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97th over: India 330-6 (Jadeja 46, Sundar 1) Stokes is testing out the middle of the wicket, slamming the ball in and getting the crowd going. One ball to Jadeja lifts dramatically, there is life in this surface if one bends one’s back. It’s starting to grip a little for the spinners too.
96th over: India 328-6 (Jadeja 46, Sundar 0) Joe Root finds some turn and gets one to grip and rip past Sundar’s waft. It ends up in the hands of slip but there was not bat on it. India trail by 61, England would love a first innings lead, no matter how slight. Jadeja will have other ideas, we might see a few shots played in anger here after a quite few hours of compilation.
Updated at 11.27 EDT
95th over: India 326-6 (Jadeja 44, Sundar 0) Stokes has his dander up after the wicket. Washington Sundar is the new batter, he can certainly play. The crowd at Lord’s come alive once more. Stokes bangs a few in short, hello Washington!
Updated at 11.27 EDT
WICKET! Nitish Kumar Reddy c Smith b Stokes 30 (India 326-6)
Stokes gets Reddy with a snorter than lifts like a spitting cobra and takes the glove. Big wicket that for England!
94th over: India 326-5 (Jadeja 44, Reddy 30) The Root experiment continues, the ball is only 13 overs old… I’m not so sure about this Benjamin. Root drops short and is pan handled away by Jadeja through midwicket for four.
93rd over: India 322-5 (Jadeja 40, Reddy 30) Stokes starts from the Nursery End, flaxen hair slicked back and cheeks well and truly pinked. Reddy looks to punch a back of a length ball through cover and gets a meaty edge wide of the slips and away for four. The deficit is cut to 65 runs, if India tick them off then every run from then on England are sure to feel more sharply.
92nd over: India 317-5 (Jadeja 40, Reddy 26) Joe Root starts with the ball after tea… what’s all this about then? Galaxy brain thinking from Stokes or just facilitating a change of ends for Chris Woakes. Just a single added.
91st over: India 316-5 (Jadeja 40, Reddy 25) Two singles off Woakes see India to the tea break. It’s been intriguing cricket, not high octane – the odd nutty single notwithstanding – but the Test remains very much in the balance, the arm wrestle continues.
68 runs for one wicket off 25.3 overs this afternoon.
Updated at 10.50 EDT
90th over: India 314-5 (Jadeja 39, Reddy 24) Reddy shakes off his Stokes inflicted headache like a cartoon character crunched by a dustbin lid. We’ll have one more from Woakes before it is cucumber sandwich time.
Updated at 10.49 EDT
“Good afternoon everyone, listening in from Kuala Lumpur and delaying a jet lagged sleep in case England can get another wicket?!”
You get some shut eye John Dodsworth. We’ll give you a gentle nudge if anything happens…
OUCH! There’s a break in play at Lord’s as Stokes jags a short ball back into Nitish Kumar Reddy and it clonks him on the helmet. The batter looks fine to continue but his helmet jammed into his cheek so there’s a frozen bag of petit pois being applied.
Nitish Kumar Reddy receives treatment after being struck on the helmet. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 10.47 EDT
89th over: India 311-5 (Jadeja 37, Reddy 23) The shackles are loosened a little as Reddy clips Woakes off his pads for four down to fine leg.
“Hello there James”
Greeting Rowan Tewari! Oh, he’s on an Donnie Downer. Shame.
“You feel if India lose this match and series, it’ll be due to a combination of self-inflicted wounds and naive captaincy from a young captain rather than the actual cricket on display from England. As much as I want this England team to defeat the Aussies, I’m still not fully convinced they’ll hold up based on the 3 test matches so far this summer.”
88th over: India 306-5 (Jadeja 36, Reddy 19) England have bowled tightly in the last hour, India have only bee going along at 2.5 an over for the last ten. Stokes replaces Archer from the Pavilion End. The England captain is tailor made for these moments, can he bust through into India’s tail? Not yet but it is another probing over, Jadeja steers for a couple past backward point to bring up the fifty partnership between this pair and a scampered single to long-on edges India another step closer to parity. It’s quietly enthralling cricket.
