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38th over: England 200-5 (Brook 22, Smith 5) India’s three seamers can’t bowl forever, so there’s an incentive for Brook and Smith to bat time either side of tea. On the other hand, they are Harry Brook and Jamie Smith. The latter gets off the mark by clattering a very wide delivery to the point boundary.
In other news, this email from Phil Harrison had me nodding my big, bald, empty head.
“Everything that has happened since Duckett got out has emphasised how well-conceived and brilliantly enacted that Duckett/Crawley partnership was,” writes Phil. “England are losing wickets now but they’re losing them from a position of close proximity to India’s score. I suspect most England teams would still be 70-80 behind at this point.”
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37th over: England 196-5 (Brook 22, Smith 1) “Others have made the point, but I wanted to add my two cents,” begins Matt Dony. “ The OBO and MBM communities are, by and large, entertaining and supportive and collaborative. When covid put paid to live sport, I found that I really missed following games on here. At its best, it’s like being in a big ol’ pub, watching the match, but also making stupid jokes about 90s music or prestige TV or whatever the thread happens to be that day. I like to think we can make certain assumptions about most of the people who read and contribute, but even so, a lot of us can probably tend towards the (ugh) ‘blokey’ and stoic.
“I went through some ‘stuff’ a few years ago, and a huge part of the reason I’m here now with mental health relatively intact is that I have good friends who checked in on me. Sometimes simply asking if I was ok. I often wasn’t.
“And, equally, it’s important for us to be there for them. Put ourselves out there. There’s always someone going through something. And I doubt any of us of certain generations will ever truly get comfortable with, say, sending a text that just says ‘How are you feeling? I’m thinking about you.’ But it’s our responsibility to do it. To each other, and to the generations following. Show them the importance of empathy and compassion. Make sure that they’re better equipped than we might have been at their age.”
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India have roared back into this game. Bethell larruped the previous ball for four after charging down the track. Siraj responded with an inswinging yorker that hit Bethell plumb in front with his bat stuck behind the pad. Bethell didn’t even talk to Brook about a review, just smiled wryly as he walked past him.
The resilience shown by India, and especially Siraj, is beyond admirable. For the second Test in a row, I thought a rampant opening partnership from Crawley and Duckett had flattened them.
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WICKET! England 194-5 (Bethell LBW b Siraj 6)
Fantastic bowling from Mohammed Siraj!
Mohammed Siraj strikes again! Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 10.31 EDT
36th over: England 190-4 (Brook 21, Bethell 2) Lovely bowling from Deep, who sets Bethell up with some wider deliveries and then bowls a big inswinger. Bethell, head falling over, clips it in the air and not far short of Jaiswal at midwicket. Bethell has hardly batted all summer so you’d imagine it’ll take him 20 or 30 balls to get up to speed, if he lasts that long.
“One reason fielders didn’t dive in the past was the cost of cleaning their flannels,” writes Ian Dawson. “I remember reading an inter-war professional saying that they had to pay their own cleaning costs and so keeping their whites clean was a priority. This was still the dolly tub and mangle era too so no quick washing cycle. This may well have still been the case post-war too.
“I took two catches diving forward in my first under-15 school game in 1966 which led to grass stains on my flannels and was roundly told off by my mother for getting my kit dirty. My father had apparently never done so – never mind the score, think about the washing!”
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35th over: England 186-4 (Brook 18, Bethell 1) Brook edges Siraj between second slip and gully for four. I’m surprised India don’t have a third slip to save runs, never mind take catches.
Brook clonks a pull to the midwicket boundary later in the over. He’s always positive but right now Brook seems to be in his eff around and find out era.
“More pedantry,” says Geoff Wignall. “I’m afraid that in the Smyth context, Y is most certainly a vowel.”
Look, I watched a lot of Countdown when I was younger. It changes you.
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34th over: England 176-4 (Brook 9, Bethell 0) India’s last visit to The Oval, in 2021, is a template for how they can win this game. They trailed by 99 on the first innings and triumphed by 157 runs.
Bethell is beaten by his first ball, a gorgeous outswinger from Deep. He plays for his off stump for the remainder of the over, as he did when he made that mythical 10 on debut in similar conditions in Christchurch.
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Updated at 10.14 EDT
33rd over: England 175-4 (Brook 8, Bethell 0) Jacob Bethell (remember him?) is the new batter. One more wicket and India will be right back in this game.
