England’s batsmen have been done few favours.
The art of captaincy.
Here is Ali Martin’s report.
Updated
Close of play: India 21-0 and laughing
13th over: India 21-0 (Rohit 9, Rahul 9) Another maiden for Robinson, who gets just enough movement to trouble good players. But still no breakthrough, so the day belongs unmistakably to India, who skittled England and then showed them how to see off the new ball. The only thing India couldn’t manage was a decent over rate: we’ve lost half an hour’s entertainment. But, thanks to England’s feeble selection and flagrant rust, plus the absence of Ben Stokes, the game has moved along at quite a rate.
The last guest spot goes to Gary Naylor. “England won’t know if Tom Haines, Jake Libby and (especially) Kiran Carlson are Test batsmen,” he says on Twitter, “unless we give them a chance. Feels like it’s becoming a bit of an Old Boys’ Club.” Well, there have been a lot of debuts this year, from Dan Lawrence to Ollie Robinson, not to mention all the understudies in the one-day team.
First, let’s get Hameed in – and Leach. Having Broad and Anderson as two bowlers out of four is no longer viable, if it ever was. They can’t bowl all day and their strike rate is fading. They may well take wickets tomorrow on a pitch that is smiling on the seamers, but they are being included here at the expense of both spin and high speed, which is a high price to pay.
Thanks for your company and correspondence. Tanya and I will be back in the morning to see if England can atone for today.
Updated
Review! For LBW against Rohit, not given
It’s a good shout... but not good enough – going down. England lose a review.
12th over: India 21-0 (Rohit 9, Rahul 9) Here is Curran, with his bustling left-arm swing, his Phil Foden hair, and that look on his face that we saw earlier. His full length tempts Rahul twice outside off – first with a wide one, then with a beauty in the channel. That’s a maiden, but India survive and now there’s only five minutes left in the day.
11th over: India 21-0 (Rohit 9, Rahul 9) Robinson certainly knows how to seal up an end. He finally concedes a run as Rahul works one to leg.
“It feels like I’m re-watching some Tests from the past,” says Arthur Graves, “where only Mike Atherton was scoring and everyone else had an early lunch appointment. Why does Chris Silverwood have all the jobs? Weren’t England paying him enough to do just the coaching?”
10th over: India 20-0 (Rohit 9, Rahul 8) It’s still Broad, even though he’s the same kind of bowler as Robinson. Get Curran on!
9th over: India 19-0 (Rohit 9, Rahul 7) More dots, from Robinson to Rohit. There’s an LBW appeal off the last ball, but it’s above the pad, never mind the knee roll. Come on England, bowl a yorker.
8th over: India 19-0 (Rohit 9, Rahul 7) Broad stays on and strings together some dots, but the score keeps ticking over with a no-ball and a leg bye.
“As a Glawster boy,” says Matt Winter, “and having screamed for two years for James Bracey to get a run in the side, I now think he’s in the best possible place i.e. nowhere near Silverwood or this.”
Updated
7th over: India 17-0 (Rohit 9, Rahul 7) A bowling change! Joe Root, who sometimes seems to be in thrall to the old firm, replaces Anderson with a younger model, Ollie Robinson. He starts with a maiden and very nearly persuades Rahul to offer a nick as he flails at a short ball.
A tweet from Ben Gardner of Wisden. “England’s 183,” he says, “is the highest score made on Sky Sports THE HUNDRED so far.” Ha.
6th over: India 17-0 (Rohit 9, Rahul 7) Rohit has a waft at Broad, then waits for something full and eases it past cover with his usual elegance. “Don’t bowl there to him,” says Dinesh Karthik. “Not many better in the world.” Broad, for all his lift and movement, has yet to bowl a single ball that would have hit the stumps.
5th over: India 13-0 (Rohit 5, Rahul 7) Anderson beats Rahul with a beauty, swinging like a suburban couple in the Seventies. But the next ball, also swinging away, is square-driven for four.
4th over: India 8-0 (Rohit 4, Rahul 3) Broad is bending his back. He extracts some sharp lift off a length, beating Rohit’s bat and eluding Buttler’s grab.
“Is anyone else who is listening to TMS,” wonders Peter Salmon, “finding it particularly cruel that the best batsman in England is doing the commentary for this schemozzle?” Ha. The Chef has his uses, but the best batsman in England, for the past couple of years, has been Ben Stokes.
3rd over: India 7-0 (Rohit 4, Rahul 3) After that insolent early four, what Anderson wants is a maiden. And he gets it.
“Look, this Silverwood thing, it”s a joke,” splutters Richard Rawlings. “There were four England ducks in the innings. Four. Who is going to pay money to watch this rabid game from England? The management need cleaning out. Why do we have to say this? Boycott could do a better job. If there are too many cricket venues through the year, rethink the game. But to sell this kind of performance and preparation as entertainment is a scam.”
2nd over: India 7-0 (Rohit 4, Rahul 3) Stuart Broad is grunting and reaching 86mph, but KL Rahul is equal to it, steering through the covers for three.
