Alastair Cook described the Trent Bridge pitch as 'unique'. I bet that's not the word he and his bowling team-mates called it behind closed doors! Three incomplete innings, no rain and rather scorecards made for a 'unique' Test match, but it failed to provide any real idea of who might win this much-anticipated series.
On the first day, Jimmy Anderson was moaning about the pitch and, when he bowls almost 60 overs for four wickets and spends almost four hours at the crease as a number eleven batsman, he had justification. Not only did he play his part in a world record tenth wicket partnership (with Joe Root) but Bhuvneshwar Kumar became only the second number nine to score two fifties in a match and himself shared a century final wicket stand with another number eleven half-centurion, Mohammed Shami (previous first class battig average of around nine!).
Then there was the debutant Stuart Binny, batting at eight, whose 78 effectively ensured the series opener would fizzle out into a draw and its comical climax.
Speaking of which, those final few minutes provided the amusing spectacle of Alastair Cook bowling an over of donkey dropper spin and then slow-motion Bob Willis impressions before bemusing Ishant Sharma into glancing him into Prior's gloves and giving the England captain his first Test wicket! Match batting averages 5 and 82, bowling averages 6 and 42.5. Which is the number eleven and which the opener?!
It wasn't all about the lower order batting heroes. Anderson may have won the Man of the Match award but we should remember the skill and patience of genuine willow wielders like Murali Vijay and Joe Root. The Indian number one delivered the runs such a low and slow pitch cried out for, starting with 146 and then 52 on the fourth day. The Yorkshireman demonstrated his trademark resilience in England's first innings, leading to that 198-run stand with Anderson and an undefeated 154. Dhoni, Ballance, Pujara and Robson each passed fifty once, but only Vijay and Kumar did so twice.
Cook wasn't the only one floundering for runs. The last-session shenanigans contained time-wasting at least as comical as his bowling, and made sure that England would not need to bat again. He could ill afford to don pads, emerge to face MSD or Dhawan and face the ignominy of being LBW for a duck! Pity poor Virat Kohli. The new Indian superstar did bat twice, and on such a benign pitch, was able to scrape together a paltry nine runs from 37 balls. Of course he is better than that, as is Cook. They will surely score runs later in the series, possibly even Lord's, although it's Root who has the best pedigree at HQ.
I'm glad Simon Kerrigan has been recalled to the squad and has the chance to redeem himself after a poor spell at The Oval last summer. Ironically he has done little to merit inclusion on 2014 stats but, with Panesar giving Luis Suarez a run for his money for sporting pariah, I don't know who else the selectors could turn to for left arm spin. Moeen Ali claimed four victims but was painfully profligate at times. As for the seamers, Anderson got the MOTM but Stuart Broad's economy rate of under two was remarkable on a bat-friendly track, and Kumar turned up the only five-for.
Whether or not Anderson opens with Robson and Kumar with Vijay, the ECB will be desperate not to repeat the Nottngham-style pitch preparation so it'll probably be wrapped up inside three days with Kerrigan and Ali taking twelve wickets between them. And Cook finishing things off with eight wickets in the guise of Swann, Murali and Shane Warne.