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WICKET! England 175-4 (Root LBW b Siraj 29)
India’s fightback continues with the key wicket of Joe Root! Siran picked up him with a superb nipbacker that beat the bat by a distance and hit Root on the kneeroll. He reviewed, probably in the hope it did too much. It did just enough and would hit the top of leg stump.
Root hit two fours earlier in the over, both glided through the cordon, but the irrepressible Siraj had the final word.
India are loving this. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianMohammed Siraj has Joe Root lbw! Fantastic bowling from India. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 10.17 EDT
32nd over: England 167-3 (Root 21, Brook 8) Jurel decides to move back for Deep, so Brook stands out of his crease and drops a single on the off side.
“Hi Smythe,” writes Phil Keegan. “May I be the first of 1,057 pedants to point out that actually we are in August already?”
Only if I may be the first of one pedants to point out my surname is a vowelless affair. (And yes, I don’t know why I thought we were still in July. It’s been a long summer.)
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31st over: England 165-3 (Root 20, Brook 7) Rook waves Siraj majestically to the cover boundary. Siraj responds with a heartfelt nipbacker and an even more heartfelt LBW appeal; alas, this time, there was a big inside-edge. Probably too high as well.
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Updated at 09.59 EDT
Thanks Daniel, afternoon all. There are times when the Oval Test has been the wayzgoose of the English summer; not this year. We’re not even barely in August, for one thing, and there’s nothing convivial about the contest between England and India. It’s compelling stuff, though, and Thorpey would have loved to be front and centre alongside Joe Root.
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Updated at 10.01 EDT
30th over: England 161-3 (Root 16, Brook 7) Deep fires one towards the pads and the ball scampers past Jurel, still stood up, for four. India will be seriously displeased with their lack of intensity this morning – it might just decide the series – and, though we’re only a ball away from what I’m about to say being rendered shtuss, these two might just be settling, three singles completing the over. That is drinks, which means that’s also the end of me: here’s the great Rob Smyth to chill with you through what promises to be a jazzer of half-day. This s also the end of my series, so thanks all for your company and comments throughout the summer – it and you have been a joy and a privilege.
“Call me old school,” writes Krishnamoorthy V, “but can’t the players see the difference between aggression and arrogance? There is a purpose behind calling this a gentleman’s game. The most aggressive team I recall was that under Clive Llod and could one ever say that they were arrogant?”
Imagine Akash Deep trying with him what he did to Duckett.
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29th over: England 154-3 (Root 14, Brook 6) Two dots from Siraj then Jurel again opts to stand up, this time with Brook on strike, and given the heat the bowler’s sending down, that’s a seriously ballsy, but also totally understandable move. And so, I guess, is Brook’s decision to skip down and thrash, though it’s also exactly what his team don’t need, and when he doesn’t get the contact for which he’s hoping, he’ll be relieved to see the ball drop over the infield buy shy of fielders; they run two.
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28th over: England 152-3 (Root 14, Brook 4) Krishna whose ruckus with Root was so absorbing, is replaced by Deep, who directs his loosener into the same batter’s pad. There’s an appeal, but impact looked outside the line and we move on, Jurel opting to stand up to keep Root from standing outside his crease to smother any swing or seam. Not for the first time, an over delivers five dots, then runs of its final delivery – in this case, four of them, Deep swinging one on to the pads which Root is never missing out on out on which Root is never missing, flicking to the fence at deep square for four.
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27th over: England 148-3 (Root 10, Brook 4) India’s bowlers have found a much better length this afternoon – fuller and straighter, but not too full or too straight. Root, though, is batting well outside his crease and was created for situations such as this: a stern examination of skill under pressure. He sees away four dots, then forces one off his junk and takesa single to leg.
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26th over: England 147-3 (Root 9, Brook 4) This is a colossal partnership in terms of the series. If these two make runs, England will be close to impregnable, but if they don’t, it’s Bethell in next and though they bat deep, they’re a man down. We’re at that stage where every ball is an occasion, the antipathy palpable, and the over yields just one via Root-cut. He’ll know how much rests on him, and so will India.
“About six years ago, i found myself sitting on the platform of my local train station, unable to get rid of the idea that when the next train arrived, I was going to walk forwards and step under it, writes James Brough.
“I was freshly out of a si-year relationship, ended with a text message from my partner. I’d lost my job because depression meant I was incapable of working. All my belongings were in storage because I’d been supposed to move house in April. Problems had arisen which meant I wouldn’t be able to move until November. So my house was furnished with a tv and a garden bench in the living room and an inflatable mattress with a slow puncture in the bedroom.