I’ve been too busy to look at Twitter, so apologies if your tweet has gone unnoticed. Here’s one from Guy Hornsby. “This is going predictably down the toilet,” he reckons. “As others have said, playing 6 batters is all well and good until they get out cheaply. And with a scoring rate so slow, when that happens you’re toast. It’s utterly mad that so many haven’t played red-ball cricket for weeks.” It is. Even in the squad that they picked, they could have plumped for Haseeb Hameed, who’s just made a hundred against the Indian bowlers, and Jack Leach, who got a six-for against Surrey in July.
1st over: India 4-0 (Rohit 4, Rahul 0) The ball Jimmy has in his hands is a deep red, like a glass of Malbec – at last, an England selection nobody can argue with. It swings right away and draws the edge, but Rohit Sharma manages to angle it past gully for four.
Updated
The players are out there and it’s going to be Jimmy Anderson, aged 39, in his 163rd Test, to take the new ball. He may be a slightly grumpy old man.
Updated
“How long,” asks Andrew Moreman, “before we realise the folly of Chris Silverwood as coach, manager, selector? Seems he is bringing the excellence of the 90s back. Four seamers, brittle batting, slow scoring, questionable tactics, crushing series defeats. All great stuff!”
Cricket, bloody hell
That was an innings of two halves. For about 50 overs, England played Test cricket and managed to make it to 138 for 3. Then they played skittles and scraped 45 for 7, most of them to the admirably undaunted Sam Curran.
Bumrah finished with 4 for 46, Shami 3 for 28, so they grabbed 7 for 74, while the two fringe seamers, Siraj and Thakur, chipped in with 3 for 89 between them and Jadeja’s spin was barely needed. England’s decision to play seven batsmen and only four bowlers appears to have gone horribly wrong, but you never know until both sides have had a go.
England all out for 183! (Anderson b Bumrah 1, Curran 27no)
Next ball, Bumrah gets the yorker bang on – base of off stump. Bowling, India.
Updated
Review! Anderson given LBW
A yorker from Bumrah smacks Jimmy on the boot, then hits the bat... but was it missing leg? It was!
65th over: England 183-9 (Curran 27, Anderson 1) Back comes Shami, and he’s got a full over at Anderson – who keeps him out, then shovels a single into the on side. He gets the biggest cheer accorded to anyone on 1 not out since Jack Leach’s finest hour. Curran, with only one ball to face, steps away and carves a lofted drive over the covers. He’s playing like the No 7 he should have been on the scorecard.
“Reasons to be cheerful,” says Brian Withington, channelling Ian Dury. “Before we all drown in English despair and displaced self-loathing, it’s perhaps worth recalling that this is a very fine Indian attack exploiting favourable conditions with considerable skill. And you’d need a heart of stone not to chuckle at Stuart Broad’s LBW, as Oscar Wilde might have said.” Ha, true. But, with no Ishant or Ashwin, it’s only a very fine new-ball pair, isn’t it?
Updated
64th over: England 178-9 (Curran 23, Anderson 0) Curran can’t nick a single off Bumrah’s last ball – but he can make room to cream it through the covers.
“Wow,” says Andrew Benton, “I just went out to eat a sandwich and wander aimlessly as a cloud for a few minutes, and it’s all over bar the India walkover victory. Would it do any good to call for Silverwood to depart immediately? England need new management, it’s all too cosy. If this were the Premiership, they’d have had a new manager in sharpish back in the early summer. Time to get him out?”
63rd over: England 174-9 (Curran 19, Anderson 0) Curran turns down a single, then makes room and lofts Thakur over midwicket for four. Come the fifth ball, he has a heave and almost gives a chance to third man. Anderson gets bat on ball for the first time, going back to block a short ball. Soon he’ll be reminding his partner that his highest score in Tests is the higher of the two.
“This is when England grasp the bull by the horns,” says Tom van der Gucht, “and wrestle the initiative back with a swashbuckling counter-attacking century from Curran. It’s about time he got to three figures.”
62nd over: England 169-9 (Curran 14, Anderson 0) Curran again steals a single off the last ball of the over – only to find that it’s a no-ball. But this time Bumrah’s yorker is outside off, so Anderson survives.
“What on earth is going on?” asks Christopher Pickles, channelling Fred Trueman. “How can it be that a Test match cricketer hasn’t faced a ball in proper red ball cricket… in August!”
Updated
61st over: England 167-9 (Curran 13, Anderson 0) So England are down to Sammy and Jimmy – and Sammy decides it’s time to have some fun. He goes down the track to Thakur and slogs him for six. Then he tries again and misses, but you can’t have everything. The last ball is a bouncer, and he manages to flip it for a single to keep the strike. There’s an old head behind that young face.
“I can’t be the only person,” says Simon Lacey, “who thinks that England’s batting woes could be solved by slotting in the women’s top order – they seem to have a bit of oomph about them. Obviously this would involve a lot of Life of Brian false beards and comedy gruff voices but it might work. Worth it anyway, to see Sophie Ecclestone trudging past, Joe Root slung across her shoulders, and grumbling ‘I haven’t got time to go to no cricket, he’s not well again’.” That’s a better plan than the one with which England went into this Test.
