Here’s Ali Martin’s report on an enthralling day at Headingley. That’s my cue to say goodbye. Thanks for joining us, Rob will be back bright and bushy in the morning. Do you know something? I think it’ll be a big first session.
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Ben Duckett has been doing some end of play media duties:
We couldn’t have done much more with the ball today. They could have got 600 plus so to bowl them out for under 500 we are pleased. We are in a good spot and if we win the first session tomorrow we are really in this game.”
On Jasprit Bumrah:
Going out there against the best bowler in the world, it wasn’t easy at times. He is world class. It is hard as an opener as he bowls so many different balls. I tried to play as late as I could but it is tricky. I enjoy that challenge, and getting through the new ball gives you good confidence.”
I feel like I am at the top of my game but I wouldn’t say I am near the best in the world. There is no dressing room I would rather be a part of and these are the best years of my life.”
On Ollie Pope:
I had goosebumps when he got his 100. He is such a big part of the dressing room. He didn’t need to do that but to go and do it, I take my hat off to him. I can’t wait to give him a hug.”
On England’s position in the game:
When a side get 471, the first innings is so important. We are in the game and this is a fast scoring ground. We need the first session tomorrow.”
Bumrah finishes with all three wickets and was backed up by Siraj who bowled aggressively for no reward. India’s attack does look heavily reliant on their star bowler though.
The day belongs to England and Ollie Pope. After reducing India to 471 all out when the visitors were well in command at 430-4 the home side finish 262 runs behind with seven wickets in hand. Moving day tomorrow, the game intriguingly poised.
Stumps - England 209-3 (trail India by 262)
Are you kidding me!
Harry Brook plays an absolute stinker of a hook shot and is CAUGHT OUT at short midwicket!
That is a complete brain fade of a shot to Bumrah in the last over of the da… IT’S A NO BALL! Bumrah has been over-stepping throughout this final over – elongating the tension beyond words - and he has done it again at the crucial moment! Brook was walking off forlornly only to be given a second chance. That’s a huge moment in this game and a big let off for Brook and England.
This is brilliant drama. Bumrah spears in a yorker and Brook slams his bat down just in time. One ball to come. You could cut the atmosphere with a spoon. Bumrah fizzes the ball past Harry Brook’s ear! How did that not take the glove?! Brook survives somehow and that is stumps.
What an enthralling day of Test match cricket.
49th over: England 209-3 (Pope 100, Brook 0)
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48th over: England 206-3 (Pope 100, Brook 0) Jadeja rattles through an over in no time at all so that Jasprit Bumrah has time to bowl the last over of the day. Harry Brook will be on strike. Is there another twist before the close?
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47th over: England 206-3 (Pope 100, Brook 0) There are ten minutes left in the day but Harry Brook strolls out, no nightwatchman in sight here. Headingley takes a deep breath.
Bumrah beats him with the first ball! Pressure now on for England and would you know it the clouds have rolled in. Bumrah looking to kick the doors in on this England innings. Brook defends and survives the over. Don’t go anywhere.
It wasn’t a great shot from Root you know, a bit of a nothing waft with no foot movement. He’ll be livid to let India in before the close when England looked so comfortable.
WICKET! Joe Root c Nair b Bumrah 28 (England 206-3)
GONE! Root edges Bumrah to slip the very next ball. A loose shot and India strike back!
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100 for Ollie Pope!
Root nudges a single off the returning Bumrah to bring Pope on strike. Is this the moment? YES IT IS! A squirt into the leg side sees OLLIE POPE GO TO HIS NINTH TEST HUNDRED! He punches the air and soaks in the applause. Pressure, what pressure. That’s a top knock.
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46th over: England 204-2 (Pope 99, Root 27) Pope drives Jadeja for a single to the off side boundary rider. Root returns the favour to get Pope back on strike. Jadeja just slows things down, making Pope wait. Dot ball. Single to third. 99 for Pope… but Root pilfers the strike off him with a single off the last ball of the over. Joseph!
45th over: England 200-2 (Pope 97, Root 25) It’s a change of ends for Tnakur. Pope gets his Robin Smith on and rasps a square cut away for four! He’s on 95 now. We might see some tub-thumping celebrations from England’s number three here, he’s delivered when his side needed him and under some very real scrutiny. We might see a nod up to Ben Stokes who has backed his man vociferously. Four leg byes and a no ball from Thakur, he’s been off the mark so far. 200 comes up for England, for the loss of two wickets. Dignified applause echoes arroud Headingley. I’m serious!
Pope is one shot away. Fire up Gimme Shelter again why don’t you.
44th over: England 188-2 (Pope 91, Root 24) Jadeja replaces Thakur who failed to deliver on the clamour. Root glides a single to third and Pope clips a single to the man at ‘45. Blink and miss it, that’s the over.
43rd over: England 186-2 (Pope 90, Root 23) Careful! Pope makes a late decision to attempt an upper cut off Krishna but doesn’t connect. Shot! Krishna goes short again and Pope swivels a pull away for four to go to 90…
42nd over: England 181-2 (Pope 86, Root 22) Shot! Root plays a delicious late cut off Thakur for four. That brings up the fifty partnership too. Root clips off his pad and puts on the after-burners to come back for two. It was a front foot no ball too. Another single to Root, nine runs pocketed off the over.
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41st over: England 172-2 (Pope 85, Root 17) Pope cuts Krishna away fine for four, that was a classy shot, full of confidence. Krishna follows up with a steepling bouncer that Pant does well to cling on to high above his head. England’s session at the moment with just the loss of Duckett but a couple of quick ones before the close will see India roar back. Don’t go anywhere basically.
40th over: England 165-2 (Pope 80, Root 16) Thakur needs a bit of WD40, he seems a bit creaky and distinctly medium paced as he rolls in from the Rugby Stand End. Ollie Pope moves to 80 with a drive square that Jadeja can’t cut off with his size tens. The Western Terrace enjoyed that bit of village level cricket from on of the world’s best fielders. He’s dropped a catch today too. I’ll get off his case now.
