Ali Martin’s report is here so it’s time for me to call it a day. India should still win this but the magic of Stokes’ team keeps you believing in all four results. I hope tomorrow’s another special one.
I imagine India won’t be satisfied with setting England anything other than a world-record target. But there’s also the question of time – do they even bother with a declaration tomorrow? Or do they try and get to the fifth morning and toy with England’s distaste of the draw?
A reminder that the highest Test score by an England wicketkeeper still belongs to Betty Snowball for her 189 against New Zealand 90 years ago.
Harry Brook, 27 Tests into his career, is level with Jonathan Trott on nine hundreds for England. Jamie Smith has the potential to become his country’s greatest keeper-batter. Their partnership today felt like a change at the centre of English cricket – they’re playing in all three forms and will do for years to come.
The cricket never stops. Jim Wallace is on the tools for this one:
Stumps
13th over: India 64-1 (Nair 7, Rahul 28) This should be the last over of the day. Carse gets a bit of movement into Nair, who punches to mid-on. Nair misses a pull shot before a more sensible leave follows. He ducks under a bouncer to finish a crazy day of Test cricket. India have a whopping 244-run lead.
12th over: India 63-1 (Nair 7, Rahul 27) Another quiet one as Tongue gets six in at Nair.
11th over: India 63-1 (Nair 7, Rahul 27) Carse returns after a short break and gets Rahul to fend the ball away off the back foot. It’s the first maiden of the innings.
Mike Jakeman writes:
Fascinating test for Shubman Gill coming up. India will get a decent lead, but all of the usual guidance about setting targets and overs don’t really apply to this England team. He can’t tolerate losing the match from this position, but if he’s too conservative he won’t give his bowlers long enough to take ten wickets. Proper head scratcher for the young captain.
10th over: India 63-1 (Nair 7, Rahul 27) Tongue goes full and Rahul’s cover drive to the ropes is more of a forehand. Bet he’d make it to the second week at Wimbledon.
9th over: India 58-1 (Nair 7, Rahul 22) Karun Nair is still trying to establish himself in this Test XI. He got a start in the first innings and he ends Woakes’ over with a picturesque punch through mid-on for four.
Max Williams has an update:
Sean Smith, that’s a lovely offer, thank you. Pembroke looks relatively close to my hotel so a mid-afternoon visit isn’t impossible!
I’ve now been joined by a very nice man called Gerry who really knows his cricket – secretary for his local club. It’s basically the Barmy Army, Irish branch
Also. that’s an all-timer of a scoreboard
8th over: India 52-1 (Nair 1, Rahul 22) Josh Tongue, developing a reputation as a tail cleaner, adds a big top-order wicket to his collection.
WICKET! Jaiswal lbw Tongue 28 (India 51-1)
Carse is replaced by Tongue but he can’t turn the tap off. Jaiswal flicks off his pad to produce a boundary. But then a breakthrough! It ducks into Jaiswal’s pads from around the wicket and he misses with the flick. The finger goes up and India eventually review … but Stokes reckons they were too late to do it! He’s having a word with the umpires about it. They proceed with the review and Stokes doesn’t have to worry – it’s three reds.
Sky have shown replays – Stokes was right about Jaiswal missing the 15-second cutoff. Anyway, any serious drama is averted.
Updated
7th over: India 45-0 (Jaiswall 22, Rahul 22) India are going at six an over here, with Rahul punching again through point for four. He has these conditions nailed down, with Test hundreds across three tours of England. When Woakes overpitches, the straight drive comes out; when he goes short, Rahul’s response is a guided cut. Twelve off the over.
6th over: India 33-0 (Jaiswal 22, Rahul 10) Jaiswal drives a fuller Carse delivery and gets an edge to stay low and run away for four. It takes him to 2,000 Test runs – plenty more to follow. He clips through midwicket for another boundary moments later and the punishment continues with a pull to the ropes. Carse’s remain in search of some rhythm.
5th over: India 19-0 (Jaiswal 9, Rahul 9) England aren’t threatening all that much with this new ball. Rahul punches Woakes delightfully through point for another boundary.
4th over: India 15-0 (Jaiswal 9, Rahul 5) Jaiswal unleashes a trademark cut and Ollie Pope, at backward point, doesn’t see it clearly as the ball runs away to the rope.
Another partnership begins. How long will it last?
3rd over: India 11-0 (Jaiswal 5, Rahul 5) Woakes goes short but there’s not enough pace on it to intimidate Jaiswal, who monsters a pull shot for four.
Updated
2nd over: India 6-0 (Jaiswal 1, Rahul 5) Brydon Carse gets some serious lift off a length to surprise Rahul, the seam upright after pitching and beating the outside edge. A beautiful off drive for four follows, the fuller ball punished.
1st over: India 2-0 (Jaiswal 1, Rahul 1) Chris Woakes begins … and Yashasvi Jaiswal clips for one. KL Rahul plays the same shot to get himself moving.
Tom Bancroft issues an apology:
This is my fault. I listened to the whole Brook Smith partnership on the radio. Then decided to go to the tv for the new ball. Terrible decision and I get Brook out. Realising my mistake I then decide to go TV with sound off and radio back on. What an idiot. I get Woakes and Carse out. I’d like to apologise to everyone involved.
Sean Smith writes in with a very appealing invitation:
Max is more than welcome to join us at Pembroke Cricket Club tomorrow when our Men’s 3rds take on Ashbourne in Division 7. If he’s in luck he might spot an Irish international or two watching along the wall.
The Test match(es) will be on in the bar, which overlooks the pitch so Max can catch all the action!
