England wary of Tendulkar's century dream

First Test: A patched-up home side face a confident Indian team whose top batsman is keen to pass a Lord's milestone

What do Don Bradman, Garfield Sobers, Denis Compton, Vivian Richards, Allan Border and even Michael Vaughan have on their CV that Sachin Tendulkar does not? A Test match hundred at Lord's.

For Tendulkar, a man who has passed many batting records and will surely break nearly every one that the game has to offer, this is one of the few exclusive clubs of which he he is still to become a member. Several, like the 50 international hundreds union, he has started himself, but there can be little doubt that Tendulkar would happily swap one of the 62 hundreds he has scored in his career to date for one over the next five days as England take on India in the first Test at Lord's.

This omission is a fact the little master will have found very hard to get away from as he prepared for this Test match. Each time he sits down, relaxes and looks around the visitors' dressing room he will see honours boards containing past performances at this ground which currently do not feature his name.

This board is not particularly awash with Indian success stories. Only six Indian players have scored centuries at the home of cricket and the visitors have won only one Test match, in 1986, and lost nine of the 13 played here between these two countries. Another startling omission from the roll of honour is Tendulkar's childhood hero, and the man whose pads he was wearing when he scored his debut Test hundred against England at Old Trafford in 1990 at the age of 17, Sunil Gavaskar.

Tendulkar failed to score a Lord's Test century on either that tour or on India's following visit in 1996. Alongside Alec Stewart, who today becomes England's most capped Test cricketer, Tendulkar will be keenest to mark the occasion.

Two players who have already scored centuries at Lord's are the captains, England's Nasser Hussain and India's Sourav Ganguly. Both yesterday put their teams through their final paces before today's 11.00 start, but that is where the similarity in their preparations ends.

While the visitors' build-up to this game has been fairly smooth and painless after their confidence-boosting success in the one-day series, England's has been an on-going saga of withdrawals and worries.

Hussain's problems did not end yesterday, even though every England player for once left practice in the same physical state in which he arrived. The bad news came from Sheffield, where Darren Gough, who withdrew from the England squad on Monday, saw his knee specialist and was advised to rest for a further two weeks.

There have been mutterings from Gough that he was forced to play in last week's Roses match between Yorkshire and Lancashire and this was the reason for his latest setback. Hussain was quick to talk down such a potentially damaging breach when he said: "There is no conflict between us [the selectors] and Darren. Darren wanted to play in this Test match and we told him that to do this he had to prove he could bowl for two or three days running. Darren said: 'OK, I will give it a go'."

Hussain added: "I was not that surprised to see that he didn't make it through the game, but I think he has been handled perfectly."

It is hard to fault the selectors over their stance. They need to be sure a player is fit to play before selecting him. Hard as it may sound, it is better if a player breaks down in a county game than a Test match. At the age of 31, and having played more than 50 Tests for his country, Gough should know more than anyone what his body is capable of. It must now be doubtful whether he will be seen again playing for England this summer.

Gough's absence and that of Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Caddick and Alex Tudor gives opportunities to several England players and Hussain will be hoping his second-string bowling attack performs as admirably as they did during their winter tour of India.

It was on the sub-continent before Christmas that Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff successfully laid down their credentials and this match will give Glamorgan's raw fast bowler, Simon Jones, the chance to do the same on his debut.

Jones, son of the former England left-arm seamer Jeff, was in the England squad for each of the Tests against Sri Lanka earlier this summer, but failed to make the final 11. However, after Gough's withdrawal Hussain is likely to turn to Jones when looking for an extra cutting edge and Dominic Cork when requiring experience. Craig White now looks the unfortunate one to miss out.

Talking about the Swansea-born Welshman, Hussain said: "He has pace, but any world-class batsman will tell you it is not all about pace. It is also about where you put the ball and how you out-think a batsman that counts. It is how you use your pace that is important. I will have to stand at mid-off, talk to him and help him to learn."

The surface this game is being played on will not have brought a smile to Hussain's face. The pitch appears dry, slightly cracked and slow in pace, far from what the home side would have wanted against a visiting side at home on such surfaces.

The wicket will have helped India in the only dilemma that faces them, namely the balance of their attack. Torn between playing three seamers and one spinner, it would be a surprise if they did not now play their two best bowlers, the spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

The toss will be important, with each side looking to bat first. Hussain will feel he deserves at least one bit of luck after a troublesome week. Tendulkar may think otherwise.

England (probable): Hussain (c), Butcher, Vaughan, Thorpe, Crawley, Stewart, Flintoff, Cork, Giles, Hoggard, Jones.

India (probable):Ganguly (c), Jaffer, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ratra, Singh, Kumble, Nehra, Khan.

England to host Trophy

England will host the next International Cricket Council's Champions Trophy in 2004.

The ICC have also announced that the bi-annual event, which will take place in Sri Lanka this September, will revert to India in 2006. This year's ICC Champions Trophy, formerly known as the ICC Knockout, will be the third of its kind after earlier tournaments in Bangladesh and Kenya.

The 2004 Trophy is also set for September. "We have decided we will play this at the end of the season after all the international commitments have been completed," Tim Lamb, the England and Wales Cricket Board's chief executive, said. "But we don't want to detract from the climax to our domestic season. We will be talking to the First-Class Forum about this at our next meeting."