Key events
The players are back out there. The ball – the third one of the day – is in the hands of Jasprit Bumrah.
An email comes in from Brian Withington. “Inspired by your preambling reference to one of my favourite lyricists,” he writes, “may I offer a verse of ‘Ben and the Bazball’.
It was a slow day and the sun was beating
On the punters inside Lord’s ground
There was a tight fight, a smattering of boundaries
The distant followers of OBO glued to the radio
These are the days of Bazzie and Stokesie
This is the long distance haul
The way the camera follows play in slo-mo
The way we look to hit ball
The way we look to a distant congregation
That’s dying in a corner without Sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
So don’t cry, Rob Key, don’t cry.
Dying in a corner without Sky … that’s inspired.
A lunchtime treat
Tom Shaw, who has a day job photographing the England team, has been having a busman’s holiday, taking pictures of grassroots cricket. He has made them into a book, A Portrait of Cricket, from which The Guardian has taken this photo essay. It begins, naturally, with a lost ball.
Lunch: England bounce back after Bumrah’s blitz
105th over: England 353-7 (Smith 51, Carse 33) Reddy continues and Smith drives his first ball for four. Some batters wield the rapier, others the cudgel: Smith is half and half, both elegant and murderous. He adds a clip for a single to move to yet another fifty. Dinesh Karthik, his fellow keeper, is full of praise: “What a player he is turning out to be.”
Meanwhile another keeper, Dhruv Jurel, gets a sore finger as the last ball scoots through low. DK may have to spring into action, like Bob Taylor in 1986.
And that’s lunch, with England winning the last hour after the first was dominated by Jasprit Bumrah. Smith and Carse have added 82. Bazball is back, Bumrah is king, Lord’s is Red for Ruth, and Test cricket is once again showing its fabulous tendency to ebb and flow.
104th over: England 345-7 (Smith 45, Carse 32) And here’s Jasprit, looking for an honours board before lunch. Smith, as so often today, takes a single off the first ball of the over. Carse drives the second for four, belting it past cover.
A graphic shows Bumrah’s lengths today: 75pc good, 13pc full, 6pc short, 3pc bouncer. That only adds up to 97: maybe the other 3 per cent went down as sheer magic.
103rd over: England 340-7 (Smith 44, Carse 28) Akash Deep drifts onto the pads, allowing Smith to take an easy two and a single. His batting average in this series is now 200. Take that, Shubman!
102nd over: England 337-7 (Smith 41, Carse 28) Again, no dramas from Reddy.
“Greetings Tim,” says Ian Sargeant. “Lying here sweltering on a Paphos sunbed, I’m flitting between TMS and the classic 80s album New Gold Dream in my ears, whilst my eyes are on the OBO.
“I’m afraid my stomach no longer goes through my daughter’s rubber ring. Does this mean I can get a new one?”
101st over: England 334-7 (Smith 38, Carse 27) Akash Deep continues and Carse goes for the big heave. He does connect this time, but can only chip into no-man’s-land at deepish midwicket. Akash Deep responds with a warning shot, a bouncer that swings after passing over Carse’s shoulder and goes for four byes, giving the sub keeper, Dhruv Jurel, no chance.
Carse then adds insult to injury with a drive for four. This partnership has rushed to 63 off 13.4 overs. Bazball is back!
100th over: England 324-7 (Smith 38, Carse 21) Jadeja is taken off as Gill turns to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who produced a sensational first over yesterday, dismissing both openers and having Ollie Pope dropped first ball. No such drama today. Carse sees a wide one and flays it for four.
99th over: England 318-7 (Smith 38, Carse 16) Two more singles off Akash Deep’s first four balls … and then India complain about the ball again. Out comes the box. Tick-tock goes the clock. Shubman Gill suddenly looks more cheerful. In 90 minutes this morning, we’ve had 16 overs.
98th over: England 316-7 (Smith 37, Carse 15) Another minute and a half, another over from Jadeja. Two singles from it. This pitch looks like turning into a slow turner: Root may be needed as a bowler too.
97th over: England 314-7 (Smith 36, Carse 14) Yes, here’s Akash Deep, who apparently uses both bits of his name, so it’s not right to call him Deep, or even Akash. He keeps it tighter than he did yesterday, restricting each batter to a single, even though Carse tries another of his occasional extravagances.
96th over: England 312-7 (Smith 35, Carse 14) Now we do get a bowling change, at the other end – Ravindra Jadeja replacing Akash Deep, who may be about to change ends. Jadeja, who is a lovely man but no friend of the live-blogging community, races through his over as usual.
95th over: England 311-7 (Smith 35, Carse 13) Siraj is asked to continue, which seems a bit harsh. Where’s Reddy when you need him? The batters help themselves to four more singles.
“Fridays are supposed to be light duties, aren’t they?” said an email, a while ago. “I’m in a Teams meeting scheduled to finish at 11.30. Though I was told up front that ‘it shouldn’t go that long’. Ten minutes guys. Stop waffling, the cricket’s on!”