87th over: India 303-5 (Jadeja 33, Reddy 19) Jadeja pokes out in front of his pad to work Woakes into the off side for a single. A hint of movement and that is a risky stroke. Play and a miss! Reddy is lured into lunging at an outswinger from Woakes and nearly gifts his wicket away. The batter has a stern word with himself after that loose shot. Woakes strides back to his mark with real purpose, like a dad who knows the parking meter on his hatchback is about to expire. Beaten again! Woakes has a decent giddy-up going here, just a single off the over.
86th over: India 302-5 (Jadeja 32, Reddy 19) Archer stands hands on hips mid pitch after completing a sharp maiden to Reddy. Much like when Bumrah comes onto bowl, the atmosphere ratchets up a good few notches when Jofra has the ball in hand.
85th over: India 302-5 (Jadeja 32, Reddy 19) The Lord’s hum reverberates as Chris Woakes replaces Brydon Carse from the Nursery End. The Wizard lands it on a postage stamp on off stump, there’s another heart in mouth moment for India as Jadeja and Reddy stutter mid pitch before aborting a tight single. England have been good with the ball today but you can’t help but feel India are in a poorer position than they could be largely because of self inflicted wounds.
84th over: India 301-5 (Jadeja 32, Reddy 18) Archer is around the wicket, Jadeja flicks off the pads into the leg side for a single. Big appeal! A yorker slams low into Reddy’s pad but he had shuffled across and it was sliding down. England opt not to review and wisely so, they’ve been a lot more discerning with the DRS in this Test.
Updated at 10.12 EDT
Update on Shoaib Bashir’s injured finger: He is being assessed by the medical team after taking a blow to his left little finger. We’ll get an update with the damage shortly.
83rd over: India 299-5 (Jadeja 31, Reddy 17) England have been a bit loosey goosey with the new Dukes in the first few overs, Carse has been so accurate in this spell but he goes for the magic ball and strays too close to Reddy’s pads, the batter doesn’t miss out and clips away for four. India trail by 88 runs. What odds on a one innings shoot out?
82nd over: India 295-5 (Jadeja 31, Reddy 13) Jofra comes straight back on to have the second over with the new ball, he glides in from the Pav end with bling bouncing, ah, he spears down the leg side and Jadeja gets a tickle on it to fine leg for four. Archer loses his line once more and lets rip with a high pitched howl into the stump mic. Close! That’s more like it, Jadeja gets a leading edge to a straight ball that beats him for pace, it lollipops in the air but lands safe. The crowd are dialled into this contest with the game and series on the line.
81st over: India 291-5 (Jadeja 27, Reddy 13) New ball taken right away. Brydon Carse has his dander up and is bowling with real fluency here at Lord’s. He zeroes in on Reddy’s front pad and the stumps and dots him up for five straight balls.
James Wallace
Thanks Rob and hello everyone. Well this is the good stuff, a packed out Lord’s and a razor wire series at just about exactly its half way point.
England lead by just less than a hundred and they need to winkle out the second half of India’s batting card pronto this afternoon. The new ball is just a couple of overs away, Brydon Carse is bowling better than he has all series and Jofra Archer is back and cranking his speeds into the mid-nineties. Shoaib Bashir has also popped up with a classical off-spinners wicket to dismiss KL Rahul. Not to get all Jess Glynne/Jet 2 holidays about it but there’s no place I’d rather be.
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80th over: India 290-5 (Jadeja 26, Reddy 13) Root continues to bowl the last over with the old ball. India pinch three runs – every little helps – which means they trail by 97 at the afternoon drinks break.
With the series at its halfway point, and the match and the series both beautifully poised, I’ll hand over to Jim Wallace for the rest of the day. Bye!
79th over: India 287-5 (Jadeja 25, Reddy 11) There’s a pregnant pause around Lord’s, with a knowledgeable crowd knowing that Jim Wallace is about to take over the OBO the second new ball is imminent. We say this a lot, I know, but the next hour has the potential to shape the match and the series.
78th over: India 286-5 (Jadeja 24, Reddy 11) Reddy skips down to Bashir and heaves unconvincingly through midwicket for four.
A wicket now would give England such a boost before the second new ball. They almost get it when Bashir drops Jadeja off his own bowling! It was a tough chance and Bashir his injured his left hand in trying to take it. He runs straight off the field and Joe Root bowls the ball of the over.
