3 hours ago
1
The over rate was glacial and the heat oppressive yet every spectator at Lord’s was still transfixed. Nothing stirs the senses quite like high-quality pace bowling and here that old saying held true, be it the latest five-wicket display of Jasprit Bumrah’s utter mastery or Jofra Archer striking third ball on his Test comeback.
Archer first, and a moment that will live long in the memory for both the player and his supporters in the stands. As India closed on 145 for three in reply to England’s 387 all out, his figures read one for 22 from 10 overs. And yet that solitary wicket, one that stopped everyone in their tracks, was unquestionably the moment of the day.
Context is everything here, with Archer’s pristine removal of Yashasvi Jaiswal with a ball that nipped and flew to second slip via an edge following a four-year battle with injuries.
Other fast bowlers might have sought white-ball specialism in response to the repeat setbacks but Archer never gave up on the longest format.
As for the Test match as a whole, it was hard to escape the conclusion that England are the team in the ascendancy going into the third day. KL Rahul walked off unbeaten on 53, with the injured Rishabh Pant for company on 19 not out. But while the surface made wicket-taking tricky, two more had come England’s way.
A spectacular one-handed catch from Joe Root at slip had removed Karun Nair for 40, with Ben Stokes the bowler to strike here. As well as easing concerns over the fitness of the England captain after his groin niggle on day one, it saw Root follow his 37th Test century by breaking Rahul Dravid’s record of 210 catches by an outfielder.
Just as jaw-dropping was the removal of Shubman Gill for 16. Archer had been drafted in to solve the puzzle of India’s form-rich captain and yet it turned out the solution was simply Chris Woakes bowling wicket-to-wicket with an umbrella fielder and the wicketkeeper stood up. On a pretty tough day for the 36-year-old at his favourite ground, the feathered edge claimed by Jamie Smith was like gold dust.
And Bumrah? When he sat out the win at Edgbaston - despite a week to recover from the strains of defeat at Headingley - it was hard not to conclude that the lure of Lord’s and its famous honours boards was a contributing factor. Every venue has them and yet the combination of gold leaf and mahogany in St John’s Wood is somehow different to the rest and sits on the bucket list of any cricketer worth their salt.
Just ask Root. Even with his name on the honours board seven times previously, England’s master still made a point of telling the signwriters to get to work when he slashed the first ball of the day for four and turned his overnight 99 into three figures. Like his class with the bat, the buzz of getting on there clearly endures.
after newsletter promotion
Bumrah played it a bit cooler upon bowling Archer to complete his 15th Test five-wicket haul but his first at Lord’s. Teammates were practically imploring him to raise the ball to all corners of the ground – the tradition first started by Glenn McGrath – and eventually he relented. Inside one suspects he was bursting with pride.
This was a performance worthy of it, Bumrah following his removal of Harry Brook on day one by dominating the morning. Like the dismissal of Root, it was the ball that nipped in which did the damage, Stokes left wide-eyed after being castled for 44 and Root not dissimilar when snuffed out for 104.
When he nicked off Woakes first-ball thanks to a smart review, England were reeling on 271 for seven in just the fifth over of the day and in danger of squandering Root’s diligent spade work.
And yet the darndest thing then happened. A Dukes ball that had been doing plenty for India’s spearhead was swapped for a replacement and batting suddenly became less of a chore. After a life on five when dropped by Rahul in the slips, Smith set off on a gem of a counterattack that, with Brydon Carse offering excellent support at the other end, added 84 runs for the eighth wicket before lunch.
Smith fell to the first ball after resumption for 51 – Mohammed Siraj, earlier denied by Rahul’s butter fingers, finally getting his man – but Carse ploughed to register his maiden Test half-century with 56 from 83 balls. The single that Carse took to expose Archer to Bumrah was not the smartest bit of cricket but through his six fours and one wonderful straight six, England’s total looked far cleverer at its conclusion. Indeed, only once in history has a team scored more runs in the first innings at Lord’s and gone on to lose the match, with England suffering this fate during the 1930 Ashes when they made 425 all out. Australia had a player called Don Bradman to thank for that turnaround but India’s modern day equivalent, Gill, is back in the hutch.
English (US)