Reaction and analysis
Ali Martin’s report
Updated
Stumps: India lead by 52
The end of a pretty remarkable day at The Oval. Only 75 overs were bowled, but in that time we saw 342 runs, 16 wickets and thousands of Thorpey headbands.
India, who looked a beaten team during a bruising the morning session, showed extraordinary resilience to fight back and then edge ahead in the game. They were inspired by Mohammed Siraj, who took out England’s entire middle order across two superb spells.
England need something similar from Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue or Jamie Overton tomorrow morning. If not, they could be facing their fourth consecutive 2-2 draw at home to India or Australia.
Bad light stops play
The umpires tell Ollie Pope he can’t bowl his fast bowlers because of the deteriorating light. “We don’t have spin,” he says to Kumar Dharmasena. “Nah only joking.”
England don’t have a specialist spinner, just Joe Root and Jacob Bethell, and Pope decides that’s too big a risk against Jaiswal. The players leave the field and that’ll be stumps.
18th over: India 75-2 (Jaiswal 51, Deep 4) Akash Deep comes out as nightwatchman and chips his first ball for four. It didn’t go where he intended, not he will or should care.
Incidentally, replays showed that Sudharsan was in the process of walking off when he heard something, presumably from Duckett, and turned back towards the England huddle.
WICKET! India 70-2 (Sudharsan LBW b Atkinson 11)
Gus Atkinson traps Sudharsan LBW with a straight delivery from round the wicket. It hit both pads and knocked Sudharsan off his feet. Sudharsan reviewed – no idea why – and then had angry words with Duckett before leaving the field.
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17th over: India 70-1 (Jaiswal 51, Sudharsan 11) Jaiswal bends his back to steer Overton for six over the keeper’s head, a cracking shot that brings up a 44-ball fifty. He’s giving England a taste of their own medicine, taking the game away form them at dizzying speed.
16th over: India 64-1 (Jaiswal 45, Sudharsan 11) Tongue takes a break, with Atkinson replacing him. He starts well with an accurate maiden to Sudharsan.
There are 25 minutes’ play remaining tonight. England need a wicket in that time, ideally Jaiswal.
15th over: India 64-1 (Jaiswal 45, Sudharsan 11) Now Sudharsan has been put down in the slips. That’s the third dropped catch of the innings. Sudharsan drove at Overton, bowling round the wicket, and snicked it to the left of Crawley at third slip. He was beaten for pace and could only punch the ball for three runs.
England look flat, slightly aggrieved too. A series victory – which looked nailed-on on last Saturday and even earlier today – could be slipping away.
Jaiswal dropped by Dawson
14th over: India 56-1 (Jaiswal 41, Sudharsan 7) Oof, Jaiswal has been dropped. That feels like a huge moment. He hooked Tongue straight to long leg, where the substitute Liam Dawson lost sight of the ball and shelled what would otherwise have been a routine catch. He’s quite lucky it didn’t do a number on his front teeth.
Tongue has a big LBW shout against Sudharsan turned down by Ahsan Raza later in the over. It was straight enough but probably too high. Tongue’s figures (7-1-25-1) don’t tell the story of a genuinely brilliant spell.
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13th over: India 55-1 (Jaiswal 40, Sudharsan 7) A maiden from Overton to Sudharsan, who is leaving as many deliveries as possible. His temperament looks suited to batting No3.
12th over: India 55-1 (Jaiswal 40, Sudharsan 7) Sudharsan gets off the mark by turning Tongue wide of Bethell at leg slip for four. That tactic has been successful against Sudharsan but right now, in the sixth over of a ferocious spell, I’m not sure Tongue needs to deviate from his usual line.
Eight from the over. India lead by 32.
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11th over: India 47-1 (Jaiswal 39, Sudharsan 0) Overton angles a delivery across Sudharsan. At first I thought Sudharsan was beaten but on reflection he played well inside the line; he does that a lot and must be a nightmare for the data bros who record things like false strokes and plays and misses.
“Have you noticed?” says John Starbuck. “Josh Tongue, when he takes a wicket, sticks his tongue out. Well done him, on several levels.”
Thank goodness Harry Butt was a wicketkeeper.
10th over: India 46-1 (Jaiswal 38, Sudharsan 0) KL Rahul ends the most productive series of his career with 532 runs at 53.20. The pleasure was all ours.
WICKET! India 46-1 (Rahul c Root b Tongue 7)
Josh Tongue gets his reward for a barnstorming spell of bowling. KL Rahul starts to open the face of the bat, then tries to leave the ball at the last minute. Too late: it runs off the face to first slip, where Joe Root takes a nice tumbling catch. England needed that wicket.
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9th over: India 41-0 (Jaiswal 33, Rahul 7) Jamie Overton replaces Atkinson, whose first spell of 4-1-22-0 confirmed how brilliantly he bowled in the first innings.
Jaiswal knows what’s coming – short stuff – and uppercuts deliberately for six. That’s a brilliant stroke. Jaiswal’s pulsating start has made India favourites, a scenario that was almost unimaginable five hours ago. They lead by 18 runs.
Read Simon Burnton on ‘A Day for Thorpey’
8th over: India 34-0 (Jaiswal 25, Rahul 7) Tongue starts his fourth over with a perfect yorker that is skilfully dug out by Jaiswal. Good lord, what has Tongue had for supper? He’s bowling spectacularly.
Jaiswal blatantly copies Ben Duckett charges the next ball and misses an almighty yahoo. The next ball brings a run-out chance, missed by Duckett, when Jaiswal calls Rahul through for a dodgy single on the off side.
Rahul continues an eventful over by square-driving Tongue’s first poor delivery for four. Compelling stuff.
7th over: India 29-0 (Jaiswal 25, Rahul 3)
6th over: India 28-0 (Jaiswal 24, Rahul 3) Tongue beats Rahul four times in an outstanding over, almost comically good. The third of the four led to a big appeal for caught behind; England decided not review and replays showed the ball hit only the flap of the pad. Brilliant umpiring from Ahsan Raza.
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5th over: India 26-0 (Jaiswal 24, Rahul 1) Fantastic shot! Atkinson, who hasn’t been able to pick up where he left off this morning, is driven exquisitely through extra cover by Jaiswal. That’s his fifth boundary in the last 10 balls.
He makes it six fours in 13 balls when Harry Brook drops a sharp chance at second slip. Brook was beaten for pace and could only help the ball on its way to the fence. I reckon Brook would take that maybe eight times out of 10.
That last boundary has taken India into the lead.
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4th over: India 17-0 (Jaiswal 16, Rahul 0) Jaiswal, cramped from room by a good ball from Tongue, still manages to force a cut into the ground and between third slip and gully for four. Dangerous signs here for England.
3rd over: India 12-0 (Jaiswal 12, Rahul 0) Jaiswal gets off the mark with a sumptuous on-drive for four off Atkinson. He could be so dangerous in a lowish-scoring game, something that is easy to overlook give his modest form in the second half of the series.
Jaiswal proves that point by taking two more boundaries in the over, a thick edge followed by a withering cut stroke. In the first innings Atkinson conceded only one boundary in 130 deliveries; in the second he’s been hit for three in 12.
2nd over: India 0-0 (Jaiswal 0, Rahul 0) Josh Tongue shares the new ball. His third delivery, left safely on length by Rahul, comes back so sharply that Jamie Smith has to dive a long way to his left to save four byes.
In the first innings, Tongue was all over The Oval. He starts the second with an excellent maiden, very accurate.
1st over: India 0-0 (Jaiswal 0, Rahul 0) Gus Atkinson opens up to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has been out for 0 in the second innings of the last two Tests. He tries to get off the mark with a sizzling cut off the first ball; Ben Duckett denies him with a fine stop. Instead it’s a maiden, including the obligatory play and miss when Atkinson gets one to hold its line from round the wicket.
