By Jon Steer
March 9 2006

Liam Plunkett won his second England cap today when he was selected to replace Ian Blackwell for the 2nd test against India in Mohali. Plunkett won his first cap before Christmas against Pakistan and has received a lot of praise from the England management. Liam's inclusion meant that for the second time in three tests Durham had three representatives in the final eleven with Paul Collingwood looking to cement his place in the team alongside regular Steve Harmison.

The selectors picked Plunkett as a fourth quick bowler instead of opting for a second spinner in either Blackwell or Sean Udal. India went in the opposite direction and opted for three front line spinners. The England team will be hoping that any deteriation of the pitch will give some help to the seamers as well as the spinners.

As was the case when Liam won his first cap he was in competition with James Anderson for the role of fourth seamer. In this case Liam's batting may have done as much to win him the place as his bowling.

The first day started well for England with Flintoff winning the toss and electing to bat. But all too soon England were losing wickets at regular intervals to finish a weather affected day at 163-4. Kevin Pieterson provided an exciting half century but couldn't go any further. At the close Flintoff was 4 not out and Colly was 19 not out.