39th over: England 157-2 (Pope 74, Root 13) Pope is busy, pulling and cutting, accumulating runs on both sides of the wicket. Some slightly dodgy running as the pair in the middle seem to mishear each other but all fine in the end. Root has settled into his work after that flibberty-jibberty start. Oh look – here comes Shardul Thakur for his first bowl in the match.
38th over: England 152-2 (Pope 69, Root 13) Siraj continues after a slurp, he’s as wholehearted as ever, sprinting in and scurrying to do his own fielding. Root clips for two and Pope pulls with control for a single. Headingley bathed in evening sunshine, England chipping away and India on the hunt.
37th over: England 147-2 (Pope 67, Root 10) Root drives compactly but not overly sweetly for three runs down the ground. Krishna then swoops to do some nifty fielding in his follow through and hurls the ball with Root momentarily out of his ground. Plenty of jeers inside the ground as the ball hits Root but the apology is offered and Root isn’t mithered. Time for a drink.
36th over: England 143-2 (Pope 66, Root 7) Siraj thunders in and nearly blows a vein shaped gasket as Pope scampers a quick single and the shy at the stump is not backed up. BUZZERS! Bonus run to Pope and England. Où est Shardul?
35th over: England 141-2 (Pope 64, Root 7) Prasidh Krishna replaces Bumrah at the Kirkstall Lane end. A good portion of Headingley breathes a sigh of relief. Still no sign of Shardul Thakur as of yet, he can sometimes have something of a golden arm… it’s a mystery as Roy Orbison crooned. Pope tucks for two to keep England ticking.
34th over: England 138-2 (Pope 62, Root 7) Paul Reiffel gives Joe Root out lbw to Siraj but it is overturned on review! Scenes at Headingley and huge cheers as Root survives and Reiffel has to do a reverse-ferret. It was missing by a stump and a half tbf but India thought they had their man and celebrated accordingly. Another top over from Siraj mind.
33rd over: England 137-2 (Pope 61, Root 7) Bumrah targets Pope’s pads but the Surrey man plays straight and pinches a single to mid on. Beaten! Bumrah rips one through Root but it turns out to be a front foot no ball. It’s been a sketchy start from Root so far, he’s been unsure waht to play and what to leave. An inside edge brings some respite as a single is squirted to square leg.
32nd over: England 133-2 (Pope 60, Root 5) Root whips Siraj off his pads for four but the bowler straightens up and jags one past the outside edge next ball. It’s intense can’t take yer peelers off it cricket right now. Root sees out the over playing watchfully and wonderfully late. On we go, Bumrah coming back for a fifth over on the spin.
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31st over: England 129-2 (Pope 60, Root 1) Bumrah into his fourth on the spin, he arrows one into Root’s pad in an attempt to pin the livin’ ledge lbw. Too straight next ball and Root clips away fine for a single to get off the mark. Bumrah is full to Pope and would have been in business for a lbw but for a late inside edge. DROP! Pope is shelled by Jaiswal at a wide second slip. Tough chance diving away to his right but should’ve been taken. Pope survives but chastises himself for the loosey goosey waft.
30th over: England 127-2 (Pope 59, Root 0)Pope chops the returning Siraj backward of point for a single. Root is beaten again by a ball that zips around fourth stump. India would be in raptures if they get the local lad early. And again! Root fences slightly at a good length ball but connects only with fresh air. Brilliant over by Siraj but the edge remained elusive.
29th over: England 126-2 (Pope 58, Root 0) Root has a fiddle at his second ball and is extremely lucky not to nick off! The intensity has ramped up a good few notches now after the Duckett wicket.
WICKET! Ben Duckett b Bumrah 62 (England 126-2)
Pope gets a tickle on a leg-side lifter from Bumrah, the ball flies about two feet wide of the diving Pant and away for four. A genuine nick off the next ball lands short of the cordon and they take one.
Bowled’im! Duckett tries an expansive drive to Bumrah but chops onto his middle stump! A typically pugilistic innings comes to a close and India prise the door open. Here comes JOE ROOOOOOT!
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28th over: England 121-1 (Duckett 62, Pope 53) Duckett tries the reverse-sweep once again to Jadeja and this time he gets it cleanly, the ball scurries away for four into the gap behind square. Hearty cheers go up around Headingley.
27th over: England 117-1 (Duckett 58, Pope 53) Another Bumrah over negotiated and three runs collected by England and more specifically, Ben Duckett.
26th over: England 115-1 (Duckett 55, Pope 53) Duckett attempts a reverse-sweep, misses and nearly loses his leg pole. Sun beating down now at Headingley, optimum batting conditions, the pitch still looks flat and supposedly gets flatter on day three. No you stop it.
25th over: England 113-1 (Duckett 54, Pope 53) Pope steers Bumrah through the vacant gully – quite deliberately – to pick up four and reach fifty. He’ll feel prettay good right now. You know that Groucho Marx quote – “no one is completely unhappy at the failure of their best friend” well Crawley fell for not many and Pope is out there scrapping it out. Getting it done. Jacob Bethell is the ghost at the feast and very much waiting in the wings.
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Righto. We go again. The players emerge after tea.
Tea - England 107-1 (trail India by 364)
24th over: England 107-1 (Duckett 53, Pope 48) Jadeja whirls through a maiden but England survive. They trail by a Len Hutton big one (364) but have nine wickets in hand after only suffering the loss of Zak Crawley in the afternoon session. They’ve also taken a decent chunk out of the India total and at a fair old lick – 4.47 runs per over. BIG SESSION this evening.
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23rd over: England 107-1 (Duckett 53, Pope 48) Bumrah is negotiated by Pope and Duckett, both batters clip a single and keep the scoreboard ticking. There will be one more over before the tea break. It’s been a fascinating session.