77th over: India 280-5 (Jadeja 23, Reddy 6) Carse’s rhythm is a lot better in this spell. He may carry on with the new ball, at least for two or three overs. The alternatives are Archer, who has only just bowled a four-over spell, and Stokes himself.
76th over: India 278-5 (Jadeja 22, Reddy 5) Apologies, I missed that Bashir over due to a few technical problems.
We’re fast approaching the midpoint of the series – and also one of the clutch point. The second new ball will be available in four overs’ time.
75th over: India 272-5 (Jadeja 20, Reddy 1) Ben Stokes looks at the bigger picture and hooks Jofra Archer after a sizzling spell of 4-1-4-0. Brydon Carse replaces him and is unfortunate to see an edge from Jadeja flash wide of the solitary slip and away for four.
Jadeja is also beaten twice outside off stump during an excellent Carse over, possibly his best of the match.
“Dear Rob,” writes Jana Jeruma-Grinberga. “Following, as always, this fascinating and unpredictable series from 2,427km away, and wishing there was a way of seeing the spectacular Stokes run-out that happened before lunch. Still and all – it’s a sunny, warm day here in northern Latvia after two days of vicious thunderstorms, the internet has been restored, and there’s Aļona Ostapenko in tomorrow’s women’s doubles final to look forward to as well (after some guys called Sinner and Alcaraz), so not a bad day overall.
“Please could you give a shout out to my son-in-law number 1, Trevor Saull, who plays for Enfield Cricket Club 3rd XI, and the club’s new coach, the memorable Phil DeFreitas?”
Not sure anybody needs a shout out from me, least of all Phil DeFreitas, but I’m more than happy to give one. You should be able to see the Stokes run-out somewhere on social media, look for Sky Sports Cricket. (I’m not exactly sure where as I’m not really social media-literate.)
Updated at 09.22 EDT
74th over: India 267-5 (Jadeja 16, Reddy 0) A short ball from Bashir is carted disdainfully over midwicket for four by Jadeja. It almost went for six.
Jofra Archer has had four overs in this spell but his rhythm is so good that he may continue. It’s a tough balancing act given all the injury concerns.
“Yesterday evening I had the absolute pleasure of watching Jimmy Anderson running in from his eponymous end at Old Trafford, and bowling to Jonny Bairstow,” begins Tim Sanders. “There was a full house for the Roses T20, telly cameras and a proper partisan atmosphere. Jonny came out best on this occasion, making 116 from 54 balls. He had the added satisfaction of catching a Jos Buttler top edge as the Lancashire run chase faltered.
“This isn’t to contradict your view that ‘five-Test series is the greatest format in any sport’; quite the opposite. It meant more because of the Test series that the two have played around the world, as team-mates through the triumphs and disasters. It felt like Test cricket was lending its weight to the joy of the shorter-form contest.”
Beautifully put. And it’s great to see Jonny Bairstow still savaging bowlers in his inimitable style. Though it’s extremely unlikely, I haven’t given up on his Ashes dream. Or Liam Dawson’s. Or Ollie Robinson. Or mine.
73rd over: India 261-5 (Jadeja 10, Reddy 0) This is a serious spell of bowling from Archer: hostile, accurate and with everything over 90mph. He rams a bouncer past Reddy and follows through for an impolite word, then does it again off the last ball. That was very well played by Reddy because a young cricketer could easily be overwhelmed by a combination of the theatre, the match situation and the quality and aggression of Archer’s bowling.
72nd over: India 260-5 (Jadeja 9, Reddy 0) In hindsight Pope should have taken a beat to compose himself before the throw because Reddy was nowhere near making his ground. I remember Chris Lewis doing that quite brilliantly in an ODI in India in 1992-93, possibly to run out Manor Prabhakar. Will see if I can fit.
Meanwhile, Bashir hurries through another quiet over.
71st over: India 259-5 (Jadeja 8, Reddy 0) Archer’s pace is up in this spell, with all six deliveries over 90mph in that over. Reddy shows immaculate judgement of his off stump – and diabolical judgement of a single. He survives another run-out chance to Pope after getting halfway down the track before being sent back. That was a better chance for Pope than the first because he didn’t have to slide or turn.