What a weird, weird England innings. They were 27 for three after 10 overs with the first new ball. The second new ball resulted in 31 runs and five wickets. In the middle of that was a 303-run stand. Mohammed Siraj has his second six-wicket haul in Test cricket and, most importantly, India lead by 180.
England all out for 407!
WICKET! Bashir b Siraj 0 (England 407 all out)
Play resumes and Bashir is bowled by the nip-backer after leaving it well alone! Siraj finishes with six, Smith remains unbeaten on 184. Six ducks in a wild England innings.
Updated
Siraj greets Shoaib Bashir with a bumper that strikes the helmet – the bowler is instantly up at the other end to check the No 11 is OK. Time for a concussion test.
Amid all the action I forgot to mention that Smith now holds the record for the highest score by an England wicketkeeper in men’s Test cricket. He’s passed someone he knows well from Surrey: Alec Stewart.
Five wickets for Mohammed Siraj!
WICKET! Tongue lbw Siraj 0 (England 407-9)
Goner. Siraj goes full and straight, Tongue misses and the finger goes up. The batter reviews in hope but it’s smashing leg stump. Siraj has a well deserved five-wicket haul and India are closing in on that lead. England have five ducks in the innings!
Updated
89th over: England 407-8 (Smith 184, Tongue 0) Smith has to swing now. There are six men out in the deep for him and he pummels Deep down the ground for six! The field comes in for the penultimate ball to stop Smith nicking a single. He doesn’t bother with getting one – the over finishes with another straight blast, this time for four. Awesome ball-striking.
An update from our man in Dublin, Max Williams:
I’ve found a basement sports bar called Sinnett’s. There must be 20 screens down here; I did my best Hugh Grant – “terribly sorry, I don’t suppose...” – and they’ve kindly stuck it on in the corner. Indie landfill is blasting from the speaker directly above my head. Absolutely nobody is watching Wimbledon on the big screen but I won’t push my luck!
WICKET! Carse lbw Siraj 0 (England 396-8)
India review, hoping for an lbw to go their way against Brydon Carse … and it does! Carse had pad right next to bat, but there was no contact with the latter. Siraj’s delivery would have cannoned into the top of middle.
88th over: England 396-8 (Smith 174, Togue 0)
Updated
87th over: England 395-7 (Smith 173, Carse 0) What does Smith do now? He’s been patient for a while … but a counter could be on the way.
WICKET! Woakes c Nair b Deep 5 (England 395-7)
Deep gets one to woosh past Woakes’ outside edge. There’s not been any insane movement with this ball but just enough to force England into a period of survival. Woakes tries to break the pressure … but the drive produces an outside edge and it’s gobbled up at first slip!
Updated
86th over: England 395-6 (Smith 173, Woakes 5) Siraj, relentless and encouraged by the harder Dukes, keeps Smith stuck on 173. A rare maiden.
Tom Kingston writes in:
Long time reader and first time writer here.
Re Max Williams’ question, the key for watching cricket in Dublin is to just ask them to put on Sky Sports main event. Mentioning the C-word does us no favours. But once its on they won’t turn it off.
85th over: England 395-6 (Smith 173, Woakes 5) Deep goes short to Woakes, who plays it well enough, pulling away for one. The quick is going wide on the crease, and Smith nabs one to move to 173, a score of significance …
84th over: England 392-6 (Smith 171, Woakes 4) Smith turns the ball into the leg side and the lead goes below 200, the follow-on avoided. Woakes, batting on his home ground, gets off the mark with a push to the cover boundary off Siraj.
Rob Turpin asks: “I wonder what the odds are on an England declaration around 30 minutes before close, still a hundred behind?” That would be very Stokes.
83rd over: England 387-6 (Smith 170, Woakes 0) Chris Woakes survives as Deep closes out his breakthrough over.
Max Williams asks a good question:
This may be optimistic but might any of the esteemed OBO community know of a good bar to watch the cricket in Dublin? Or even a bad bar... I’m not fussy
WICKET! Brook b Deep 158 (England 387-6)
The end. The new ball nips back to sneak in-between bat and pad, rattling Brook’s stumps. Off he walks for 158. England still trail by 200 and India remain on course for a serious lead.
Updated
Smith and Brook's partnership moves to 300
82nd over: England 386-5 (Smith 169, Brook 158) Smith sees a touch of outswing from Siraj and lets the arms free, the ball flying to the cover boundary. After that 80-ball ton his strike rate has dropped to around 90. The landmarks keep on coming – the pair bring up a partnership of 300. The highest sixth-wicket stand in Test cricket is the 399 Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow put on against South Africa in January 2016.
81st over: England 379-5 (Smith 162, Brook 158) Akash Deep has the new Dukes … Harry Brook comes down the pitch to swing and miss! Brook is hobbling now, struggling with cramp it seems. He clips away for one and stumbles away to the other end. Deep gets the ball to duck in towards Smith, producing a half-hearted lbw shout.
Brian Withington asks: “I’m wondering how many times a top 7 has yielded two golden ducks and 150s in Tests? But not quite enough to do the research personally …” This could potentially break Statsguru. Anyone able to get the answer? I’m a bit occupied.
80th over: England 376-5 (Smith 161, Brook 157) Washington wraps up this passage of play – it’s time for a fresh cherry.
Harry Brook reaches 150!
79th over: England 373-5 (Smith 160, Brook 155) Harry Brook joins Jamie Smith in reaching 150, the fifth time the Yorkshireman has got there in Tests. He only made his debut in September 2022. A drive through the covers for four follows.
78th over: England 366-5 (Smith 159, Brook 149) Brook knocks the ball to square leg for one and the rapid Jadeja is there, firing a throw towards the striker’s end to hurry Smith up.
77th over: England 365-5 (Smith 159, Brook 148) Brook sees Jadeja go short and pulls away for four, knocking on the door of 150.