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22nd over: England 105-1 (Duckett 52, Pope 47) Duckett sweeps Jadeja for four to bring up a 14th Test fifty and the hundred partnership. England doing well but here comes Jasprit Bumrah for a short burst before tea.
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21st over: England 99-1 (Duckett 47, Pope 46) Siraj bowls himself off his feet looking for the breakthrough, face full of dirt for his troubles. Pope gets an inside edge and scampers a run into the leg side. It’s been a good spell this from Siraj before tea, he’s asking plenty of questions. Proper criggit.
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20th over: England 96-1 (Duckett 46, Pope 45) Jadeja drops short and is flat batted away by Pope through the off side. Four runs. England approaching their hundred and these two batters closing in on well made half centuries.
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19th over: England 91-1 (Duckett 46, Pope 40) Siraj beats Duckett with a snorter that pitches straight and moves late. Duckett holds the defensive shot and gives the bowler a smile and a nod of approval. And again! Duckett is beaten but crucially he didn’t lunge at the ball, his compactness saved him there. Testing over from Siraj. Twenty minutes til tea.
18th over: England 89-1 (Duckett 45, Pope 39) Here’s some spin for India. Jadeja from over the wicket with a slip and leg slip in place. He rattles through his over at warp speed as is his wont. Darting the ball rather than flighting it. Pope and Duckett pick and flick, three singles off it.
17th over: England 86-1 (Duckett 43, Pope 38) The sun is beginning to burn through again here at Headingley. Siraj whistles through another over, full and straight, two singles and a brace to Ollie Pope collected.
John Starbuck is in the mood:
“Jim, if England can get to the close of play more than halfway behind, they’ll probably see the positive side. Confidence is everything!”
But you haven’t mentioned the one crucial factor John old boy – wickets! Half way there with only a couple in the hutch is a good position. Any more than four down and advantage India I reckon.
16th over: England 82-1 (Duckett 42, Pope 35) Top batting from Ben Duckett. He pulls Krishna away through midwicket and after much tinkering with the field from Gill then finds the gap left at extra cover for the second boundary of the over. He’s such a little disruptor, bet he was a nightmare in class.
15th over: England 72-1 (Duckett 34, Pope 33) Pope survives a tight lbw shout from Siraj! It was a bail trimmer but the umpire said not out and so it stays that way on review. Something something the barest of margins. Siraj gives it the big one with the next ball after Pope misses another but this one was heading down leg and Gill doesn’t call for the review. Breaking news: Mo Siraj has got his dander up.
14th over: England 71-1 (Duckett 34, Pope 32) Krishna continues after drinks. The intensity has dipped slightly, like the school playground when the bully is inside doing extra spellings.
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13th over: England 67-1 (Duckett 30, Pope 32) The players take drinks after Siraj’s latest. Duckett plays and misses at the last ball. Have a Tizer and settle down lad.
England ticking along at over five an over despite the early loss of Zak Crawley. Tea will be taken between 16:50 – 17:10 and the final session will go from 17:10 - 18:43.
Plenty of cricket left to be played today and it looks like the rain is staying away. Penny for your thoughts on a potential close of play position?
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12th over: England 65-1 (Duckett 29, Pope 31) Pope drives elegantly for four off Krishna and picks up a bonus boundary as Bumrah lets a ball through his legs whilst sweeping up. The crowd emit a loud cheer/jeer. Don’t rile him up then!
11th over: England 56-1 (Duckett 28, Pope 23) The clouds have lifted a bit at Headingley and this pair have settled into their work. Two singles off Siraj. Positively sedate out there now. Still searingly tropical in the press box, FYI.
10th over: England 54-1 (Duckett 27, Pope 22) Duckett pounces on a short ball from Krishna and pulls it away over the leg side for four. Will Bumrah be back for another? Nope, he’s been given a breather by Gill and so have England. Siraj to bowl next with a change of ends. And Breathe. But not too deeply. Fifty up for England.
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9th over: England 47-1 (Duckett 20, Pope 22) Shot! Duckett drives Bumrah on the up for four. There’s that straight bat! I’m harping on aren’t I?
8th over: England 41-1 (Duckett 16, Pope 20) Prasidh Krishna replace Siraj and Pope and Duckett have a look, for the moment. Two singles off it.
GOOD NEWS: Jofra Archer is set for a long-awaited return to first-class cricket in Sussex’s County Championship clash at Durham. The England fast bowler’s appearance in the Division One fixture at the Banks Homes Riverside, starting on Sunday, will be his first red-ball outing in more than four years following a litany of injuries. He was surprisingly absent when Sussex announced a 12-strong squad to travel to Chester-le-Street on their website, raising concerns the 30-year-old had suffered another frustrating injury setback. But the England and Wales Cricket Board later clarified Archer was among Sussex’s contingent for the contest.
England would love to have him play a part in this series. A Lord’s return is being mooted. Wouldn’t that be something.
7th over: England 39-1 (Duckett 15, Pope 19) DROP! Blow me down with a rhubarb leaf. Jadeja spills a regulation chance at backward point! Duckett slaps the final ball of the over in the air straight and it goes in the hands and straight back out again. Jadeja and India can’t believe it. Duckett is one lucky boy.
6th over: England 39-1 (Duckett 15, Pope 19) The crowd are fully engrossed in the contest, not a beer snake in sight. Siraj pounds in from the Rugby end, four dots in a row as he targets Pope’s off stump. Too straight and whipped for four by Pope. He middled that one.
Gah! Don’t do that! Pope throws his hands at a wide one and plays an ugly stroke that he would be mortified to get out to. No foot movement and just a waft. You know that line in The Departed where Ray Winstone’s character tells Leonardo Di Caprio’s (in a ropey Boston accent) that “There are people you can hit and there are people you can’t hit..”
Well there are ways to get out (nicking an unplayable Bumrah snorter say) and there are ways to not get out (tamely poking a Siraj wide ball to point). Capiche?
It’s just a shot away, it’s just a shot away!
