The report.
Reaction.
Emma John.
The day in two minutes
The morning belonged firmly to India, as Rohit and Rahul first crept along, then cruised to 97-0. Of England’s four seamers, three were misfiring – Jimmy Anderson bowling too wide, Sam Curran and (for once) Stuart Broad offering too many freebies. Everything changed just before lunch when the one Englishman at the top of his game, Ollie Robinson, tried a bouncer and persuaded Rohit Sharma to hook it straight to Curran at long leg.
After lunch, Anderson was reborn. Instead of bowling outswingers with the odd inswinger, he bowled mostly inswingers, forcing the batsmen to play at the outswingers. He had Cheteshwar Pujara caught behind, which brought in Virat Kohli – the big scalp, and the one Anderson hadn’t claimed since 2014. First ball, Kohli nicked to the keeper. That was the moment of the day, greeted by the crowd like a win in the Euros.
The procession continued when Ajinkya Rahane did his best to run himself out and succeeded at the second attempt, as Jonny Bairstow pounced and pulled off a direct hit. Dom Sibley, standing at second slip for Anderson, then dropped KL Rahul, who had watched all this from the other end.
If that chance had been grabbed, India would have been 115-5. Instead, with Rishabh Pant coming in and trying to hit the cover off the ball, they reached 125-4 before the rain came. Play resumed for one ball, then for two, until the umpires bowed to the intolerable and called it a day.
The game is intriguingly poised, with India ahead, although not by much. England have the momentum, but they still only have two bowlers on form. Tomorrow Pant could bring an end to Broad’s career – or make a fool of himself. Thanks for your company and correspondence, and we’ll see you tomorrow.
Updated
Play abandoned for the day! (India still 125-4)
The umpires have decided to call it a day, understandably given the forecast. So India remain stuck on 125-4 and the longest over of Jimmy Anderson’s life, which began just before 2.30pm, will resume at 11am, with two balls left. On recent form, they will take at least an hour.
Updated
“Afternoon from a (slightly) less rainy Old Trafford,” says @guyhornsby on Twitter, “where I’m watching the *other game* with my mate @mattjstrong. There’s wickets aplenty here without any England-related angst, a nice distraction from Trent Bridge’s existential Weds meltdown. Baby steps, eh.”
Mid-47th over: India 125-4 (Rahul 57, Pant 7) It’s Jimmy Anderson to finish the over he began around 2.30 ... or not. Down comes the rain, and back come the covers. This time, Joe Root is not moaning but laughing with the umpires.
And they're off again!
After two balls this time. Two more dots.
There are 39.4 overs left in the day, in theory, and play can go on till 7.30pm. Good luck with that.
A reminder of the state of play. England made 183 all out, which seemed hopeless at the time. India are 125-4, so they trail by 58 – which is roughly the number of runs Rishabh Pant will score in 15 minutes, if he can just get back out there.
The rain has stopped, and if it stays away play will resume at 5pm.
To be fair, it’s raining again, quite hard. Joe Root stuck around for a minute, trying to persuade the umps to stay out there, but now he’s going off too. What a shame. Given the forecast, that may well be that for the day.
Updated
They're going off again!
After one ball. Which was a dot.
The players are out there, and Jimmy Anderson is moving a handful of sawdust. Hell, he’s even smiling.
Play will resume at 4.15, as long as the rain doesn’t resume first.
The Met Office forecast for the hour from 4pm is for 90pc rain. And then it gets worse.
The umpires have had a look ... and decided to have another look at 4pm. Good old Test cricket.
Don’t want to get over-excited, but ... the covers are coming off, according to John Etheridge of The Sun. And he’s usually right – the Woodcock of the red-tops.
Brian Withington is back for more. “I was surprised to see that the CricViz algorithm had the draw as high as 54%,” he muses, “but then checked the BBC Weather app until Sunday and all became clear (as in persistently wet and overcast). However, a second opinion via the Met Office suggests Sunday might be OK. So is CricViz weighted towards the BBC forecast or does the algorithm really think India need more than a day to finish the job?” Ha.