It wasn’t that I wanted to kill myself. I just couldn’t think of a single reason not to.
As luck would have it, a few minutes before the train was due, my phone rang. I forget who it was, but the conversation distracted me for long enough that the train arrived and left, with me still on the platform and still in one piece.
When I heard the news about Graham, that evening on the platform was the first thing I thought of and it’s what I keep thinking of now.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, there’s a spot where it’s forever the mid-90s and England are 50/2. Atherton’s 9 not out from a few singles on the offside and one of his off-balance hook shots. Meanwhile Thorpe’s 35 not out, alternating one-legged pull shots through midwicket and thumps through the covers. He looks like he could take on the world. He achieved so much through his career and at the end, it must have felt to him like none of it mattered any more. Poor bloody Graham.”
Well done on sticking with it. Things always get better.
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25th over: England 146-3 (Root 8, Brook 4) This is a dangerous time for England who, not long ago looked set for a big first-innings lead. They might still build one, of course, but in the meantime, India have got themselves going, making the contest personal, and they won’t mind at all when Brook swings the final ball of the over, edging four just past his wickets.
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WICKET! Pope lbw b Siraj 22 (England 142-3)
We’re rocking and rolling now! The ball jags back, almost seems to gather pace, and that’s clobbering the top of leg-peg. Two new batters in, and this match is sprinting to a series-deciding result.
Mohammed Siraj has Pope lbw! Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 09.45 EDT
25th over: England 142-2 (Pope 22, Root 8) Looking to calm things down, Gill introduces Siraj to the attack, while the ball is passed through the ring; there’s no changing it. Three dots open the over, then Siraj unleashes a brute, full, finding Pope like a heat-seeking missile and slamming his back pad; the bowler is sure it’s dead, so am I, and when the umpire says not out, he convinces his captain to review.
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Updated at 09.23 EDT
24th over: England 142-2 (Pope 22, Root 8) I don’t now what Root said to Krishna, but it must’ve ingratiated him, because he’s offered a wide, overpitched piece of nonsense that he drives to deep backward point for four. Krishna, though, responds really well, beating the bat with one that moves away off the seam. Next ball, Root follows one down leg-side and the bowler thinks there’s a catch behind, but Jadeja, at square leg, counsels to the contrary. This is really intense stuff now, extra bounce surprising Root, who quickly adjusts to play into the ground, so Krishna well and truly looks at him. It’s well scary.
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23rd over: England 138-2 (Pope 22, Root 4) India are looking to create some theatre here, Siraj upping the volume such that an umpire again gets involved. The over yields five dots, then an edge for four that seems unlikely to improve India’s mood.
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22nd over: England 134-2 (Pope 18, Root 4) Root is, of course, one of various in this England side who was nurtured by Thorpe, and he’ll want to mark his mate’s birthday if he can. Meantime, he’s got Krishna in his face having been beaten then responded with a typically gentle wave for four past gully. Usually, Root ignores all that, but this time he retorts – I wonder if, after what Deep did to Duckett, England have decided that India’s aggression will not stand, dudes. The umpires give bowler and captain a talking-to, but i doubt we’ve seen the last of this; India are fighting for their lives.
Joe Root and Prasidh Krishna have a frank exchange of views. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 09.25 EDT
WICKET! Crawley c Jadeja b Krishna 64 O(England 129-2)
Becalmed for a few overs, Crawley forces the issue, trying to pull one that gets big on him; he splices high to midwicket, and Jadeja is never dropping that. India have earned that with their bowling since lunch, that’s the good news. The bad news is all they’ve done is invite Joe Root to the wicket.
Ravindra Jadeja takes the catch at midwicket to dismiss Zak Crawley. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 09.14 EDT
21st over: England 129-1 (Crawley 64, Pope 18) Pope tries to keep thing moving but the bowling is much better now, putting pressure back on to the batters. Pope takes a single to fine leg that’s doubled when the umpire calls no-all, then Crawley pushes to point for a one more.
“Really bizarre Test this,” begins Peter Williams, “Josh Tongue channelling very early wayward-but-lethal Jimmy Anderson by way of Scott Boswell, Ben Duckett channelling Ben Duckett, Akash Deep’s niggly cuddle. And horrid news about Woakes, I wanted him to get 200 Test wickets. Looks very unlikely now. (and he might have been handy with a pink ball this winter.)