76th over: England 359-5 (Smith 158, Brook 143) Brook employs the reverse-sweep to take ones off Sundar, who is bowling a leg-side line from around the wicket. There’s a big, big appeal at the end of the over, Brook missing with the reverse … Gill decides to review.
There’s no bat on it and it’s looking good … ignore me, it’s sliding with the arm and missing off stump.
Updated
And we’re back. We’re five overs from the second new ball, the weapon India have been waiting for. For now, it’s Washington Sundar up against Harry Brook …
It’s a good time to be a keeper-bat in Test cricket. In this series we’ve got Pant and Smith, two outrageous players, while Australia were bailed out yesterday by Alex Carey's 81-ball 63 in the second Test against West Indies. Carey’s averaging 60.71 this year after eight innings while striking at 78.
Tea
75th over: England 355-5 (Smith 157, Brook 140) A wonderful session for England concludes, with Brook and Smith’s partnership now up to 271.
74th over: England 352-5 (Smith 156, Brook 138) After a long run of boundaryless overs, Brook reverse-sweeps Sundar for four. He repeats the stroke to collect two, Siraj doing well at the third rope to claw it away. Brook then swings hard and wild to find four with the back of his bat, lobbing it over Pant.
73rd over: England 340-5 (Smith 155, Brook 127) It’s a decent squeeze India have going now, and the over ends with a Jadeja ripper, gripping and turning past Brook’s forward prod. It’s a good take from Pant, too.
72nd over: England 338-5 (Smith 154, Brook 126) Washington goes around the wicket and Brook gets down to reverse-sweep for one. He maintains the angle against Smith, stopping the batter from freeing the arms outside off.
71st over: England 337-5 (Smith 154, Brook 125) Jadeja twirls away with Smith and Brook playing responsibly. Again, it’s a churn of ones.
Martin Gillam writes in from Sydney:
England’s batting in this series is setting things up for a fascinating if asymmetrical Ashes at the end of the year. Clearly England have a much better and more settled top order, with the Australian bats continuing to flail in the Windies. But Australia’s big-four bowlers seem a better unit than England’s. Will it all cancel out to a low scoring series or to massive run chases?
70th over: England 334-5 (Smith 153, Brook 123) Washington Sundar takes the ball, a possible opportunity for Brook and Smith to launch. The pair collect four risk-free singles off the spinner.
69th over: England 330-5 (Smith 151, Brook 121) There’s a touch of danger as Jadeja gets the ball to rip past Brook’s swish outside off. England, I must remind you, still trail by a whopping 257. India need to remember that, too. The left-armer produces a maiden.
68th over: England 330-5 (Smith 151, Brook 121) India are steadying the flow of runs, Siraj doing his best to threaten the pads. Smith and Brook don’t look particularly bothered about the run rate dropping.
67th over: England 329-5 (Smith 151, Brook 120) Jadeja returns, ready to bed in from one end until the arrival of the second new ball. He runs through his over in a flash, conceding just one.
66th over: England 328-5 (Smith 151, Brook 119) Always love the way Siraj thunders in and angles the ball towards the stumps – desperate for the death rattle – forcing the batter to respond. Smith and Brook calmly rotate the strike with singles.
65th over: England 325-5 (Smith 150, Brook 117) The crowd launches into a rendition of Wonderwall as Deep brings some respite with his six.
Mike Morris writes in:
I don’t often think from this side of the fence but this English team must be a nightmare to captain against, given the scoring (and speed of scoring) of which they’re capable. Let’s assume England are bowled out for 400, it likely won’t even be tea on Day 3. Given a halfway normal scoring rate, India would be looking to thrash 250 and give themselves just over a day to knock them over - but how many runs do you need against a team that could conceivably bash 450 runs in a day?
If your first priority is to ensure you don’t lose, the only way of doing that is to bat so long you hand them the draw on a plate - all with the knowledge that this is an England side that could also get rolled for 220. It must be like trying to stop an oncoming Mack truck with a few traffic cones.
Updated
Jamie Smith reaches 150!
64th over: England 323-5 (Smith 150, Brook 116) Siraj returns, going at four an over but still the most economical member of India’s attack this innings. He gets Brook to inside-edge the ball on to his pads, but it avoids trickling on to the stumps. A single behind point moves Smith to 150 off just 144 balls.
Updated
63rd over: England 319-5 (Smith 148, Brook 114) Smith pulls with power to the boundary again, Deep the recipient this time.
62nd over: England 313-5 (Smith 143, Brook 113) Gorgeous from Smith, driving through extra cover before pulling Reddy for four more with minimal footwork. In case you’re wondering, the highest Test score by an England men’s keeper is Alec Stewart’s 173 against New Zealand in 1997.
Updated
61st over: England 304-5 (Smith 134, Brook 113) Deep gets the ball to stay a touch low outside off, with Smith’s swish failing to make contact. A quick single completes the over … scrap that, Deep overstepped. A dot is the final action.
Eight-four for five. And now this. Here’s hoping the madness continues; I say that as a neutral wanting a proper, nippy contest. Here’s Akash Deep, up against Brook.
Updated
Drinks India’s attempts to get the ball changed have finally been successful, so while that’s happening the umpires call for drinks. It’s also time for me to hand over to Taha for the rest of the day – see you later.
60th over: England 301-5 (Brook 112, Smith 133) Reddy, who has been hitting a line well wide of off stump, almost slips a surprise straight delivery through Smith. It was a low full toss and Smith got a crucial inside edge onto the pad as he heaved across the line.
A single next ball brings up England’s 300. Inside 60 overs, from 84 for 5.