Updated
Sky stops showing the highlights, gives us a glimpse of a sodden Trent Bridge, and switches to The Hundred. This may be a sign of the times.
“If Rishabh Pant wants to play like Adam Gilchrist,” says Gary Naylor, “he should play like he did for the first 15 minutes of an innings as well as the last.” Yes, Gilchrist was great, but are we sure that Pant wants to play like him?
On the telly, it’s yesterday once more. “Just catching up on Sky coverage,” says Brian Withington. “Root and Bairstow looking very good – can’t see where the next wicket for India is coming from.”
“183 was enough for India to win their first World Cup in 1983,” says V Krishnamoorthy. “183 may be enough for England – more so, when the Indian players demonstrate their inclination to commit hara-kiri.” Ha, yes, Rohit and Rahane did give it away. India lost four wickets for 15 in six overs. They’ve been in England so long that they’ve gone native.
“Hello from Slovakia,” says Vince Barreto, “where it is also raining. Interesting game so far... I don’t think Pant will last too long if he goes for his normal swashbuckling style of attack. Nick to the slips is my reckoning.” Maybe to fly slip, given the way he’s played so far. “Also I don’t think Jadeja can play defensively either. I predict that India may get a slender advantage if any and it will all rest on how England bat in the second innings.”
CricViz is with you on the slender advantage: its algorithm gives India 213, with a 30pc chance of winning the match. England are on 16pc and the draw is the favourite on 54pc.
Here’s something that may rather annoy Jimmy, and his mate Broady. It’s the number of overs England’s quicker bowlers have needed, on average, to take a wicket in the last seven Tests, going back to the beginning of the series in India.
Olly Stone – just under 7
Ollie Robinson – 7
Ben Stokes – just over 8
Jofra Archer – just under 9
Mark Wood – 10
Jimmy Anderson – 12
Stuart Broad – 17
Full list here, including the spinners and Sam Curran, who has bowled seven overs without taking a wicket. Quiz question for anyone yet to click on that link: who is the only England bowler with a five-for?
Updated
“Does Sibley put down more than his fair share of chances?” asks Adam Roberts. Yes, according to the Sky scorer Benedict Bermange – seven out of 18 in his Test career. “We need to find a way to get Jimmy annoyed. His two wickets in two balls came after a run was given off his bowling when the batsman didn’t hit it, which riled him to an irrational level. Then Rahul really pissed him off with all the faffing about and he produces a ball that went straight to second slip.” Very true, and Sibley’s fumble certainly added to his irritation. Now Jimmy just has to hold that in his heart until the rain clears.
Updated
“Repeating a previous memo to Cricket,” says Andy Zaltzman on Twitter. “Stop going off for bad light. Stop going off for bad light. Stop going off for bad light. Stop going off for bad light. Stop going off for bad light. Stop going off for bad light. Stop going off for bad light. Stop going off for bad light.” Hear hear, even if, in this case, it would only have got us ten more minutes.
Updated
It’s now raining. The umpires are walking back to the dressing rooms, slowly and mournfully.
Updated
“Please help a confused American,” says Jonathan Horowitz in Chicago. “Why do they take players off for bad light if there are floodlights? Isn’t the point of floodlights to fix bad light?” This is cricket, dude – you’re not expecting logic, are you?
Time for an email. “Just wanted to check,” says Ian Copestake, “if the ire being saved by England’s bowling has now been successfully transferred to blaming someone for the poor management of Archer’s elbow?”
Cricket, eh
Thanks Tanya. Cricket, as usual, is being that member of the family who is much loved but can drive you mad. Just when it gets really interesting, they go off for the light. Nobody was in any danger – except perhaps the crowd, from Pant’s determination to slog his way out of trouble.
The covers are coming on, and I’m coming off. Tim de Lisle will carry you through the rest of the day. Thanks for all the messages - apologies to those I didn’t get to. Enjoy!