A reminder that play can continue until 7.30pm, with a maximum of 33 overs to be bowled. It’s a big hour 100-odd minutes for England’s makeshift attack.
WICKET! England 247 all out (Brook b Siraj 53)
Siraj finishes the job with a nipbacker that Brook drags onto the stumps. He has inspired a mighty fightback from India, who were facing a 3-1 series defeat when England vroomed to 129 for 1. Siraj finishes with 4 for 86 having wiped out England’s middle order: Pope, Root, Brook and Bethell, all LBW or bowled.
Krishna also recovered excellently to finish with 4 for 62. But Siraj, the only seamer bowl in every innings of this series, was the driving force.
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51st over: England 247-8 (Brook 53, Tongue 0) The slow dance continues. Brook takes a single off the fourth ball, Tongue does the rest.
England lead by 23.
50th over: England 246-8 (Brook 52, Tongue 0) Brook slaps Siraj for two to reach an excellent fifty: at times mature and controlled, at others outrageous and beyond the scope of the Collins Dictionary.
Brook’s unsuccessful attempt to steal another two almost leads a run-out at both ends. No matter: Tongue continues his Geoff Allott tribute act by playing out the rest of the over. Okay, I’m getting carried away: Tongue has faced five balls, Allott batted for 77.
“Some wonderful and poignant messages today on Graham Thorpe,” writes Darren Vickers. “What an incredible bunch the OBO community is. I could say that I’ve felt like I had ‘something in my eye’ all day whilst reading the messages, but in the spirt of Thorpey, let’s ditch the euphemism and just acknowledge the emotional and open messages that are being written on depression and mental illness.
“My own memory of watching Thorpe is of a standout player in what were otherwise some very average England teams. One of my favourite ever players and I’ve always wanted a Kookaburra bat (yellow grip) as a result. Always felt a great shame to me that he was one series away from the 2005 Ashes and being able to enjoy that after so much toil.”
As sad as I was for Thorpe, who along with Robin Smith was my teenhood hero, I always thought there was something fitting about our most Australian player have his career ended in such an unsentimental manner.
Updated
49th over: England 243-8 (Brook 49, Tongue 0) Mohammed Siraj has come back out wearing a Graham Thorpe headband. When the book of this series is written, Siraj will be one of the lead characters.
Brook turns down a single off Krishna, then takes one off his fourth delivery. Tongue survives the remainder of the over.
The players are back on the field. Let’s get it on.
“Today has been the best of this strange, quirky, fully lovely place,” writes Guy Hornsby, and I have a bad feeling he’s referring to you lot. “I’ve been reading the OBO as long as it’s been around, and sending in mostly drivel since the late 2000s. In some of those years it really did feel like a therapy session as England fell in a comfortingly familiar heap and the rest of us grasped onto anything to distract from it.
“Life, as they say, imitates art, and some of the beautiful, sad, and admirably honest correspondents today have shown that cricket truly is the backdrop to our existence, the best and worst of it. I loved Graham Thorpe dearly and was devastated last year when the worst suspicions were confirmed. He embodied what we all wanted to be back then, raging against defeat, full of style and grit. If the world we’re in now is much kinder then the one he played in, that’s no better reason to remember to talk to each other, however desperate it might feel. Thanks to all the OBOers for giving us a chance to bypass things and lean into what we love.”
Play will restart at 5.25pm
Woot! Woot woot!
If the weather holds, the evening session will be extended until 7.30pm. If, iffity, if.
Updated
The covers are going on
And the umbrellas are going back up. Play needs to resume by 6.30pm or the umpires will call stumps.
The covers are coming off
No news yet on a restart time but as I type it’s dry at The Oval.
Updated
Weather update
The Sky commentators are suggesting light rain could linger for around an hour. That’s bad news for England, who want to bowl as many overs as possible before the close. The more they bowl tonight, the less likely they are to need a long spell from Joe Root and/or Jacob Bethell tomorrow.
In case you missed it earlier
Rain stops play
48th over: England 242-8 (Brook 48, Tongue 0) Harry Brook lap-sweeps Siraj for six, a bonkers shot played while falling over towards the off side like Rishabh Pant. That’s left half the ground agape. Not Siraj, who stomps back to his mark with a face like the apocalypse.
Brook gives Tongue one delivery to survive at the end of the over, which he does. But the skies are closing in at The Oval and the umpires have called for the covers. Hopefully it’ll only be a short break.
Updated
47th over: England 235-8 (Brook 41, Tongue 0) These are the best figures of Krishna’s fledging Test career: 4 for 60 from 14 overs.
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WICKET! England 235-8 (Atkinson c Deep b Krishna 11)
Atkinson drives Krishna handsomely for four – but then he cloths a pull to mid-on, where Deep takes a comfortable catch. England have a slender lead of 11.
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46th over: England 231-7 (Brook 40, Atkinson 7) Siraj beats Atkinson on the inside with a snorter that bounces over the stumps. Atkinson puts England into the lead and then extends it with a cleverly placed steer to the right of backward point.
England are in a hurry. Runs are the primary consideration – next stop, rocket science – but time is also a factor for England and their three-man attack. If these two bat for an hour and score at five an over, tremendous; if they’re dismissed soon, England’s seamers can bowl around 30 overs tonight and then get some rest.
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45th over: England 224-7 (Brook 39, Atkinson 2) The injury to Woakes means England are effectively eight down, with only Josh Tongue to come. Atkinson gives himself room and smashed Krishna through point for … a single, as there’s a fielder out. But he timed the silken undercrackers off that one.
The scores are level,
44th over: England 220-7 (Brook 36, Atkinson 1) Siraj drops Atkinson, a stinging return catch, and then almost bowls Brook round his legs.
43rd over: England 216-7 (Brook 33, Atkinson 0) Krishna completes a double-wicket maiden with a dot ball to Gus Atkinson. With Harry Brook still at the crease, the next half hour could be a lot of fun.
An extended evening session – play can continue until 7pm – begins with the entire ground standing for a minute’s applause in memory of Graham Thorpe. So far £108,000 has been raised in support of the mental health charity Mind. Buy a headband, it’s the least any of us can do.
Have you bought your Graham Thorpe headband? If not, you know what to do. Mine will be stretched around my big, bald, empty head every time I go to the gym, and I don’t care how many quizzical looks I get from the beefcake brethren.
Teatime reading
Tea: England trail by 9 runs
The wicket means the players will take tea even though there’s one ball of the over remaining. It’s been a marvellous session for India: inspired by the unbreakable Mohammed Siraj, they took six wickets for 106 runs and might now be favourites to win this game.
For England, the one upside of this clatter of wickets is that their three-man attack will be able to bowl maybe 10 overs apiece in helpful conditions tonight, sleep and go again in the morning. But if the pitch settles down and/or India’s top order are still batting at lunch tomorrow, England will be in all sorts.
WICKET! England 215-7 (Overton LBW b Krishna 0)
This one’s plumb! Overton whips across a fuller delivery that snakes back to hit him on the knee roll n front of middle stump. He reviewed, just because he could, but that was palpably out.
Updated
Overton is not out Yep, it was missing off stump so India lose another review. They have one left.
India review for LBW against Overton He padded up to his first ball from Krishna. My hunch is it didn’t come back enough but it’s close.
WICKET! England 215-6 (Smith c Rahul b Krishna 8)
This is a big wicket just before tea. Jamie Smith chases a very wide delivery from Krishna and snicks it towards second slip, where KL Rahul reaches to clasp a terrific two-handed catch. England are lurching into dangerous territory.