Updated
60th over: England 160-9 (Curran 6, Anderson 0) The only thing standing between England and ignominy is the look on Sam Curran’s face. He keeps Bumrah out, somehow, and squirts a single off the fifth ball to give Broad just one delivery to face. One too many, as it turns out.
Wicket! Broad LBW b Bumrah 4 (England 160-9)
A yorker, swinging away. That is a very plumb plumb, as Ralph Fiennes would say. So plumb that not even Broad is going to review it.
Updated
59th over: England 159-8 (Curran 5, Broad 4) From the moment when Bairstow fell, England lost five wickets for 17 in 51 balls. “This is hard to watch,” says Andrew Strauss. But here comes Stuart Broad, raising a cheer from his home crowd, having a go – and square-driving his first ball for four.
Updated
Wicket! Robinson c Shami b Thakur 0 (England 155-8)
The procession continues! Ollie Robinson, who batted so well in his first Test, plays a half-hearted pull and gives a simple catch to mid-on.
Wicket! Root LBW b Thakur 64 (England 155-7)
The big one! Thakur finds some lavish swing on leg stump, and Root doesn’t bother to review.
Updated
58th over: England 155-6 (Root 64, Curran 5) Curran has that look on his face, like the kid trying the hardest in the Under-10s. He nicks Bumrah, but safely, and he gets four. The lights are on and the ball is swinging, but when he’s beaten, the ball thuds into his pad.
57th over: England 151-6 (Root 64, Curran 1) Sam Curran, like Bairstow and Buttler, is playing his first red-ball game of the summer, but unlike them he won’t go into his shell. He gets off the mark with a quick single, which hands the strike back to Root, who pulls Siraj off his nose for four. That brings up the 150, and the crowd respond with a chorus of Joe Root, to the tune of Hey Jude.
56th over: England 145-6 (Root 59, Curran 0) So Burns, Lawrence and Buttler have made 0 between them.
“I’m not sure it is the ‘ploy’ of playing 6 batsmen that is going wrong,” says El Nombre on Twitter. “That is what you should do, it’s the techniques of the ones picked.” I know what you mean, but it’s still the wrong policy. England have lots of good bowlers and hardly any Test batsmen. This selection plays to their weakness.
Updated
Wicket! Buttler c Pant b Bumrah 0 (England 145-6)
Well, it’s been coming. Bumrah’s outswinger draws the edge and puts Buttler out of his misery as he goes at the ball with hard white-ball hands. That was one of the worst innings you’ll ever see from such a gifted player.
55th over: England 144-5 (Root 58, Buttler 0) Root takes a single, which at least gets Buttler up the other end – but he still can’t buy a run. He has now faced 15 balls.
54th over: England 143-5 (Root 57, Buttler 0) Buttler, like Bairstow, comes into the Test without having faced a single red ball this season, and it’s showing. He plays and misses at Bumrah, then slices close to backward point, then misses a yorker, which somehow avoids the stumps – maybe it just felt sorry for him.
53rd over: England 143-5 (Root 57, Buttler 0) Root sees a half-volley from Shami and conjures some defiance with a square drive for four.
“Hello from Trent Bridge,” says Marv. “Poor approach from England all day I’m afraid, at no point have they sought to dominate the bowling attack (change bowlers in particular), despite the pitch not having any misbehaviour in it. This safety-first approach means Jos is pretty much our last hope of scoring more than 200. At least 100 short of par on this pitch.” I quite agree that they’ve been too defensive – starting with the selection – but I’m not so sure about the pitch. Hasn’t it offered the bowlers plenty?
Updated
52nd over: England 139-5 (Root 53, Buttler 0) Jos Buttler plays and misses as Bumrah angles one in and gets it to straighten off the seam. Suddenly India are all over England like a rash.
Updated
51st over: England 138-5 (Root 52, Buttler 0) Two wickets in the over for Shami. After a morning of mostly unrewarded excellence, that’s karma.
Updated
Wicket!! Lawrence c Pant b Shami 0 (England 138-5)
One brings two! Dan Lawrence falls over to the off side and gets a nick down leg. England’s ploy of playing six batsmen has gone wrong already.
Updated
Wicket! Bairstow LBW b Shami 29 (England 138-4)
Yes, three reds, as a full delivery thumped into the pads: another good call from the master of the Late Review, and Bairstow pays the price for the tweak to his technique that had him covering his off stump.
That’s tea, with England wobbling again after a fine partnership of 72, and Shami enjoying a cuppa with the well-deserved figures of 2-18 off 13.2 overs. As so often, England are relying rather too heavily on Joe Root getting a big one.
Updated
Review! Bairstow not given LBW b Shami
Another of those last-second decisions from Kohli. Could be out if there’s no nick...
50th over: England 137-3 (Root 51, Bairstow 29) Three singles off Bumrah’s over, plus a no-ball.
Fifty to Root!
A push into the off side and Root jogs to his half-century, his first for six Tests – the longest drought in a fruitful career. It’s been a mixture of juicy fours, clunky chips and streaky edges: he’s been seeing off weeks of rust as well as some good bowling.
Updated
49th over: England 133-3 (Root 49, Bairstow 28) Siraj is in the doghouse after that 4-4-2, so Shami is back. He was too good to be successful this morning, repeatedly swinging the ball past the outside edge. Bairstow is watchful but picks up two with another clip off the pads. He’s looking comfortable now.