That’s it @RishabhPant17 take the attack to them!! Keep the scoreboard ticking over.
— Brian Lara (@BrianLara) August 5, 2021
Bad light stops play
46.1 overs: India 125-4 (Rahul 57, Pant 7) Anderson conducts the field from the top of his mark. The lights are on and there is time for one ball, defended nicely by Rahul, before the umps come together and send the players off to a chorus of boos, then applause.
Updated
45th over: India 125-4 (Rahul 57, Pant 7) Pant, his shirt whistling in the wind, attacks a full-length ball from Broad, through the covers for four. Rahul then squeezes him down, through the slips, past the empty third man and down to the boundary. Pant lets one pass, and defends the last.
44th over: India 115-4 (Rahul 52, Pant 3) Pant sways out of the way of his first ball from Anderson. Then snaps a drive straight to backward point - that’s bold. Swings and misses at the next. Charges at the next, doesn’t get quite to it but, picks up three over cover in risky fashion. I think Anderson fancies this, a smile on his lips at the top of his mark. Then Rahul pushes at a beauty, and prods the ball to Sibley at second slip who dives but can’t hold on. The smile disappears.
Updated
44th over: India 112-4 (Rahul 52, Pant 0) India have lost 4-15 while Rahul stands bewildered at the other end. Rahane had tried to run himself out the previous over, what a shocker with the clouds pouring in and the lights on.
“Hello. I was halfway through writing this just before Anderson’s over... Wish I’d finished it in time to sound really prescient. England are well in this now. In the last few years, in Test cricket, there seems to be have been an increased glut of collapses- especially in England... and even more especially when England are batting... But, it wouldn’t surprise me if India also have a collapse in them following one bowler getting on a sudden and unexpected hot streak leading to panic amongst the batting line-up until they are 7 down with the scores nearly level. Only for the India tail to rally and add 50 runs before England collapse again and we lose by 7 wickets after India chase 70 to win.” Tom vd Gucht, this is the OBO, we believe you.
Updated
WICKET! Rahane run-out (Bairstow) 5 (India 112-4)
Oh dear. A direct hit from short cover after a moment of madness from Rahane who charges down the pitch for a single that was never there and has to beat an impossible retreat.
43rd over: India 111-3 (Rahul 52, Rahane 4) The force is with Anderson now, the clouds are settling. Root is grinning at slip, big inswingers follow.
Kohli with the shot of a man who hasn't played a Ranji Trophy match since 2012. #EngvInd
— Patrick Noone (@patnoonecricket) August 5, 2021
42nd over: India 111-3 (Rahul 52, Rahane 4) India decide to add to a suddenly-precarious position by going for a crazy run. But the pick up and throw from Lawrence, swift though it is, falls wide and Rahane survives.
Vasu Chaurey emailed during the lunch break. “Hello Tanya. I was going to write in sooner when, during the early hours of play today, there was a lot of doom and gloom from the English fans to tell everyone that if your lot doesn’t believe in your batting, we believe in ours even less. But then I was distracted by our Olympic Wrestlers and, come the last minutes of the session, was wondering if I may have been too harsh.Ah, well. At least Rohit Sharma ensures my consistently pessimistic tendencies continue!”
He emails again now: “Told you.”
41st over: India 104-3 (Rahul 48 not out, Rahane 0) A broadly grinning Anderson retreats to the top of his run after that Kohli dismissal and five slips await the hatt-rick ball. It passes safely down the leg side. Anderson is now equal with Anil Kumble on 619 wickets and suddenly the ball has started to hum. Perhaps the rain cannot come soon enough for India.
Jonathan Taylor, on Chanderpaul: “A quick point re Robert Wilson at 1250 & Shiv Chanderpaul. While Shiv was as obdurate as they come in 2003 he did hit the 3rd fastest Test century (69 balls) of all time & is still 6th on the list. How would he take to the hundred? 3 blocks & 2 sixes per pentagon or whatever the over is called in the hundred thus keep everyone happy…….”.