5th over: England 35-1 (Duckett 15, Pope 15) Pope edges Bumrah with a twisted blade and nearly suffers the exact same fate as Zak Crawley! He’s a lucky lad as the edge bisects third slip and gully at chest height and flies away for four. Play straight! Yes I sound about ninety years old. Eeeesht. Duckett steps away and flays off the back foot, the ball squirts through the cordon for another four but England are well on truly on the rocks here against Jasprit Bumrah.
4th over: England 24-1 (Duckett 11, Pope 8) “Bumrah must be literally licking his lips at the prospect of bowling at some nervous English lads on a juiced-up wicket under heavy skies...AT HEADINGLEY!” emails Jeremy Boyce.
“Can there be a better Test ground in England to bowl quick stuff when it’s “doing something”? What’s the forecast for the rest of the afternoon ?Apart from wickets...”
It has brightened up at Headingley but the rain hasn’t diluted the atmospheric pressure. If I may get my Schafernacker on. You get my drift. It’s muggy as mate. Certainly the trickiest conditions to bat so far in the match but the pitch is still an absolute belter. Ben Duckett proves it with a punch through mid-off and a late cut past point to pick up two boundaries off Siraj.
3rd over: England 14-1 (Duckett 1, Pope 8) Bumrah sends down a searing yorker to Pope and it pins him on the toe. There’s a huge appeal, arms akimbo in the air from bowler, keeper and cordon. Not out say the umpire but India fancy it and send it upstairs. NOT OUT! The ball pitched outside the line of leg stump by a gnat’s eyebrow and so India lose a review and Pope survives. Another probing over from the man with the bullwhip arm, every ball an event. Test match cricket at its finest.
2nd over: England 13-1 (Duckett 1, Pope 8) Duckett clips a single to leg to get off the mark. Pope then opens his account with a four through midwicket to a straight ball, that’s what Crawley was trying to do but Pope did’t turn the bat so much. Pope then picks up four more with a glide wide of point with velveteen hands.
1st over: England 4-1 (Duckett 0, Pope 0) Here’s Ollie Pope. England off to a poor start. Mohammed Siraj is going to share the new ball. Don’t go anywhere.
WICKET! Zak Crawley c Nair b Bumrah 4 (England 4-1)
Bumrah stutters and jerks into the crease with the floodlights beaming down. His first ball is back of a length and Crawley leaves it alone (with the benefit of the doubt). Bumrah beats him with a beauty that is fuller and jags away off the seam. Four! Crawley gets a thick edge off a forward poke and the ball flies low wide of slip to the boundary. England on their way. The fact they aren’t staring down the barrel of a 550-600+ is a real boon for them.
Gone! Zak Crawley tries turns the blade to try and whip Bumrah off his pads but the ball straightens enough to take the edge and it flies to slip where KL Rahul takes a fine catch. Being harsh I think that is a poor shot in the first over against the world’s best bowler. It did move sharply but the margin for error by flicking and trying to hit square rather than with a straight bat up to mid-on is so much higher. It was a good ball though, as you’d expect. More pressure heaped on Crawley you’d think with young Bethell waiting in the wings.
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Bumrah prowls at the top of his mark. Zak Crawley is on strike. Here’s the game right here. Play!
Thanks Rob and hello all. Very sprightly* and not at all emanating a slight eau de Yorkshire ale and curry after reconvening with my three Leeds dwelling brothers yesterday afternoon post OBO stint.
The covers are indeed coming off and the drizzle has abated. India’s bowlers are going through their paces on the outfield, they are positively champing at the bit to get out there under lights and muggy skies. Here come the umpires! We’ll be back on shortly.
Buckle up, it’s Bumrah Time!
*Anyone got any paracetamol and possibly a quart of flat Coca-Cola?
Good news: the covers are coming off, though we don’t have a restart time yet. But this is a good moment for me to tag in a sprightly James Wallace for the rest of the day. Thanks for your company and brain food; see you tomorrow.
Rishabh Pant's wagon wheel
It’s for a right-hander, to keep all the wagon wheels consistent, so 88 of his 134 runs came on the leg side.
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Another potential statgasm
I need to double check this but I’m pretty sure India’s total of 471 is the lowest completed Test innings to include three centuries. The previous best (sic) was South Africa’s 475 against England in 2015-16.
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The bad news: it’s raining.
The good news: I’ve learned more about the brain than in my previous 18,042 days on earth.
“I’m a speech therapist specialising in neurological conditions, so I have that dangerous thing, a little knowledge,” writes John Swan. “The spike in performance I think is very likely to be multifactorial, neuro-wise. I’m going to hazard it’s partly to do with attention (there are a number of different types or modes that the brain switches into, depending on whether you need to focus on one task (performing neurosurgery, let’s say) or keep abreast of several (like being a nurse in charge of a four-bedded bay). That’s your frontal and temporal lobes in action, also firing broad processes like executive function (decision-making essentially).
“This is where the spike followed by the drop-off might be explained. Your brain can’t keep itself in executive mode for long periods. I know from personal experience that after a day in clinic, where I might have worked with a succession of clients with, say, motor neurone disease, MS, stroke and Parkinsonism, it’s like I use up my brain’s store of executive function, so that if you were to ask me at 7pm whether I’d like a cup of tea my response might be, ‘Errr... I don’t know.’
“This is clearly a million miles away from a definitive answer but I’m hoping it’s got the hare running and one of the other brilliant OBOers can pick up the, um, baton.”
I know a bit about executive function due to the impact of ADHD and ASD, so that fatigue (or whatever the appropriate word is) makes perfect sense.
And on an uncomfortably serious note, thanks to all of you for the emails on this subject – it’s been really fascinating.
Rain stops play
The rain is getting heavier. England’s openers were halfway to the middle when the umpires called for the covers; they didn’t look too unhappy to spin on their heels and go back to the dressing-room. England would much rather start their innings in sunshine.
