England : captain Alastair Cook maintained his side were ready to go on
and win the abandoned first one-day international against India until
rain intervened.India appeared to have the upper hand after posting a score of 274-7
with Parthiv Patel making 95 and had England 27-2 in 7.2 overs.But Cook was confident his side - now aiming to add the world number one
ranking in 50-over cricket to their Test status as top of the ranking -
could have overhauled the Indians."Anything can happen," Cook told reporters after the premature end to the match."That was a very good wicket and a quick outfield - 275 was gettable.India looked like posting a score over 300 but Samit Patel's spin put
the brakes on with his ten overs costing just 42 runs in the absence of
Graeme Swann who has a virus.Cook added: "He was under pressure knowing we needed to get ten overs out of him against a side who play spin very well.praveen Kumar took both wickets - captain Alastair Cook edged onto his stumps and Craig Kieswetter was trapped leg before.
But India are sweating on the fitness of Sachin Tendulkar who will see a
surgeon on Monday about an old toe injury that kept him out of this
game.Patel's 95 came from 107 balls with 12 fours and he shared a stand of 103 for the second wicket with Virat Kohli who made 55.Patel's well-paced innings looked like giving him his first three figure
score for Indian until he was caught behind of James Anderson giving
the England bowler his 200th wicket in one-day internationals.Suresh Raina added 38 from 29 balls before he was deceived by a slower
bouncer from Jade Denbach and gave Alastair Cook a simple catch at leg
slip and while captain MS Dhoni was there towards the end of the innings
a total of 300 looked possible but the Indians stalled in the final
overs as England snapped up three wickets in the last two overs.On a gloomy day in the north east of England Cook put India in after
winning the toss but his bowlers struggled as the Indian opening pair of
Patel and Ajinkya Rahane put on 87 for the first wicket.Rahane was first to go - caught in at fine leg by Samit Patel top-edging
a hook from Stuart Broad - and Rahul Dravid went for just two.Dravid edged a ball from Stuart Broad to Craig Kieswetter but stood him ground when the England side appealed.The Hot Spot technology failed to pick up the edge but third umpire
Marais Erasmus told the on-field officials he had heard a noise and that
was enough for Dravid to be given out.But Indian captain MS Dhoni said: "There was nothing on hot spot and he
was given not out - the benefit of the doubt always goes to the batsman.
I still don't know how they gave him out."Kohli and Patel took the score on before Patel, sniffing his milestone,
tamely edged behind and Rohit Sharma was hit on the hand first ball by
Broad and retired hurt.Raina and Dhoni swung the bat - but the steady loss of wickets meant
India could not get away from England and two wickets in the last over
of the innings for Tim Bresnan put the brakes on.With Tendulkar missing the match his wait for his 100th international hundred goes on.
