England 316 (A J Strauss 123, M J Prior 53 no, A N Cook 52) v India 155-6

England hero Graeme Swann admitted that “things just went a bit crazy” here today after he struck gold by taking two wickets in his first over as a Test bowler.

Debut-making spinner Swann dismissed
Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid with his third and sixth deliveries to spark a fightback which has transformed Kevin Pietersen's team from outsiders to favourites in the opening match against India.

Only one other player in more than 130 years of Test cricket has taken two wickets in his first over — and that was another Englishman,
Richard Johnson, who performed the feat against Zimbabwe at Chester-le-Street in 2003.

But, more importantly for Pietersen's men, Swann's double dose of success knocked a lot of the confidence out of India, who finished the second day on 155 for six — still 161 runs behind England.

Adding a layer of icing to the cake, the three wickets taken by Swann and left-armer Monty Panesar proved a perfect response to Indian bowler Harbhajan Singh's cheeky comment last night that Pietersen's spinners would be no threat to the hosts' batsmen.

“I was just looking forward to it,” said Swann, who has finally made England's Test team nine years after first going on tour with them to New Zealand and not playing in 1999.
“But the first delivery felt like I had a ping-pong ball in my hand and I didn't know where it was going to land — I reckon my mum could have hit that for four. Things just went a bit crazy, really, after that.”

Gambhir, who had cut Swann's opening delivery to the boundary, played no shot against
the third ball to fall lbw. Then, with his sixth delivery, Swann spun one past Dravid's bat to win another tight leg-before verdict from Australian umpire Daryl Harper.

“I thought I had a bat pad which wasn't given — and wasn't out — and then I got a couple of lbws so it couldn't have started any better, really,” said the 29-year-old Nottinghamshire bowler. “My head was spinning, I couldn't actually believe I'd got two wickets.

“The first one I was delighted with, but I was still annoyed the ball before hadn't been given out.

I stood at the end of my mark and thought about getting a second. I can't remember what I did when it actually happened — I was just over the moon, it was like I'd scored a goal at Wembley.”
In fact, Swann celebrated Dravid's dismissal by charging 20 yards towards cover, where Andrew Flintoff put him in a bear hug of congratulation.

“He said he couldn't be more pleased for me,” said Swann. “I've known Fred for years, since we were 11 and we played against each other, and he was a big, bruising lad then as well.

“I've known him for years and he's one of my best mates and it was a nice touch — I wish he hadn't hugged me, though, because he was dripping with sweat!”

And what about following Johnson into the record books?

“I thought I was the first man to get two wickets in an over on debut — I'm gutted now,” joked Swann.