The players are back on the field. England’s trial by Bumrah (and Siraj, and Krishna, and the rest) is about to begin.
On Sky Sports, Mark Wood has confirmed that Ben Stokes’ celebration was “rabbit pie”.
“OK the captaincy may be an English affliction,” says Max Williams. “Steve Smith averaged 68 as captain, Jayawardene 59 and Garry Sobers 58. Some chap called Don Bradman averaged 101.
”Graeme Smith, Kane Williamson, Kohli and Pointing all coped fine in more recent examples. Obviously these are generational players but Cook, Root, Strauss knew how to hold a bat and all regressed quite dramatically after the first year.”
It does feel more pronounced with England but plenty of other captains have followed a similar arc. Michael Clarke comes to mind, though I appreciate his case is complicated by the death of Phil Hughes. I just looked and Clarke’s year-on-year averages as captain were 39, 106, 48, 36 and 21. Mark Taylor struggled desperately in the mid-1990s, though his best spell with the bat (while captain) came at the end rather than the start.
Josh Tongue’s fourth wicket was celebrated extravagantly… but only by Ben Stokes, who motioned as if he was wolfing down a bowl of soup or something. Maybe it’s a reference to gobbling up the tail, I’ve no idea. Whatever the gesture, it’s classic Stokes: he could have had a five-for himself, maybe a seven-for, but he did the right thing for the team and couldn’t have been happier for the young player who took the wickets. What a human being.
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The covers are coming on It was spitting as Tongue bowled to Krishna, and the groundstaff got to work as soon as the stumps were disturbed. It looks like a passing shower.
Tongue ends with figures of 20-0-86-4, having taken four wickets for eight runs in 17 balls. Flattering figures, but he won’t care and nor should he.
WICKET! India 471 all out (Krishna b Tongue 0)
Krishna misses, Tongue hits and India have lost their last seven wickets for 41.
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WICKET! India 469-9 (Jadeja b Tongue 11)
India’s unlikely collapse continues. They’ve lost six wickets for 39, with Jadeja the latest to fall. He pushed at a good ball from Tongue, bowling round the wicket, and dragged it onto the stumps. It’s been a fine comeback from England but the prospect of facing Jasprit Bumrah in these conditions won’t fill their hearts with joy.
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112th over: India 469-8 (Jadeja 11, Siraj 1) Four more to Jadeja, lifted handsomely to long-on off the new bowler Carse. The ball, which is 32 overs old, is swinging nicely with the lights on.
111th over: India 463-8 (Jadeja 6, Siraj 1) Jadeja is on the attack now that India are eight down. He gets four with a pull that slithers under Carse on the boundary; a rare misfield from him.
WICKET! India 458-8 (Bumrah c Brook b Tongue 0)
Ben Stokes, one wicket away from his first five-for in eight years, looks at the bigger picture and takes himself out of the attack. His replacement Josh Tongue shows him what he could have won by immediately taking the wicket of Jasprit Bumrah, caught at second slip after edging a drive. Two wickets for Tongue, with the chance of two more to come.
110th over: India 454-7 (Jadeja 2, Bumrah 0) Bashir bowls to Jadeja with a slip, leg slip and a whole lotta forward defensives. A maiden. The lights are now on at Headingley. It won’t happen but there’s a case for India declaring to make the most of these conditions.
“Am I the only person in the country who thinks we have a chance?” says Max Williams. “Maybe I need to accept it’s no longer 2022.
Has any captain improved their average over their tenure? Gooch maybe? Certainly every English captain of my lifetime got increasingly weighed down – Stokes may be the only exception, partially because he was never a huge run scorer to begin with. Vaughan might have averaged 50 if he’d stayed in the ranks but it was certainly a worthwhile tradeoff.”
Yeah, with the majority it balances out by the end. Gooch was exceptional in so many ways: he averaged 59 as captain, 36 in the ranks. Mike Gatting’s record was also much better as captain I think.
109th over: India 454-7 (Jadeja 2, Bumrah 0) Ben Stokes finishes the over he started before lunch with a couple of dot balls to Jasprit Bumrah. It’s a bit gloomier in Leeds, which is usually good news for the quick bowlers.
“For some years now,” begins Alan Tuffery, “I have been gently wishing that England could produce a team of players with monosyllabic surnames. I fancy that the current team’s eight may be the record. (Some fella called Anderson mucked it up for several decades.)”
I thought about it during the lunch break and couldn’t get anywhere near eight, so you might be right.
There was a bit of rain during the lunch break. The covers were on, but now they’re off and play should resume in a few minutes.
Lunchtime reading
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Lunch
Fascinating stuff at Headingley. India looked set for 650+ as Shubman Gill and a rampant Rishabh Pant extended their fourth-wicket partnership to 209. Then Gill was deceived by Shoaib Bashir and England seized their opportunity. Karun Nair was out for 0, Pant fell for 134 and Shardul Thakur nicked off to give Ben Stokes his fourth wicket.
India are still on top – sound the bleedin’ obvious klaxon – but it’s been an impressive comeback from England.
WICKET! India 454-7 (Thakur c Smith b Stokes 1)
Ben Stokes completes a fine morning for England with another wicket just before lunch. Thakur throws everything at a wide, seductive outswinger and snicks it into the gloves of Jamie Smith. Four wickets for Stokes, who has been immense, and India have slipped from 430/3 to 454/7
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108th over: India 454-6 (Jadeja 2, Thakur 1) The new batter Shardul Thakur survives a run-out referral after a direct hit from Carse at midwicket. Carse is such a good fielder, particularly for a fast bowler.
Time for one last over before lunch.
WICKET! India 453-6 (Pant LBW b Tongue 134)
Rishabh Pant, a man with every shot known to man and a few more besides, has padded up to a straight one. He got in a real tangle against Tongue, who bowled a good nipbacker from round the wicket, and was plumb LBW.
