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Nottingham, July 26: England captain Michael
Vaughan has defended the "playful banter" his side employed
against the Indians in the first cricket Test, saying it was
"not untoward" in the gentleman's game.
In fact, Vaughan praised his teammates for
their effective use of the ploy "to get one up" on the Indian
batsmen. "We are trying to play our cricket with a real
intensity about it and that involves being a little bit
aggressive. It's not untoward in the game of cricket," Vaughan
said on the eve of the second Test at Trent Bridge.
"We're just trying to hit the pitch hard and
hit the right areas and try and really rally around in the
field. "It's nothing that we haven't done in the past, it's just
something we're doing well at the minute." Wicketkeeper Matt
Prior in particular was involved in a lot of chatting on the
fourth day at Lord's, upsetting Indian opener Dinesh Kaarthick's
focus on more than one occasion.
"Most keepers are a pretty similar character.
He (Prior) is doing well at the minute and I guess it's part of
his armoury to try and get one up on the batman," Vaughan said
in support of his teammate. "It wasn't a great deal, just a bit
of talking after play, seeing how he was going to play in the
morning, that was all. I didn't hear Kaarthick say anything.
"It was just a bit of playful banter. You are
always trying to put the batsman off, but it was nothing
really." Vaughan said his side would try and make sure that
India's top order batsmen remained in the shackles that the host
bowlers had placed around them. "Our plan is trying to make sure
they don't settle, try and attack them early and that's exactly
what we will try and do," he said.
"But we also know with good players they can
get through tough periods. We will just try and do what we did
at Lord's and try and get them early again." Vaughan said that
Chris Tremlett, who made his debut at Lord's, was specifically
chosen for the "steep bounce" he could extract from most tracks.
"It (selecting Tremlett) was gut instinct. We decided pretty
much after his performance in Chelmsford (in the tour match
against India)," he said.
"He only got one wicket but we looked at the
majority of the overs he bowled and Andrew Strauss was at first
slip for most part of the game as well. "Steve Harmison's (out
of action with an injury) bounce to any batsman in the world is
very hard to face, but we felt that Indians in particular
weren't as used to the steep bounce as many batsmen because of
the wickets they play in India.
"It was an instinct that maybe that if his (Tremlett's)
bounce could be the difference between the two sides,
particularly if the wicket got flat." (Agencies)
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