48th over: England 131-3 (Root 49, Bairstow 26) Bumrah is still getting that sharp movement back into the right-handers and it almost does for Root as he inside-edges just past the leg bail. Haven’t seen any stats, but I suspect Root’s false-shot percentage has been unusually high for him.
47th over: England 127-3 (Root 45, Bairstow 26) The real Bairstow stands up! Facing Siraj, he helps himself to a cover drive for four, a straight drive for four more, and a clip for two.
“Hopefully,” says Andrew Benton, “Bairstow is practising the not-getting-out-as-a-prerequisite-to-scoring-runs principle that England so often fail to remember. Fingers crossed.” It’s working for him so far today, and we love to see it, but only two Tests ago it stopped England trying to win a match that was well within their reach.
46th over: England 115-3 (Root 44, Bairstow 16) Kohli takes Thakur off and brings back Jasprit Bumrah, the human catapult. He has Root playing in the air again – that’s how rusty he is – but again the ball lands safely and that’s the fifty partnership, off 112 balls. It’s been vital.
45th over: England 115-3 (Root 44, Bairstow 16) Siraj, who’s been the most generous of India’s four seamers, gives each batsman something on his legs. Root settles for a single; Bairstow sprints back for two.
44th over: England 112-3 (Root 43, Bairstow 14) My telly’s on the blink so I’ve resorted to the radio. Andy Zaltzman pops up to report that this has been Bairstow’s slowest progress to 50 balls in his last 50 Test innings. He’s been unrecognisable from the big-hitting, crowd-pleasing, match-winning captain of Welsh Fire. Maybe, being at No 5, he’s decided to do a Stokes: plod along for five hours or so, then go crazy.
43rd over: England 110-3 (Root 42, Bairstow 13) Jadeja is taken off after just three overs. I hope he’s changing ends – otherwise the over rate will carry on being quite atrocious. Siraj returns, bearing singles.
42nd over: England 107-3 (Root 41, Bairstow 11) Thakur continues, and rightly so as he’s been persuading Root to mistime the ball. The chip shots from the previous over are now joined by a thick inside edge, most un-Root-like. Kohli, sniffing blood, posts a short cover. Root plays and misses at a jaffa, but he’s good enough to bounce back with a dab for two and a crunching square-drive for four. His average in England since May 2018 is only 32: is today going to be the day he does something about that?
41st over: England 101-3 (Root 35, Bairstow 11) And the cut was the only scoring shot off the over. Even with that four, Bairstow has only 11 off 44 balls. Are you Sibley in disguise?
The hundred!
Thanks Tanya, afternoon everyone and hello! Jonny Bairstow plays the shot he missed a few minutes ago, a cut off Jadeja, and that’s the hundred up. Off only 40.2 overs!!
40th over: England 97-3 (Bairstow 7, Root 35) An outswinger dispatched by Root with gentleness through third man for four. And that’s it from me, thanks for all the messages, sorry I haven’t got to them all. Tim de Lisle will lead you home.
Updated
39th over: England 93-3 (Bairstow 7, Root 31) A square drive off Jadeja, Root’s back leg stretched to the limit, which freestyles rapidly to the boundary. Then a terrible mix-up as Bairstow has to back-pedal from half way down the pitch going for a second. Let off the hook by a lacklustre throw. And that’s drinks mid-over as Root gets some treatment for something, but seems to be ok now.
“Hello from Trent Bridge,” taps James Wallace, “this Test cricket malarkey is quite absorbing isn’t it?! Not a firework, avatar or excitable commentator to be seen or heard. Sad to see Crawley and Sibley’s barren trots continue, but does give me the opportunity to shamelessly plug this on the OBO for those that might’ve missed it last week. Maybe one or both of them will start to adopt the Botham or Viv Richards approach?”
Ah yes, this is excellent:
Updated
38th over: England 87-3 (Bairstow 7, Root 25) Another Root drive, this time off Thakur, but it can’t beat the field and they pick up a couple. A quick single - Root always keeps it ticking over - to polish off the over. Patient accumulation. On the sofa, my dog wags her tail in her sleep.
37th over: England 84-3 (Bairstow 7, Root 23) Aha! Spin at half past two. Jadeja, tall, shaggy haired, untucked shirt, slightly round armed: Bairstow is watchful. Perhaps he can sense the beady eyes of Geoffrey Boycott sitting legs folded on the balcony. Just a no ball from the over.
36th over: England 83-3 (Bairstow 7, Root 23) Root tries to glide Thakur away through the covers, but instead edges and ball falls just in front of a diving gully. He shadow-plays an imaginary shot straight afterwards, what should have been. Tight stuff this from India since lunch.
35th over: England 83-3 (Bairstow 7, Root 23) This is watchful from Bairstow, as Michael Holding on commentary encourages him to keep playing straight. He even reins himself back from throwing the bat at a wide taster from Siraj and ducks a bouncer. A maiden. Root, by the way, is now England’s leading run-scorer in all formats of cricket.
