Quantcast
Channel: Over by over reports | The Guardian
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 1424

India v England: fourth Test, day two – live!

$
0
0

44th over: India 133-1 (Pujara 36, Vijay 68) Moeen switches to round the wicket, an angle none of the off-spinners have tried all that much on either side in this match. And perhaps this is why: Vijay hoiks a short on on leg-stump through midwicket for four more.

Is this a joke?

@DanLucas86 I think India are looking good to avoiding follow-on. But importantly will Cook enforce it? Your thoughts? #INDvENG

43rd over: India 128-1 (Pujara 36, Vijay 63) After leaking three boundaries in his last three overs, Anderson is taken off and replaced by Woakes. I feel like England are missing Stuart Broad and his cutters here, which sounds curious given that it’s a spinning pitch, but he is perhaps England’s best bowler as - shameless Guardian plug alert - Barney Ronay explains here.

Related: An ode to Stuart Broad: England’s underrated, but best, big-time bowler | Barney Ronay

42nd over: India 124-1 (Pujara 32, Vijay 63) You know what I just actually let out a low whistle at this one: Vijay steps down the track as Moeen wanted, only his drilled it inside-out, over mid-off and miles back into the stands for his second six. A couple of balls before that there was an lbw appeal when he missed a sweep, but he was hit outside the line. What a way to celebrate that though.

41st over: India 118-1 (Pujara 32, Vijay 57) Just a few signs of nerves among the batsmen now: there’s a slight mixup that results in a run being missed, as there was (but, um, I forgot to mention) in the previous over. One off this one.

40th over: India 117-1 (Pujara 32, Vijay 56) This is a good battle, with Moeen looking to tempt the batsmen forward as he did to bring about KL Rahul’s downfall and the pair at the crease looking for areas to score. A stalemate here.

“Always nice to see Thom Yorke slowly drowning,” writes Jonathan Budds, “but you lose big points for misquoting the lyric; it’s ‘tired and unhappy’, which probably sums up you OBO’ers for this test series up pretty well.”

39th over: India 117-1 (Pujara 32, Vijay 56) Now Anderson’s plan nearly comes off when Pujara flicks him off the pads and just wide of the diving Jennings at short-leg. That was travelling much too fast for the fielder though. The in-form No3 drills one square on the off-side, off the back foot with a vertical bat, and away to the boundary. Vijay ends the over with two to fine-leg.

Lee Smith writes: “Perhaps a recall for the King of Spain is in order then we call all listen to this.

@danlucas86 if we have to bowl another spinner just to take up overs, why not just give Root a bowl? (We don't have too, I agree with you)

38th over: India 109-1 (Pujara 27, Vijay 53)“Here, have a 50, it’s yours, I don’t mind,” proffers the generous Moeen Ali to Vijay. He drops short and wide and Vijay just rolls it down to the rope at third man to bring up a fine, hard-fought half-century. He’s done well after a tough start.

37th over: India 104-1 (Pujara 27, Vijay 48) Anderson continues, sans slip with the lead whittled down to just 296. He does have a silly mid-on and a forward short leg but neither is required to do more than gather the ball and return it to the bowler here.

@DanLucas86 Boycott is really laying into England for picking 4 seamers. "Brainless" apparently. Can't disagree - more spin needed.

Yeah a solid 8-0-44-0 from Gareth Batty would be just the tonic.

36th over: India 104-1 (Pujara 27, Vijay 48) Murali Vijay’s wait for his 50 will go on a few minutes more as a maiden precedes drinks.

Thank you for all your tweets about the photo caption that had a small mistake for all of a few minutes. Refresh the page and it has been spotted and changed.

35th over: India 104-1 (Pujara 27, Vijay 48) Stokes, drier than a Charlie Brooker review with none for four from his four overs, gets a rest and is replaced by Anderson. Pujara immediately brings up the Indian 100 with a very nice shot, guided off the back foot to the third-man boundary and follows that up with a nice drive through cover point for four more. They weren’t even bad balls, with barely a hint of width outside off, just outstanding batting. The final ball brings a ludicrous appeal for lbw, missing leg and too high.

