The visitors were cruising along comfortably at 164 for one at one stage but suddenly lost the plot to be gasping at 221 for five, losing four wickets in the span of 57 runs to fritter away a good position.

The dismissal of Strauss late in the day came as a big blow for the tourists who now have only Flintoff and Matt Prior as the two recognised batsmen to steer the team to a decent total.

Anderson, who was sent in as the night watchman, played out a few anxious overs to ensure that England did not lose more wickets before stumps.

England openers Cook and Strauss adapted to the slow track which offered little for the fast bowlers in the morning session as the duo went for lunch at 63 without being separated.

The two openers made their intentions clear by not taking any risk and rarely stepping out to both new ball bowlers, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.

Zaheer and Ishant could not extract any swing and movement in the air on the placid track in the morning even though they made the England openers hard to score runs.

Even the two spinners -- Harbhajan Singh and Amit Sharma -- got little help from the Chepauk pitch. Harbhajan, who was brought in for Zaheer in the ninth over of the innings, gave fours runs in his first over.

Strauss and Cook were cautious in their approach. The duo could not score more than two runs an over in the first hour which saw only one hit to the boundary.

... contd.