On Thorpe, I think we should remember how his willingness to speak up about depression and the privations of touring back in the dark ages (ie the late-90s) helped make it possible for Marcus Trescothick, Steve Harmison, Jonathan Trott, Mike Yardy, Sarah Taylor, Ben Stokes, and many others, to speak up and be applauded for it. His family are doing an incredible job in continuing that legacy.
I wanted to write something after he went last year but it felt a bit crass – I was just baffled, as well, why the news cut so deep about someone i didn’t know and only saw play live once – but have done now and persuaded my employer to publish it today, when he’s being remembered so beautifully.”
Thanks for sharing that and I agree: the work being done by Thorpey’s family, and the dignity with which they’re handling the worst situation imaginable is inspiring and affirming.
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Updated at 09.05 EDT
20th over: England 124-1 (Crawley 63, Pope 17) Crawley loops an attempted power-flick to midwicket, the ball landing safe, then defends and Krishna chucks the ball at him for no apparent reason – other than a) his team are losing and b) just because. It hits his bat, the bowler apologises, and we move on, a single to each batter keeping the scoreboard ticking over; India are bowling with greater discipline and intelligence than before lunch.
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Updated at 09.03 EDT
19th over: England 124-1 (Crawley 62, Pope 16) Offered a drive-ball, and Crawley drives down the ground for four then, when a full, floaty one – on the stumps but not moving – arrives next, he flicks uppishly over mid-off, Siraj flinging himself right but unable to get near a catch. A leg-bye follows, then Deep squares up Pope, not for the first time, the batter doing enough to keep the ball out.
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18th over: England 115-1 (Crawley 54, Pope 16) It’s Prasidh from the other end – Siraj won’t like that, I wouldn’t think, but what can Gill do? – and Crawley digs out a yorker to square leg, which earns him one. Pope then fends at one, looking to guide between slip and gully, but diving left, Sudharsan gets there only to allow the ball to burst through his hands. It wasn’t a dolly, but nor was it nails, and he’s there for exactly that eventuality; he looks sick, with good reason.
“Frankly, what a thrilling session of Test Cricket – rarely have we been treated to any other type this series,” begins Ben Tyrer, “but what a shame to see Deep show an example of the entitled attitude that Barney Ronay touched on in his piece on Fortis-gate yesterday.
This India team is full of likeable sorts – Bumrah’s smiling menace, Siraj’s tireless love of a scrap, and Jaiswal’s buccaneering to kick an innings off – and yet moments like that send-off can make them hard to love. For a bit of Billy Balance, the England team have shown a similar ugly side this series as well, which all mildly detracts from the fantastic cricket we’ve been treated to all summer long.
Finally, thank you to you and everyone who has written in today to both reflect on Graham Thorpe and their own lived experiences. It takes tremendous strength to open up in the way readers have and delve into periods and parts that we all try to hide away.”
I’m not one for eliminating needle, but the hands-on aspect make this example of it a problem. If deep tries that on someone anywhere else in the world but a cricket pitch in front of the cameras, he might find himself absorbing a tickle.
India’s Sai Sudharsan reacts after dropping a catch from England’s Ollie Pope off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 09.03 EDT
17th over: England 110-1 (Crawley 53, Pope 12) Crawley inside-edges a single and it’s the only run from the over; better from India, who were too short and too wayward before the interval.
“Today, of all days, feels like the time to remind people that Bazball in its original, undiluted form was fairly explicitly a response to the mental effects of travelling all over the world for a year of dispiriting biodome cricket” – so says David Howell, “who has had intermittent suicidal ideation for the entire 21st century to date and loves the energy of the OBO and its mailbox.”
“As such, whatever else it has or hasn’t done to the fortunes of the England team or red-ball cricket in general, it was really a player welfare move that happened to take the form of a strategic shift – and on those terms, it has quite clearly been a massive success. Utterly fitting that A Day for Thorpey is the day where England revert to pure Bazball 1.0 with success.”
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We’re about ready to go again, Deep with ball-in-hand.
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“I’m not a natural harrumpher,” exculpates Stephen Cottrell, “but that’s the second time this series (Siraj at Lords the other) where a bowler has given Duckett a really OTT send-off. I’m not interested in the ‘spirit of the game’ [redactted] – a concept usually used to justify your own actions and demonise the opposition – but you can’t have bowlers putting hands on batsmen, or someone will make use of the piece of compacted willow by way of retaliation and then we will have a crisis. ICC have to come down hard on this.”
