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2nd over: India 5-0 (Jaiswal 4, Rahul 1) Archer might extract a bit more from the surface than Woakes, but at Lord’s it took him a while to ease into his pace, and shonuff he’s roundabout 85mph here, Rahul playing his fourth ball down into the on-side and sprinting through for a single. That brings Jaiswal on to strike, twice dismissed by Archer at Lord’s – in the first dig, with a beauty – but he sees out the over comfortably enough.
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1st over: India 4-0 (Jaiswal 4, Rahul 0) Woakes, who has 35 OT wickets at 17, opens with a pearler, coming at Jaiswal from around, moving the ball away ad beating the edge. Two further dots follow, then Jaiswal pushes at one, edging … and the ball drops short of Crawley at three, the lack of pace writ large. Gosh, and after another dot, Jaiswal edges again, this time between two and three, the globule scuttling away for four.
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Chris Woakes has the ball, Yashasvi Jaiswal will face, and … play.
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“Is anybody in there?” wonders Sam Styles. “Just nod if you can hear me, is there anyone home?” “Queues outside for miles in every direction!”
The ground looks maybe half-full.
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Our players come out, and it’s anthem time. There are better voices in the world than Zak Crawley’s, but the camera getting close enough for us to hear individual singing is a pleasing development.
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Email! “The weather forecast looks OK,” begins Andrew Goudie, “so we should get a full day of 60 overs.”
I find the prescriptive nature of over-rates a bit odd. As Stokes has noted, the rules need to be different depending on location as on the subcontinent, there’s more spin bowled, which obviously takes less time. It’s rare I finish watching or attending a day’s play and consider myself cheated, and though it’s true that in England the summer light means we could easily finish off the allocation, I’m also conscious of how mentally and physically demanding the game is and that, after a long day, the players need some respite.
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Is this the best series in England since 2005? To borrow Shenseea’s line, “that’s a no for me” – I’m going for South Africa 2012, as that was two great teams playing for the mace, not to fine teams playing for the trophy – but it was only three matches, and we’ve got two more for this to usurp it.
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On Kuldeep, Athers notes that England were always going to bowl – and when did describing it that way replace calling it fielding in the cricketing lexicon –if they won the toss, so Gill could’ve guaranteed having him wheeling away in the fourth innings. I bet England are pleased he’s not there.
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India have lost 14 Test tosses in a row. The odds of that are, apparently, 16,384-1.
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Gill was confused as to what to do, so thinks it’s a good toss to lose. He’s happy with how India have played, winning more sessions and days than England, they’ve just lost a few “crunch moments”. The surface looks “nice and hard” and he makes three changes”: out go Karun Nair plus the injured Akash Deep and Nitish Reddy; in come Sai Sudharsan, Shardul Thakur and Anshul Kamboj, making his debut.
He is not asked what the point of bringing Kuldeep Yadav on tour was; Old Trafford accepts wrist spin, India are behind in the series, and he’s still sat at the side.
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England win the toss and bowl
Four our of four for Ben Stokes, who thinks the overhead conditions will be good for bowling and everyone’s had a good opportunity to relax and recharge. Everyone left everything out on the field at Lord’s, both sides have been excellent with little between them, and he thinks the wicket is typical Manchester, quite firm with a bit of grass coverage. It’s been a while since dawson played a Test, but he’s thoroughly earned his chance.
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Toss time…
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Do England even need a spinner? I can’t say I’ve no visions of either Dawson or Bashir getting hit all over the show in Australia, and it might be that an all-seam attack is currently England’s best option. It won’t happen, I don’t think, but if you’ve constantly got a pair of fresh quicks, that’s not a lot of respite for opposition batters.
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So what do we make of Liam Dawson’s return? His batting and fielding are obviously like the Swiss flag – England have been uncharacteristically lax in the latter department this series – but I’m mainly looking forward to seeing how his bowling holds up. He might not have Bashir’s raw talent, but his nous, variety and comfort with his game make him an interesting addition.
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It’s overcast in Manchester – [insert gag here]. I remember staying in Broughton Park with my gran as a young child and noting that a) it was always raining and b) the chat was always about who’d died recently. I’ve been more popular.
Otherwise, the pitch looks like it’s pretty dry, so there should be a bit of uneven bounce and perhaps something for the spinners later; the outfield is lush, so boundaries might be harder than usual to come by. Stuart Broad would bat but thinks Ben Stokes will want to bowl.
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Preamble
It’s been 17 hours and eight long days since you took your love away …. aaah aaah aaah aaah aaaaaaah. But we got through it, flowers that we planted in the backyard contriving not to die – mainly because we didn’t actually plant them to begin with. Clever, eh?
Earlier this week, we learned that sports coverage is to be prescribed on the NHS for people struggling with depression – a move that makes perfect sense. Sport is community and sport is company; sport is story and sport is inspiration; sport is joy and sport is love.
As it happens, the specified endeavour was football, but that only lasts 90 minutes. On the other hand, we have in front of us a full five days in which our world ascends, expands and intensifies. The simple fact of being us is better; so much better.
And that’s even before we consider the particular brilliance of this series, now animated with bonus needle. Somehow, England hold a 2-1 lead despite having lost more days and sessions than they’ve won, a hardened team growing at crucial moments, revelated by the curious notion that winning beats losing.
India, meanwhile, are – on the face of things – in trouble, needing to win the last two matches to take the series, shorn of the injured Akash Deep and Nitish Kumar Reddy. But where there’s Jasprit there’s hope, and the pitch at Old Trafford might just be in their favour: if it’s dead, as has been the way this season, it’ll favour the fastest bowlers and best spinners; if it’s a more usual OT track with bounce and turn, it’ll favour the fastest bowlers and best spinners. Nor should it be forgotten that, after the painful loss at Headingley, India retorted by clobbering England at Edgbaston and now, fired by a sense of unity and injustice, they will be coming to get it, trying to have fun no matter what they do.
Test cricket, nothing compares to you.
Play: 11am BST
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