WICKET! Kohli c Buttler b Anderson 0 (India 104-3)
A golden duck for Virat Kohli, who pushes forward and nicks a simple outside edge to Buttler. Mayhem! Anderson is on a hattrick!
WICKET! Pujara c Buttler b Anderson 4 (India 104-2)
A humdinger from Anderson that nipped off and giggled Pujara’s outside edge before landing low in the hands of Buttler. They check the verity of the catch with the third umpire - and it is true.
40 overs: India 103-1 (Rahul 48 not out, Pujara 4) Heesh, that was a great ball by Robinson, but his six foot five frame counted against him
OBO weather: Andy in brum says it has started raining in Birmingham - predicts rain in Nottingham in an hour.
NOT OUT!
The line was perfect, but the height, above the knee roll, was not.
REVIEW! Pujara lbw given out....
.
39 overs: India 100-1 (Rahul 48 not out, Pujara 2) The boozy chants begin, as Anderson, immaculate in his appearance, runs in again. Pujara brings up the hundred with a thick edge, but Anderson has the moral victory.
@tjaldred Hi Tanya. As an Indian, great to see the batting going well(so far). They do look very confident.
— Ts123bay (@tejasfcb) August 5, 2021
As for England, while the preparation isnt ideal, its not like India have played a lot either. There's only a marginal difference. Maybe some just arent very good?
Tsk, Tsk!
Updated
38 overs: India 99-1 (Rahul 48 not out, Pujara 1) There’s a short leg waiting for Pujara, and Robinson tests him first ball with a short one. A single from a half volley completes the over split by lunch. Ah no, another belated no-ball cal,l so there’s one more: it leaps off the pitch and Rahul has to sway back to avoid.
Afternoon session
The players are out. Pujara and Rahul bump pristine white gloves.
Virat Kohli speaks so beautifully about relationships and love: “There’s a calming energy in your child’s smile, such peace.”
Jofra Archer to miss the remainder of the India series, the Ashes, the T20 World Cup
Lunch
37.3 overs: India 97-1 (Rahul 48 not out) What a relief for England on the stroke of lunch. Well deserved by Robinson who surprised Sharma with the change of length. A super morning for India - will the momentum switch with that wicket after the break? I’ll be back in half an hour.
WICKET! Rohit c Curran bRobinson 36 (India 97-1)
Robinson tries a short ball, Rohit’s eyes light up, he swings, pulls and the catch is taken by fine leg!
Updated
37th over: India 95-0 (Rohit 36, KL Rahul 47) Just beautiful, a front-foot drive off Curran, gorgeously done by Rahul, straight and bold. Would have been a magnificent penalty. Stuart Broad is nibbling his fingers down on the rope, Root’s hands are on his hips. Five minutes till lunch.
From sunny Chennai, writes Rishi:
“In response to your query about this being the best Indian test team, I think it’s fair to say this is the most balanced at least. There are other teams that can lay the claim to being the best, but this team is probably India’s best fast bowling unit ever. Which, when combined with India’s traditional strengths of batting and spin bowling, makes is rather balanced. Whether or not that is enough to make this the best team ever, likely hinges on this series. 2 series wins in a row in Australia is already beyond what the other main contending team, of the late 00s vintage, could manage. But considering this teams’ lack of success in England or New Zealand, in similarly swinging conditions, the jury is still out.”
Thank you. I do have a soft spot for that Indian side of VVS, Dravid, Tendulkar etc and Kokata 2001, but the balance of this vintage is better.
36th over: India 89-0 (Rohit 35, KL Rahul 42) Joe Root doesn’t have a spinner up his sleeve, so has to switch back to Robinson. Tight but unthreatening. Time for an over or so of Root before lunch?
Robert Wilson is back.