Raakesh Natraj isn’t happy: “Precisely the kind of partnership that is going to ruin things for the home team. These two go on serenely, making the dressing room believe this is a featherbed. They in turn come out, go for their shorts and the side ends up getting bowled out for 270. The World Cup winning venue hasn’t really worked out for India against England in Tests in the recent past.”

34th over: India 96-1 (Pujara 19, Vijay 48) Change of bowling with Moeen replacing Rashid. He has Pujara in all kinds of trouble with a right old jaffa, going through the top and coming back a long way and bouncing violently into the batsman’s midriff. One off the over, driven down the ground.

33rd over: India 95-1 (Pujara 18, Vijay 48) Another Stokes over, another maiden. Atherton agrees with me and, perhaps more importantly, the England selectors (but did Harry Shearer from Spinal Tap and The Simpsons buy them lunch this week*? No) that this is the best balance for England’s attack.

*Sorry, I know how shameless this is.

32nd over: India 95-1 (Pujara 18, Vijay 48) There’s a delay while the umpires check the shape of, and subsequently opt to change, the ball. Ravi Shastri points out that India got through 121 overs without having the old ball changed once. I don’t know what conclusion to draw from that. Back here, Vijay is beaten on the inside edge by a googly and, like the subject of a rubbish Verve song, is a lucky man as the ball barely misses his off-stump. The final ball isn’t anywhere near as good - the Lucky Man to that googly’s The Drugs Don’t Work to confuse the analogy - and Vijay works it square on the leg-side for three.

31st over: India 90-1 (Pujara 17, Vijay 45) During the tea break I think it was Marcus Trescothick who said India would be all out before the close. However firmly his tongue might have been planted in his cheek, he was very wrong; this is still a good pitch to bat on even if the odd ball from the spinners is doing a bit. Vijay’s single to midwicket brings up the 50 stand from 98 balls. Some way short of their 209 in Rajkot but still, it’s a solid start.

30th over: India 87-1 (Pujara 16, Vijay 43) In his last 10 innings, Vijay has only gone past 50 once - his century in the first Test at Rajkot - but of those other nine innings this is only the second time he’s properly got in, so India will be expecting a big score from him now. He drills Rashid down the ground for a couple then climbs right into a full-toss, driving brilliantly, inside out over the top of extra-cover for four of the best. A single off the last and it might be time to give Rashid a break.

29th over: India 80-1 (Pujara 16, Vijay 36) A heart that’s full up like a landfill, a job that slowly kills you, bruises that won’t heal. You look so tired and pretty, bring down the government, they don’t, they don’t speak for us. I’ll take a quiet life, a handshake, some carbon monoxide, and no alarms and no surprises.

28th over: India 79-1 (Pujara 16, Vijay 35) Vijay nurdles a single and Pujara slashes a leg-break away for a couple, but the highlight is the gloriously soft-hands with which the latter defends the final ball, a classy leg-break, to slip.

27th over: India 76-1 (Pujara 14, Vijay 34) Perhaps a little later than we might have expected, Stokes is into the attack. His pace is excellent, pushing 90mph, and Vijay is becalmed although there’s no movement for the bowler. Stokes becomes the third England seamer to begin with a maiden.

Nasser Hussain reckons we’re all wrong and thinks England should have left out Ball and picked an extra batsman. Unsurprsingly, given it’s Nass, that’s not a terrible idea.

26th over: India 76-1 (Pujara 14, Vijay 34) Two more to Pujara, turning an off-line googly round the corner and sending Stokes off on a long old chase to long-leg. These two are looking pretty settled now.

25th over: India 73-1 (Pujara 11, Vijay 34) Regarding that review in the previous over, I can only assume that it was the fact Pujara left the ball that seduced Cook into the review. As Nasser points out on the telly, Bairstow’s gloves were outside off when it hit the pad, so that should have been a clue. In this over, Vijay adds two with a nice push through extra cover off the last ball.

24th over: India 71-1 (Pujara 11, Vijay 32) Rashid gets a go from the other end. He beats Vijay with an absolutely pitch perfect leg-break, which is taken at slip by Stokes after drifting millimetres past the outside edge and glancing off Bairstow’s gloves. After some consideration Cook decides against reviewing, rightly so I reckon. That’ll stick in the batsman’s head at least. There is a review from the final ball, after a single and a two had ticked the scoreboard over, but it’s not a great one.