Updated
42nd over: England 215-5 (Brook 33, Smith 8) Brook takes a couple of steps down to ping Jadeja through extra cover for four. What a brilliant shot. Brook started friskily but has settled down and is playing beautifully.
41st over: England 211-5 (Brook 29, Smith 7) Krishna, the work-shy freeloader of the Indian seam attack, replaces Siraj and will bowl only his 11th over of the day. Smith wallops a drive without beating the man at cover; later in the over Brook steers two down to third. England trail by 14.
“I made my cricket chops in the South Notts 18-over midweek league,” writes Chris. “Our pitch was a lovely, flat square in the middle of old Mr White’s cow meadow, usually protected by an electric fence, As the youngest on the team, aged 13, I was made to field in the covers. One evening, the opposing team’s less-than-popular skipper flayed one in my direction. The ball came to a sudden halt in a large, wet cowpat. He thought I’d been beaten and set off for a run. I retrieved the heavily coated ball and threw down the stumps in a greenish-brown mist, with the captain well out of his ground. I received slaps on the back from my teammates and learned new vocabulary from the receding batsman. I had to wash my own ‘whites’ when I got home, mind you. Happy days!”
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40th over: England 207-5 (Brook 27, Smith 6) Time for some spin. Ravindra Jadeja replaces Akash Deep, who has already bowled 17 overs today. Brook laps his second ball easily for four, almost on autopilot. Like the commentators, I’m surprised India didn’t turn to Washington Sundar first; he has arguably been India’s best bowler in the last two Tests, certainly their best spinner.
39th over: England 201-5 (Brook 22, Smith 5) Siraj, the only fast bowler to survive this bruising series, is still charging in as it if was the first morning of the series. He bowls the first over of the innings – the only run was a leg-bye – to add a bit more pressure on England. When the dust settles on this game, Siraj’s post-lunch effort of 8-1-35-3 might be credited as the spell that saved the series for India.
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38th over: England 200-5 (Brook 22, Smith 5) India’s three seamers can’t bowl forever, so there’s an incentive for Brook and Smith to bat time either side of tea. On the other hand, they are Harry Brook and Jamie Smith. The latter gets off the mark by clattering a very wide delivery to the point boundary.
In other news, this email from Phil Harrison had me nodding my big, bald, empty head.
“Everything that has happened since Duckett got out has emphasised how well-conceived and brilliantly enacted that Duckett/Crawley partnership was,” writes Phil. “England are losing wickets now but they’re losing them from a position of close proximity to India’s score. I suspect most England teams would still be 70-80 behind at this point.”
37th over: England 196-5 (Brook 22, Smith 1) “Others have made the point, but I wanted to add my two cents,” begins Matt Dony. “ The OBO and MBM communities are, by and large, entertaining and supportive and collaborative. When covid put paid to live sport, I found that I really missed following games on here. At its best, it’s like being in a big ol’ pub, watching the match, but also making stupid jokes about 90s music or prestige TV or whatever the thread happens to be that day. I like to think we can make certain assumptions about most of the people who read and contribute, but even so, a lot of us can probably tend towards the (ugh) ‘blokey’ and stoic.
“I went through some ‘stuff’ a few years ago, and a huge part of the reason I’m here now with mental health relatively intact is that I have good friends who checked in on me. Sometimes simply asking if I was ok. I often wasn’t.
“And, equally, it’s important for us to be there for them. Put ourselves out there. There’s always someone going through something. And I doubt any of us of certain generations will ever truly get comfortable with, say, sending a text that just says ‘How are you feeling? I’m thinking about you.’ But it’s our responsibility to do it. To each other, and to the generations following. Show them the importance of empathy and compassion. Make sure that they’re better equipped than we might have been at their age.”
India have roared back into this game. Bethell larruped the previous ball for four after charging down the track. Siraj responded with an inswinging yorker that hit Bethell plumb in front with his bat stuck behind the pad. Bethell didn’t even talk to Brook about a review, just smiled wryly as he walked past him.
The resilience shown by India, and especially Siraj, is beyond admirable. For the second Test in a row, I thought a rampant opening partnership from Crawley and Duckett had flattened them.
WICKET! England 194-5 (Bethell LBW b Siraj 6)
Fantastic bowling from Mohammed Siraj!
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36th over: England 190-4 (Brook 21, Bethell 2) Lovely bowling from Deep, who sets Bethell up with some wider deliveries and then bowls a big inswinger. Bethell, head falling over, clips it in the air and not far short of Jaiswal at midwicket. Bethell has hardly batted all summer so you’d imagine it’ll take him 20 or 30 balls to get up to speed, if he lasts that long.
“One reason fielders didn’t dive in the past was the cost of cleaning their flannels,” writes Ian Dawson. “I remember reading an inter-war professional saying that they had to pay their own cleaning costs and so keeping their whites clean was a priority. This was still the dolly tub and mangle era too so no quick washing cycle. This may well have still been the case post-war too.
“I took two catches diving forward in my first under-15 school game in 1966 which led to grass stains on my flannels and was roundly told off by my mother for getting my kit dirty. My father had apparently never done so - never mind the score, think about the washing!”
35th over: England 186-4 (Brook 18, Bethell 1) Brook edges Siraj between second slip and gully for four. I’m surprised India don’t have a third slip to save runs, never mind take catches.
Brook clonks a pull to the midwicket boundary later in the over. He’s always positive but right now Brook seems to be in his eff around and find out era.
“More pedantry,” says Geoff Wignall. “I’m afraid that in the Smyth context, Y is most certainly a vowel.”
Look, I watched a lot of Countdown when I was younger. It changes you.
34th over: England 176-4 (Brook 9, Bethell 0) India’s last visit to The Oval, in 2021, is a template for how they can win this game. They trailed by 99 on the first innings and triumphed by 157 runs.
Bethell is beaten by his first ball, a gorgeous outswinger from Deep. He plays for his off stump for the remainder of the over, as he did when he made that mythical 10 on debut in similar conditions in Christchurch.
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33rd over: England 175-4 (Brook 8, Bethell 0) Jacob Bethell (remember him?) is the new batter. One more wicket and India will be right back in this game.
WICKET! England 175-4 (Root LBW b Siraj 29)
India’s fightback continues with the key wicket of Joe Root! Siran picked up him with a superb nipbacker that beat the bat by a distance and hit Root on the kneeroll. He reviewed, probably in the hope it did too much. It did just enough and would hit the top of leg stump.
Root hit two fours earlier in the over, both glided through the cordon, but the irrepressible Siraj had the final word.
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32nd over: England 167-3 (Root 21, Brook 8) Jurel decides to move back for Deep, so Brook stands out of his crease and drops a single on the off side.
“Hi Smythe,” writes Phil Keegan. “May I be the first of 1,057 pedants to point out that actually we are in August already?”
Only if I may be the first of one pedants to point out my surname is a vowelless affair. (And yes, I don’t know why I thought we were still in July. It’s been a long summer.)
31st over: England 165-3 (Root 20, Brook 7) Rook waves Siraj majestically to the cover boundary. Siraj responds with a heartfelt nipbacker and an even more heartfelt LBW appeal; alas, this time, there was a big inside-edge. Probably too high as well.
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Thanks Daniel, afternoon all. There are times when the Oval Test has been the wayzgoose of the English summer; not this year. We’re not even barely in August, for one thing, and there’s nothing convivial about the contest between England and India. It’s compelling stuff, though, and Thorpey would have loved to be front and centre alongside Joe Root.
