Key events
“There appears to be much hand-wringing about this England side’s approach to cricket,” writes Ben Heywood, “a consensus being that they continue to throw away good positions with silly shots. I think this is indisputably true, but most England sides of the past wouldn’t have pulled off a run chase like Headingley in the first place, so I can take the rough with the smooth. What many casual observers seem to be forgetting, however, is that this India side are no 1 in the rankings – it’s no disgrace to go down fighting to what is, on this evidence, a very, very strong line-up that has an all-time God in its bowling ranks. England, in contrast, have a flaky opener, a flaky no 3 and a collection of semi-permanently injured fast-bowlers currently missing their brightest new breakthrough act and their previously most successful seamer (albeit for very different reasons). We also do not have an experienced front-line spinner. I suspect that we, the gen pop, haven’t quite given this India side their due. If the opposition were Australian, expectations would be tempered accordingly. India by four wickets for me, but if Jofra and Brydon can bowl fast, straight and nasty in the first hour, who knows…?”
All batters throw away good positions with silly shots – often the same silly shots that got them into that good position in the first place. I think it’s fair to say England needed to modify their approach a little and I’m glad they have, but I don’t expect the change to be uniform and immediate, nor would I necessarily blame a defeat today on the way they play. Ultimately, though all their bowlers are useful, none are able to run through a side, so taking 20 wickets will always be a performance.
“Wimbledon or Lord’s – the excitement is the same, right?” begins Krishnamoorthy V. “This is a match for India to lose. The problem with such low targets is often mental rather than logic or capability. The total is something that Pant alone can knock off, but throw in a full house, Lord’s, the second-innings score of England, a clever captain and nerves, and it is not as open and shut as it appears. I personally want the Indian team to win as they can close the discussions on Kohli and Sharma forever, but I sense that Stoke’ sleeve could be full of aces.”
The pitch has also started misbehaving. Skiddy bowlers tend to do well at Lord’s, so I agree Stokes, who bowled well last evening, could have a crucial role to play today, but with the ball as much as with his captaincy. I imagine he’ll stay on after completing his unfinished over, and it’ll be Carse from the other end, as Archer looked a bit tired yesterday.
Brydon Carse, who’ll have a big part to play today, tells Mel Jones there’s a big feeling of confidence in the group. Asked about his batting, he says he works really hard at it, and Bashir coming out with a broken hand might make the key difference today.
On his bowling, he explains that there’ve been times across the series when he’s felt in good rhythm, generally when he’s got the ball swinging, and the one they’re using know probably has an hour of hardness left in it.
Mohammed Siraj has been given a demerit point and fined 15% of his match fee for getting into Ben Duckett’s face yesterday. The two brushed shoulders, perhaps accidentally, and I don’t imagine many people watching thought anything other than great stuff, but at the same time, I understand the authorities need to draw a line in the sand, and if it’s there, then that makes some sense even if I’d have given Siraj a bonus.
Something I saw then that I’ve never seen before: the sun moved behind a tiny cloud, the only one in the sky, where it remained for at least 30 seconds, and everyone cheered.
Email! “Watching from California for some early morning excitement,” says Neel Pai. “I notice that Ben Stokes looks like Thor. All his wickets look like a thunderbolt from god. For example, on the final wicket yesterday, the ball to Akash Deep looked like there were sparks flying out of the stumps as it flew out of the ground. I am excited to see what will transpire tomorrow. The match is going to swing based on Stokes’ hammer.”
I was in attendance at HQ on Shabbat – if they’re going to put Lord’s in the eruv, Jews are going to walk to it – and as England were toiling in the morning session, we were discussing how Stokes was going to stokes a breakthrough. Seconds later, he nails that run out – as you say, a total superhero.
So, 135 runs or six wickets? The bookies strongly fancy India, and I guess I’m leaning that way too – if England can break the Rahul/Pant partnership quickly, they’ve a serious sniff, but without a bowler able to run through a side, the likelihood is that the tourists finagle the runs they need to take a lead that looked extremely unlikely after Headingley.
Preamble
The feeling is all too familiar. We wake up, feel disoriented as our brain chugs into some sort of action, we realise it’s Monday morning, feel a way, and then … the tingle?
Ah, the tingle: the leaping and soaring inside our hearts and heads which reminds us that something is happening. And something is really happening.
It takes a few seconds to discern what, but we’re into stride pretty quickly – yes, by our lowly standards – because we’ve experienced this same sensation twice in the last few weeks. The pangs of excitement, of wonder, of progress and of distraction, encouraging us to dream, hope and feel; England and India are looking after us.
And, at some point today, one of the two will take a well-deserved lead in a series that is maturing and intensifying into a classic. If we’ve a dog in the fight we’ll have strong opinions about which of the two that should be, but regardless of how it shakes out, we’ll always have the tingle – and really, that’s more than enough.
Play: 11am BST