59th over: England 298-5 (Brook 110, Smith 132) Krishna takes a break after a pretty luckless spell of 5-1-11-0. Deep replaces him and has a hopeful LBW appeal turned down when Brook walks across his stumps. Big inside edge.
Just one from the over, which makes it 19 from the last seven. Intriguing stuff. England’s batters are starting to play with greater patience but you know what won’t last forever.
58th over: England 297-5 (Brook 109, Smith 132) Brook finally gets the meaty part of the bat on ball, pummelling a full, wide delivery from Reddy through mid-off for four.
The pace of the game has dropped since lunch but it remains compelling. India lead by 290, the second new ball is 22 overs away and all results are possible again.
Updated
57th over: England 290-5 (Brook 104, Smith 130) Smith is again beaten by Krishna, this time on the inside as he tries to drive off the back foot. Batters can struggle to resume their innings the morning after making a century; Smith is having the same problem after lunch.
56th over: England 289-5 (Brook 103, Smith 130) Smith inside edges Reddy past the stumps for a couple, another close shave in this slightly odd passage of play. India’s tactic is working; the last deliberate boundary (ie not off the edge) came four overs ago.
“It doesn’t rescind your permission to be excited, but there are two words that always make me wary when looking at a Test batsman’s early but amazing stats,” says Mark Gillespie. “They are ‘Gary Balance’. Four hundreds, five fifties and over 1,000 runs at an avg of just short of 68 from just 17 innings in his first 10 Tests. His next 13 Tests then produced 479 runs with only two fifties at an avg of 19, at which point he was dropped for the second time.”
Yep, good point. He didn’t look as good as Smith, nowhere near, but that kind of drop-off can happen to batters of all shapes, sizes and styles: Vinod Kambli, Jimmy Adams, Michael Slater, Devon Conway etc.
55th over: England 285-5 (Brook 102, Smith 127) A pretty simple defensive line from Krishna and England’s heads are all over the place. Smith, beaten earlier in the over, inside edges fractionally short of Pant. This is something England will have to address because the more it happens, the more opponents will try it. Brook and Smith almost look like they’re trying to get out.
That said, Krishna deserves a lot of credit for the discipline with which he’s bowling. It’s his job, I get that Roy, but it can’t be easy to bowl a spell of 4-1-10-0 after disappearing for 61 in eight overs before lunch.
Smith dropped by Pant on 121
54th over: England 284-5 (Brook 102, Smith 126) Nitish Kumar Reddy, on for Washington Sundar, almost strikes first ball! Smith edges a big drive and is put by Pant, diving low to his right. It was a really tough chance, ankle height and at full stretch, but Pant isn’t happy with himself.
The Sky team point out that Pant’s movements were slightly out of sync with the bowler, which meant he wasn’t as low as he should have been when the ball was delivered. That may well have been decisive.
The ball ran away for four instead, and a single off the next ball brought up the 200 partnership from 192 balls.
Updated
53rd over: England 279-5 (Brook 102, Smith 121) Brook knows where Krishna is going to bowl – seventh stump, on a length – so he decides to pre-empt a ramp shot. He runs a long way across to the off side, misses the ball completely and falls over. You’ve been reading the MCC Coaching Manual again, haven’t you Harry?
Brook is beaten twice more later in the over. Not just any old over: it’s a maiden from Krishna! There are clear echoes of the Sri Lanka Test at The Oval, when Brook dropped his bundle and was dismissed shortly after. It could be happening again.
52nd over: England 279-5 (Brook 102, Smith 121) Smith cracks Washington behind square for four, with the sprawling (I think) Siraj unable to stop the boundary and almost losing his trousers in the process.
Three twos, the last after a misfield from Jaiswal, makes it a very handy over for England, who have picked up where they left off before lunch. It feels like Washington has bowled pretty well yet he has figures of 8-0-48-0.
Harry Brook's ninth Test century!
51st over: England 269-5 (Brook 102, Smith 111) Brook tries to hammer a deliberately wide delivery from Krishna and is beaten. He was bored out by Sri Lanka at The Oval last summer so it’ll be interesting to see how he deals with this.
In the first instance by taking off his helmet because he has just reached his ninth Test hundred! He was cramped for room but had the skill to drop a back cut short of gully and then through for four. It’s been a fine innings, particularly today as he has happily played second fiddle to a riotous Jamie Smith. And he still reached his century from 137 balls.
Updated
50th over: England 263-5 (Brook 97, Smith 109) India are playing on England’s patience and ego with defensive lines and fields. For now England are taking no risks against Washington, just milking whatever runs are on more. Brook takes three singles to move to 97. He hasn’t done things by halves in this series: 99, a golden duck and now 97 not out.
“While it may not be England’s best batting line up, this England top seven must be up there for the most intimidating ever?” says James Austin. “Imagine getting through Stokes, Root, Pope, Duckett etc only to see... Jamie Smith wandering out with devilment in his eyes and Harry Brook waiting at the other end.
“Each player is capable of entirely dominating an attack and taking the game away; there is just no respite. It must play on captain’s and bowlers minds continually.”
I’m sure it does, but so does the optimism that you can roll them inside 40 overs. Even so, the mental strain is unprecedented because England’s scoring rate is so far ahead of every other time in Test history. I suppose that was best demonstrated by Pat Cummins’ face when England ran riot at Old Trafford in 2023.
49th over: England 258-5 (Brook 94, Smith 108) Krishnan has two men on the hook for Smith plus a slip and gully. He starts by hitting a good length on a sixth-stump line and Smith, trying to force the pace, is twice beaten outside off stump.