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30th over: England 161-3 (Root 16, Brook 7) Deep fires one towards the pads and the ball scampers past Jurel, still stood up, for four. India will be seriously displeased with their lack of intensity this morning – it might just decide the series – and, though we’re only a ball away from what I’m about to say being rendered shtuss, these two might just be settling, three singles completing the over. That is drinks, which means that’s also the end of me: here’s the great Rob Smyth to chill with you through what promises to be a jazzer of half-day. This s also the end of my series, so thanks all for your company and comments throughout the summer – it and you have been a joy and a privilege.
“Call me old school,” writes Krishnamoorthy V, “but can’t the players see the difference between aggression and arrogance? There is a purpose behind calling this a gentleman’s game. The most aggressive team I recall was that under Clive Llod and could one ever say that they were arrogant?”
Imagine Akash Deep trying with him what he did to Duckett.
29th over: England 154-3 (Root 14, Brook 6) Two dots from Siraj then Jurel again opts to stand up, this time with Brook on strike, and given the heat the bowler’s sending down, that’s a seriously ballsy, but also totally understandable move. And so, I guess, is Brook’s decision to skip down and thrash, though it’s also exactly what his team don’t need, and when he doesn’t get the contact for which he’s hoping, he’ll be relieved to see the ball drop over the infield buy shy of fielders; they run two.
28th over: England 152-3 (Root 14, Brook 4) Krishna whose ruckus with Root was so absorbing, is replaced by Deep, who directs his loosener into the same batter’s pad. There’s an appeal, but impact looked outside the line and we move on, Jurel opting to stand up to keep Root from standing outside his crease to smother any swing or seam. Not for the first time, an over delivers five dots, then runs of its final delivery – in this case, four of them, Deep swinging one on to the pads which Root is never missing out on out on which Root is never missing, flicking to the fence at deep square for four.
27th over: England 148-3 (Root 10, Brook 4) India’s bowlers have found a much better length this afternoon – fuller and straighter, but not too full or too straight. Root, though, is batting well outside his crease and was created for situations such as this: a stern examination of skill under pressure. He sees away four dots, then forces one off his junk and takesa single to leg.
26th over: England 147-3 (Root 9, Brook 4) This is a colossal partnership in terms of the series. If these two make runs, England will be close to impregnable, but if they don’t, it’s Bethell in next and though they bat deep, they’re a man down. We’re at that stage where every ball is an occasion, the antipathy palpable, and the over yields just one via Root-cut. He’ll know how much rests on him, and so will India.
“About six years ago, i found myself sitting on the platform of my local train station, unable to get rid of the idea that when the next train arrived, I was going to walk forwards and step under it, writes James Brough.
“I was freshly out of a si-year relationship, ended with a text message from my partner. I’d lost my job because depression meant I was incapable of working. All my belongings were in storage because I’d been supposed to move house in April. Problems had arisen which meant I wouldn’t be able to move until November. So my house was furnished with a tv and a garden bench in the living room and an inflatable mattress with a slow puncture in the bedroom.
It wasn’t that I wanted to kill myself. I just couldn’t think of a single reason not to.
As luck would have it, a few minutes before the train was due, my phone rang. I forget who it was, but the conversation distracted me for long enough that the train arrived and left, with me still on the platform and still in one piece.
When I heard the news about Graham, that evening on the platform was the first thing I thought of and it’s what I keep thinking of now.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, there’s a spot where it’s forever the mid-90s and England are 50/2. Atherton’s 9 not out from a few singles on the offside and one of his off-balance hook shots. Meanwhile Thorpe’s 35 not out, alternating one-legged pull shots through midwicket and thumps through the covers. He looks like he could take on the world. He achieved so much through his career and at the end, it must have felt to him like none of it mattered any more. Poor bloody Graham.”
Well done on sticking with it. Things always get better.
25th over: England 146-3 (Root 8, Brook 4) This is a dangerous time for England who, not long ago looked set for a big first-innings lead. They might still build one, of course, but in the meantime, India have got themselves going, making the contest personal, and they won’t mind at all when Brook swings the final ball of the over, edging four just past his wickets.
WICKET! Pope lbw b Siraj 22 (England 142-3)
We’re rocking and rolling now! The ball jags back, almost seems to gather pace, and that’s clobbering the top of leg-peg. Two new batters in, and this match is sprinting to a series-deciding result.
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25th over: England 142-2 (Pope 22, Root 8) Looking to calm things down, Gill introduces Siraj to the attack, while the ball is passed through the ring; there’s no changing it. Three dots open the over, then Siraj unleashes a brute, full, finding Pope like a heat-seeking missile and slamming his back pad; the bowler is sure it’s dead, so am I, and when the umpire says not out, he convinces his captain to review.
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24th over: England 142-2 (Pope 22, Root 8) I don’t now what Root said to Krishna, but it must’ve ingratiated him, because he’s offered a wide, overpitched piece of nonsense that he drives to deep backward point for four. Krishna, though, responds really well, beating the bat with one that moves away off the seam. Next ball, Root follows one down leg-side and the bowler thinks there’s a catch behind, but Jadeja, at square leg, counsels to the contrary. This is really intense stuff now, extra bounce surprising Root, who quickly adjusts to play into the ground, so Krishna well and truly looks at him. It’s well scary.
23rd over: England 138-2 (Pope 22, Root 4) India are looking to create some theatre here, Siraj upping the volume such that an umpire again gets involved. The over yields five dots, then an edge for four that seems unlikely to improve India’s mood.
22nd over: England 134-2 (Pope 18, Root 4) Root is, of course, one of various in this England side who was nurtured by Thorpe, and he’ll want to mark his mate’s birthday if he can. Meantime, he’s got Krishna in his face having been beaten then responded with a typically gentle wave for four past gully. Usually, Root ignores all that, but this time he retorts – I wonder if, after what Deep did to Duckett, England have decided that India’s aggression will not stand, dudes. The umpires give bowler and captain a talking-to, but i doubt we’ve seen the last of this; India are fighting for their lives.
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WICKET! Crawley c Jadeja b Krishna 64 O(England 129-2)
Becalmed for a few overs, Crawley forces the issue, trying to pull one that gets big on him; he splices high to midwicket, and Jadeja is never dropping that. India have earned that with their bowling since lunch, that’s the good news. The bad news is all they’ve done is invite Joe Root to the wicket.
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21st over: England 129-1 (Crawley 64, Pope 18) Pope tries to keep thing moving but the bowling is much better now, putting pressure back on to the batters. Pope takes a single to fine leg that’s doubled when the umpire calls no-all, then Crawley pushes to point for a one more.
“Really bizarre Test this,” begins Peter Williams, “Josh Tongue channelling very early wayward-but-lethal Jimmy Anderson by way of Scott Boswell, Ben Duckett channelling Ben Duckett, Akash Deep’s niggly cuddle. And horrid news about Woakes, I wanted him to get 200 Test wickets. Looks very unlikely now. (and he might have been handy with a pink ball this winter.)
On Thorpe, I think we should remember how his willingness to speak up about depression and the privations of touring back in the dark ages (ie the late-90s) helped make it possible for Marcus Trescothick, Steve Harmison, Jonathan Trott, Mike Yardy, Sarah Taylor, Ben Stokes, and many others, to speak up and be applauded for it. His family are doing an incredible job in continuing that legacy.
I wanted to write something after he went last year but it felt a bit crass - I was just baffled, as well, why the news cut so deep about someone i didn’t know and only saw play live once - but have done now and persuaded my employer to publish it today, when he’s being remembered so beautifully.”
Thanks for sharing that and I agree: the work being done by Thorpey’s family, and the dignity with which they’re handling the worst situation imaginable is inspiring and affirming.