I’d want to know what was said, but I agree, hands on is a line.
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I’m off for a break; I’ll be back in 30 or so for some emails and to set up what might be a decisive afternoon sesh.
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Ach, this is rotten news. Godspeed, old mate.
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16th over: England 109-1 (Crawley 52, Pope 12) Prasidh, trying to attack the stumps, is full – too full, and Pope panels another cover-drive for four. But the bowler responds brilliantly, squaring him up with one that moves away, then jagging one back which Pope digs out, the ball narrowly avoiding off-stump. Two dots follow and that’s lunch at the end of a superb morning for England. Every time India have been challenged in this series, they’ve responded, and they’ve got to find a way of doing so once more; if they can’t, they may find themselves out of this by close of play.
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Updated at 08.42 EDT
15th over: England 105-1 (Crawley 52, Pope 8) A single to Crawley, then Pope raises England’s hunnert with a cover-drive for three … then Mr Blonde drops hands, easing four to deep third and, in the process, raising his fifty. Deep responds well, drawing Crawley forward with a full, fifth-stump line, the ball leaving him but missing the edge. This scoring rate is at the same time ridiculous and wholly normal.
“Have a look at the setting for Armenia’s first dedicated cricket ground,” suggests Andrew Goudie. “You can insert your own ‘cow corner’ gag.”
Thanks, that’s beautiful.
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Updated at 08.42 EDT
14th over: England 97-1 (Crawley 47, Pope 5) Three dots, then Pope caresses a cover-drive for four; Deep responds well, curving one away from the outside edge. And there was bounce in that one too which is to say this pitch is still doing plenty.
“Please can I end the morning session by saying a huge thank you to all of the OBOers who have contributed to my club’s 24 hour net session in aid of cricket mental health advocates Opening Up,” says Richard O’Hagan. “It shows what a phenomenal bunch of people we have here. The link, if anyone missed it yesterday, is here, and we are getting very close to our target with all of your help.
Do it, mates.
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13th over: England 93-1 (Crawley 47, Pope 1) Pope, who loves batting on this ground, gets off the mark immediately with a clip to deep backward square.
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WICKET! Duckett c Jurel b Deep 43 (England 92-1)
Again, Duckett steps away to reverse-scoop but doesn’t get enough of it, guiding a catch to the keeper. Then, as he departs, Deep puts an arm around his shoulder – the kind that, when someone does it to you in club, pub or park, you know is a warning that violence is imminent if you don’t escape quickly. Despite holding a bat, Duckett handles it well, eventually offering some words at the uninvited hands touching him, before Rahul pulls his mate off. He may have the final word, but I’m not certain he had the better of this particular contest.
England’s Ben Duckett attempts a reverse-scoop but the result is a walk back to the pavilion. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianAnd on his way receives an arm around the shoulder and some words of “advice” from India’s Akash Deep. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 07.59 EDT
13th over: England 92-0 (Crawley 47, Duckett 43) Three dots, then Duckett misses with a scoop; is his luck running out?
Oh my days! Simon McMahon returns: “Oh, and why aren’t more openers pictured like this anymore..?”
That is a fantastic question.
Photograph: WikipediaShare
12th over: England 92-0 (Crawley 47, Duckett 43) Goodness me, two singles from four balls won’t do at all, so Duckett annihilates a short one, pulled to deep square for four … and then the umpire calls a no-ball. A further single follows, meaning the end of a quieter over … whch yields eight runs.
“Can I associate myself entirely with everything said so far, about Thorpey and mental health in general,” asks Simon McMahon. “This OBO should be available to all on the NHS. Thanks to all at the Guardian liveblogs and elsewhere for making this subject far less taboo than it once was. I work with children and hope that talking to them about mental health does some good and can help remove the stigma that unfortunately still remains. Please talk, help is available. And in the spirit of the OBO, I like to think of Crawley and Duckett as the Hobbs and Sutcliffe of Bazball.
This is a good game. I like to see them at its Mr Blonde and Mr Orange.
