Trescothick In Groove As Tour Begins

Having waited three days for any meaningful practice after torrential rain restricted their preparation to an indoor school, Trescothick wasted little time in re-acquainting himself with his favourite spin-friendly pitches.

England began nearly five hours late because of a saturated outfield at the National Stadium but the Somerset left-hander was determined not waste a rare opportunity for outdoor practice in the first of two three-day warm-up matches before the first Test.

Cautious at first, by the close of an opening day restricted to only 37 overs Trescothick had opened up to hit a six and five other boundaries in an unbeaten 49 to guide the tourists to a respectable 106 for one.

Trescothick was in such command he raised his bat after striking his final boundary of the day to mark what he believed was the first half-century of the tour as recorded by the scoreboard.

He was applauded enthusiastically by the 8,000 crowd - only to have his celebrations halted when he walked off three balls later to discover he had actually only reached 49.

But whatever his score, the manner in which he timed the ball against a youthful President's line-up will have particularly heartened England's coaching staff after such restricted preparations.

"It wasn't too bad to play, but the heat and humidity are something you have to get used to," conceded Trescothick.

"The worst thing when we are out there is the constant sweating. Your vest is soaked after about 10 minutes and when you're playing in conditions like this it's totally different to playing indoors."

Trescothick, who averages 37.47 from his nine previous Tests on the sub-continent, picked up where he left off from his double century in the final Test against South Africa although apart from left-arm spinner Enamul Haque junior, the President's attack lacked penetration.

Trescothick explained: "I've not really forgotten how we play out here, it's always there in the memory bank, you just have to switch into that mode of playing. It doesn't take long to get back into it."

Once play finally began at just after 2.30pm local time it was captain Michael Vaughan who impressed initially by seizing on wayward new ball spells from seamer Anwar Monir and Gazir Alamgir.

Vaughan was particularly severe with anything short, while Trescothick was more circumspect and it took him six overs before he recorded his first boundary.

The England captain was given one reprieve when he tried to cut Mushfiqur Rahman and was dropped by wicketkeeper Anwar Hossain diving in front of first slip when he had reached 25.

He had added only 11 more when he fell in almost identical fashion, this time against Monir, when he failed to control the shot and the wicketkeeper held the catch.

Trescothick was also fortunate when he failed to show under-19 international spinner Enamul enough respect and two balls after launching him over long on for six, attempted to cut a delivery which bounced more than he expected and Mushfiqur dropped him at slip on 29.

After privately chastising himself for that loose shot, Trescothick settled down again and with Mark Butcher for company stands on the brink of yet another sub-continent half-century as England's preparation for the start of the series on October 21 gained momentum.

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