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20th over: England 124-1 (Crawley 63, Pope 17) Crawley loops an attempted power-flick to midwicket, the ball landing safe, then defends and Krishna chucks the ball at him for no apparent reason – other than a) his team are losing and b) just because. It hits his bat, the bowler apologises, and we move on, a single to each batter keeping the scoreboard ticking over; India are bowling with greater discipline and intelligence than before lunch.
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19th over: England 124-1 (Crawley 62, Pope 16) Offered a drive-ball, and Crawley drives down the ground for four then, when a full, floaty one – on the stumps but not moving – arrives next, he flicks uppishly over mid-off, Siraj flinging himself right but unable to get near a catch. A leg-bye follows, then Deep squares up Pope, not for the first time, the batter doing enough to keep the ball out.
18th over: England 115-1 (Crawley 54, Pope 16) It’s Prasidh from the other end – Siraj won’t like that, I wouldn’t think, but what can Gill do? – and Crawley digs out a yorker to square leg, which earns him one. Pope then fends at one, looking to guide between slip and gully, but diving left, Sudharsan gets there only to allow the ball to burst through his hands. It wasn’t a dolly, but nor was it nails, and he’s there for exactly that eventuality; he looks sick, with good reason.
“Frankly, what a thrilling session of Test Cricket - rarely have we been treated to any other type this series,” begins Ben Tyrer, “but what a shame to see Deep show an example of the entitled attitude that Barney Ronay touched on in his piece on Fortis-gate yesterday.
This India team is full of likeable sorts - Bumrah’s smiling menace, Siraj’s tireless love of a scrap, and Jaiswal’s buccaneering to kick an innings off - and yet moments like that send-off can make them hard to love. For a bit of Billy Balance, the England team have shown a similar ugly side this series as well, which all mildly detracts from the fantastic cricket we’ve been treated to all summer long.
Finally, thank you to you and everyone who has written in today to both reflect on Graham Thorpe and their own lived experiences. It takes tremendous strength to open up in the way readers have and delve into periods and parts that we all try to hide away.”
I’m not one for eliminating needle, but the hands-on aspect make this example of it a problem. If deep tries that on someone anywhere else in the world but a cricket pitch in front of the cameras, he might find himself absorbing a tickle.
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17th over: England 110-1 (Crawley 53, Pope 12) Crawley inside-edges a single and it’s the only run from the over; better from India, who were too short and too wayward before the interval.
“Today, of all days, feels like the time to remind people that Bazball in its original, undiluted form was fairly explicitly a response to the mental effects of travelling all over the world for a year of dispiriting biodome cricket” – so says David Howell, “who has had intermittent suicidal ideation for the entire 21st century to date and loves the energy of the OBO and its mailbox.”
“As such, whatever else it has or hasn’t done to the fortunes of the England team or red-ball cricket in general, it was really a player welfare move that happened to take the form of a strategic shift - and on those terms, it has quite clearly been a massive success. Utterly fitting that A Day for Thorpey is the day where England revert to pure Bazball 1.0 with success.”
We’re about ready to go again, Deep with ball-in-hand.
“I’m not a natural harrumpher,” exculpates Stephen Cottrell, “but that’s the second time this series (Siraj at Lords the other) where a bowler has given Duckett a really OTT send-off. I’m not interested in the ‘spirit of the game’ [redactted] - a concept usually used to justify your own actions and demonise the opposition - but you can’t have bowlers putting hands on batsmen, or someone will make use of the piece of compacted willow by way of retaliation and then we will have a crisis. ICC have to come down hard on this.”
I’d want to know what was said, but I agree, hands on is a line.
I’m off for a break; I’ll be back in 30 or so for some emails and to set up what might be a decisive afternoon sesh.
Ach, this is rotten news. Godspeed, old mate.
16th over: England 109-1 (Crawley 52, Pope 12) Prasidh, trying to attack the stumps, is full – too full, and Pope panels another cover-drive for four. But the bowler responds brilliantly, squaring him up with one that moves away, then jagging one back which Pope digs out, the ball narrowly avoiding off-stump. Two dots follow and that’s lunch at the end of a superb morning for England. Every time India have been challenged in this series, they’ve responded, and they’ve got to find a way of doing so once more; if they can’t, they may find themselves out of this by close of play.
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15th over: England 105-1 (Crawley 52, Pope 8) A single to Crawley, then Pope raises England’s hunnert with a cover-drive for three … then Mr Blonde drops hands, easing four to deep third and, in the process, raising his fifty. Deep responds well, drawing Crawley forward with a full, fifth-stump line, the ball leaving him but missing the edge. This scoring rate is at the same time ridiculous and wholly normal.
“Have a look at the setting for Armenia’s first dedicated cricket ground,” suggests Andrew Goudie. “You can insert your own ‘cow corner’ gag.”
Thanks, that’s beautiful.
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14th over: England 97-1 (Crawley 47, Pope 5) Three dots, then Pope caresses a cover-drive for four; Deep responds well, curving one away from the outside edge. And there was bounce in that one too which is to say this pitch is still doing plenty.
“Please can I end the morning session by saying a huge thank you to all of the OBOers who have contributed to my club’s 24 hour net session in aid of cricket mental health advocates Opening Up,” says Richard O’Hagan. “It shows what a phenomenal bunch of people we have here. The link, if anyone missed it yesterday, is here, and we are getting very close to our target with all of your help.
Do it, mates.
13th over: England 93-1 (Crawley 47, Pope 1) Pope, who loves batting on this ground, gets off the mark immediately with a clip to deep backward square.
WICKET! Duckett c Jurel b Deep 43 (England 92-1)
Again, Duckett steps away to reverse-scoop but doesn’t get enough of it, guiding a catch to the keeper. Then, as he departs, Deep puts an arm around his shoulder – the kind that, when someone does it to you in club, pub or park, you know is a warning that violence is imminent if you don’t escape quickly. Despite holding a bat, Duckett handles it well, eventually offering some words at the uninvited hands touching him, before Rahul pulls his mate off. He may have the final word, but I’m not certain he had the better of this particular contest.
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13th over: England 92-0 (Crawley 47, Duckett 43) Three dots, then Duckett misses with a scoop; is his luck running out?
Oh my days! Simon McMahon returns: “Oh, and why aren’t more openers pictured like this anymore..?”
That is a fantastic question.
12th over: England 92-0 (Crawley 47, Duckett 43) Goodness me, two singles from four balls won’t do at all, so Duckett annihilates a short one, pulled to deep square for four … and then the umpire calls a no-ball. A further single follows, meaning the end of a quieter over … whch yields eight runs.
“Can I associate myself entirely with everything said so far, about Thorpey and mental health in general,” asks Simon McMahon. “This OBO should be available to all on the NHS. Thanks to all at the Guardian liveblogs and elsewhere for making this subject far less taboo than it once was. I work with children and hope that talking to them about mental health does some good and can help remove the stigma that unfortunately still remains. Please talk, help is available. And in the spirit of the OBO, I like to think of Crawley and Duckett as the Hobbs and Sutcliffe of Bazball.
This is a good game. I like to see them at its Mr Blonde and Mr Orange.
11th over: England 84-0 (Crawley 46, Duckett 37) Again, the first ball of the over is assaulted, Duckett lamping four through mid-off. When England’s Test batters were struggling but the ODI lads were killing it, I wondered what’d happen if they picked the latter and gave them licence to slog with five-day fields to help them; eventually, the selectors sort of tried it, with Jason Roy, and it went as badly as everyone sensible knew it would. These two though, have all the power, but also the composure and technique; as I type, Crawley larrups Deeps’ fifth ball over cover for four, then does likewise with his sixth! This is hard to watch, at the same time as being fantastic to watch, the game reinvented in front of our eyes. Never has it seen anything like this.