Hawkeye has it turning past off-stump.

Lbw shout against Pujara, given not out when he leaves a straight one. I don’t think it’s hitting.

23rd over: India 68-1 (Pujara 9, Vijay 31) The final session begins in fine fashion: Pujara driving a full Ball ball back down the ground and only a good diving half-stop by the bowler keeps it to two rather than four. Those are the first runs off the Notts man in this match and indeed series, and he induces the edge next ball. It drops short of slip though, where Anderson, I think, saves four with a good diving stop. Four leg-byes when he strays on to the thigh pad then an appeal from Bairstow and Ball - but no one else - when Pujara misses a woolly pull shot. Whew.

We’re back. Or, more accurately, the players are.

And Kristian Petterson is back on the spinners debate: “I agree up to a point. You expect spinners to do lions share on this wicket but, say Stokes only bowls 10 overs - I’d suggest he’s had a light shift for a test innings. The key though, as you say with regards to Leach, it’s not quantity but quality. Third spinner just to have a third spinner is no philosophy at all - they need to be good enough to be there. So, in conclusion - you’re correct.”

Yep I think we’re in agreement now.

Bit of news: Paul Reiffel will not stand in the remainder of this Test.

Exactly.

@danlucas86 You're right about 3 spinners... If we had Ashwin on the bench we'd play him, but no point playing Batty and then not bowl him.

22nd over: India 62-1 (Pujara 7, Vijay 31) This is probably going to be the last over before tea. Vijay works the first ball past short-leg for a single then Pujara flicks a full-toss down to mid-on for the same. The former is struck on the pad a couple of balls later albeit outside the line of off. That prompts a change of angle and Moeen bowls the final two balls of the session from round the wicket. That’s tea, with India 338 runs behind. England’s session, just, that, albeit on account of their efforts with bat rather than ball.

21st over: India 60-1 (Pujara 6, Vijay 30) It might be my rubbish eyes, but I reckon I’ve just spotted the tiniest hint of reverse swing there for Ball. He carries on aping Anderson with a second maiden on the spin.

On two spinners, Kristian Petterson reckons: “Guess we’ll see what the over split is at the end of the innings/match - if Ali and Rashid have bowled 40 overs each and the 3rd/4th seamers 10 each.”

20th over: India 60-1 (Pujara 6, Vijay 30) Moeen continues, with eight minutes or so until tea by my reckoning. Pujara takes one from the over.

Being an England fan, you can't help thinking these loose shots would've gone to a fielder in our innings @DanLucas86 Such is our lot. Bah!

19th over: India 59-1 (Pujara 5, Vijay 30) We’re getting a bowling change now, in fact: England’s latest all-rounder (ahem) Jake Ball is on. I like Ball, although I can’t pinpoint what exactly about him it is I rate. “Good cricketer,” Hussain calls him but he looks exactly that and little more. I guess it’s just instinct that’s telling me he’ll do well. His shoulder, which he hurt while batting, looks fine now. He begins with a maiden.

18th over: India 59-1 (Pujara 5, Vijay 30) Not for the first time, Vijay misses out on a rank full-toss, which he can only sweep behind square leg for a single. Four off the over, all in singles, nonetheless. We’re getting a bowling change soon.

17th over: India 55-1 (Pujara 3, Vijay 28) More luck for Vijay! A wild slog goes straight up and has Cook haring towards long-on, but the ball drops beyond the England captain and dribbles over the rope. Later on, he misses with a wafty slog-sweep. Since the loss of his opening partner he’s looked as comfortable as a man sat on a leather sofa in shorts with the heating on full. Still, he’s got some shots in the locker and he nails a full one back over Rashid’s head for a flat six!

16th over: India 45-1 (Pujara 3, Vijay 18) Pujara, the new man and one in great touch, gets off the mark by rocking back and cutting against the spin, behind point for two runs as comfortable as you’ll see. The second of those is his 1,000th against England in Test cricket, in 13 matches, at almost 48. The final ball nearly brings something that might look like a chance of a run-out if you squint, when Vijay thinks he wants a second run that was never on. Pujara tells him as much.