I reckon HH will get his turn before the series is out:
You’d have to say Haseeb Hameed is a tad unlucky pic.twitter.com/r1iG1NrqUY
— Huw Turbervill (@huwzat) August 4, 2021
Updated
34th over: England 83-3 (Bairstow 7, Root 23) Bairstow, bat raised in anticipation, is in less bristling mode than sometimes. Shows Sami the full face of the bat in defence before walking backwards, then forwards, between balls. They steal a quick single and Bairstow the strike.
33rd over: England 82-3 (Bairstow 6, Root 23) A quiet over is finished with a four by Root, with courtly bent front knee, square to the boundary.
This definitely looks worth a watch.
🚨 VIRAT KOHLI EXCLUSIVE! 🚨
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 4, 2021
India captain talks fitness, fame, family, leadership, the future of Test cricket & more with @DineshKarthik 🇮🇳
Watch part 1 next on SS The Hundred - or watch in full on YouTube 👉 https://t.co/uiRoZ3VYZz
🔊 PODCAST 👉 https://t.co/9onACO8P9e
32nd over: England 78-3 (Bairstow 6, Root 19) Shami is testing, not giving Root anything to play with, till he picks up a single with a pull down to long leg.
31st over: England 77-3 (Bairstow 6, Root 18) A Bairstow boundary, chutzpahed away though square leg, not entirely without risk. And the nerves are heightened as he raises both arms in the air in an extravagant leave to Bumrah.
30th over: England 73-3 (Bairstow 2, Root 18) England squirt a couple of singles from the excellent Shami as the sun throws off the morning’s kaftan and bakes the field.
John Starbuck is pondering Gary Naylor. “It would help if batsmen in the nets (27th over) could have cut-outs of fielders in various places against the netting, thus taming impulses to play a drive just past mid-off, gully, deep share etc. in favour of missing them by wide margins. It would be up to the coaches to site them appropriately for different batters and bowlers.
“Also, what was wrong with your sandwich? I had a cold beef sandwich with Dijon mustard on home-made bloomer slices, plus a mini-pork pie and was well satisfied. You could try that.”
The cupboard was bare, so it was the end of the peanut butter (crunchy) on a slice of Norlander Rye. That home-made bloomer sounds divine.
29th over: England 71-3 (Bairstow 1, Root 17) Bairstow negotiates two booming inswingers from Bumrah, one of them catches his pad and reels down to the boundary past a diving Pant. A liquid-lunch has prompted parts of the crowd into bellowing chorus.
28th over: England 67-3 (Bairstow 1, Root 17) Just what Kohli ordered, a shame for Sibley who had battled in classic style through the morning session. Enter, YJB.
John Foster raises/lowers the bar.
“I can with some confidence say my lunch was worse than yours - thought we’d make some egg mayonnaise sandwiches. Boiled the eggs and started peeling them, only to find one of them had a very dead almost-hatchling in it. Think we’ll substitute for tuna once things have settled down.”
WICKET! Sibley c Rahul b Shami 18 (England 66-3)
A straight one, but Sibley loses his balance somewhat and, to his dismay, the ball falls to short midwicket
Updated
27th over: England 66-2 (Sibley 18, Root 17) It’s Bumrah from the Ratcliffe Road end, hair pomaded into a glossy black helmet. It’s quiet until the last ball, which Root takes a step towards and pings through the covers for four.
I've never known a batsman hit the field as often as does Dom Sibley @tjaldred.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) August 4, 2021
Is it something one can practise? Cricket ground, bowling machine and half a dozen wheelie bins? (Though it would look a bit "It's A Knockout").
Afternoon session
26th over: England 62-2 (Sibley 18, Root 13) Shami has the first post-lunch over. There’s a breeze that’s rippling Kohli’s shirt as Shami bustles in, a yellow rag hanging out of the back of his waistband. Root is watchful, then nips one off his toes from the last ball of the over.
I hope your lunch was better than mine.
An email has arrived from Anniket Chowdhury
“Hey Tanya,
I am a big Bhuvi fan, and it is bewildering that he is a constant fixture in T20Is instead of Tests, especially in conditions tailor made for him. When I see the likes of Shardul play ahead of Bhuvi, I can’t help suspect that the real reason for his non selection in Kohli’s team is his refusal to grow a beard like the supreme leader.”
Kohli certainly heads up the most hirsute team on the circuit.
The players are back out for the second session.
Lunch
25th over: England 61-2 (Sibley 18, Root 12) Bumrah is back for one last charge before lunch. Root watches a couple sail harmlessly past, plays the third into the ground, whisks at the fourth, a bye, before Sibley somehow keeps out a beauty and there is a huge lbw appeal the last ball before lunch --- Kohli considers a review... bites his nails... and declines. It would have been umpire’s call for height. A great session, India’s just I think. Time for a quick sandwich, see you in half an hour!
24th over: England 60-2 (Sibley 18, Root 12) Sibley tries to match Root’s boundary count, but his push into the offside doesn’t have the legs. He is watchful through the rest of the over, with one left before lunch.
Updated
23rd over: England 58-2 (Sibley 16, Root 12) Root off the mark by running Siraj through the slips for four, played late, more an edge than anything intended. Then a drive, that, ew, doesn’t fill me with confidence, edged through third man. Finally a full-blooded boundary off the boots.