“I do wonder why players risk injury on the slide to save four,” says Alisdair Gould. “In my day (!) bowlers in particular wouldn’t have got down let alone thrown themselves around. There are so many examples of shoulder injuries that it seems problematic. Discuss?”
I guess there are also examples of dives which don’t sustain injuries, and matches decided by narrow margins. But yes, I totally understand where you’re coming fro.
10th over: England 71-0 (Crawley 38, Duckett 32) A single to Duckett, then Crawley goes hard at Krishna again, looking to cut, edging instead, and the ball flies away for four more. In follow-through, Deep looks miffed at the injustice; in comms, Broad chastises the short length that allowed the opportunity. This series is being yanked away from India with sadistic alacrity, two singles completing a another profitable over, seven runs from it.
9th over: England 64-0 (Crawley 33, Duckett 30) No, Deep was just swapping ends, and his first ball provokes all sorts, a shout for leg before, a run rejected and a run out possible, before a dot goes into the scorebook. A single to Duckett follows and, just as India will be relieved to have delivered a cheaper over, Crawley seizes on to a delivery that’s fractionally short, humping over midwicket for four. He hits it so hard and so flat – he’s not just playing good shots, he’s advising the bowlers that his heart is full of disrespect.
8th over: England 59-0 (Crawley 29, Duckett 29) Krishna replaces Deep, perhaps hit out of the attack by Duckett, then Crawley edges his second delivery seeking to drive, and the ball rushes past leg-stump and scuttles to the fence for four. When it’s going for you, it’s going for you, and after Krishna finds a soupçon of swing, Crawley takes a little step forward and spanks a drive through cover; it goes for four, and that’s England’s 10th boundary of the innings. India desperately need some control, but these two are something else.
7th over: England 51-0 (Crawley 21, Duckett 29) Gosh, I was just about ro rhapsodise the touch Duckett’s in when Crawley comes forward to wallop Siraj’s first ball back down the ground for four. Immediately, the bowler is under pressure, fighting to save his over while, in comms, Broad advises the bowlers to get Duckett playing with a straight bat; if he’s cutting, the delivery is too short. As it goes, Siraj responds well, ceding just a single from his next four balls, and, er, um, yeah: Duckett moves towards the offside, flicks a half-volleyed reverse-scoop over his head … and raises England’s fifty with a six. I’ve been watching this thing of ours a long time now, and I’ve never seen anything like this. Drink it in, people, because what we’re experiencing is unparalleled in the entire history of Test cricket and very, very special. Is Ben Duckett a genius?
6th over: England 40-0 (Crawley 16, Duckett 23) Duckett twinkles down the track and cuts to the fence then, after a dot, he again advances and this time goes over point for four more. Trouble for India, and Duckett being Duckett, he’s not done yet, using Deep’s inswing – like Tongue’s, starting from too straight – to flicks for a third four of the over. He then misses with a huge hoik, a reminder to himself of the focus required to impose himself without being reckless.
5th over: England 32-0 (Crawley 16, Duckett 11) Four dots, then Crawley stomps forward, clobbers down the ground, and freezes in follow-through; lovely stuff. These two have found the perfect tempo here, attacking with prejudice but intelligence.
“The Graham Thorpe story is a tragedy of gargantuan proportions,” writes Mark Lloyd. “I have experienced extended bouts of depression and, in more recent years, anxiety, over a 33-year period and I feel I have a good understanding of what he went through. The last period of ill-health I had – the worst I’ve had, in fact – was from mid-July to October 2023, and the best way I can sum it up the sensation is to say that I felt like I was living within one of those big transparent balls you can climb inside. I could see the world outside, albeit through a fuzzy haze, but I had no way of accessing it until late evening each day.
As is common with depression, mine mercifully lifted significantly at the end of each day, so the hell of mornings always came with the vague knowledge and hope that by the end of the day I would get a couple of hours of relief (although one of the demonic tricks the illness plays is it convinces you that this is the one time it is never going to leave you). I spent whole days lying on my bed – this is how I listened to the last two Ashes tests, utterly bereft at not being able to extract even a flicker of pleasure from any of it.
The tragedy for Graham and his family is that depression lifts – always, in my experience – and with the lifting of the depression comes a deep and ecstatic joy in simply being alive and, well, ‘normal’. This knowledge is no comfort whatsoever when one is in the depths of despair – if it was, depression would lose its power. There is a cruelty in depression which cannot be put into words. And nobody is immune. But and here is the thing I feel my family and friends will never fully understand (because they have seen what it can do to me) … if, in a parallel universe, I were offered the chance to go back in time to 1992 and erase all trace of depression from the long years ahead, I would refuse without hesitation. I know this to be true, but I have no way to adequately explain it. Rest in Peace, Thorpey - with the stress on the Peace.”
Even parts of us that are hard to deal with are part of us, and learning to love all of ourselves is one of the best ways of protecting mental health. Whitney had it right.
And so did King Promise:
4th over: England 25-0 (Crawley 12, Duckett 11) Duckett races down, swings, and misses; Deep has him on absolute toast here, squaring him up, and he top-edges towards two gullies … neither of whom are sharp enough to take a ball that loops up invitingly. Naturally, Duckett is nervous facing the final ball of a really testing over, so he does what anyone would do: reverse-scoops it for six. At some point, we’ll need to talk about this man, and how he is now one of the best, most creative, inventive, entertaining and brave batters in the world.
“Once you allow substitutions for any reason,” says Stuart Silvers, “you open up a can of worms that ends with the South African rugby union team changing its entire forward pack at half time – or the farce at the end of international football friendlies. Watching England cope without Woakes this morning has already been fascinating.”
I do think there’s a way of making it work, but from my perspective, it seeks to solvs a problem that doesn’t exist.
REVIEW! NOT OUT!
It was a really good ball, but the bounce was taking it over the top; to avoid that on this track, you’ve got to be so full; length just won’t do it.
4th over: England 18-0 (Crawley 12, Duckett 5) Deep’s in and he rattles Duckett, er, in the deep. As you might imagine, his good friend and junior partner finds the whole thing not unamusing; he takes time to regenrate and refresh, then the bowler pins him on the crease with that straightens. He loves it, persuading Gill to review when the umpire says naw…
3rd over: England 18-0 (Crawley 12, Duckett 5) The ball isn’t doing anything, but it might once the lacquer is off and heavy roll has worn off the pitch. But in the meantime and after a single to Duckett, Crawley times four through cover, then twizzles four more to midwicket, and the problem India have is that England score so quickly, by the time conditions start offering assistance, the whole tenor of the innings might’ve changed.
Lovely to see the love being rained down on Thorpey, quite right too, a top fella,” begins Jeremy Yeomans. “I was lucky enough to play village cricket against Graham and his brothers Ian (who I also played football with) and Alan, a highly competitive, (in the most positive meaning of the word) and skilful band of brothers. Together with their dad Geoff, who often stood in on umpire duties and Mum Toni on the scorebook, they made a formidable sporting family, 100% committed and really lovable, grounded people with it.
Particularly remember my lot beating them in an under 15s 20-overs game, where the drama of a couple of run win for us, in the final over,was closer to 9pm on a gloomy September evening in deepest Surrey, which must have prepared him for the darkness of Karachi . at least that’s how I like to picture it.
If memory serves me correctly, Graham would have been under-10 at the time, because I’d have been 14 max.
He showed his class a couple of years later, when I had graduated to the weekend men’s 2nd team at around 17. His Wrecclesham team turned up & kicked our asses on his debut. if I remember rightly he took three wickets, (he was a handy bowler) & made at least 30 odd (might have been 50…. memory’s not what it was, especially in a losing cause) - I believe he was 12 or maybe 13, took out fellas three or four times his age, who were in utter disbelief. You could tell he was destined for better things.
