Cricket: Hosts 'in with a shout' of victory after regaining momentum

STUART Broad felt England regained some momentum after his half-century gave the hosts what may prove to be a competitive first innings total on the opening day of the second npower Test against India.

Broad, playing in front of a home crowd at Trent Bridge, was called upon to bat with England labouring on 124 for eight, but his 64, at almost a run a ball steered the hosts to 221 all out.

The 25-year-old said that although India dominated the opening day, the tail wagging, coupled with the quick wicket of Abhinav Mukund at the start of India's innings, had brought England back into the match.

"India certainly won three-quarters of the day but we managed to grab a bit of momentum back towards the end and probably ended up a bit disappointed not to pick up more wickets," he said. "Unfortunately we lost six pretty quick wickets but we are still in with a shout of winning the Test match. It is swinging consistently as it always does at Trent Bridge."

Broad also refused to lay any blame on the failure of England's top order batsmen to score runs and highlighted this morning as a crucial session in the match.

He said: "It (my innings] was good fun, I think at tea Swanny and myself thought we were going to grab the momentum back a little bit and if it was in our area we were going to score.

"You can't look and blame anyone for throwing their wickets away, I thought India bowled pretty well. The ball has done a little bit today and it was a good toss to win.

"We know the morning sessions are key, turning up tomorrow we know we have got to make early inroads by hitting disciplined areas. I think the way we bowled this evening was encouraging because we didn't chase wickets."