“Zac Crawley’s marvellous pull shot off Shami reminded me of Derek Randall’s wonderfully impudent pull shot off Dennis Lillee in the Centenary test way back when (I remember listening to it on TMS when I was a lad),” writes Colum Fordham. “Rather appropriate given the match is being played at Trent Bridge, Arkle’s home ground.
PS You’re welcome to clean our bathroom in Naples with the perk of having a holiday in the sunnier climes of Southern Italy.
Maybe this could be my winter tour?
Updated
22nd over: England 46-2 (Sibley 16, Root 0) Sibley breaks back: Thakur plonked through square leg for four.
21st over: England 42-2 (Sibley 12, Root 0) What an over! India get the breakthrough just before lunch. Kohli is pumped.
Updated
WICKET! Crawley c Pant b Siraj 27 (England 42-2)
Kohli had his head in his hands as he reviewed, convinced by Pant but against his better instincts. The review shows the tiniest kiss of a bat before the ball brushes the pads and falls into Pant’s gloves.
Updated
REVIEW! Almost a carbon copy
Kohli doesn’t look convinced....
NOT OUT!
Bad call by Kohli, it misses the inside edge and the impact is umpire’s call and missing the stumps. Not sure actually whether the appeal was for lbw or caught behind.
REVIEW!
Crawley given not out to a caught behind - India are convinced...
20th over: England 42-1 (Crawley 27, Sibley 11) Crawley merrily pulls a short one from Thakur and beats Bumrah on the rope; then comes down the wicket and is made to look a fool.
“Hate to break it to you,” Hussain Cheema, “but it’s been an hour since Shami’s first over so… someone has to scrub the bathroom now!!! I have no idea what you’re talking about.
19th over: England 37-1 (Crawley 23, Sibley 11) Another maiden, from Siraj. I’m unsure whether this is building pressure or if England are content to drift to lunch. Much depends on whether they can get the white ball game out of their heads.
18th over: England 37-1 (Crawley 23, Sibley 11) Another probing over from Thakur, what a bower to have up your sleeve first change. A maiden.
Updated
17th over: England 37-1 (Crawley 23, Sibley 11) Sibley picks up a solid couple of runs from Siraj behind square, and slightly distracted by the rest as my daughter was telling me about a creepy guy at the bus stop. Grim. Anyway, I digress.
An interesting question from Brian Withington, “One for the wider OBO community: there’s been plenty of discussion (for years) about the future of first class cricket in England, and the potential implications of new initiatives such as The Hundred. I’m wondering how the success of the IPL has impacted on first class cricket in India? Has it distributed extra revenue and/or otherwise had a beneficial impact on the red ball game? It obviously doesn’t seem to be harming the Indian test team, but what about the current state of the game at the lower level?”
Updated
16th over: England 33-1 (Crawley 23, Sibley 8) Virat gives the brilliant but wicket-less Shami a rest, and Thakur is on the money straight away, the kind of cousin you’d call up when you needed someone to have a firm word.
15th over: England 33-1 (Crawley 23, Sibley 8) Just a leg bye and a single off Siraj’s second over.
Your thoughts on the absence of Jack Leach.
Writes Alistair Batchelor “On Tom v d Gucht’s point regarding no spinners, and silver woods aversion possibly down to the frail batting - poor old Jack Leach has proved himself fairly useful with a bat.”
while Peter Salmon types, “My theory about the Silverwood never picking spinners is he knows he doesn’t have the batsmen to take a game into a fourth or fifth day...”
14th over: England 31-1 (Crawley 22, Sibley 8) The cut and thrust continues, as Shami screams the ball into Crawley which somehow passes both bat and bails, before Crawley pulls, with a hint of desperation, to pick up a single. Siraj continues to probe, attack, he’s been superb today. The cameras pan to Burns who sits behind sunglasses, arms folded.
13th over: England 29-1 (Crawley 21, Sibley 8) We have change as Bumrah is replaced by Siraj, whose third ball, over-pitched, is driven with panache through the covers by Crawley. The camera drifts to Kohli, unusually inscrutable, at cover. There has been a disappointing lack of Virat-cam this morning. And that is drinks!
12th over: England 24-1 (Crawley 16, Sibley 8) Must be nearly time for Shami to have a rest, but he’s throwing everything at England here, shrieking the ball past Sibley’s stumps as he shoulders arms in an optimistic manner. It looks a risky strategy.
11th over: England 23-1 (Crawley 16, Sibley 7) England get the blood pumping by taking the tightest of singles off Bumrah, a direct hit would have been out . They continue their high risk strategy, when Crawley tries to flash away and the ball straightens and somehow misses and passes the top of off stump.
“If England get to lunch only one wicket down,” asks John Starbuck, “will you come and clean our bathroom too?” Not a chance. I’m already rather worried about my rash prediction with only five minutes before I have to spend the afternoon in the rubber gloves.
10th over: England 22-1 (Crawley 15, Sibley 5) Sibley fashions a couple with a defensive prod that lacks ease.