15th over: India 41-1 (Pujara 0, Vijay 17) Now Vijay is a lucky man: he looks to lift Rashid against the spin - I think he might have been expecting a googly - over mid-on but gets a leading edge that loops up high but drops short of the man at mid-off.

“Still early days to get too despondent, no?” wrote Kristian Petterson before the wicket. “England were 230 for 2 and wickets terms to fall in clusters, especially at Wankhede, it seems. Then again, only 2 spinners does already seem an oversight. Ach, alright... DOOMED!”

14th over: India 39-1 (Vijay 15) Sky are showing a replay of Panesar’s six for 81 here four years ago, which is serving only to cause fans to lament England’s spin bowling options now. Rahul is a touch lucky when he top-edges a premeditated sweep over Jennings at short leg - surely he’s too tall to field there? - but then, a couple of balls later, Moeen makes your OBOer look a bit foolish with a lovely lovely wicket.

Great ball from Moeen, tossed up and Rahul looks to drive against the spin. The ball spins back viciously and crashes into the woodwork.

13th over: India 37-0 (Rahul 23, Vijay 14) I suppose the good news for England is that this is vindicating their decision not to pick a third spinner. A single from what I expect to be one of several forgettable overs in this spell.

12th over: India 36-0 (Rahul 22, Vijay 14) Another filthy short ball, albeit from Moeen this time, and Vijay rocks back to hammer it to the fence at extra cover. I have to come up with a “ball of the day” for tomorrow’s panel in the paper and it’s safe to say that nothing in this spell is going into my notebook. That’s drinks.

Lee Smith writes: “As I am at work (though not working, yet) could you advise if the pitch is doing anything or is it time to give the Lanky DOOMED klaxon a good airing?”

11th over: India 32-0 (Rahul 22, Vijay 10) Ah that’s lovely from Rahul, rocking back to a slightly short leg-break and caressing it behind point for four. He follows this with a curious leave, going down on one knee to sweep and then periscoping his bat up out the way. “A Courtney Walsh leave”, Mike Atherton calls it.

10th over: India 26-0 (Rahul 17, Vijay 9) It’s probably too early to worry, but India’s batsmen are having little trouble working Moeen around on a pitch that’s likely to get easier for batting on as it slows up. Just one from the over, mind.

Have we talked about the ODI squad yet? It seems harsh that ODI form got Duckett into the Test squad and now his struggles there have seen him dropped from the ODI squad. And lord knows Bairstow could do with a rest.

9th over: India 25-0 (Rahul 16, Vijay 9) In fact it’s a double change: Rashid is on for Jimmy. I was just about to write that there’s a case for thinking the leggie is now England’s No1 spinner but Rahul is less impressed: he looks at a floaty, full first ball and drills it back over the bowler’s head for a brutal four before flaying the next through the covers for a single. Not much turn for Rashid out there.

8th over: India 20-0 (Rahul 11, Vijay 9) Cheers Simon, hello all. A change of OBOer coincides with/brings (you choose) a change of bowler as Moeen replaces Woakes. Vijay gets a couple of nice runs by opening up his wrists and driving through cover.

7th over: India 12-0 (Rahul 6, Vijay 6) Bapu Nadkarni can rest easy - Anderson’s run of consecutive maidens is over. It took 23 overs for India to score off him, as Vijay rolls the ball square and runs a single, and then Rahul drives nicely past cover for four. At which point, I’m going to hand over to Dan Lucas. You can email him here or tweet him here. Bye!

6th over: India 11-0 (Rahul 6, Vijay 5) And Woakes gets in on the maiden act. The second over apart, 29 of the 30 deliveries bowled have been dots.

5th over: India 11-0 (Rahul 6, Vijay 5) Three overs in, Anderson is yet to concede a run. “Good performance by England so far but it remains to be seen whether it is definitive,” writes Brian Withington. “I fear that if we take all 10 by spin like India did then we may be looking at a first innings deficit though. Great to see Buttler demonstrating the merits of using him at 7 as a specialist batsman. Kudos to selectors for resisting the temptation to play him above Bairstow in the order just because he’s not keeping wicket.”