I know he had his demons but Thorpey loved sport and he loved cricket. To have that world shut off to him, appears to have had a hugely negative impact on his emotional being and sense of self. A real tragedy and hopefully making people more aware will help others who might feel that life cannot continue without something which has been seemingly omnipresent in their lives amd will give hope for the future.
Me, I like to remember him on a sunny Saturday afternoon, at Frensham Rec, quietly going about his business of showing the old guard that there was a new kid on the block with bat and ball. Sound technique, no flashiness, just got the job done.”
2nd over: England 9-0 (Crawley 4, Duckett 4) Akash Deep, so effective at Edgbaston, takes the new ball here, and Duckett taps his third delivery into the off-side for one. It was really interesting to hear Crawley talk about England’s opening partnership at OT, and he was very clear in so doing: Duckett is the senior partner, offering advice and determining tactics, thanks to his prodigious cricket brain. And next ball, Crawley is caught on the crease, swiping across the line; he’s hit on the pad, but high, and given he’s a tall man, it makes sense that India don’t appeal strongly or review.
1st over: England 8-0 (Crawley 4, Duckett 3) Crawley looks to turn behind and instead earns a leg-bye, then Duckett runs down to deep backward and Jadeja chases well, diving to save one as the batters take three. Then, responding to the final ball of the over, Crawley, standing out of his crease, stands tall, waits, and dismisses from his countenance, massacring four through cover. Good start for England.
“I’ve been listening to Tom Cox’s 21st Century Yokel lately,” says Tom ven der Gucht, “and a line that struck a chord with me was, ‘There are some years where you’re more you than others.’
2004 was one of those years for me. Drifting after graduation, I was temping in a call centre in Oxford with a lot of other people yet to find their feet. I seemed to spend the entire year mooching around following England’s cricketing triumphs (a golden year, better than 2005 in my opinion) and the emergence of the next generation of talent in between taking calls and heading into town to hit the real ale pubs and catch the last hour of play on Channel 4 and dream about my future. Thorpe was such a big part of that – a link from my teenage years watching and listening to TMS, to adulthood – and the grit and gravitas the likes of Butch, Hussain and he brought to the team was palpable.”
And of course there’s more:
Righto, we’re good to go again, Siraj with the ball and Crawley on strike.
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England bowled well this morning, and would’ve taken the current state of play when winning the toss. I don’t want to read too much into one innings, but it feels like we can, perhaps, assume that Atkinson will be the final piece of the first-choice Ashes attack, alongside Stokes, Archer and Wood.
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“A few things that could lessen the prospect of abuse,” begins Will Vignoles, “could be firstly having them be under the purview of an independent medical team, as rugby does with head injury assessments, and then limiting them to like for like and only external injuries – it’s quite hard to fake a dislocated shoulder or broken foot, and means that teams can’t just take a chance on someone coming into a test with a muscle problem. There’s already mitigation in terms of time spent off the field for those as well so something of a precedent already there. Also, I might be wrong but I think they’re much less common than a muscular issue as well so would mean it doesn’t happen too often.
Quick one on Graham Thorpe - I started watching cricket at the end of the 90s, and he always stood out as a rock of determination, thoughtfulness as well as quality. A great man gone much too soon.”
I guess I don’t want more complexity in the game; I’m fine with the status quo, and enjoy the randomness of unpredictable misfortune, then watching the teams deal with it.
WICKET! Krishna c Smith b Atkinson 0 (India 224 all out)
Five for Atkinson on his comeback from injury, and he’s earned every bit of relief and joy he’s experiencing as he raises the ball. This is another beautiful delivery too, full of length, seaming away, and kissing the edge as if magnetically attracted to it. This pitch has plenty in it, and it’s going to be a lot fun watching how England bat on it and India bowl at them.
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WICKET! Siraj b Atkinson 0 (India 224-9)
Another tremendous delivery, an off-cutter jutting in at pace, diddling the batter through the gate before clattering the timber. Four for Atkinson, who is bowling beautifully.
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69th over: India 224-8 (Deep 0, Siraj 0) Tongue, one a fivefer if he picks up the two remaining wickets, pins Deep on the crease and contacts the pad, but there’s no appeal as the ball was high and going down. Oh, and Tongue might just be into this now, a leg-cutter slanting in before zipping away late doors, way, way too good for for Deep. Naturally, a piece of leg-side nonsense completes the over, Smith’s helpless dive again between at cost of four byes.
68th over: India 220-8 (Deep 0, Siraj 0) Both the overnight batters have gone, and India are in big trouble – but the pitch is still doing plenty.
WICKET! Sundar c Overton b Atkinson 26 (India 220-8)
Tis time, Washington goes after a short one, but his pull isn’t hit with necessary authority nor are wrists rolled over it, so instead he picks out Overton at deep square who, running in, leans forward to catch on the fall.
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68th over: India 220-7 (Sundar 26, Deep 0) Washington knows he needs to score so, sent a short one, he leaps looking to let ball hit cross-bat and will be relieved to see it land safe as he runs two.
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67th over: India 218-7 (Sundar 24, Deep 0) This is Mitchell Johnson bowling from Tongue, spraying it all over before finding something unplayable.
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REVIEW! OUT!
Er, yeah, you can understand by Nair went upstairs because we’re into the bowlers now, but Lev Yashin couldn’t save him here. Middle stump, two-thirds of the way up, bang.
WICKET! Nair lbw b Tongue 57 (India 218-7)
You’ve got to laugh: Tongue has done it again! He pins Nair with an exocet, swinging in, seaming, and ramming the back pad; it’s so plumb the batter might as well walk.
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67th over: India 218-6 (Nair 57, Sundar 24) Oh dear. Again, Tongue looks to swing one back in, but again he starts from too tight to the stumps, the ball trampolining past Smith’s dive and hurrying to the fence for four byes. Maybe if he comes from wider on the crease, or runs in on the diagonal, he might find the accuracy he’s seeking, but in the meantime, Washington takes him for one and he finds a less avant-garde line.
“Like Phil Harrison, my memories of Graham Thorpe as a cricketer are intertwined with personal sliding doors moments,” says Carl Jones. “His debut in the Ashes also marked the last time that I saw my dad – after a messy divorce he had moved to Wiltshire from Buckinghamshire and the distance meant that he missed much of my teenage years. This meant that he hadn’t quite grasped my move from childhood into young adulthood, and so we had a slightly uneasy relationship.
July 1993 saw me make the trip to his house for a week of what I expected to be worthy day trips and events, but instead he casually suggested that he had got some beers in and that he thought me might watch the cricket together. So we spent the next few days sipping beer and discussing the cricket - it was the only timer we ever related as adults, and he sadly passed away unexpectedly a couple of months later.
So Graham Thorpe and his century – and to a lesser extent a bit of fire from Martin McCague are indelibly associated with me and my Dad and the most treasured few days of that most important of relationships.”
66th over: India 213-6 (Nair 57, Sundar 23) It is, of course, Atkinson from the other end – he was excellent yesterday, and England will be relying on him to get this over. And his second delivery is very nice, seaming in as Nair shoulders arms; there’s a confident shout, but when the umpire rejects the appeal, there’s no review as the ball was probably going down. Maiden, Atkinson’s eighth of the innings.
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65th over: India 213-6 (Nair 57, Sundar 23) How Tongue and Overton bowl in the absence of Woakes will go a long way towards deciding ho this match shakes out. And Tongue begins well enough, only for Nair to airily drive like he didn’t spend hours yesterday denying himself for the team … edging through the slips for four. He then misses out on a full toss, adding just one through midwicket, then the best delivery of the over rams Washington’s pad; there’s an appeal, but the ball was going down. Tongue, though, can’t sustain pressure, swinging one in but from too close to straight; Washington flicks it around the corner for four, and that’s nine off the over, today just a continuation of yesterday – so far.