“In answer to the amiable Nick Lewis (29th Over), the question is not what do I think of The Hundred but rather what the great Shivnarine Chanderpaul would make of it. A man who weaponised ennui, a man who could grind opposition teams and crowds to mere dust and kipple in 20-hour masterpieces of undramatic strokeplay, a player who induced hallucinatory episodes in alpha bowlers, who made oppo captains resort to medication and therapy. In a West Indies team transitioning from farcical dominance to heartbreaking ineptitude, he was the boy on the burning deck, facing down the enemy with a hope-killing forward defensive and the will not to lose. He made glamourless tedium utterly heroic. He was fully magnificent. And not possible in anything like The Hundred. (Plus, you’re not going to run into John Major and chat about the good old days of Euroscepticism in a Hundred game)“
35th over: India 88-0 (Rohit 35, KL Rahul 42) Ten off Curran’s over: a no ball, four wide and wacky byes from a huge inswinger and a pin-point drilled four by Rohit.
“Well you know what they say - you can’t Make Things Happen if you haven’t played a red ball match since *checks notes* forever. They’ve been excellent with their lines and lengths today, but the ‘one dimensional’ look of the bowling attack is down to their selection - and the thought process behind their selection is a systematic problem rather than a people problem, like George Dobell said so eloquently on Cricinfo yesterday! At least, having the crowds back at the ground makes for beautiful and serene viewing back here in India (along with the openers’ perennially precise drives).”
Abhijato, we’ve missed you.
34th over: India 78-0 (Rohit 30, KL Rahul 42) Broad is not wearing his lucky pants this morning. He fizzes past Rahul’s off stump, then Rahul edges for four, airily, but not close enough to Burns at backward point. Oooh, then a ball bounces unexpectedly and burst through Buttler’s gloves and nearly hits him in the face.
“Tanya,” asks John Starbuck.
“As we ease through the day, one urgent question arises: did you clean the bathroom yesterday?”
John, I did not. But the rubber gloves are upstairs. My excuse is that the sweet but ridiculous dog decided to go into my handbag and eat two paracetamol.
33rd over: India 72-0 (Rohit 28, KL Rahul 38) A couple of gentle singles off Curran, whose golden arm hasn’t produced yet today. Perhaps he is better used as a shock jock than a stock bowler.
32nd over: India 71-0 (Rohit 28, KL Rahul 32) Broad produces a beauty first ball, full, Rahul is tempted and he gets an outside edge past Sibley, leaping at second slip. But otherwise, no return.
@tjaldred - just how far India has come :)#IndvsEng @guardian_sport #obo https://t.co/QIjbmWF9zk
— Anand (@anandkumarn) August 5, 2021
I heard someone (apologies, can’t remember who) talking about this Indian team yesterday. Called it the greatest India Test team ever. Other teams might have had better batsmen or bowlers, but as a team - the best. Thoughts?
31st over: India 66-0 (Rohit 28, KL Rahul 32) Sam Curran does nothing wrong, but Rohit and Rahul glide effortlessly through the over.
More Strauss gems. Asked why he left out Graeme Swann at Trent Bridge. “ I think I got too involved with the stats.” Could this possibly be what has happened this time around?
30th over: India 62-0 (Rohit 25, KL Rahul 31) Broad is bowling full but Rahul is up for it: he drives an over-pitched one gloriously for four. This boy can bat.
“You could watch these batsmen all day,” says Andrew Strauss, demi-pause. “We probably will.”
29th over: India 58-0 (Rohit 25, KL Rahul 27) To a chorus of drilling from the house opposite, Curran skitttles through another over, a slightly over-pitched ball powered through the covers for four by Rahul. Masterful.
Nick Lewis is on tenterhooks. “Robert Wilson’s magnificent, hair shirt, self flagellatory, martyr to the cause comment has me, inevitably, wondering what he thinks of The Hundred....”
28th over: India 53-0 (Rohit 25, KL Rahul 22) An over-pitched ball is driven vigorously by Rahul to the boundary - bringing up the fifty stand - and Broad sends down a couple of no balls, one of which he disputes in typically Broadish manner.
“Agree with Arthur Graves that England’s batters need some county championship cricket in the run up to a test series,” writes Martin Wright, “but to do so, there has to actually be some under way…As it is, the schedule could almost have been designed to stymie England’s test chance..”