4th over: India 11-0 (Rahul 6, Vijay 5) Rahul’s first boundary of the day, like Vijay’s, comes from a nicely-controlled punch past mid-off. This, meanwhile, is quite the coincidence:

Update - Runs scored by Jos Buttler at his two home grounds in 2016:
Old Trafford: 186
Wankhede Stadium: 186 https://t.co/RcvMH1keLz

3rd over: India 7-0 (Rahul 2, Vijay 5) Anderson has already bowled as many maidens in this innings as India’s seamers did between them in England’s. Meanwhile Rahul has only played in one Test this series, the second in Visakhapatnam, when he got 0 in the first innings and 10 in the second, which puts some pressure on him here.

2nd over: India 7-0 (Rahul 2, Vijay 5) Murali Vijay sends Woakes’ first delivery racketing past mid-off off the middle of the bat for four, lovely timing.

1st over: India 0-0 (Rahul 0, Vijay 0) A maiden from Anderson to get things under way. “This is interesting batting line up for India,” writes Mahendra Killedar. “Their 6,7,8 & 9 are kind of All Rounders in these conditions. Should do well.” This, meanwhile, is uncanny:

England's first inns totals in last 3 Tests at Wankhede:
400 in 2006 - WON
413 in 2012 - WON
400 in 2016 - ???#IndvsEng

The players trot back onto the turf. What can England’s seamers do on this surface? It’s time to find out!

A slightly above-par score from England. Ashwin and Jadeja share the wickets between them, but England will need their seamers to contribute. Intriguing times.

Buttler tries to send this out of the ground as well, misses it completely and it hits middle stump.

130th over: England 400-9 (Buttler 76, Anderson 0) Ashwin bowls, and Buttler fetches it and hits it, with an ear-pleasing pok, out of the ground and down the road. A new ball is fetched. He then blocks a few and works the fifth ball of the over to deep point for a single to take England to 400. Anderson deals with the last.

129th over: England 393-9 (Buttler 69, Anderson 0) Turns out Buttler’s not in such a hurry. He gets a couple with a sweep, and then a single to long on to leave Anderson with one to face, which he deals with well.

128th over: England 390-9 (Buttler 66, Anderson 0) This is now Buttler’s (joint) third-longest Test innings, and he celebrates by advancing down the pitch and driving to mid on for an easy single, as he does. Anderson survives the final ball but probably won’t be here long on this surface, and if England are going to reach 400 Buttler will probably need to score quite big, quite soon.

Ball recovers, continues, and is gone two balls later! Ashwin’s delivery gives him no space whatsoever, he tries to work it square and it flicks a glove on its way into Patel’s.

127th over: England 388-8 (Buttler 65, Ball 31) And Jadeja continues, so spin at both ends. Ball hits a single off the last, then drops his bat and doubles over in apparent pain, worryingly. A physio comes on and sets to work on his left shoulder.

You don't judge a pitch till both teams have had a dig but this feels like a match winning 1st innings for England .. #INDvENG

126th over: England 387-8 (Buttler 65, Ball 30) The fifth over with the second new ball and Ashwin delivers it. The batsmen take a single each.

The players are coming back out. It was England’s morning, in the end. Who will have the better afternoon?

Morning @Simon_Burnton. 385-8? I'll take that. Listening to Haseeb on TMS. What a wonderfully rounded young man he is. A future star is here

England are just15 runs away from the big four-oh-oh, and reaching that would be a psychological boost/blow, depending on who you’re supporting. Meanwhile, how old were you when you learned you’ve got to go through adverse times and physical pain? If an 80-year-old said it, I’d nod sagely and agree with him. From a 19-year-old, though, it sounds rather sad.

Hasseb Hameed: "You've got to go through adverse times & physical pain. That's something I learned at a young age." https://t.co/osxIlZx5Ompic.twitter.com/H7IdBusTcD

One of the talking points of the morning was the decision to overrule the on-field umpire and give Ben Stokes out, taken by Chettithody Shamshuddin, who is the stand-in TV umpire and didn’t seem entirely certain about what he was supposed to be doing (though it’s agreed that he probably got the decision right, one way or another). As he wrestled with the decision, we heard him ask, “What do you think, Adam?” We don’t know who Adam is, or what he said. Smokie, it’s over to you ...