Pant gets a standing ovation from the Headingley crowd for a royally entertaining and often hilarious innings: 134 from 178 balls with 12 fours and six sixes.
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107th over: India 453-5 (Pant 134, Jadeja 2) India sent somebody out at the end of the previous over, apparently with a message to Rishabh Pant to simmer down until lunch. Half an hour they were looking at 700; if they lose Pant now they might not make 500.
Jadeja, on 1, chips Stokes in the air and just wide of the diving Pope at midwicket. Stokes is getting a hint of swing, more than anybody else this morning. I’m trying to remember when he last bowled this well. It’s been at least three years, probably five, possibly eight.
“Hi Rob,” says Ruth Purdue. “Did Karun have a Nair?”
I hate myself for this, but I think it’s pronounced ‘Nigh-er’ rather than ‘Nare’. Does that matter? Am I the unacceptable face of the pun police? Is there even an acceptable face.
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106th over: India 450-5 (Pant 132, Jadeja 1) Josh Tongue replaces Shoaib Bashir and appeals for LBW when Pant jumps across his stumps. Not out, but a pretty good shout because he was a long way across. Might have been too high.
Three singles from the over. Pant loses a shoe while running the last of them; good job his batting partner is Ravindra Jadeja and not Christopher Moltisanti.
(NB: CLIP CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE.)
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Statgasm du jour (c/o Andy Zaltzmann on TMS)
This is the first time in Test cricket history that the top six have maded three hundreds and two ducks.
105th over: India 447-5 (Pant 130, Jadeja 0) “The last day and a bit has given me strong vibes of the 1989 Ashes series,” says Rob Durbin. “Hot dry summer – check. First Test at Headingley – check. Underrated opposition put into bat by an overconfident England – check. Said opposition run up a big score – check. It’s all there so far!”
I’ll reserve judgement until the desperate recall of Ian Botham, aged 69, for the third Test. Also, who’s our 14th-choice seamer?
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WICKET! India 447-5 (Nair c Pope b Stokes 0)
Sai Sudharsan make a duck on debut; now Karun Nair has made a duck on his second debut. He slammed a wide full delivery from Stokes towards extra cover, where Pope leapt to his left to take a stunning catch. Pope celebrates by whipping a note out of his pocket that reads YEA BETH, TALK NAH.
Stokes, whose bowling performance is a powerful silver lining amid the clouds, has his third wicket.
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Laughable cricket, c/o Rishabh Pant
104th over: India 442-4 (Pant 125, Nair 0) Pant wallops Bashir over square leg for his sixth six. Next ball, comedy gold. Pant charges Bashir, misses by a mile and throws the bat over his shoulder as Jamie Smith muffs a routine stumping. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as often during a single innings. Pant’s skill alone is joyous but chuck in his audacity and sense of mischief and you have a uniquely entertaining player.
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103rd over: India 435-4 (Pant 118, Nair 0) Pant belabours Stokes down the ground for four, a shot of frightening power. It feels like Pant is really starting to rev up now, and he’s already hit five sixes.
“It’s actually molars that do the grinding, not incisors,” says Alan Wooding, politely correcting my mistake in the 94th over. See, folks, it is possible to criticise or correct an error-prone hack without plunged them head-first into a bucket of RSD.
102nd over: India 430-4 (Pant 113, Nair 0) Karun Nair, who made an unbeaten 303 not out in his last Test innings against England but hasn’t been in the team since March 2017, is the new batter.
Shoaib Bashir ends Shubman Gill’s serene masterpiece with a lovely bit of bowling. Gill skipped down the track but got nowhere near the pitch and dragged the ball straight to Josh Tongue at deep square leg.
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WICKET! India 430-4 (Gill c Tongue b Bashir 147)
Definitions of ‘wicket’
3. In cricket, when a wicket falls or is taken, a batter is out.
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101st over: India 430-3 (Gill 147, Pant 113) I should have said, Harry Brook is back on the field and seems fine. Stokes continues and I’ve no idea what happened as I was rattling through emails. No boundaries, wickets or chances, that’s all you need to know.
“Given sport is so much about being unfettered, perhaps captaincy takes the batter’s mind away from the quotidian worries about the 90mph balls coming towards him and focuses on what he wants the team to do,” writes Alex Netherton. “By looking at other obligations, batting is initially carefree. Then as he comes under pressure he looks to himself to deliver, given he is used to being the main man, the scrutiny is not just on the team and his leadership, but everything he is doing all the time, every delivery. No wonder their heads turn to popcorn in the end. We can’t all be happy-go-lucky lads like you are.”
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Rishabh Pant makes a spectacular hundred!
100th over: India 426-3 (Gill 144, Pant 112) Oh Rishabh Pant, we don’t deserve you. He reaches his seventh Test hundred – and his first since that horrific car crash in 2022 – with a one-handed six off Bashir, then celebrates with a somersault.
It’s been a remarkable innings: 146 balls, 10 fours, four sixes.
Make that five sixes. Pant smears another down the ground, though he didn’t get hold of it and was almost caught by Carse running backwards towards the boundary. Carse couldn’t quite reach it and the ball landed on the sponge.
England’s frustration is compounded when a top-edged pull from Pant teases midwicket before landing safely.
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99th over: India 413-3 (Gill 144, Pant 99) Mark Wood strolls into the Sky commentary box and immediately suggests Stokes should try a loopy, curving full toss to Pant. That’s exactly what happens next ball, with Pant pushing it for a single to move to 99.
Wowzers. Out of nothing, Stokes produces a nasty lifter that Gill fences on the bounce to gully. He hasn’t looked this good with the ball in a long time.
“I think a major confounding factor in the batting form of an incoming captain will be that as captain they tend to be appointed as they are coming into the peak of their career – so we would expect an improvement in performance after they are selected, because we would have seen that anyway,” says Paul Whaley. “We need a statto to figure out whether there is an increase in performance relative to what would be expected for an elite player coming into their peak. (No, don’t look at me.)
