Wild celebrations remind England they must stay loyal to Sikh of Tweak

Four times he did the trick yesterday as England chiselled away at West Indies' resistance in the npower first Test at Lord's.

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On each occasion he set off on one of his manic, wild-eyed, runs from which nobody on the field and very few in the crowd are entirely safe.

His whirling arms and flapping hands have turned celebrating a wicket into something akin to a Ricky Gervais dance routine.

With each success not only did he pour a little more scorn on the notion that this England side should ever contemplate leaving him out again, he reminded those who have a cynical view of modern sport, that there remains a place for sheer, unbridled, naive and not-afraid-to-make-a-totalidiot- of-yourself enthusiasm.

Extraordinary to think of it, but just as they had before the first Ashes Test last November, England seriously considered not picking the 25-year-old Sikh of Tweak here. Prior to that decision, which will probably haunt former coach Duncan Fletcher for the rest of his days, the thinking was that by reuniting as many of the 2005 Ashes winners as were available, those England heroes might turn the clock back to the level of performance they generated in their finest hours.

Here the thought processes were less convoluted, revolving around the idea that a four-man pace attack might be more than enough to roll over West Indies in helpful conditions.

And just as he had in taking five for 92 when belatedly given the chance in the third Ashes Test in Perth, during 24 overs of high quality left-arm spin he proved they were just as wrong.

The mickey-taking cheers that once used to be mixed in with the applause that signalled a spell of Monty have long since died. Indeed, such is the impression the quietly-spoken Panesar has made in his brief but riveting Test career that the sense of anticipation that fell over the capacity crowd when acting skipper Andrew Strauss threw him the ball for the obligatory over of spin before lunch seemed reverential.

It exploded into joy when he struck with his first ball, a near-perfect arm-ball from over the wicket which Devon Smith, playing for the turn which never came,missed to leave West Indies 83 for two in reply to England's 553 for five declared.

The teasing and probing carried on more or less without cease for the rest of the day and by the end of it Panesar was still sprinting in to start every new over before Strauss could change his mind.

Panesar had to wait until an hour after lunch for his next breakthrough, this time persuading West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan to play outside another arm-ball and so perish leg before wicket at 151 for three.

Four overs later he repeated the trick to leave Daren Ganga similarly bamboozled and when Runako Morton, almost incredibly, again played inside the line, West Indies were 187 for five.

At that stage Panesar's figures were four for 30, a more-than-adequate contribution to a successful allround bowling effort.

The problem, and a measure of how they would have struggled without him, was that for most of the day he was more or less operating on his own.

When his marathon spell came to an end after 29 unchanged overs only one further wicket had come England's way, that of Dwayne Bravo, with the West Indies on 279 for six, a top-edged hook off Paul Collingwood.

Matthew Hoggard, who limped from the field with a strained thigh, can be excused criticism up to a point.

Although Steve Harmison began tidily, caused early problems for the openers and occasionally threw in a snorter and Liam Plunkett produced a beauty to york Chris Gayle at 38 for one, the Durham pair rarely came close to producing the fire and venom with which they have terrorised county batsmen so far this season.

So wayward was some of what they served up that they managed to smash the England record for the number of runs conceded in wides in Test history, setting a new record once they got to 14.

Some of them were almost as monstrous as the one in Brisbane that Harmison admits he will never be able to live down.

While Prior was earning even more corn after his impressive debut hundred with his acrobatics behind the stumps, so poor were England's pacemen either side of taking the second new ball that Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin seemed more at risk of dislocating a shoulder trying to reach the ball than losing their wicket.

No doubt the Lord's slope was playing a part and by evening the pitch seemed easier for batting than at any time previously. But this was some way short of good enough and cause for justifiable concern for England's new coach Peter Moores,whether or not he soon finds himself working with former South African great Allan Donald.

Unless it gets better quickly England may well find victory here harder to achieve than almost everyone believed it would be. In the meantime, thank goodness for Monty — for his enthusiasm,his verve and his craft. And his wickets, too.