The signature goes like this. “Dan (surname withheld in case any one from (company name withheld) is lurking here))“. Give that man a pay rise.
Drinks: India win the first hour
94th over: England 307-7 (Smith 33, Carse 11) Bumrah gets a breather! He hands over to Akash Deep, who hasn’t been able to recapture the magic of Edgbaston and was quietly demoted when the new ball was taken last night. The batters milk him for five singles, and that’s drinks.
England, thanks to Jamie Smith, have been themselves again – but Bumrah has been way too good for them, bowling Root and Stokes and needing only one ball to get rid of Woakes. It’s been electric.
93rd over: England 302-7 (Smith 30, Carse 9) Faced with a slow pitch, Smith continues to cruise along in the fast lane. He guides Siraj for two past gully, tucks him off his hip for two more, and clips one that keeps low for a single. His 30 has come off just 29 balls with five fours. Carse is then cut in half, prompting an appeal, but it’s too high for LBW and he hasn’t got a nick.
92nd over: England 297-7 (Smith 25, Carse 9) Bumrah continues, looking for that fifth wicket. Smith is taking guard on off stump, setting himself to keep out the good ball, but when he gets a bad one, a half-volley on middle-and-leg, he has time to adjust, do a little dance step and clip it for four. Carse, by contrast, sees a full toss and can’t get it past mid-on – and he’s no mug with the bat.
In the commentary box, they’re talking about the replacement ball. “You can just hear the sound off the bat,” says Stuart Broad. “It’s softer.” He’s such a good commentator, not least because he listens.
91st over: England 291-7 (Smith 20, Carse 8) Smith, who can make batting look so simple, punches Siraj past cover for four. And then the Indians ask for a change of ball. They cannot be serious. It’s only ten overs old and it’s been causing havoc.
The ball is changed, and Shubman Gill still ends up wagging his finger at umpire Sharfuddoula. I just don’t know what’s going off out there.
90th over: England 282-7 (Smith 12, Carse 7) Carse, who shows no fear, cuts Bumrah for four and squirts him for three more. Bumrah retorts with a length ball that jags away the slope, too good for even Smith to get a nick.
89th over: England 274-7 (Smith 11, Carse 0) So the gifted Smith finds himself with the tail again. He takes a single off Siraj’s fifth ball, leaving only the last one to Carse – who dances down the track and misses. The ball dribbles away for two byes.
Meanwhile the emails are piling up. I’m afraid I haven’t had time to read most of them, but here’s one from Simon Dennis. “Given that Bumrah is going through England like a dose of salts,” he says, “please may I trademark ‘JasBall’?
88th over: England 271-7 (Smith 10, Carse 0) Brydon Carse faces the hat-trick ball … and plays a solid forward defence. Bumrah, who already has a Test hat-trick, is probably more bothered about the honours board. One more wicket and he will be there. Carse almost obliges as he plays at thin air.
Wicket! Woakes c sub (Jurel) b Bumrah 0 (England 271-7)
Woakes wafts, there’s a snick, but the umpire’s finger stays down. India review and UltraEdge shows a nick. Bumrah’s on a hat-trick!
Boom, boom, Bumrah! Root departs shaking his head. It was an inside edge, crashing into middle stump. To be fair, he nearly got out that way a couple of times yesterday.
WICKET! Root b Bumrah 104 (England 271-6)
He got the world No 1 … and now he’s got the world No 2.
87th over: England 271-5 (Root 104, Smith 10) If Smith stays in for a while, England’s run rate will be transformed. Facing Siraj, he strokes an uppish square drive for four. And then he’s dropped! Another flash, a thick edge, and KL Rahul at second slip can’t sort his hands out in time to cling on. Smith celebrates with another four, driven along the ground.
86th over: England 261-5 (Root 103, Smith 1) If Stokes hadn’t taken that hare-brained single, he wouldn’t have been facing Bumrah then. Still, he did show a lot of fight: 44 is good going when you’re out of form.
He hands over to Jamie Smith, who is bang in form, and gets off the mark with a clip off his toes.
Yesterday, bowling to Harry Brook, the world No.1, Bumrah took out the top of off stump. Now, bowling to Ben Stokes, the England captain, he’s done the very same thing. Except that one is a right-hander, the other left. Bumrah’s not just a superstar, he’s a surgeon.
WICKET! Stokes b Bumrah 44 (England 260-5)
Bumrah’s done it again.
85th over: England 256-4 (Root 103, Stokes 40) From the Nursery end it’s Mohammed Siraj, who spent yesterday compiling one of the best none-fors you’ll ever see. He keeps Stokes quiet for five balls, then lures him into a ludicrous single. Jaiswal, at short cover, gathers the ball smoothly, throws off-balance and just misses the single stump.
84th over: England 255-4 (Root 103, Stokes 39) After the four, Root plays out five dots. It was a lovely moment. The ground rose to him, red hats and baseball caps glowing in the sunshine. He clenched his first as he set off for the run. It still means a lot to him.