This partnership, of 51 runs and counting, is invaluable for England. From 230-2 they’d have wanted nothing less than 450, but from 320-7 this has to be considered a success, particularly given the state of the pitch. Anyway, that’s lunch. I’ll be back in a bit.

125th over: England 385-8 (Buttler 64, Ball 29) An over of spin before lunch, from Jadeja at Ball. It’s a maiden. The bowler appeals when the last ball flicks off Patel and is caught at slip, and but for the fact it missed the bat by at least three inches it was a decent shout.

124th over: England 385-8 (Buttler 64, Ball 29) Bhuvi bowls, and after a single from Ball, Buttler makes some space and flicks the ball to fine leg for four. A couple more singles takes this partnershiip past 50 runs, while at 42 deliveries, this is now the longest innings in Ball’s first-class career.

123rd over: England 378-8 (Buttler 59, Ball 27) Just a couple of singles here. A couple more overs to go before lunch, and if England lose no more wickets it’ll taste just fine.

122nd over: England 376-8 (Buttler 58, Ball 26) We’re into bonus time now. Bhuvi Kumar’s second delivery with the new ball is thundered past point by Ball for four, straight out the middle of the bat, with not a fielder in sight. That’s the highpoint of the over for Ball, though. He tries another drive later on, missing completely, and the final delivery of the over whistles perhaps six inches wide of off stump. “Don’t want to miss opportunity to be first to see the humor,” writes Mahendra Killedar, “but what kind of ball is this Ball? A pink one or red one?”

121st over: England 372-8 (Buttler 58, Ball 22) Buttler skips down the pitch and drives gently to long-on for an easy single, his favourite shot against spin. Then Ball skips down the pitch and tries to drive through the covers, a little overambitiousperhaps, and edges hard - but not quite hard enough to get caught - to square leg. At the end of which, the second new ball is taken, with Ball on strike.

120th over: England 368-8 (Buttler 57, Ball 19) Ball jabs down his bat at the last moment to get it in the way of the first ball, which stays low and straight, and then slog-sweeps the second for four. Then he gets a couple more with a leading edge into the covers and some good running.

Jake Ball's highest first-class score is 49 not out vs Warwickshire, August 2015. He scored those runs from 20 balls. #INDvENG

119th over: England 362-8 (Buttler 57, Ball 13) The ball hits Ball in the pad and loops to short leg, who catches. India appeal again, but it surely would have cleared the stumps. Ball takes a single off the last ball of Jayant’s over, and certainly isn’t being protected now.

118th over: England 360-8 (Buttler 56, Ball 12) Buttler gets a couple off the first, hit to point, though only just: he loses his bat while running, and though he’s well inside his crease when the ball is returned to Patel and the bails come off, his foot only touched ground a fraction of a second beforehand.

117th over: England 357-8 (Buttler 53, Ball 12) Jayant comes on, and a single off his first ball takes Buttler to his half-century. This is already his fourth-longest Test innings, at 108 deliveries and counting. Another 40 balls would make it his No1.

116th over: England 352-8 (Buttler 49, Ball 11) Two slips, a short leg and a silly point in place, and Ball takes them all out of play, cutting square for four, hitting to long on for a couple, and then tickling to fine leg for four more. That will give Ball a bit of confidence, and takes England past 350.

115th over: England 342-8 (Buttler 49, Ball 1) This time Buttler takes a single off the second ball, giving Ashwin four goes at Ball. This time there’s a leg slip, a slip and two short legs, two more close fielders than Buttler has to deal with. No matter, Ball pushes through midwicket for an easy single. Buttler, though, can get nothing from the remainder of the over, and now Jadeja can really have a go at Ball.