“172 for 2 in the morning session,” says Ian Sargeant. “Back in the days of yore when the computers in the computer science room at Tun Wells Boys Grammar were regularly disconnected from the portable TVs and the aerials plugged back in so I could watch the cricket instead of concentrating on my O/A-level programming, that was a day’s play. Wow.
“Glad I’m not skippering tomorrow and having to deliver the ‘45 overs is a long time to bat - play yourself in’ speech.”
48th over: England 255-5 (Brook 93, Smith 106) Washington changes the angle by starting round the wicket to Smith, who deftly guides three runs past backward point. I don’t know about you but I’m still reeling from how well he played this morning.
Smith and Brook add three more singles to make it a healthy over for England.
Oh hello, Prasidh Krishna is coming on at the other end. Anything could happen here, apart from a maiden over.
Here come the players. Lunch? No thank you, I’ll have seconds of the morning session.
Washington Sundar, who bowled a teasing spell before lunch, will kick things off.
Updated
Jamie Smith by numbers
Small sample size, small sample size, small sample size. But look at Jamie Smith’s numbers so far. Permission to get excited, sir?
12 Tests
19 innings
827 runs
51.68 average
The third-highest in Test history for any keeper with 500 runs, behind AB de Villiers and Andy Flower77.00 strike-rate
The second-highest in Test history for any keeper with 500 runs, behind Adam Gilchrist2 centuries
21 sixes
The record for an England wicketkeeper is Jonny Bairstow with 24
Lunch
Cor, that was fun: there were 27 overs, two early wickets and 172 runs at 6.37 over. Joe Root and Ben Stokes fell to Mohammad Siraj in the second over of the day, at which point England still trailed by 503. The deficit is down to 338 thanks to a fabulous innings from Harry Brook and an awesome one from Jamie Smith.
Who knows what happens from here? Who cares after two hours of entertainment like that. Folks, it’s Bazball, and I want it straight into my veins.
A stunning century from Jamie Smith!
47th over: England 249-5 (Brook 91, Smith 102) Jadeja teases Smith by tossing one up on the last over before lunch. Smith accepts the invitation and clatters a boundary over mid-on to move to 97.
Up goes the next ball again – and Smith drags it through midwicket for four to reach the most brilliant counter-attacking hundred: 80 balls, 14 fours, three sixes. It’s the joint third-fastest for England in Tests, behind only Gilbert Jessop and Jonny Bairstow.
The audacity of it: he came in at 84 for 5 and walloped a century before lunch!
Updated
46th over: England 239-5 (Brook 90, Smith 93) A thick edge from Brook rolls all along the ground, but it’s another nice that Washington is flighting the ball nicely. There’ll be time for one more over before lunch.
45th over: England 236-5 (Brook 88, Smith 92) A misfield from Nitish Kumar Reddy at mid-off gives Brook a bonus boundary off Jadeja. That also brings up the 150 partnership is just 23.3 overs. Why on earth didn’t they shut up shop at 84 for 5?
“So if Woakes is the Brummie Bradman,” begins James Maltby, “can we start calling Surrey’s Jamie Smith the Guildford Gilchrist?”
Oh I like that. Hang on, wasn’t he born in Epsom? Don’t suppose the Epsom Eviscerator is going to catch on.
44th over: England 231-5 (Brook 83, Smith 92) Gilbert Jessop’s record won’t be going today. Smith has gone down the gears in response to some canny bowling from Washington; he drives a single to move to 92 from 75 balls.
“Okay,” says Nigel Smith. “Who would play the lead characters in Ben Stokes: The Musical? I can see Zak Crawley played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Toby Jones playing Ben Duckett.”
43rd over: England 228-5 (Brook 81, Smith 91) Brook cuffs Jadeeja high over wide mid-on for four. There were shouts of ‘catch’ but it was well wide of the fielder on the boundary. Brook has 81 not out from 112 balls; he’s also playing fiddle. What kind of words are we living in?
“Why do teams not routinely rotate batsmen to the degree they do bowlers,” says Alisdair Gould. “I know there is the fitness disparities in the two skills, but I think England for example could play Foakes and Bethell.”
It’s mainly a fitness/rhythm thing I guess. I’d imagine we’ll become more open-minded in the next decade or two and there will be some rotation, mainly driven by match-ups and live form (rather than, say, form over a 6- or 12-month period).
42nd ver: England 223-5 (Brook 76, Smith 91) Smith slaps Washington to the cover boundary to move to 90 from 71 balls. Don’t mention the J-word.
Smith is living dangerously – of course he is, he’s striking at 126 – and comes this close to offering a return catch when he tries to drive a nicely flighted delivery. It seemed to bounce fractionally in front of Washington, aolthough his reaction suggests he feels he could have caught it.
41st over: England 214-5 (Brook 72, Smith 86) There’s never been a battle that Ravindra Jadeja hasn’t relished. After being hit for four and six in the previous over, he ties Smith down for a few deliveries and then beats him with a slower one. Nicely bowled.
There are just under 20 minutes remaining in an exhilaration session: 137 runs and two wickets in 21 overs.
Updated
40th over: England 211-5 (Brook 71, Smith 85) Washington Sundar has found his line and is starting to cause problems with his drift in particular. Brook pushes defensively at one such delivery and is beaten.
39th over: England 209-5 (Brook 70, Smith 84) Smith carves Jadeja through backward point for four more, then strolls down to cart a magnificent straight six. What started as a breezy counter-attack is fast – seriously fast – becoming something a lot more substantial: Smith has 84 from 63 balls, including 57 from the last 30.
I’m struggling to recall a comparable counter-attack by an England keeper, not with the team in this much trouble.
Jamie Smith is 24 years old and this is his 12th Test match. Imagine how good he could be at 28!