It is a bizarre schedule for a team that is supposed to be obsessed with the Ashes this winter, not to mention this five-match zinger of a series.
27th over: India 46-0 (Rohit 25, KL Rahul 17) A double change, and it is little Sam Curran, bleached hair and a smile permanently perched on his lips. Scurry, scurry, just one from the over, and that’s drinks.
Updated
26th over: India 45-0 (Rohit 25, KL Rahul 16) There is a stirring in the crowd, as Trent Bridge’s favourite son is given the ball. Broad. Rohit picks up a couple through cover then dabs him through the slips and past the non-existent third man for four. A beauty last ball beats the vertical bat.
Robert Wilson’s note arrives dusted with coal and written in sweat. “Have to say I’m loving this. The runs are few, the weather’s bad, the faces are grim and the sky is like the tea your granny used to brew. This is wonderfully clenched and parsimonious stuff. Proper squeezy cricket. Where everything matters and counts, where victory is the last half-gram of toothpaste in the tube and success is only marginally less purgatorial than failure. Makes me very happy. Can’t wait for the inevitable cheerless rain.”
25th over: India 39-0 (Rohit 19, KL Rahul 16) A square drive from Rahul for four is the big bunch of begonias of the morning, abrupt, princely. Other than that, a probing over.
24th over: India 33-0 (Rohit 18, KL Rahul 12) Anderson sends down a brace of outswingers, then throws in an inswinger which seems to hit Rahul on the pad. Anderson wants to review, Root is in anguish, but turns him down. Good decision, as there was an inside edge.
“What is ‘technical difficulties’ exactly?” asks Arthur Graves. “I like to imagine someone pulled a lead out of a socket by mistake. [the wifi people digging up the road] Anyway, I’m pondering on the England batting (or not) of yesterday.
“We make excuses for the players about scheduling and volume of short-form cricket, but they’re professional sportsmen. They should be up to the job. Until they’re held accountable, it’ll just continue the way it is. England could select two teams, red ball and white ball. And say very clearly that to play Test cricket they have to have played county championship matches in the run-up.
“Hope today’s viewing is more fruitful than yesterday’s.”
Updated
23rd over: India 33-0 (Rohit 18, KL Rahul 12) This is ideal early morning Test watching: those who arrive late haven’t missed much, those who are on time can chew the fat, dip into picnics, with only half an eye on the action. There’s a half-hearted lbw appeal, Rahul dribbles a run down to long leg and another Robinson over clicks round.
22nd over: India 32-0 (Rohit 18, KL Rahul 11) Anderson is getting a long-run out today. And he’s on the money, but so far no return. He won’t mind, he’s in it for the long haul. The question is who will break first?
Also, isn’t it a bizarre convention that the camera pans in on someone rubbing a ball on their crotch?
Updated
21st over: India 32-0 (Rohit 18, KL Rahul 11) A shot, a palpable shot! A dismissive drive by Rohit to a slightly over pitched ball and Robinson disappears to the long-off boundary. Imagine a door slamming in your face.
Updated
20th over: India 27-0 (Rohit 13, KL Rahul 11) Another maiden, this is a hardcore Test creeeket half an hour.
Tim drops me a note: “After a hundred balls, India had 21 on the board. England (as Emma John said in her sidebar) were 36-1.”
Updated
19th over: India 27-0 (Rohit 13, KL Rahul 11) England lose a review, but it was a smart over from Robinson, disciplined, every ball on a length or so. But Rohit Sharma does leave the ball well.
And, via Peter Haining - thank you - the TMS overseas link
NOT OUT!
No one looked entirely confident in that review - an inswinger that clipped the pad and would have missed off stump.
Updated
ENGLAND REVIEW! Sharma lbw Robinson
Original decision not out.
18th over: India 26-0 (Rohit 13, KL Rahul 10) A quiet Anderson maiden. I guess this is where we find out India’s red-ball mentality, on a run-light morning.