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11th over: England 84-0 (Crawley 46, Duckett 37) Again, the first ball of the over is assaulted, Duckett lamping four through mid-off. When England’s Test batters were struggling but the ODI lads were killing it, I wondered what’d happen if they picked the latter and gave them licence to slog with five-day fields to help them; eventually, the selectors sort of tried it, with Jason Roy, and it went as badly as everyone sensible knew it would. These two though, have all the power, but also the composure and technique; as I type, Crawley larrups Deeps’ fifth ball over cover for four, then does likewise with his sixth! This is hard to watch, at the same time as being fantastic to watch, the game reinvented in front of our eyes. Never has it seen anything like this.
“I do wonder why players risk injury on the slide to save four,” says Alisdair Gould. “In my day (!) bowlers in particular wouldn’t have got down let alone thrown themselves around. There are so many examples of shoulder injuries that it seems problematic. Discuss?”
I guess there are also examples of dives which don’t sustain injuries, and matches decided by narrow margins. But yes, I totally understand where you’re coming fro.
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10th over: England 71-0 (Crawley 38, Duckett 32) A single to Duckett, then Crawley goes hard at Krishna again, looking to cut, edging instead, and the ball flies away for four more. In follow-through, Deep looks miffed at the injustice; in comms, Broad chastises the short length that allowed the opportunity. This series is being yanked away from India with sadistic alacrity, two singles completing a another profitable over, seven runs from it.
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9th over: England 64-0 (Crawley 33, Duckett 30) No, Deep was just swapping ends, and his first ball provokes all sorts, a shout for leg before, a run rejected and a run out possible, before a dot goes into the scorebook. A single to Duckett follows and, just as India will be relieved to have delivered a cheaper over, Crawley seizes on to a delivery that’s fractionally short, humping over midwicket for four. He hits it so hard and so flat – he’s not just playing good shots, he’s advising the bowlers that his heart is full of disrespect.
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8th over: England 59-0 (Crawley 29, Duckett 29) Krishna replaces Deep, perhaps hit out of the attack by Duckett, then Crawley edges his second delivery seeking to drive, and the ball rushes past leg-stump and scuttles to the fence for four. When it’s going for you, it’s going for you, and after Krishna finds a soupçon of swing, Crawley takes a little step forward and spanks a drive through cover; it goes for four, and that’s England’s 10th boundary of the innings. India desperately need some control, but these two are something else.
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7th over: England 51-0 (Crawley 21, Duckett 29) Gosh, I was just about ro rhapsodise the touch Duckett’s in when Crawley comes forward to wallop Siraj’s first ball back down the ground for four. Immediately, the bowler is under pressure, fighting to save his over while, in comms, Broad advises the bowlers to get Duckett playing with a straight bat; if he’s cutting, the delivery is too short. As it goes, Siraj responds well, ceding just a single from his next four balls, and, er, um, yeah: Duckett moves towards the offside, flicks a half-volleyed reverse-scoop over his head … and raises England’s fifty with a six. I’ve been watching this thing of ours a long time now, and I’ve never seen anything like this. Drink it in, people, because what we’re experiencing is unparalleled in the entire history of Test cricket and very, very special. Is Ben Duckett a genius?
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6th over: England 40-0 (Crawley 16, Duckett 23) Duckett twinkles down the track and cuts to the fence then, after a dot, he again advances and this time goes over point for four more. Trouble for India, and Duckett being Duckett, he’s not done yet, using Deep’s inswing – like Tongue’s, starting from too straight – to flicks for a third four of the over. He then misses with a huge hoik, a reminder to himself of the focus required to impose himself without being reckless.
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5th over: England 32-0 (Crawley 16, Duckett 11) Four dots, then Crawley stomps forward, clobbers down the ground, and freezes in follow-through; lovely stuff. These two have found the perfect tempo here, attacking with prejudice but intelligence.
“The Graham Thorpe story is a tragedy of gargantuan proportions,” writes Mark Lloyd. “I have experienced extended bouts of depression and, in more recent years, anxiety, over a 33-year period and I feel I have a good understanding of what he went through. The last period of ill-health I had – the worst I’ve had, in fact – was from mid-July to October 2023, and the best way I can sum it up the sensation is to say that I felt like I was living within one of those big transparent balls you can climb inside. I could see the world outside, albeit through a fuzzy haze, but I had no way of accessing it until late evening each day.
As is common with depression, mine mercifully lifted significantly at the end of each day, so the hell of mornings always came with the vague knowledge and hope that by the end of the day I would get a couple of hours of relief (although one of the demonic tricks the illness plays is it convinces you that this is the one time it is never going to leave you). I spent whole days lying on my bed – this is how I listened to the last two Ashes tests, utterly bereft at not being able to extract even a flicker of pleasure from any of it.
