Ganguly inherits Hussain's bowling worries

India captain Saurav Ganguly left Trent Bridge with the expression of a man just spared the hangman's noose but still not quite sure whether the reprieve would prove temporary or permanent.

His side had just waged a spirited rearguard action to save the second Test, scoring a monumental, stylish 424 for eight declared to avoid both defeat and a terminal 2-0 deficit in the four-match series. Yet Ganguly was not smiling.

He already knew he (99), Rahul Dravid (115) and Sachin Tendulkar (92) could bat. It was the bowlers who were on his mind.

"I think they're capable of doing a much better job than this," he said. "We're a better side than we showed in this Test match.

"I hope there's improvement before the next Test."

Ganguly, indeed, has 1,405 reasons to be concerned.

England have accumulated that total in three incomplete innings, each wicket sold for an average of 54 runs. At Trent Bridge, England piled up 617 in their one innings.

True, it was a fine batting track, but the home bowlers still came close to dismissing India twice. Ganguly's attack has not threatened to do that in either Test.

Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan, while relatively inexperienced, came to England as exciting prospects, both capable of swinging the ball and both posing awkward questions as left-armers.

Neither, however, has yet made a major dent in English battle lines, while Ajit Agarkar's medium-paced support has been even more anonymous.

TRUMP CARD

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was meant to be the trump card at Nottingham but he went for 175 in taking three wickets.

"He had an ordinary game by his standards," Ganguly said. "But he's world class and he hasn't had much cricket before this Test.

"I know he'll sort himself out."

Intriguingly, it was his opposite number Nasser Hussain who began the English summer by moaning about bowlers.

After England had escaped with a draw in the first Test against Sri Lanka, Hussain had been similarly dismissive of his 'pie throwers' -- as English bowlers were once memorably derided by Australia's Rod Marsh, now the head of England's national academy for up-and-coming players.

England, Hussain said, had spent too long hiding behind English conditions, taking easy wickets on damp, seaming green-tops but failing miserably on less helpful surfaces.

Give me bowlers of mystery, he had wailed, men of real pace or purveyors of mysterious wrist spin. Give me 20 wickets a game.

His dream has begun to come true far quicker than he imagined.

RIB-THREATENING BOUNCE

In the first Test against India, young strike bowler Simon Jones was blooded, taking four wickets and sending Virender Sehwag's off-stump cartwheeling.

In the second, Steve Harmison, another 90mph man but favouring rib-threatening bounce rather than skidding pace, began finding his feet after a nervous start. He even snatched Ganguly's wicket on the final day at Trent Bridge.

"I'm very surprised and very pleased," a beaming Hussain said of the pair. "I didn't want them to be raw and hurl it everywhere.

"You need to be a bowler first and they're proper bowlers."

Matthew Hoggard has made a rapid improvement in the absence of the injured Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick, while Andrew Flintoff has transformed himself into an genuine threat with the ball

The result is that England, despite the lack of a spinner on the far horizon, suddenly have a bowling force of exciting promise and while none are yet of Harbhajan's proven class, they are turning heads and lifting morale.

Ganguly will be hoping for something similar from his quick men in the third test at Headingley.

Mail Cricket Editor