Andrew Benton is musing into his elevenses: “I always think that cricket is a bowler’s game, and we will have the last laugh in that regard in this match, so fingers crossed we won’t need to be saved by the rainy weather.
Last cuppa for Silverwood, I say!”
Updated
17th over: India 25-0 (Rohit 13, KL Rahul 9) Robinson beats Rohit with a gorgeous delivery, on a good length, which bounces and beats the outside edge of the bat. Next ball, Rohit swivel-shifts him to the leg-side boundary for four and the first runs of the morning. Guy Hornsby, you’ll have enjoyed that penultimate ball from Robinson.
Hi @tjaldred. I only have one thing to say this morning.
— Guy Hornsby (@GuyHornsby) August 5, 2021
Pitch.
It.
Up.
Make.
Them.
Play.
That is all.
16th over: India 21-0 (Rohit 9, KL Rahul 9) Anderson opens with a wide one and then sends one skimming past Rahul’s bat, who seems phlegmatically unbothered. A third consecutive maiden. The cameras pan to Chris Silverwood, feeling the pressure this morning, a cup of coffee in his hand, and John Major, who becomes a better prime minister with every passing year.
15th over: India 21-0 (Rohit 9, KL Rahul 9) Root plumps for Ollie Robinson from the Ratcliffe Road end, a big fellow, thundering through. He finds pace and an lbw shout, which after much face pulling England decide not to review. Wise decision.
Updated
14th over: India 21-0 (Rohit 9, KL Rahul 9) It’s the under-used Anderson to start the day, yellow soled shoes chasing him to the crease. Rahul is tempted to go at one, and it just passes the bat, carrying through high into the gloves of Buttler.
The players are out with Jerusalem blaring out over Nottingham. Food for thought from Tim:
It was the #TrentBridge Test. #England were up against a far better team. They won the toss, batted and made only 180-odd. But they bounced back, bowling their opponents out for 190. This was the 2001 Ashes (@alextudorcoach 5-44). And then they went and blew it by making 162
— Tim de Lisle (@TimdeLisle) August 5, 2021
A cheerful missive wings into my inbox from Em Jackson:
“Well, you can’t tell until each side’s batted once can you, can you?”
Can you improve on Selv’s bit of advice for England this morning?
First bleedin' obvious of the day: Eng can and need to bowl a whole deal better. Why Anderson only bowled 3 overs yesterday is a mystery
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) August 5, 2021
Do you need a catalyst to your nightmare, a sop for your dreams? Look at this:
Yesterday's England collapse, in inglorious technicolour. 6 wickets for 22, resulting in the lowest 1st innings score by at team that won the toss and chose to bat in a Trent Bridge Test since 1967. pic.twitter.com/Bm0IYGnrN0
— Andy Zaltzman (@ZaltzCricket) August 5, 2021
On Sky, the stattos have worked out that yesterday the swing movement was double the global average. Something to soothe the brows of Dan Lawrence and Jos Buttler. This is a great love letter to that India attack.
Apologies, temporary technical difficulties here.
Preamble
Good morning! And welcome to the day after The Big Calamity, the Glorious Shambles, the lowest score at Trent Bridge by a Test side choosing to bat first since 1967.
It was a pretty disastrous day for England, bowled out for a song. But could it be that all the hot air is overblown? That England bowl India out for 150 today, squeak 200 in their second innings and go on to a remarkable win? Unlikely. Yet possible.
But...all the reasons why the scheduling this summer looked so wonky have come to pass. With Test players saying how “unusual” and “different” the summer had been before the Test started, it really can be no surprise to anyone that England’s batsmen struggled out of the blocks - Joe Root, Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, who I thought played with great restraint, and Sam Curran excepted.
India, though, were excellent - as befits the second best Test side in the world. Tight, probing, good enough to leave R Ashwin on the bench. There is no shame in coming second to them, the only question is how.
At Trent Bridge, this morning, for the Indian batters, the sun is out.
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