The tragedy for Graham and his family is that depression lifts – always, in my experience – and with the lifting of the depression comes a deep and ecstatic joy in simply being alive and, well, ‘normal’. This knowledge is no comfort whatsoever when one is in the depths of despair – if it was, depression would lose its power. There is a cruelty in depression which cannot be put into words. And nobody is immune. But and here is the thing I feel my family and friends will never fully understand (because they have seen what it can do to me) … if, in a parallel universe, I were offered the chance to go back in time to 1992 and erase all trace of depression from the long years ahead, I would refuse without hesitation. I know this to be true, but I have no way to adequately explain it. Rest in Peace, Thorpey – with the stress on the Peace.”
Even parts of us that are hard to deal with are part of us, and learning to love all of ourselves is one of the best ways of protecting mental health. Whitney had it right.
And so did King Promise:
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4th over: England 25-0 (Crawley 12, Duckett 11) Duckett races down, swings, and misses; Deep has him on absolute toast here, squaring him up, and he top-edges towards two gullies … neither of whom are sharp enough to take a ball that loops up invitingly. Naturally, Duckett is nervous facing the final ball of a really testing over, so he does what anyone would do: reverse-scoops it for six. At some point, we’ll need to talk about this man, and how he is now one of the best, most creative, inventive, entertaining and brave batters in the world.
“Once you allow substitutions for any reason,” says Stuart Silvers, “you open up a can of worms that ends with the South African rugby union team changing its entire forward pack at half time – or the farce at the end of international football friendlies. Watching England cope without Woakes this morning has already been fascinating.”
I do think there’s a way of making it work, but from my perspective, it seeks to solvs a problem that doesn’t exist.
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REVIEW! NOT OUT!
It was a really good ball, but the bounce was taking it over the top; to avoid that on this track, you’ve got to be so full; length just won’t do it.
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4th over: England 18-0 (Crawley 12, Duckett 5) Deep’s in and he rattles Duckett, er, in the deep. As you might imagine, his good friend and junior partner finds the whole thing not unamusing; he takes time to regenrate and refresh, then the bowler pins him on the crease with that straightens. He loves it, persuading Gill to review when the umpire says naw…
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3rd over: England 18-0 (Crawley 12, Duckett 5) The ball isn’t doing anything, but it might once the lacquer is off and heavy roll has worn off the pitch. But in the meantime and after a single to Duckett, Crawley times four through cover, then twizzles four more to midwicket, and the problem India have is that England score so quickly, by the time conditions start offering assistance, the whole tenor of the innings might’ve changed.
Lovely to see the love being rained down on Thorpey, quite right too, a top fella,” begins Jeremy Yeomans. “I was lucky enough to play village cricket against Graham and his brothers Ian (who I also played football with) and Alan, a highly competitive, (in the most positive meaning of the word) and skilful band of brothers. Together with their dad Geoff, who often stood in on umpire duties and Mum Toni on the scorebook, they made a formidable sporting family, 100% committed and really lovable, grounded people with it.
Particularly remember my lot beating them in an under 15s 20-overs game, where the drama of a couple of run win for us, in the final over,was closer to 9pm on a gloomy September evening in deepest Surrey, which must have prepared him for the darkness of Karachi . at least that’s how I like to picture it.
If memory serves me correctly, Graham would have been under-10 at the time, because I’d have been 14 max.
He showed his class a couple of years later, when I had graduated to the weekend men’s 2nd team at around 17. His Wrecclesham team turned up & kicked our asses on his debut. if I remember rightly he took three wickets, (he was a handy bowler) & made at least 30 odd (might have been 50…. memory’s not what it was, especially in a losing cause) – I believe he was 12 or maybe 13, took out fellas three or four times his age, who were in utter disbelief. You could tell he was destined for better things.
I know he had his demons but Thorpey loved sport and he loved cricket. To have that world shut off to him, appears to have had a hugely negative impact on his emotional being and sense of self. A real tragedy and hopefully making people more aware will help others who might feel that life cannot continue without something which has been seemingly omnipresent in their lives amd will give hope for the future.
Me, I like to remember him on a sunny Saturday afternoon, at Frensham Rec, quietly going about his business of showing the old guard that there was a new kid on the block with bat and ball. Sound technique, no flashiness, just got the job done.”
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