114th over: England 340-8 (Buttler 48, Ball 0) Buttler reverse-sweeps Jadeja’s first delivery for four, and then the second hits his pad just outside the line, prompting another loud appeal. The third is hit to third man and Buttler wants two, but gets only one. Ball has half an over to face, and immediately there are two slips, a gully and a silly point piling on the pressure. Ball defends the first, he defends the second, and he goes after the third, edging high and fast to Kohli at first slip, who can’t hold on to what would have been a miracle catch.

113th over: England 335-8 (Buttler 43, Ball 0) Buttler faces the first five deliveries of Ashwin’s over for a single, leaving Ball to face one. India have a slip, a leg slip, a short leg and a silly point crowding round the bat, but Ball defends it well enough.

112th over: England 334-8 (Buttler 42, Ball 0) The ball spins past Rashid’s bat and India appeal. They appeal loud, and they appeal long, and they appeal in numbers. Marais Erasmus isn’t impressed, and they have no remaining reviews. All a bit strange: it didn’t look particularly close to the bat to me. No matter, perhaps the appeal unnerves the batsman, and a dot ball later he’s gone.

Rashid leaves one that goes straight and clips the bails on its way through!

111th over: England 333-7 (Buttler 41, Rashid 4) Ashwin bowls, Buttler edges but the ball drops short of slip. Then Rashid edges the last towards short leg, who gets fingertips to the ball but can’t hold it.

Fun(ish) fact: In 2016 Jos Buttler has played as many games at the Wankhede Stadium as he has at Old Trafford (seven)

110th over: England 332-7 (Buttler 40, Rashid 4) Buttler, who might as well try to score some runs while he’s still got someone at the other end to score them with, greets both of Jadeja’s first two deliveries with a reverse sweep, the first sending the ball straight to the man at point, and the second missing said man and reaching the rope.

Jos Buttler has come down the track to 14 balls in his innings, more than the rest of the England batting line up combined. #INDvENG

109th over: England 325-7 (Buttler 33, Rashid 4) Rashid gets off the mark with a boundary, though not one he knew a great deal about, the ball flicking off the bat and running away past leg slip.

108th over: England 320-7 (Buttler 32, Rashid 0) A wicket maiden from Jadeja. It’s been a difficult first hour for England, but difficult as the conditions are having been 230-2, they won’t be satisfied with their current total.

Jadeja gets the ball to spin back, and there’s another slight edge here, and after Patel takes the catch another loud appeal. Umpire Erasmus doesn’t immediately raise his finger, but Woakes doesn’t bother waiting for the review, and heads to the dressing room.

107th over: England 320-6 (Buttler 32, Woakes 11) Another couple of singles, both batsmen sending the ball rolling towards long-on.

106th over: England 318-6 (Buttler 31, Woakes 10) England are happy to keep the scoreboard ticking gently onwards, and are content with a couple of singles. Woakes leaves one which goes straight and even so doesn’t miss the stumps by much.

105th over: England 316-6 (Buttler 30, Woakes 9) Woakes gets a thick edge on the first ball, and Kohli chases after it as it runs towards third man, catches up with it, and slides on one knee to collect. But instead of sliding along the ground his leg goes into it, sending him sprawling. He looks pained as he gingerly gets to his feet, but is able to continue. This surface is tough to bat on and dangerous to field on. Still, it’s nice if you’re a spin bowler.

104th over: England 311-6 (Buttler 28, Woakes 6) One run from Jadeja’s over. Woakes misjudges one slower delivery, mistimes his shot but he edges the ball straight into the ground.

Most five-fors in a two-year period in Tests
M Muralitharan - 14 (2000-01)
M Muralitharan - 14 (2006-07)
R Ashwin - 14 (2015-16)#INDvENG

103rd over: England 310-6 (Buttler 28, Woakes 5) Ashwin has dealt with all the left-handers now. One run from his 33rd over of the innings thus far.

102nd over: England 309-6 (Buttler 28, Woakes 4) The ball is turning here, hard and often. It’s turning like a turntable spinning Dead or Alive.

On first viewing I thought it was pretty obviously going down leg side, but HawkEye shows it just kissing the outside of the stump on its way through. Not enough to overturn the on-field decision, though.

Erasmus turns down the lbw appeal, but India want a second opinion!