Updated at 09.10 EDT
70th over: India 258-5 (Jadeja 7, Reddy 0) “I am fuming and not from the heat,” writes Anand. “To borrow Sunil Gavaskar’s quote, it was stupid, stupid, stupid from Pant!
“While there is a lot of talk about team-first and not playing for personal milestones, too much drama happens when a batter gets close to three figures!
Taking nothing away from Benjamin Stokes but to give him that chance with three balls to lunch wasn’t smart cricket!”
In a sense KL Rahul’s century cost India two wickets. I’m not sure he’d have played such a lazy shot off Bashir even two overs after reaching his century. The happy beans were still going.
69th over: India 255-5 (Jadeja 4, Reddy 0) It’s all happening! Archer is convinced Jadeja is out LBW after jumping across his stumps; as he appeals, Pope’s throw on the turn misses the stumps with Reddy stuck in the middle of the pitch. The ultimate result is one leg-bye.
It was a tough chance for Pope, with Smith not up to the stumps due to the appeal. Ben Stokes decides not the review – it would have been umpire’s call so it was closer than Stokes thought.
Archer channels his frustration to bowl the fastest ball of the series, a 94mph lifter that Reddy ignores.
68th over: India 254-5 (Jadeja 4, Reddy 0) That wicket is also a triumph for Ben Stokes; most captains would have hooked Bashir and gone at the new batter Jadeja with pace from both ends.
Three overs ago England were in serious trouble; now they’re probably on top.
“Inspired by Brian Withington, and with apologies to King Crimson, a reworking of their iconic 21st Century Schizoid Man…” writes Kim Thonger.
Batters pitch. Five-day draw
Lazy pundits scream for more
Behind media centre’s poison door
Twenty-first century Bazball man.
Dead track, seamers mire
Left arm spinners’ funeral pyre
Fielders burn in sunshine’s fire
Twenty-first century Bazball man.
Best heed the twelfth man’s plea
Begloved wickie’s fingers bleed
Nothing he’s got he really needs
Twenty-first century Bazball man.
I don’t know the original but that deserves a round of unfettered applause.
Updated at 08.55 EDT
WICKET! India 254-5 (Rahul c Brook b Bashir 100)
Gottim! Out of nothing, KL Rahul edges a flighted delivery from Bashir straight to slip. It was a loose one-handed drive, the shot of a man who hadn’t returned from cloud nine. But was also a lovely piece of bowling from Bashir, tossed wider and slower to invite the drive.
India’s KL Rahul edges to England’s Harry Brook to get out. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PAShoaib Bashir is congratulated by his England teammates. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 09.04 EDT
KL Rahul’s 10th Test century!
67th over: India 254-4 (Rahul 100, Jadeja 4) Archer replaces Stokes and starts around the wicket to Jadeja, who pushes a tight single to mid-on. The throw was wayward but with a direct hit would have been extremely close.
Rahul steals a single on the off side to complete a classical hundred from 176 balls. It’s his second at Lord’s, his fifth against England and 10th overall. He has a moment to himself, then takes off his helmet and raises both arms in triumph. A master at work.
India’s KL Rahul lifts his helmet and bat aloft as he celebrates his century. Photograph: Richard Pelham/APShare
Updated at 08.57 EDT
66th over: India 252-4 (Rahul 99, Jadeja 3) Shoaib Bashir completes the over he started before lunch. Rahul whips a single to move to 99 before Ravindra Jadeja, who has moved up to No6 to maintain the left/right-hand combination, works his first ball classily through midwicket for three.
“If we’re using music analogies, ok for Rahul/Eno, but I’d go more with Another Green World than Ambient 1: Music for Airports,” says Jeremy Boyce. “The latter is tedious and soporific, whereas the former is all smooth and dreamy with rhythm. As for Pant, I’m more inclined towards The Velvet Underground’s Sister Ray, an anarchic smash-up that we used back in the day to clear our student flat when guests overstayed their welcome. You just couldn’t live with it, much like the man himself.”
“Brilliant from Stokes,” says Joshua Keeling. “Crazy from Pant to go for that single there, just to get Rahul on strike before lunch! Needless risk to take when India were well on top.”
It did feel like the main motivation was to get Rahul on strike so he could reach his century before lunch. But with Rishabh in particular you can never be completely sure why something happens.