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Tongue will open, and off we go.
Amanda Thorpe, Graham’s wife – who’s just been on telly giving Ian Ward an interview of incomprehensible bravery, candour and clarity – and Emma Thorpe, Graham’s daughter – ring the five-minute bell. Soon, we will have cricket.
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Session times
Morning: 11am – 1pm
Afternoon: 1.40pm – 3.55pm
Evening: 4.15pm – 6.30pm with the possibility of an extra half-hour
“The news on Chris Woakes will reignite the injury substitution debate I am sure,” says Andrew Moore. “It doesn’t sit right with me that a team is allowed a concussion substitute for essentially a batter error, but for injury misfortune a substitute is not allowed. I don’t buy the health and safety argument around concussion either, as in other sports if a player fails concussion tests it is up to the team doctor to not allow him to carry on playing. I do agree with the argument that allowing injury substitutes is open to abuse.
The answer is simple, either no substitutes under any circumstances or allow substitutes for any reason. I heard an interesting idea which was to allow maybe one or two substitutes only during the first two innings of a match. Introducing tactical substitutes during a Test match could be fascinating.
Can I also associate myself with your thoughts on Graham Thorpe. What a tremendously painful day this must be for family and friends, but equally the sport can do its part today to help ease that pain.”
I’m with Ben Stokes on this one: how teams deal with misfortune is part of sport, and I don’t think England should just be able to toss, say Jofra Archer into this match having seen what their team is lacking and the pitch requires.
“The OBO, MBM, uh, GolfBGolf(? Sorry, Scott!) communities are, by and large, entertaining and supportive and collaborative,” reckons Matt Dony. “When covid put paid to live sport, I found that I really missed following games on here. At its best, it’s like being in a big ol’ pub, watching the match, but also making stupid jokes about 90s music or prestige TV or whatever the thread happens to be that day. I like to think we can make certain assumptions about most of the people who read and contribute, but even so, a lot of us probably trend towards the (ugh) ‘blokey’ and stoic.
I went through some ‘stuff’ a few years ago, and a huge part of the reason I’m here now with mental health relatively intact is that I have good friends who checked in on me. Sometimes simply asking if I was ok. I often wasn’t.
And, equally, I try to be there for them. There’s always someone going through something. And I doubt any of us of certain generations will ever truly get comfortable with, say, sending a text that just says ‘How are you feeling? I’m thinking about you.’ But it’s our responsibility to do it. To each other, and to the generations following. Show them the importance of empathy and compassion. Make sure that they’re better equipped than we might have been at their age.”
I couldn’t agree more: everyone is struggling with something. It’s incumbent upon us to make sure that, when it comes to those we know, we’re aware of what it is and make clear it and they are on our mind.
“I’ve been watching Tests for years,” brags and confesses James Davey, “and I wake up this morning realising I have *no idea* how the hours of play work today. I think we get 96 overs scheduled for today (to make up for the fact overs were lost yesterday). But do they get until 1830 to bowl those? Or 1930? Or some other point? Judging by my forecast this is a moot point, as we’ll lose more time today, but I confess that I am confused, and I am probably not the only one.
(India should declare overnight by the way. Bowling England out today is their best chance to take 20 wickets and win the series. They won’t. But they should.)
Thanks for sharing Karachi with us all. What a great player Thorpey was.”
Er, me neither. Otherwise, I guess India plan to score as many as they can today, in the knowledge they’ll either have time to bowl England out today, or build a decent total against a struggling attack. They do need to take 20 wickets, but that’ll be easier done with SB Pressure completing their attack.
“Still makes me very sad to think of the final years of Graham Thorpe’s life,” emails Phil Harrison. “I was at Trent Bridge for his debut ton – I was there with my dad and I moved to London the following day. Which, in my head at least, kind of marked the beginning of my adult life. It felt like me and Graham Thorpe were setting out on our journeys at the same time so I was always quite invested in his career. It’s silly how we let our lives become intertwined with the fates of professional sports people who will never know we exist. But it’s meaningful and potent in its own way too. Anyway, what a player and what a guy. I hope on some level he understood how loved and respected he was.”
It’s not silly at all – seeking meaning and being moved is part of what makes us human. I don’t need Michael Stipe’s recognition, say, to feel changed by him; as Dave said, we’re all alone in this together, and however we experience that together is worth everything.
In case you missed it at the time and even if you didn’t, check out or remind yourself of Jim Wallace’s piece remembering Thorpey.
Email! “When I think of Graham Thorpe,” writes Elliot Brooks, “I think about watching cricket with my mum as a kid, when we’d been sequestered to the television in her room because other members of the family wanted a de-cricketed zone in the living room for at least an hour at some point in the summer. I just have a lovely warm memory of sitting on her bed, watching Thorpe stroll out to bat with his zinced lips during some batting collapse or other, and my mum inevitably muttering ‘he’s always worth a few runs’.
I think that’s worth quite a lot. To be a small part of a nice memory. What joy he brought us. It’s a shame he had those struggles, and he couldn’t see what the rest of us could see. His legacy speaks for itself, rugged enduring open-heartedness, and we should all be so lucky to be defined in those terms.
Thanks for the donation links, throwing something in and thinking of Graham.”
It’s so easy to enumerate Thorpey’s qualities, isn’t it? Once upon a time, I’d have said they inspire us to aspire to them, but these days, I think the lesson is to remember that the same is already so of all of us.
I don’t suppose any of us are surprised by that news – it looked grim at the time – so let’s hope for a swift recovery. At Woakes’ age, every match means more and every injury lasts longer, but whatever happens from here, his legacy is secure, as a very fine cricketer and an even finer human being.
ECB: Woakes will play no further part in this Test
England seamer Chris Woakes will continue to be monitored throughout the remainder of the Rothesay Fifth Test at The Kia Oval, following a left shoulder injury sustained on day one of the match against India.
“At this stage, the injury has ruled him out of any further participation in the Test.
“A further assessment will be conducted at the conclusion of the series.”
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Preamble
We’re just about to begin day two of Test five, one of the great recent serieseseseses still in the balance. England, having revolutionised the game with their love of it, have since stepped off to step up, learning how to win and becoming a serious team in the process, while India, shorn of generational champions and under new leadership, remain a thrilling meld of attitude and aptitude. We’ll be talking about this contest for a very long time.
But sometimes, it’s not about the contest at all – even though it is – and A Day for Thorpey reminds us why we’re here in the first place. Cricket is competitive and cricket is tough, sure – few understood that better than the man we’re gathered to remember and celebrate – but also, cricket is company and cricket is community. When we say we’ll be talking about this contest for a very long time, that’s because its sporting and dramatic merits command us to, but it’s also because we’re social beings who need to talk – and to listen, and to be listened to, and to share, and to feel alive, and to feel loved.
Which is to say that it’s our job here to communicate to you what’s happening out in the middle, but if that was all we did, we’d not be doing our job. We’re also here to chat about anything that’s on anyone’s heart, and there’s an email address at the top of the page for a reason: so anyone reading can get in touch. We’re all equal parts of this beautiful thing of ours, and just as Thorpey famously made himself available to help those around him, no one reading this need ever suffer alone. Today, we’re raising money for Mind, and specifically Thorpey’s Bat and Chat – please do support them if you can, here or here – but in the meantime, if you need an inexpert ear, conversation or mate, you know exactly where we are and that it’s our privilege to hear from you. It gets dark sometimes, but it was dark in Karachi too.
Play: 11am BST
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