The Ashes 2013: 2nd Test, Day 1 - Quick Flicks of the day

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II shakes hands with England captain Alastair Cook, watched by ECB Chairman Giles Clarke (centre), ahead of the first day of the second Test between England and Australia at Lord’s on July 18, 2013 in London, England. The English players were certainly feeling the pressure. (Getty Images)

Feeling the ‘Royal’ pressure?

The opening day of Lord’s Test match was graced by the presence of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who met players of both sides and witnessed an hour of play.

In that hour however, England lost 3 wickets at a paltry score of 28. She left quickly after Kevin Pietersen‘s dismissal. 99 runs were scored for the fourth wicket before England suffered another loss after her departure.

Probably the nerves of playing in front of Her Majesty got the better of the English top order.

Welcome back DRS!

It took just 32 deliveries into the first day of the second Test for that ‘harbinger of all that’s bad in cricket’ Decision Review System to create yet another ‘controversy’.

Joe Root was given LBW to a Ryan Harris delivery by Kumar Dharmasena when he was late on to a drive as the ball hit his pads in front of the wicket. Root himself wasn’t sure and after discussions with Jonathan Trott at the other end, decided to review the decision.

It was yet another instance of the third-umpire not having conclusive evidence to overturn on-field umpire’s decision as the hot-spot found a mark on the inside edge of the bat, but whether it came off the ball or the pad, couldn’t be determined on closer inspection.

Oh, how you were missed, the great technical marvel of this century!

Bringing back Bairstow

Ashes and dismissals off no-balls; it’s a surprise how many such incidents we’ve seen in recent times.

On the first day, it was Jonny Bairstow who found that he was not the only one paying attention when he took his eyes off the ball, letting it slip between his bat and pads and crash onto the stumps. When the umpires checked upstairs, Peter Siddle had his foot marginally over the line, resulting in the non-dismissal.

Harris claimed later that the mistake was ‘unacceptable’. With the 144-run partnership that Bairstow had with Bell, it may well be a moment which decides the fate of the match.

The run-up markings

Shortly after the no-ball, the commentators discussed how the markings on the ground helped the bowlers take their run-up without any glitches.

The TV cameras focussed on the markings laid out on the ground for the bowlers and sure enough, watching the bowlers put their feet inch perfect on the white lines on the grass, the no-balls come as a surprise in this age of marking tapes and technical analysis.

By the way, a line was marked with TB and a smiley at its side, probably a welcome for Tim Bresnan on his inclusion in the team.

Steve Waugh at tea

At tea break, Sky Sports presenter David Gower hosted Steve Waugh, who was earlier given the honour of ringing the bell at Lord’s before witnessing the other Bell mark the occasion with a century. (Yes, I couldn’t resist)

It was quite a chat as Waugh discussed about his injuries of the past and how difficult it was to recover. From terming the attack of the great Australian team of the past as ‘once in a generation’, making it clear that it was impossible for any single team to dominate all formats in the current scenario, praising DRS for doing more good than bad, and stating the need of a sharper technology, to talking about his new book, watching Waugh felt great.

Oh and why was he sweating so much in the studio? Waugh blamed it on the fact that he was sitting next to Russell Crowe in the stadium.