A hundred to Joe Root!
A loose shot! But he gets away with it, as his waft at a wide ball goes past gully. Root gets four, goes to 103 not out, collects his 37th Test century and puts his name on the Lord’s honours board for the eighth time.
It’s Root to face Bumrah. On 99!
“Stokes looked a lot better this morning,” Nasser Hussain says. “He was out early with Mark Wood and bowling – bowling quickly.”
Lord’s is a picture, sprinkled with scarlet as it goes Red for Ruth. Ben Stokes and Joe Root stand on the outfield, doing some stretches, while Jerusalem rings out. They shall not cease from mental fight.
The last word for now goes to Steve Hudson. “Stokes has copped it recently for the failings of Bazball (wickets thrown away needlessly when a more careful approach might be better) and now he’s copping it when England score at three an over. He can’t win, can he?
“Personally, I’ve loved watching since Ben‘n’Baz took over (and, having watched since 1975, I’ve watched a lot of Proper Cricket), and now that they are seeming to be willing to refine their approach and be more cautious when appropriate, I like it even more. Carry on boys, you’re doing fine! (although we need to talk about Zach…)“
And now a word from our Scots correspondent. “If it was hard going for England at Lord’s yesterday,” writes Simon McMahon, “try being a Scotland fan. In the T20 World Cup qualifiers they endured a washout against Guernsey on Sunday, beat the Netherlands on Tuesday, suffered a shock defeat to Italy on Wednesday, and are currently 60-5 at the halfway stage against Jersey, and staring elimination in the face. Top two qualify, at the moment that’s looking like Jersey and Italy, who’d have thought?
“Shame for Scotland, but India v Jersey at Eden Gardens would be quite something.”
“Would 320 all out not be a good score,” says James Davey, “on a surface where the highest previous 1st innings score this season is 260?
“The problem England may have is that they called the toss wrong, for a second Test in a row. Everything about Lord’s this season screams ‘bowl first’ and India may well now have the best of the batting conditions in this match. I certainly hope Stokes didn’t succumb to external pressure to bat first. The cheer that went up when it turned out we were batting was wrong-headed in my view.”
“How do you solve a problem like Zak Crawley?” wonders Ben Heywood. “Apparently, Crawley averages 40.50 against bowling over 87mph but only 27.88 against 74-83mph (BBC stat, so I assume it’s true), so even though his place appears ever more precarious based on runs scored in this series, I reckon he’d actually be a reasonable pick against Cummins, Hazelwood and Starc, and would score well down under.
”But…but…does that mean he has to be picked now? Keaton Jennings had a similar fate as a horses for courses opener on sub-continental dust-bowls, and watching Crawley’s jitters yesterday made me wonder if – heresy I know – Sibley or Hameed might not be better choices against this Indian side?
”Just leaving that out there, also in the reverse hope that he smokes a Jessop-baiting century next innings.”
“I think you’re being a touch harsh on the revival of slow cricket,” says Martin Wright. “Personally, I enjoy a good attritional game. Tuning in now and again on a working day is like listening to news from the front as the battle slowly unfurls. A slow pace allows you to keep in touch with events – ‘Ooh, look, the cavalry have advanced another 100 yards…’. With Bazball, you barely had time to catch your breath before the cavalry had routed the French, raced over the hill and invaded Belgium.”
The first email of the day comes from our old friend Krish Krishnamoorthy. “The trick that Ben Stokes and his Bazball have played on the general public,” Krish reckons, “is to make them write requiems for a decent score of 250 on day 1. They may still go on to score 500+ and bowl out India for 200 and enforce the follow-on – all during the day.” True! But they may also lose two wickets to the new ball and struggle to reach 320.
The pen is mightier than the sopor
Slow cricket can be hard to watch and even harder to write about. But Andy Bull has been on fine form all series and this piece is both stylish and wise.
Preamble
Morning everyone and welcome to the second day of this historical re-enactment. After spending three years trying to make Test cricket exciting, with a fair amount of success, England have suddenly given up and gone back to the 1950s.
Yesterday was the 56th time they had scored 200 in an innings under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, and by far the slowest. They pottered along at 3.02 runs an over. (Even at Ranchi early last year, when Ben Foakes was still on board, they managed 3.36.) And the slowest scorer of all was the captain, who faced 102 balls and hit only three of them for four. Even if he is fit for the next Test, Stokes may have to drop himself for slow scoring.
Perhaps it was the heat. As Paul Simon almost sang, it was a slow day, and the sun was beating on the punters by the side of the field. Perhaps it was the effect of Shubman Gill, who has so spooked England that they now want to play like him. Perhaps it was the return of Jasprit Bumrah, who has the same effect Queen Elizabeth II used to have on her visits to Lord’s – making everyone try too hard to behave properly.
The forecast today is for more of the same. I just hope it doesn’t apply to the batting.