38th over: England 196-5 (Brook 69, Smith 74) Shubman Gill blinks first in the bumper war, bringing the offspinner Washington Sundar on in place of Prasidh Krishna. Perhaps he just wants to see a repeat of Geoff Lemon’s great ‘Mr Smith goes to Washington’ line.
At the moment Mr Smith is going after Washington. He waves his first two balls through extra cover for four, two quite brilliant shots. Washington is unmoved and ends an increasingly good over by skidding one past Smith’s outside edge.
This is so much fun to watch.
37th over: England 188-5 (Brook 69, Smith 64) Brook is dropped by Shubman Gill. Well, sort of. He edged a fast-handed slap that hit Gill straight on the head at slip and flew away for a couple of runs. Gill’s hands were on the rise but his reaction time was almost non-existent.
Those two runs bring up a fearless hundred partnership, made at more than a run-a-ball. Brook adds four more with a jaunty over-the-shoulder lap.
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36th over: England 182-5 (Brook 63, Smith 64) Smith is starting to look slightly vulnerable against Krishna’s short stuff. It’s the lack of pace in the pitch that’s the problem; he toe-ends another pull shot that could go anywhere but lands safely on the leg side. “Are the percentage in your favour with two men back?” muses Nasser Hussain on commentary.
After Brook backs away to bad two more – he could have played on actually – Smith savages a much safer pull stroke through midwicket for four. He has 64 from 53 balls.
35th over: England 173-5 (Brook 60, Smith 58) “Can only be speculation, but how would Jos Buttler have played Test cricket under Ben and Baz?” says Gary Naylor. “And what must he think looking on to a successor as a counter-attacking wicketkeeper-batter playing with such freedom? It’s almost a one man vindication of the approach.”
My hunch is that it’s not quite as simple as that. Buttler is susceptible to overthinking and his bad periods in Tests usually came when he couldn’t find a natural tempo. This is conjecture but I don’t think he would ever have truly overcome that, not even under Stokes and McCullum.
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34th over: England 173-5 (Brook 60, Smith 58) Six more to Smith, pulled almost absent-mindedly into the crowd off Krishna. You can’t keep hitting sixes without breaking the occasional egg, however; later in the over Smith toe-ends a pull just past the leaping Karun Nair at square leg. Careful now.
Krishna is almost bowling short to Brook, who was caught in the trap for 99 at Headingley. He backs away to steer the last ball for two, which makes it 11 from the over and 34 from Krishna’s last two.
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Smith reaches 43-ball fifty
33rd over: England 161-5 (Brook 57, Smith 50) Ravindra Jadeja comes on for the first time today, with a slip and silly point in place. Smith works a single to reach a pulsating fifty from just 43 balls. He has a strike rate of 75 in his fledgling Test career, the second highest for any keeper with at least 500 runs.
81.95 Adam Gilchrist (Aus)
74.87 Jamie Smith (Eng)
73.90 Rishabh Pant (Ind)
71.19 Quinton de Kock (SA)
70.16 Sarfaraz Ahmed (Pak)
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“We all have some positive attributes and some negative, in life and our sporting abilities,” begins Stephen Brown. “In most areas of life you have to try to find a balance between both. But given the length of a Test match and the split-second nature of it all going wrong for a batsmen, the longstanding assumption from England fans is that you have to prioritise minimising your negatives; i.e. removing the chance to get out.
“To focus instead on maximising the positives is to be seen as arrogant. To do so you must believe that your positives are intrinsically so great as to outweigh the negatives. Thus, I think, the view that Stokes’ team that is focused on positives rather than negative is too arrogant/going about it wrong.
“The flaw in those who criticise (to my mind) is that these are the best batters in the bloody country; they wouldn’t have got here if their positives didn’t outweigh the negatives by several orders of magnitude. So of course they should lean into that. Sorry, pop psychology rant over.”
No apologies necessary, although any mention of the world’s most interesting band is welcome. I find the Bazball Wars really fascinating. I can see it from both sides. I cringe horribly when I remember some of the crap I wote about Sir Alex Ferguson, for example, or a young Jimmy Anderson. But with this team… if we’re alive in 2055, we’ll recall the Bazball Era (and, for that matter, Gareth Southgate’s England, although I was less invested in them) as one of the greatest times of our cricket-watching life. So why has it been soundtracked by so much moaning?
I realise that’s a slightly simplistic view; my brain is more binary than I would like. Even so, I don’t think the level of the opprobrium in the past three years has been commensurate with England’s performances and results. There’s also the danger of normalising kneejerk reactions, but that’s another discussion. There’s cricket taking place FHS!
Smith hits 23 from Krishna's over!
32nd over: England 160-5 (Brook 56, Smith 49) Now then, buckle up: Krishna is going to the short ball. Smith pulls smoothly for four, then mightily for six despite there being a man on the boundary at deep square.
Another cracking pull, this time through midwicket, is followed by a smear over mid-on to make it 18 from four balls. This is so good to watch. A bouncer is called wide on height, and everyone knows what’s coming next. Pitched up, leathered through mid-off for four. Twenty-three from the over!
The G-word is becoming irresistible. Smith isn’t as good as Adam Gilchrist, nobody is, but his approach is pretty much identical. What kind of everyday cricketer comes in with his team 84 for 5, still 503 runs behind, and races to 49 from 38 balls?
You can ponder that during the drinks break.
31st over: England 137-5 (Brook 56, Smith 27) A beautiful cover drive for four from Brook brings up the fifty partnership. It’s taken only 55 balls, a reminder that this is not – repeat, not – a 130 for 5 pitch.
Thus far Brook has dominated Siraj in this series: 48 balls, 48 runs, no wickets.