Lunchtime reading
This piece from Barney Ronay on the 75th anniversary of one of the great Lord’s Tests is just brilliant.
That run-out gets better every time you see it. As he picked up his body was facing the stumps at the striker’s end, but without breaking stride he calculated that Pant was struggling at the other end. Then, in one smooth movement, he swivelled round and detonated the stumps with a fantastic throw.
Ben Stokes averages 35 with the bat and 32 with the ball in Tests. Moments like this are why – in my opinion and that’s all it is, this isn’t a judicial review – he is England’s greatest ever cricketer.
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65.3 overs: India 248-4 (Rahul 98 not out) It’s still India’s session – 103 for 1 in 22.3 overs – but that’s a priceless wicket for England. Stokes, who has been unusually animated at times in the series, screamed with hard-faced delight when the replay confirmed that Pant was short of his ground.
Stokes does this all the time. I would bet the farm that, had the game been drifting, his throw would have missed the stumps. But as the stakes get higher and his team’s need becomes desperate, so Stokes’s brain forms different neural pathways that allow him to do things like that. It’s happened way too often to be coincidence.
Updated at 08.07 EDT
A stunning moment on the stroke of lunch. Pant dropped Bashir on the off side and tried to steal a single to get Rahul, 98 not out, back on strike. Stokes swooped, processed which end to throw to in a millisecond and swivelled to batter the stumps at the non-striker’s end. That is quite brilliant.
ShareWICKET! India 249-4 (Pant run out 74)
Ben Stokes has done it again! Not with the ball this time, but in the field.
Ben Stokes (right) launches the ball towards the wicket as Rishabh Pant scampers towards his crease. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty ImagesDirect hit and out: India batsman Rishabh Pant is run out by Ben Stokes. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty ImagesBen Stokes celebrates alongside his England teammates. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PAShare
Updated at 09.16 EDT
65th over: India 247-3 (Rahul 97, Pant 74) Pant hooks Stokes towards fine leg, where Crawley does brilliantly to save the six by leaping backwards over the rope to take the catch and then getting rid of the ball before he hits the floor.
Does that go down as a dropped catch? I guess so, but there was nothing more Crawley could have done without a stepladder.
Earlier in the over Pant placed a superb cut for four. He’s getting away from England, and that means so are India.
Lunch, which is an over away, will come at a good time for England, whose lead is down to 140.
“I have a friend who was a Surrey member many moons ago,” begins John Swan. “And he swears he witnessed Jack Richards take a stumping standing up… To Sylvester Clarke of all people.
“Apparently it was pure reflex (natch) and not at all elegant, but, you know, who cares?”
How was Jack Richards still conscious after telling Sylvester Clarke he was going to stand up to him? (At the risk of killing yet more joy, I don’t think it happened – I scanned Clarke’s list of wickets for Surrey and couldn’t see anything.)
A fine display of athleticism as Zak Crawley catches Rishabh Pant … Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/ShutterstockBut he has to throw the ball back over the boundary to avoid a six as he goes over the rope. Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 09.34 EDT
64th over: India 240-3 (Rahul 96, Pant 69) One from Bashir’s over.
63rd over: India 240-3 (Rahul 96, Pant 68) Stokes attacks Rahul with the short ball from around the wicket. No matter: Rahul gets on top of the ball and helps it round the corner for four. He’s playing as if the ball is coming down at 0.5x.
India took their time to get going but they’ve scored 81 in the last 13 overs. That’s a huge problem for England with the second new ball still 17 overs away.
“This series for Woakes reminds me of Anderson two years ago: not bowling badly, but not looking threatening,” says Jeremy Smith. “Might be playing himself out of an Ashes tour?”
Possibly, although paradoxically Australian conditions have been more English than England in recent years. I suspect he’ll go in an enlarged squad, almost as an unofficial player-coach.
62nd over: India 233-3 (Rahul 91, Pant 66) Shoaib Bashir’s first ball of the day is driven straight down the ground for six by Pant – nothing wild or inelegant, just a beautiful shot to put Bashir under pressure right from the start.
Though England have been flat, the story of this morning session is the quality of Rahul and Pant’s batting. Rahul’s control percentage must be close to 100 per cent today.