the most ergonomically illiterate human activity he could think of. Strangely, Jimmy Anderson was the one exception to his indignant theory. He said he was highly operative. So, that must be nice."
12.12pm BST

15th over: India 34-1 (Vijay 12, Pujara 8)

After the famine, the feast: not only is this not another Anderson maiden, there's barely a dot ball – instead there are three singles and a four flashed through long leg. Here's the players' lunchtime menu. I don't know what you think of it, but my thoughts are: I can just about handle "stirfry" and "cheesecake" but there's no way that "icecream" is just one word. If you're putting "icecream" on the menu, you might as well have "fruitsalad" and "treacletart".



12.07pm BST

14th over: India 27-1 (Vijay 10, Pujara 3)

Liam Plunkett replaces Broad, and there's a no ball and a leg bye. Apparently some of you aren't seeing the score updates, just the paragraph of twaddle that I produce underneath them. I can't explain it. I can see them. And, talking of technological malfunctions: "What’s happened to your Scoreboard and Desktop Scoreboard?" asks Archie Campbell. "Can we have them back please?" The answer to your first question is: they've temporarily gone, and will return soon from another supplier. The answer to your second question is: yes, but not today. Sorry.
12.03pm BST

13th over: India 25-1 (Vijay 10, Pujara 3)

Anderson's over (another maiden) is interrupted two deliveries in by a lengthy drinks break. "Hi," says Paul Ward. Hello. "How many people have commented on Anderson landing an early blow?" Amazingly, you're the very first. Well done.



12th over: India 25-1 (Vijay 10, Pujara 3)

On Sky, the commentators are grumbling about Alastair Cook's captaincy. Which makes a nice change. England don't have enough players in catching positions, they say. Whatever, the first hour was supposed to be a hellish procession of broken batsmen heading to and from changing rooms, but has in fact been rather sedate.
11.51am BST

11th over: India 20-1 (Vijay 8, Pujara 0)

The second boundary of the day is a near-exact re-enactment of the first – an edge that flies between third slip and gully – and denies Anderson a sixth straight maiden. There's also an lbw shout against Vijay, though the umpire Kumar Dharmasena is unimpressed (Hawkeye thinks it would have just clipped the bails).


10th over: India 16-1 (Vijay 4, Pujara 0)

One delicious delivery straightens and zips an inch wide of Pujara's bat, a really lovely bit of bowling. India add one to their scoreline with some sharp running, and after 10 overs leg bye has scored nearly a third of their runs.
11.41am BST

9th over: India 15-1 (Vijay 4, Pujara 0)

Anderson's been listening to what everybody has been grumbling about, and angles his first three deliveries into Pujara before getting the fourth to move away just a tad. The batsman leaves it. That's Anderson's fifth over of the day, and his fifth maiden.
11.37am BST

8th over: India 15-1 (Vijay 4, Pujara 0)

The batsmen aren't being forced into action here. They're just leaving everything that isn't going to actually hit them, and that means about 80% of deliveries bounce harmlessly into Prior's gloves. Bah.
11.33am BST

7th over: India 15-1 (Vijay 4, Pujara 0)

"So how do you discipline yourself Simon?" wonders Ravi Nair, as Anderson continues to convince the ball to zip this way and also that but without tempting Pujara into anything regrettable. "I suddenly have a vision of Graun Towers with an extra-long hair brush that the OBOers use when necessary, bending over, whacking hard and letting out soft, left-wing shrieks …" It's an interesting idea. Imagine if someone let out an involuntary right-wing shriek. They'd be hounded out of the building.
11.29am BST

6th over: India 15-1 (Vijay 4, Pujara 0)

"That's a class toss that," hums Sam Cottis. "You can tell from the skyward glances, as if the coin has sprung towards the heaven like a rocket from his thumb." It was indeed mighty fine work. Meanwhile Vijay drives Broad's first delivery through point for four.
11.26am BST

5th over: India 11-1 (Vijay 0, Pujara 0)

Fact: Anderson is now level with Botham as the all-time greatest Lord's Test wicket-taker, with 69 (this is his 16th Test, where Beefy played 15). After them come Trueman (63, 12 Tests), Broad (52 in 13), Willis (47 i 9) and Statham (45 in 9).
Updated at 11.26am BST
11.20am BST

4th over: India 11-1 (Vijay 0, Pujara 0)

This was a good toss to win, truly it was. Just to prove it, Broad gets the ball to move away from Vijay but just beyond the bat. Then Vijay does edge the last ball of the over, Prior dives to his right but the ball dips sharply at the last moment, he slightly misjudges its flight and the chance goes down.

And yes, I know the scoreline said Sri Lanka after Dhawan's wicket fell. I have disciplined the person responsible*. We can get over this.

* It was me. Sorry.

England captain Alastair Cook tosses the coin alongside Mahendra Singh Dhoni of India ahead of day one of the second Test at Lord's. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
3rd over: India 11-1 (Vijay 0, Pujara 0)

Anderson is getting plenty of movement – the wicket ball, for example, started well wide of leg stump and caught the bat level with off stump. Promising signs. "Are we meant to assume from your stats that, as captain, Cook is a useless tosser?" wonders Peter Haden. Well as you can see this morning's was technically impeccable, so maybe he's been practicing in his bedroom at night.

WICKET! Dhawan c Ballance b Anderson 7 (India 11-1)

That's a fine catch! Anderson bowls across Dhawan and the ball catches the edge near the shoulder of the bat and flies to third slip, where Ballance takes it at his toes.
Updated at 11.16am BST
11.09am BST

2nd over: India 11-0 (Vijay 0, Dhawan 7)

Edge! From Broad's first ball it flies off Dhawan's bat and heads between third slip and gully and away for four. It may cheer England slightly that it probably didn't carry. The over also features four leg byes, as one of a few deliveries angled down the leg side catches Dhawan's thigh pad and disappears through fine leg. "Given how winning the toss makes such a difference to the prospects of winning a match (Zaltzman to insert figures; he's off the Bugle at the mo so he's got time), does it get to the point of picking a captain because of his prowess at the toss?" wonders Bob Miller. "Or perhaps the captain gets to send up a champion, much in the way that Mike Brearley wasn't really a batting, bowling or all rounder captain?"
11.05am BST

1st over: India 0-0 (Vijay 0, Dhawan 0)

Anderson takes the over-one duties and his second delivery is a snorter, jagging back a bit off the seam and beating Vijay's outside edge. A maiden.
10.58am BST

The players are now out. James Anderson has done some last-minute medecine-ball flinging. This is happening.
10.55am BST

The Lord's bell has been rung (by Rahul Dravid, since you ask), which can only mean one thing: cricket!

Um, in five minutes.
10.50am BST
Behind the scenes with the Lord's Pavilion Stewards

This has just been put online by Lord's, or someone who works there. It is almost precisely as exciting as it sounds.