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30th over: England 132-5 (Brook 52, Smith 26) Smith tries to force a length ball from Krishna through the off side and is beaten. Not a great shot. So far Krishna is bowling length with the occasional short one; that will surely change if these two are still at the crease in his second spell.
Fifty for Brook
29th over: England 130-5 (Brook 51, Smith 25) Siraj changes ends to see whether he can get his run-up right. Brook drives him through the covers and sprints back for a third run to bring up another half-century, this time from 73 balls. He rode his last night but has played with a lower heart rate this morning.
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28th over: England 123-5 (Brook 47, Smith 23) Krishna replaces Siraj, whose spell of 3-0-16-2 was both messy and potentially match-winning. Funny old game. The change almost has the desired effect when Brook, carving off the back foot, edges between slip and gully for four. “Can’t believe it,” says Ravi Shastri on commentary. “You lead by 470 and there’s only one slip.”
“Morning Rob, morning everyone,” begins Simon McMahon. “If England win this Test, I’m giving up work, moving to the country with my cats, writing Ben Stokes: The Musical, and starting a new religion with Test cricket as God, Edgbaston as a place of pilgrimage, and the OBO of this match as the holy book.”
27th over: England 116-5 (Brook 42, Smith 21) An inviting outswinger is Deep is square-driven imperiously for four by Smith. He has started marvellously – I’m almost tempted to use the G word – and it might not be long before India ask Prasidh Krishna to test him with the short ball.
26th over: England 109-5 (Brook 42, Smith 14) Siraj is still struggling with his run up. Rishabh Pant has suggested he mark his run out again. He struggles on for now. I say ‘struggles on’, he’s dismissed Joe Root and Ben Stokes so he’s hardly guilty of phoning it in.
“How is the weather for the next days?” asks Anand. “Any rain saving England possibilities?”
There is, though the forecast suggests sporadic showers rather than Brisbane 1998. One small thing in England’s favour is that India will err on the side of caution when they declare in the third innings. You’d expect India to win from here but there’s a wholly credible scenario in which the match is drawn. Off the top of my slightly frazzled head, England’s first task is to score at least 350 in the first innings.
25th over: England 108-5 (Brook 42, Smith 13) A single to Smith brings up the England hundred. WinViz gives England a 1% chance of victory. “So you’re telling me there’s a chance…” memes Stuart Broad in the commentary box.
Smith has started assertively, both in attack and defence, and moves into double figures with a brusque pull for four off Deep.
“I think many will be saying that England deserve this because of hubris,” says Felix Wood. “My bigger gripe is that the poor bowlers will be forced back into the field after two back breaking days. Will India enforce the follow on is the big question?”
The chances of Indian enforcing the follow on less than 1 per cent, probably less than 0.1 per cent. I would also politely disagree about any hubris. Poor shot selection can be the result of hubris but it’s not always the case, not even close. And this morning’s dismissals could have happened to the world’s most defensive, modest batters.
24th over: England 99-5 (Brook 41, Smith 5) Siraj has an interesting field for Brook, with only one slip and a gully. Brook starts the over with a classical drive between extra cover and mid off for four, and ends it with another boundary to fine leg when Siraj rams a bit of rubbish into the hip.
By the way, that Stokes duck continues a lean trot over the last two years. Since his last Test hundred, that dead-eyed rampage at Lord’s in 2023, he averages 28 from 32 innings. On this occasion, though, the agency is largely with the bowler. Stokes loves to get on the front foot, literally and figuratively, and it must have been a plan to hit him with a short one first ball.
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23rd over: England 89-5 (Brook 32, Smith 4) Never mind Harry Brook; right now England could do with Harry Houdini. But they’ll still be looking for chinks of light because that’s how their brains work. Brook works Deep for a single and Smith defends the rest of the over.
“Having Stokes and McCullum as bosses would have suited me down to the ground,” says Keith Astbury. “I could have been great at my job one day and rubbish the next, but would be guaranteed an early finish. What’s not to like?”
Not sure I’d love all those golf days though.
22nd over: England 88-5 (Brook 31, Smith 4) Jamie Smith drills the hat-trick ball through mid-off for four. Nicely done. But what a start for India, who lead by 499 runs and are one wicket away from the bowlers.
“I know that That Band from Burnage will be in the news today,” wrote Richard O’Hagan about 10 minutes ago, “but can we keep the mid-90s nostalgia to that and not extend it to England batting collapses after shipping a shedload of runs in the first innings.”
England’s vice-captain went first ball yesterday; now the captain has gone the same way. Stokes, pressing forward instinctively, was undone by a brilliant short ball that brushed the shoulder of the bat on its way through to Rishabh Pant. That’s a stunning piece of bowling, both the idea and the execution.
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WICKET! England 84-5 (Stokes c Pant b Siraj 0)
Mohammad Siraj is on a hat-trick!
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WICKET! England 84-4 (Root c Pant b Siraj 22)
Siraj loses his run-up twice before bowling his first delivery. Losing your run-up is bad, losing Joe Root is a whole lot worse. He’s gone to Shami’s third ball, caught down the leg side by the diving Pant! Root can’t believe his luck. He flicked at a poor delivery, on the pads, and got a little tickle that was snaffled gleefully by Pant. That’s a big wicket. Huge. Massive. Massive!
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21st over: England 83-3 (Root 22, Brook 30) Joe Root is the highest scorer in Edgbaston Tests, with 938 runs at 72, and there’s plenty in his favour today: flat pitch, ageing ball, nemesis-free bowing attack. His first task is to see off Deep and Shami, who will come steaming in this morning.
Deep bowls a couple of no-balls and then beats Root with a good delivery. India’s line was excellent last night and Shubman Gill spoke about wanting to make England play as much as possible. Deep achieves that for the majority of the over, but when he gets too straight Root puts him through midwicket.
