CRICKET: Patience has been Paul Collingwood's worthiest virtue in the Test series against India to date and he believes more of the same will be the key to England success.
Collingwood batted brilliantly in Nagpur last week when he struck a maiden Test hundred and he had spent almost nine hours undefeated at the crease in the campaign to date when Anil Kumble produced a fizzer which kissed the off-bail yesterday.
To increase his sense of discomfort on a frustrating day, Collingwood also aggravated an old wrist injury.
His departure represented the solitary inroad for India on the second day at the Punjab Cricket Association, however, as less than 15 overs were possible due to bad light and further rain.
England closed on 200 for five with captain Andrew Flintoff, who won the toss, and Geraint Jones entrusted with building a score big enough to cause Rahul Dravid's team some discomfort.
They will have to be watchful against Kumble given the turn and bounce he extracted from a leg-stump line to beat Collingwood's tentative prod. Kumble is now only two wickets shy of becoming only the fifth man in Test history, and first Indian, to reach the 500-mark.
Collingwood has certainly got a close look at Kumble during the tour to date and compares the 35-year-old favourably with fellow spinners Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan.
"He's a world-class bowler, who is hard to face on any wicket. It was a pretty good ball but I have to be critical of myself," said Collingwood. "I maybe could have got a little further out to it.
"I have faced quite a lot of Kumble in one-day internationals as well but when you come up against him in his own backyard he is difficult to contend with.
"That's the same for any of those three, they have all got their strengths, whether it be turning the ball massively like Warne and Murali or having the accuracy like Kumble does.
"He is the one bowler who is going to bowl a lot of overs at us so the main thing is to stay pretty patient with him.
"All the bowlers offer something but because of the amount he bowls he is the main one we have to combat."
Play began half an hour earlier in a bid to make up time lost to the first day's gloom and both Flintoff and Collingwood found the boundary off fast bowler Munaf Patel in the opening overs.
It was working a delivery for a single to mid-on off Kumble which caused Collingwood grief and physio Kirk Russell ran out to strap the left wrist.
"It is just a niggle I picked up in Pakistan during the last one-dayer," said Collingwood. "When I played a shot I heard it clunk again but it feels better than it did there so touch wood it should be fine."
When the players initially left the field at 10.32am, umpires Darrell Hair and Simon Taufel ordered the floodlights be switched on. But no further action was possible due to the poor visibility prior to lunch and the persistent showers afterwards.Scoreboard
India v England (Mohali)
Overnight: England 163 for 4 (K P Pietersen 64).
England: First Innings
P D Collingwood b Kumble 25
A Flintoff not out 26
G O Jones not out 7
Extras lb1 nb4 pens 0 5
Total 5 wkts (65 overs) ... 200
Fall: 1-35, 2-36, 3-117, 4-157, 5-180.
To Bat: L E Plunkett, M J Hoggard, S J Harmison, M S Panesar.
Bowling: Pathan 19-4-63-2; M M Patel 16-1-59-1; Harbhajan Singh 6-0-15-0; Piyush Chawla 5-1-20-0; Kumble 19-6-42-2.
Play abandoned for the day, rain.