Many thanks to Peter Haining for pre-empting the emails and providing the overseas TMS link
9th over: England 20-1 (Crawley 15, Sibley 5) Crawley has a hint of the sublime, driving Bumrah towards extra-cover, where it hops over the rope. Bumrah again parries, first with a delivery that passes a stationary Crawley, then with a big fat full one which Crawley jabs away with the toe of the bat and with ungainly haste.
“I must say you have got off to a cracking start, Tanya.” scolds David Gaskell.
“Firstly, watching Burns from behind your fingers proved ineffective, but got us into the Penny Dreadful mode.
“Then Mr Gucht intrigues with suspicions of dastardly Mr Silverwood.
But best of all the suspense of whether you will scrub the bathroom.
“All this and cricket in between!
“But can someone explain why the King of swing at Trent Bridge, the commentator Stuart Broad who plays part time for England is not let loose
by putting India in? Is it that bounder Silverwood?”
8th over: England 16-1 (Crawley 11, Sibley 5) Shami drifts onto Sibley’s pads and there’s only one place that ball is going, skipping down to long leg for four.
7th over: England 12-1 (Crawley 11, Sibley 1) First the attack, a gloriously driven, dripping with confidence, drive for four by Crawley, then the counter: a delicious ball, angling in from Bumrah’s cocked wrist, dancing a fraction from Crawley’s raised bat and into the hands of Pant.
6th over: England 8-1 (Crawley 7, Sibley 1) A perfect hubub bubbles through the crowd as Shami bustles in like an old-fashioned centre-forward storming towards goal. He starts with a bouncer, that Crawley ducks with a courtly nod. It continues to be tricky out there, Crawley picks up an imperfect single.
5th over: England 6-1 (Crawley 6, Sibley 1) Bumrah, neatly clipped, tippy-toes in, and England nudge him, here and there, as Crawley helps a big inswinger on its way and Sibley picks up his first run. A better over for England.
“This could be a long summer at this rate,” sighs Ladka Lal. “Isn’t it time to bring back Hameed while his iron’s hot?.” Yes, I wonder how close they got to considering it, after Hameed’s century against the tourists up at Durham.
4th over: England 2-1 (Crawley 2, Sibley 0): Shami is testing Crawley, delivering a beauty that skips past the outside edge. Crawley steals a single through the covers and then Sibley drives fluently, well enough to boost the confidence a little, though it is well fielded at mid-on.
3rd over: England 1-1 (Sibley 0, Crawley 1) Bumrah is having fun, this way, that way as the cloud settles comfortably over Trent Bridge. And Trent Bridge breaks into sympathetic (already?) applause as Crawley scampers a run.
“Good Morning Tanya, Good Morning all.”
Morning Em Jackson!
“An LBW claim in first 5 balls, we might as well play Test Match Hundred - 5 innings a side for 5 days.”
2nd over: England 0-1 (Sibley 0, Crawley 0) There is no respite from Shami, but with a mixtures of thick edges and inelegant leaves, Sibley survives. A second maiden. If England survive this first hour without losing another wicket, I will scrub the bathroom.
Tom v d Gucht is also perplexed: “Is Silverwood’s aversion to selecting spinners a pragmatic one based on the brittleness of the batting order- with most or the top order averaging well-under 40 we’re automatically a batsman light? Or is something more sinister at work... If I had the time, I’d look back over his time as a test player and see if there were any matches where he was overlooked at the expense of a spinner, possibly even Ashley Giles... Adding extra motivation to his strange obsession.”
Updated
1st over: England 0-1 (Sibley 0, Crawley 0) A dream start for India. Not so for England, though curiously predictable. Three slips and a gully were waiting for Bumrah, whose first ball marched briskly across Rory Burns. His fourth passed the outside edge before the fifth delivered the killer blow.
Ali Martin was not happy even before a ball was bowled: “This is the sixth Test out of 21 as head coach that Chris Silverwood hasn’t picked a spinner in his XI. Poor Jack Leach, who seems to be missing out because England don’t trust their batting (with good reason, perhaps) and probably worry about Broad and Anderson operating as two of three seamers. This side could still prevail, of course, there is enough talent in it to do so. But on the issue of balancing the side, it seemed obvious to me that once Ben Stokes withdrew (and with Chris Woakes injured), Moeen Ali was the player to bat No7 and give Joe Root the four seamer attack he craves. Perhaps if Moeen had been better supported when he asked for a breather at the end of 2019 season, rather than losing his Test central contract after a fine 12 months with the ball ended with one poor showing, things might be different. But here we are.”
WICKET! Burns lbw Bumrah 0 (Engand 0-1)
It was umpire’s call in the end, so not as dubious a review as it looks. The ball loops in and kisses the pad in front of the stumps. Beautiful by Bumrah.
REVIEW! Burns lbw Bumrah 0
Oooh, not sure about this, looked pretty plumb...
Updated
Kohli exhorts the troops in their huddle. Bumrah has the ball and, my friends, it begins
The players are lining up for the moment of unity. We have the national anthems through a slightly tinny PA system and the camera pans away before I can count how many Indian players have a Virat Kohli beard. I think it is 10...