Enough! It’s time for the action. Akash Deep will open the bowling to Joe Root and Harry Brook.
“I feel like people who get very very very annoyed about ‘brainless’ shots have convinced themselves that having the right mentality, and getting the right shot selection, is the easy bit of being a cricketer – perhaps because it’s more or less the only bit of being a cricketer we can imagine ourselves being good at,” writes Mike Morris. “Since this England team is looking a bit like the Jimmy White of Test cricket, it reminds me of how people would sigh with exasperation at Jimmy’s careless shots that cost him titles, rather than acknowledge that snooker - like cricket - is a mentally exhausting sport and maintaining concentration all the time is hard.
“My feeling is that Stokes and McCullum have created a team with such incredible self-belief that it isn’t even troubled by the opposition being 430 for 3, and can repeatedly chase huge totals. Establishing that sort of mentality has a cost, and in England’s case the cost is some frustratingly hubristic dismissals. I think we should all accept that you can’t have one without the other, particularly when the cricket is so much fun.”
The point about it being the only thing we can imagine ourselves being good at is very shrewd; I’ve not heard that before. I think there’s also an element of us thinking it’s like a computer game in which you choose a batting mode – defensive, normal, attacking etc – rather than make a series of literally split-second calculations to a 90mph delivery. It’s impossible to get those right all the time, even more sown when you take greater risks than any time in cricket history.
In other news, I’ve noticed that every time I go shopping I’ll stand in the aisle for about 30 seconds, trying to decide whether I should buy a loaf or whether I need to dial down the carbs, then often another 30 seconds deciding which loaf to buy. So I have no right to excessively criticise those who make errors like Crawley and Pope’s yesterday. I still do it from time to time, though, and I wince when I recall my entitled grumbling when they all went on the pull at Lord’s in 2023. I’ve written and thought plenty of disgraceful nonsense over the years so I’m no better than anyone else in that regard. But I do have more empathy, and that makes me an intrinsically superior human being.
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There’s another Ashes warm-up Test taking in place in Grenada, where Australia were bowled out for 286 on the opening day by West Indies. Not for the first time, Beau Webster and Alex Carey got them out of trouble. Their counter-attacks are starting to evoke Brian McMillan and David Richardson, the defiant South Africa pair of the mid-1990s.
“I wrote this yesterday,” says Gary Naylor. “and I’m still not entirely sure what I mean.
Bazball demands that all situations be looked straight between the eyes with the best version of yourself and an attitude that does not countenance failure. Well, not quite. It’s more the fear of failure that is banished, a subtle but important difference.
“I do know that for every great in sport who confesses to being paralysed by self-doubt before deeds of derring-do, there are many more who only surprise themselves when they don’t win, and never when they do.”
That’s far more eloquent than anything I could come up with. I know what you mean, though, and I agree. I keep coming back to the same thought: that 99.94 per cent of the population would be better at their jobs if their boss was Ben Stokes and/or Brendon McCullum.
That’s not a slight on everyone else – my boss is one the best in the business, he even goes out of his way to read the OBO – so much as an acknowledgement that these have a degree in people. But they’re also human, which means they are intrinsically flawed. I feel like we’ve never been less tolerant of these flaws and I’m not quite smart enough to understand why.
Weather watch
Sun is shining, weather is sweet, yeah. We’ll should get a full day’s play – and maybe even a full 90 overs given India have two spinners.
It’ll get cloudy as the day progresses but there’s only a chance of rain after around 5pm.
Day two roundup
Ali Martin England in Deep trrouble after Gill’s 269
Andy Bull India bat England into submission
Simon Burnton England still believe they can win
Preamble
“Where’s your brain? Where’s your brain?!” Ferris Bueller’s exasperated enquiry of his best friend Cameron Frye has been regularly repeated by England fans in the Bazball era. When England chased 371 at Headingley with almost serene efficiency, it was described as “Bazball with brains” and the narrative moved on to whether England’s top seven was the best in the world.
Life is rarely that simple. Just look at how often we use the phrase “one/two steps forward, one/two steps back”. That’s our natural rhythm, in all walks of life, yet the phrase is generally uttered to express disappointment that the subject hasn’t made the smooth progress we expected.
England took one step back yesterday evening – metaphor, Harry – when they lost three early wickets in reply to India’s mammoth score of 587. They could have lost four or five, with Harry Brook giddyupping his luck on a number of occasions. And though it would be unfair to call their cricket brainless, there was some poor shot-selection from Brook, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope. Bazball giveth, Bazball taketh away. You cannot revolutionise Test-match batting – as England have unquestionably done – without occasionally getting high on your own supply.
In some ways that’s what makes England so much fun. If, say, Andrew Strauss’s 2010-11 side were in this position, resuming on 77 for 3, you could be reasonably confident they would still be batting at the close. This lot? They could be 450 for 4 at the close or 220 all out by mid-afternoon. There are still loads of runs to be scored on this Edgbaston pitch, especially as the ball gets older, so there’s evern chance we’re set for a match-defining day.
England can frustrate the hell out of us, but that’s a price worth paying ten times over. I don’t know about you, because you keep ignoring my WhatsApps and don’t think I haven’t seen the two ticks by the way, but for the last three years they have enriched my life to a degree that almost brings a lump to the throat.
Watching and writing about them has consistently alleviated tiredness, ennui, depression, even fear. Nobody will lie on their death bed lamenting how much time they spent watching Ben Stokes’ England play cricket. But they might wistfully recall day three of the 2025 Edgbaston Test.
Legal disclaimer: the Guardian reserves the right to dispatch the toys and England’s top order as a bunch of egotistical balloons if they are rolled for 150 before lunch.
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