“Comparing batters to bowlers may also be helpful – why would we expect captaincy to affect batting but not bowling? If it improves both compared to the average, then we might be on to something.”
That’s an excellent point. My instinct is that the improvement is greater than you would expect, even allowing for their peak years, but apparently isn’t good enough for the “BMJ”.
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Drinks
98th over: India 412-3 (Gill 144, Pant 98) Pant takes a single off Bashir’s first ball, then gets back on strike for the last. Three needed, last ball before drinks… and he edges it wide of slip for a single. Duckett tries to run out Gill but flings the ball straight into the body of Brook, taking evasive action at slip. Brook runs straight off the field at the drinks. I think he’s okay; it certainly didn’t hit his hand.
“Morning Rob,” writes Theo B-P. “Not a neuroscientist but a psychiatrist here. Thanks for suggesting something to take the mind off this systematic dismantling of an English attack at the start of a huge series.
“The Yerkes-Dodson law tells us that psychological arousal can improve performance, but only up to a point, after which the stress becomes too much and performance tails off. Admittedly this was first found by giving electric shocks to mice, so you can decide for yourself how applicable it is, but perhaps it at least points to a balance between stress and performance.
“Maybe early captaincy offers the perfect motivational challenge before the psychological burden becomes overwhelming. As for the pathways, I’d speculate some degree of prefrontal cortex activation (planning, error monitoring, cognitive control) and suppression of the default mode network (leading to greater focus), but perhaps I should leave that to the real neuroscientists.
“Anyway, whatever’s happening, it’s working for him. Might as well just enjoy the innings I suppose!”
This is great, thank you. I really need to educate myself about the brain, ideally 25 years ago.
97th over: India 409-3 (Gill 143, Pant 96) Ben Stokes, England’s best bowler followed by daylight yesterday, replaces Woakes. He rams a bouncer past Pant’s right shoulder, eliciting the first lusty roar of the day from the England fans.
Gill moves into the 140s with the most beautiful push-drive through extra cover, then offers no stroke to a nice outswinger.
“Once again I find myself in the wonderful position of going to sleep with England in a rather disappointing position,” says Phil Withall. “Once again I will head off to work at five on a Sunday morning, a soul weighed down by sporting disappointment. Then I will spend the day working with two chefs from India, both of whom love cricket.
“To be honest, I can’t wait for the silent disappointment of the football season (I’m looking at you Norwich/Tooting). Enjoy the pain.”
It’s the only thing that’s real.
96th over: India 404-3 (Gill 139, Pant 95) Shoaib Bashir comes on for Brydon Carse. His first ball is on the money… so Pant falls over to the off side and laps it over leg slip’s head for four. With every uber-unorthodox shot, Pant redefines the concept of ‘laughable cricket’.
A vicious pull for six takes him to 94 with one ball of the over remaining. He goes again, of course he does, but this time he can only drag it along the ground for a single.
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95th over: India 393-3 (Gill 139, Pant 84) Woakes is bowling very wide to Gill, often outside off stump of a second set. You can understand the approach, but I’m not sure it will work against Gill. He’s happy to play out a maiden and put another six deliveries in Woakes’s legs. If India are three down at lunch, there could be carnage this afternoon.
94th over: India 393-3 (Gill 139, Pant 84) Pant dumps Carse behind square on the leg side for four. He was a model of restraint last night – okay, most of the time – but this morning he’s been at his puckish best. Or worst if you’re an England bowler: Brydon Carse looks ready to blow.
“I’m no expert, and without wishing to impugn the cognitive abilities of our fine lads, isn’t it possible that they find multitasking difficult?” says Kathryn Oliver. “Unrelated q: do the women’s captains have the same issue?”
I’d have to check – from memory it diddn’t have a huge impact on Heather Knight’s form, and I don’t suppose it’s possible for NSB to get much better with the bat.
Sorry, I probably wasn’t clear enough with the original point. I mean that when a good batter becomes captain, they usually go to another level with the bat straight away. Then reality slowly grinds its incisors into their batting average. But it’s the first year, the spike, that I’m interested in. I appreciate it makes sense – empowerment, responsibility, focus – but that’s based on an understanding of human nature rather than neuroscience. I’d love to know what actually happens in the brain to make them so much better.
93rd over: India 389-3 (Gill 139, Pant 80) A nice try from Woakes, a curving slower yorker that Pant reads and blocks. England are starting to get funky with their bowling and their fields; as I type there’s a solitary wide slip and a very silly mid-off for Gill.
Woakes’ over includes two no-balls, which is really unlikely him. “A sign of tired legs” said Stuart Broad on commentary. Gill grinds a bit of sodium chloride into the wound by dabbing the eighth ball of the over to third man for four. This is a quiet masterpiece of an innings. If anything he’s timing the ball even better today.
“What a pleasure this morning to hear Mike Atherton’s and Nasser Hussain’s commentary so far this morning,” writes Brian Baldwin. “Competent, reflective, occasionally humorous but ABOVE ALL, often entirely silent. Watching a Test match does not need wall to wall chat, for the sake of the ego and misplaced idea that a commentator must talk non-stop.”
Quite. Barry Davies, my favourite commentator of all time, said one of his best pieces of commentary were the 10 minutes before the Euro 96 semi-final between England and Germany at Wembley. He said almost nothing, because how he could add to that atmosphere?
92nd over: India 380-3 (Gill 135, Pant 77) A sweetly timed cut from Gill is half stopped by the diving Crawley, who saves two runs in the process. The new ball, which swung a lot yesterday, hasn’t really move off the straight this morning.
Tell you what, England are in a rare old pickle here! It doesn’t help that they have previously disowned the draw, although that was then and they have been a bit more pragmatic in the past year. The absence of Kuldeep is in their favour, though the pitch could turn square for Jadeja on the last two days.
“How can we get a knighthood for Toby Peggs for serving humanity selflessly?” asks Naren Radhakrishnan. “His YouTube video on how to access TMS is invaluable.”