101st over: England 308-6 (Buttler 28, Woakes 3) Woakes hits high down the ground, but he doesn’t get enough on it. Pujara at mid-on has to run towards the rope, keep an eye on the ball dropping over his shoulder, and get his hands in the right place. Well, two out of three ain’t bad. He does the running and the watching, but not the catching. And Pujara is immediately moved to somewhere less important.

100th over: England 303-6 (Buttler 28, Woakes 0) Woakes, from the last ball of the 99th over, and Buttler, from the third ball of this one, have both hit the one close fielder in front of the bat, Karun Nair, pretty hard in the last couple of minutes. Still, no pain, no gain, eh?

99th over: England 303-6 (Buttler 26, Woakes 0) And of course, the TV umpire is only there because of Paul Reiffel’s injury and might not be quite as expert in the intricacies of his role as we might expect. Anyway, Buttler now needs to take charge of the England innings, and judging by the way he pulls Ashwin for four he knows it.

98th over: England 298-6 (Buttler 21, Woakes 0) Really, given that we know the bat hit the ground, and that it must have made a sound when it did so, and there was only one sound on Ultra-edge, he shouldn’t have been given out. Having said that, the ball did seem to change line slightly on its way past the bat.

97th over: England 297-6 (Buttler 20) Ashwin’s first delivery turns a long way, hits Buttler’s pad and flies into the air. There’s a half-hearted appeal when the ball is safely caught, but no dice. Then his last brings another appeal, more successful this time.

Ultra-edge shows the very faintest of noises as the ball passes the bat, and Stokes has gone! The batsman’s incredulous, believing perhaps that the noise came from the bat hitting the ground at that very same instant.

The umpire didn’t see any contact between bat and ball as it spun to slip, but India insist it happened. Who’s right?

96th over: England 296-5 (Stokes 31, Buttler 20) Stokes isn’t cowed by his let-off in the previous over, and against Jadeja he tries another sweep, nails it this time and the ball is sent skimming through midwicket for four.

95th over: England 290-5 (Stokes 26, Buttler 19) Ravi Ashwin gets day two under way. Buttler gets a single to long on, and then Stokes top-edges a slog-sweep that spends a long time in the air before plopping safely to earth. “That’s just bad captaincy,” rages Naser Hussain, doing the TV commentary and raging about how distant the fielder was.

This was the scene outside the Wankhede the best part of an hour ago. I’ve got no idea how they’ve managed to let so few people in since then.

Crazy queues outside Wankhede Stadium. The box office says day 2 tickets have been sold out. The line has extended till churchgate station. pic.twitter.com/HoW8xhta9n

Out come the umpires, with Paul Reiffel still out with head-knock. The stands are pretty empty, but not for long.

Crazy queues outside Wankhede once again. Drums and all... should be a good crowd today too. India to bat sometime eventually. #IndvEng

Hello world!

Well there’s a time and a place for a brilliantly crafted preamble, but 3.30am isn’t it. And Sky are showing an interview with Kelly Holmes that’s really quite moving. Still, the cricket should be worth being conscious for, delicately poised as it is. England, with a current tally of 288, are about 120 runs away from happiness; India, having lost the toss but taken five wickets, are a good first hour away from being pretty pleased with themselves. Anyway, and most importantly, hello!

Simon will be here shortly. Here’s Vic Marks’ report from day one:

Alastair Cook has spent four years waiting for a decent opening partner and then all of a sudden two of them come along in the space of three weeks. Keaton Jennings is the latest, welcome arrival. Under a cloudless sky he became the first England player since Billy Griffith in 1948 in Trinidad to score a century on his first day as a Test cricketer – and we can be fairly confident that Griffith did not reach those coveted three figures with a reverse sweep.

In the short term Jennings’s admirable 112 was the foundation of England’s 288 for five, a fair total on the first day of a Mumbai Test but by no means an impregnable one. As ever on this excellent surface there are runs to be scored early in the match. The ball bounces more here in a manner that encourages strokemakers; it also turns increasingly and the edges are more likely to carry. Mumbai is a long way from Chester-le-Street in very many ways but Jennings found a method to prosper in alien conditions.

Continue reading...

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 1424

Trending Articles