“Good morning from Norway, Tanya.” Good morning Brendan Large! “I’m always excited when England play a Test match, it’s rarely dull, but looking at those two teams there is way more to fear in that India side in both facets of the game. I have very little faith in this English top three and Root can only carry the team so often. Even if Stokes comes back in top top form the other players really need to step up for this side to go anywhere. Sam Curran is great though.”
I share your fear for the top three. Watching through my fingers.
Ian Ward is talking to Jos Buttler. Can someone please get him to read the bedtime story on CBeebies - such a soft, restful voice.
Indeed.
Jack Leach is one of the few England players to actually have a first-class performance under his belt since they last played a Test. He took seven wickets at the Oval, and has a very solid Test record. All very odd.
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) August 4, 2021
So... England go without a spinner, Jack Leach on the sidelines again, and India leave out Ashwin - with Jadeja the only spinner. Interesting times. Kohli too would have batted first.
“It’s so good that proper cricket is back,” types John Starbuck, “even though I’ve been following all the JCL games too, as they are recognisably part of the game, in the way that the various football codes aren’t. Still, when your style descends from inter-village mauling on Boxing Day you have to accept a certain amount of confusion. Also, while the (rugby) ‘football’ codes are different across Australasia, South Africa, USA, northern England etc., cricket hasn’t been pushed into the same narrow paths. Tennis is also the same the world over except for playing surfaces, but the rules don’t change much. Just the job.”
India XI
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ainkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, MD Siraj
England XI
Burns, Sibley, Crawley, Root (c), Bairstow, Lawrence, Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Robinson, Broad, Anderson
England win the toss and will bat!
Handshakes and smiles all round. “ It looks a reasonable wicket, not the prettiest, but we hope we can weather the first hour, make a good start and go on.”
“Match ups,” sighs Ian Forth. “The world of cricket language is ever evolving. Deep extra cover became a sweeper, nicking became nicking off, silly mid-off disappeared altogether. But in the last month we haven’t been able to move for ‘match-ups’.”
Are you hinting at the other competition?
Early team news: Jonny Bairstow will play, and has been presented with his 75th Test cap in the England huddle. The toss is in seven minutes!
Updated
This sort of stuff makes my head hurt, but today it is what Test cricket dines off.
🏴 batting average cheat-sheet. Get it full to Crawley, Root, Buttler, Bairstow & Lawrence; attack Burns, Sibley & Pope with shorter lengths. Swing is as dangerous as seam against these guys. Spin match-ups are likely to still play a role. #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/30YnGPksUp
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) August 4, 2021
Athers is having a quick look at Kohli’s record in England:
2014: five Tests, average 13.4 - dismissed four times by James Anderson.
2018: 5 Tests average 59.3 - dismissed 0 times by Anderson.
By 2018, he had changed a couple of things: his stance, moving his back foot forward after advice from Sachin Tendulkar, and shifting into a more sideways on position which allowed him to play the outswinger better.
Dinesh Kartik is talking about the value of the six week break for India’s players, for once fancy free and unbubbled. And now we have a snippet of DK’s interview with the main man, Virat Kohli, manna to the Test cricket lover’s ear.
“For me every ball of the whole Test match is an event and that is why you step onto to field, that is what Test cricket is all about.”
The cameras are at Trent Bridge and the grass is to die for. Sun is out, Ian Ward and Dinesh Kartik in shirt sleeves, Andrew Strauss in a jacket and a Test crowd milling.
Preamble
Good morning! Hope you’ve not exhausted all your sporting interest in the skateboarding park or the hockey pitch, because this is the big one. A five Test series squished into six short weeks between the biggest, boldest, cricketing nation on earth, ranked second in the world, and England, white ball kings, red ball … merchants.
India have been in the UK since early June, pipped to the post in the World Test Championship final and, since then, kicking their heels round the country, a Euro match here, Wimbledon there, before quietly getting their heads and bodies together up in Durham over the last three weeks. Rishabh Pant has recovered from his brush with Covid, and all looks shiny in Virat Kohli’s world, though Shubman Gill and Mayank Argawal have both been ruled out with injury.
England’s preparation has been less than ideal. They also lost to New Zealand, this time in a two-Test series, bowled out for 122 in their final innings, which has been followed by minimum red-ball cricket thanks to the squishing of the county season into the dawn and dusk of the season in order to make space for The Hundred. The side is also peppered with holes: Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes and Olly Stone have all been ruled out with injury, while Ben Stokes is indefinitely stepping back from cricket for mental health reasons.
The last time these two sides met at Trent Bridge, was India’s solitary Test win of the 2018 series. Player of the match Virat Kohli made a century and 97 - heady days: he hasn’t made a hundred in any form of cricket for nearly two years. Time will tell whether that is a warning or a rubicon. His opposite number Joe Root was in sublime form over the winter, before his side crumbled to defeat in the Test series in India, Ahmedabad haunting his dreams.
The joy is that for both captains, this is the highest form of the game. India have not won a series in England since 2007 but come off the back of that astonishing win in Australia; England have lost their last two series, but have been formidable at home.
The weather is set fair – a little bit of cloud cover hovering – and the pitch is a bilious green. James Anderson, who took his 1,000th first-class wicket on an overcast day at Old Trafford in July and looked in sublime form, is chomping at the bit.
Play starts at 11am BST. We’ll be waiting.