Who needs a knighthood when you have the unconditional adoration of tens of OBO readers?
91st over: India 375-3 (Gill 132, Pant 75) “Hello Rob,” says Matthew Doherty. “Is the Indian plan to score 1,000.”
No, although it would be quite a statement if they gave up the chance of a win just to break Sri Lanka’s record of 952 for six. I’d imagine their dream scenario to get 650-700 and declare an hour before the close.
90th over: India 374-3 (Gill 132, Pant 74) Beautiful shot from Pant, a deliberate dab between second slip and gully for four. There wasn’t much wrong with the delivery from Carse. He charges the next ball, only to abort his shot as the ball gets huge on him. So huge that it was called wide; perhaps Carse saw Pant coming. It feels like this head-to-head contest is about to explode.
89th over: India 368-3 (Gill 132, Pant 69) India still have a fair bit of batting to come: Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur. England would love to gain access to Nair, playing his first Test in eight years, while the ball is new. Gill will be aware of that – he is batting in his bubble, playing every ball on its merits, which in this case means a maiden from Woakes.
“Good morning,” writes John Starbuck. “Another puzzle, neurologically speaking, is why so many Test players go for a double-digit choice as their playing number. It must have begun with Joe Root 66, understandably a mild pun, but it looks like there’s a superstition going around. In the system used by some sides, each player has a number according to their debut, counting from the very beginning of Tests, so why not use that? I suppose they feel that anything which boosts confidence gives you an edge and there’s not much to be done about it. Confirm?”
I can confirm the innate futility of existence, if that’s what you mean by ‘there’s not much to be done’, but not sure about the shirt numbers. Having the cap number wouldn’t work as they are three digits so they wouldn’t fit on the back of the shirt. Except maybe 111, but sadly Jack Board played his last Test in 1906 and died in 1924.
88th over: India 368-3 (Gill 132, Pant 69) Pant charges Carse, tries to launch him onto the air traffic control systems and under-edges the ball on the bounce to Smith.
Carse then tries to tickle Pant’s ribs, only for Pant to see his tickle and raise it with a tickle down the leg side for four. A pretty good over from Carse ends with a fuller delivery that beats the edge. Whatever happens this summer, I think Carse will be England’s most important bowler in Australia (unless they recall Oliver Edward Robinson, and I really need to let that go).
87th over: India 364-3 (Gill 132, Pant 65) Chris Woakes’ second ball, slightly full, is timed exquisitely through extra cover by Gill. I think he just owned the weekend with that. It was a glorious, and the boundary makes this his highest Test score.
“It may come as a surprise that there is at least one neurosurgeon (currently in the middle of a conference) in far off Patna in Bihar, India who’s glued on to the OBO,” writes Prasad Krishnan. “I’m sure there would be many more in varied parts of the world surreptitiously tuning in between performing craniotomies and laminectomies while maintaining an air of gravitas that fools people into thinking we are the ‘all work and no play’ types.
“As regards neural pathways I can say with a fair degree of certainty there are none specific to batters that get activated by having captaincy thrust on them.”
So what changes? There must be something because so many captains score runs in industrial quantities at the start. It may be something painfully obvious; if so, please excuse my abundant ignorance.
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86th over: India 360-3 (Gill 128, Pant 65) A quiet over from Brydon Carse to start the day. I can’t decide what to make of Carse’s performance yesterday – there were plenty of very good balls but also too many loose ones. He was probably a nose ahead of Woakes and Tongue though.
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It’s another sweltering morning in Leeds, and the Met Office forecast is for some desperately hard yakka if England don’t take early wickets.
In the unlikely event that there’s a neuroscientist in the building, I have a question. Why? Why me? Why did I get this brain? We know that many batsmen-captains are at their most productive in their first year in charge; then their output starts to taper off as the captaincy wears them down.
That’s consistent with our understanding of human nature: captaincy both empowers the batter and sharpens their focus in the middle, and the history of cricket confirms that Shubman Gill’s lovely hundred yesterday shouldn’t have come as a surprise. But do we have any idea what is going on neurologically? Why is their focus sharper? How does a greater sense of responsibility manifest at the crease? What neural pathways does it change? And, most importantly of all, has anyone actually read this far?
Test Match Special overseas link
“Literally everyday on the OBO, someone asks for help locating the TMS link for overseas listeners,” writes Toby Peggs. “I made this handy video to explain how to find it. Feel free to post it the next time someone asks!”
Tremendous stuff, thanks Toby. My work here is done.
When you win the toss at Headingley – cliche klaxon – you’re supposed to look up (at the weather) rather than down at the pitch. England did neither: they looked backwards at the data, which told them the last six Tests in Leeds have been won by the team bowling first. A seventh really would be magnificent.
Ali Martin’s day one report
This being Headingley, so often a scene of the absurd and a ground where the last six Tests have been won by the side who bowled first, England will refuse to believe they are snookered. By the same token, inviting a team to bat first under clear skies and then having them dominate all three sessions was clearly suboptimal. The air was soupy, the outfield fast, and England failed to locate the Headingley length.
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Preamble
Ever have one of those days you wish you could live all over again? England’s decagon of destiny, as nobody is calling it, got off to a honking start yesterday when India strolled to 359 for three after being put into bat by Ben Stokes.
As ill-conceived as Stokes’ decision was, we should remember that India would have done the same. The main reasons for India’s dominance were the brilliance of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, poster boys for a new India, and a rusty, erratic performance from England’s three main seamers.
Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue all went at more than 4.3 per over, a situation that in some cultures would be described as sub-optimal. England will surely bowl better today, buoyed as much as anything by precedent: they are the only team in Test history to win two games after bowling first and conceding 500.
Right now, although India are in complete control, there is a credible path to victory for England. Not sure that’ll be the case if Rishabh Pant is still batting at lunch. If Pant tees off today, England may have to countenance something even more disgusting than defeat: a draw.
