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It's been a while -- a long while -- since we saw Test cricket played at a pace so geriatric, the scoring rate rarely went over the 3-an-over mark.

While much has been made, and more will be, of England's [Images] absent batsmen Marcus Trescothick [Images] and Michael Vaughan [Images], due credit for this needs to be given to a new-found discipline India brought to the field.

England, opting for first strike on winning the toss, needed on this flat track to be around the 320 mark, at the least, for the loss of three, four tops. If England ended the first day short on runs and long on wickets lost, it owes to pressure created in the field and with the ball by a team prepared to play the patience game without letting up.

England could have been in a worse hole but for its captain. Andrew Flintoff [Images] came to the wicket on the back of just 115 runs made in six trips to the crease on the Pakistan tour -- but he clearly knew he was in the position of that French king who figured apr�s moi, le deluge.

With only Geraint Jones between him and an England tail that makes Glenn McGrath look like Vivian Richards, Flintoff in the final session of the day decided to get some runs while the getting was good.

No shot better illustrated the mindset than a straight drive in the 67th over, Kumble's first of the session. The ball was fairly decent, on line, on length, some loop and flight too � but Andrew Flintoff banged it back over the bowler's head before you could say 'Flintoff's bunny'.

The commentators were all along saying just that -- recalling the problems Flintoff has had on the previous tour. And Kumble did get his man again -- courtesy umpire Aleem Dar. The umpire had a good game till then; he had even, one ball before the fatal one, made an excellent call in favor of the batsman on a bat-pad appeal. Kumble fired one in quicker, fuller, Flintoff flicked at it, missed, and took it on the pad. It was in line -- but given the angle, was missing the leg stump when the finger went up (203/5; Flintoff 43 off 70).

Till that point, the England captain had played with considerable conviction, understandably eschewing flat out attack but managing to provide the motor force in a 67 run partnership with Paul Collingwood [Images] at a tick over 3 an over.

Outside of Cook, Paul Collingwood was the only England batsman on the day who showed he had the nerve, and the patience, to stay out there and grind it out against some challenging bowling. His technique against the spinners likely won't make it to the coaching manuals -- but his manner of waiting as late as he possible could before presenting bat to ball was effective; add to that the nous to spot the slightest error in length and line to make runs off, and that explains the effective vigil he mounted from the 51st over on.

Geraint Jones seemed pretty much at sea against both Kumble and Harbhajan. For the space of an over, he prospered against the assorted all sorts served up by Sachin Tendulkar [Images], used as a buffer between spin and seam -- but Irfan Pathan [Images], brought back to take the second new ball, showed there was enough life in the old one.

His first delivery (81st over) reversed late and big. The bowler followed up with a series of deliveries leaving the batsman late, then produced the one swinging back in; Jones, nicely primed by what had gone before, tucked bat behind pad, was struck in line on the pad before the ball cannoned onto the bat, and gave Aleem Dar a far easier call to make (225/6).

Collingwood, whose patient 126 ball vigil yielded 40 runs, added another ten off just two balls in the 85th over when he first creamed a full toss from Kumble to midwicket, then followed up with an up-and-over loft over wide long on for six to end the most expensive over after the morning session and move to his third successive Test 50, on the back of his 96 and 80 in the third Test against Pakistan in Lahore [Images].

Ian Blackwell is reputed to be a batsman who can bowl a bit -- here, he did that reputation no favors when he dragged a perfectly ordinary delivery from Pathan back onto his stumps with a no-percentage slash that pretty much symbolized England's thoughtless batting on the day (244/7; Blackwell 4/16).

The visitors ended on 246/7, and India could claim a second successive session after having restricted the batting side to 89 runs off 31 overs for the loss of three wickets -- a very, very good effort on a pitch good for batting.

India's virtue, on the day, was patience, as mentioned previously; England's governing vice was the lack thereof. By way of evidence, consider the completed partnerships: 56, 25, 29, 26, 67, 22, 19� --- not one, in there, with the endurance and productivity Test cricket demands.

Morning session report here, and Post-lunch session here.

With that, shutting down for the day; see you guys around 8.30 in the evening my time tomorrow.