There was little respite for India on the second day at Old Trafford. Harried initially by Ben Stokes, who blessed the ground with his first five-wicket haul in Tests for eight years, they were then put to the sword by Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, who posted a blistering start to remind everyone why they are feared as an opening partnership and why the selectors are so reluctant to separate them.
Each player had a day to remember. Stokes completed a haul that had always looked likely in this series, given the excellence of his bowling throughout. His return as a genuine frontline seamer has been the biggest plus of the summer so far, and, he took advantage of juicy conditions in the first half of the day to curtail some stubborn Indian resistance and confirm his return to something close to his best with the ball.
Duckett and Crawley then set about India’s bowling with relish. Before the match, Shubman Gill had raised the issue of their time-wasting at Lord’s, when they ran down the clock by arriving at the crease 90 seconds late, but they wasted no time here, feasting off some wayward new ball bowling and raising an opening partnership of 166 in 32 overs. It was heady, joyous batting.
Having played so commandingly, both looked set for hundreds before they fell late in the day. In his first innings on the ground since making 189 in the Ashes, Crawley made 84 before edging Ravindra Jadeja to slip and, as if he couldn’t bear to be without his soul mate, Duckett fell soon afterwards for 94, edging an attempted cut shot to the wicketkeeper having made his first mistake.
Stokes celebrates taking the wicket of Kamboj to complete his five-for
GARETH COPLEY/GETTY
It meant that England finished the day 225 for two, trailing by 133 runs, and in the stronger position. India, who, when Crawley and Duckett were batting, appeared as much under duress in the field as Australia had done here two years ago, must compete with a severely restricted Rishabh Pant, who did not keep wicket but who batted bravely in the morning, albeit with little freedom of movement.
India’s bowling, especially with the new ball, was really poor as they conceded 77 in 14 overs before tea, straying repeatedly to the leg side. What cannot be discounted, though, is the burden that bowlers, especially less experienced ones, must feel when faced by a pair of openers who are so eager to punish and pressurise. Duckett, for example, was determined not to let Anshul Kamboj settle and took a dozen from the debutant’s opening over. He is so quick to seize on anything loose.
Duckett reverse-sweeps as he and Crawley punish poor new-ball bowling from India…
GARETH COPLEY/GETTY
… the pair made an impressive 166-run first-wicket stand to put England in a strong position
AFP
Like Pat Cummins two years ago, Gill did not know where to turn initially, as Duckett raised a half-century at quicker than a run a ball and the pair raised their fifth hundred partnership in Tests in 114 balls. When, finally, he turned to spin to bring some order to chaos, Crawley ran down the pitch and belted Jadeja’s second ball down the ground for six. Brilliant batting, because of the awareness of Jadeja’s importance in giving Gill control and resting the tiring seamers.
By this stage, the sun was out, and for the first time in the match, the party stand gave the impression of being exactly that, and there was a raucous atmosphere in the ground as Crawley and Duckett threatened to take the game away from India completely. From nowhere, though, Jadeja turned one just enough to take Crawley’s edge and Kamboj found a little extra bounce to Duckett, to give his team some respite.
It meant that Gill could recall Jasprit Bumrah for a final thrust at Ollie Pope and Joe Root, who, together with the rest of England’s middle order, will try to ensure a firm first-innings lead on the third day. A good morning session for India could yet see them bowling last on a dry pitch. As always in this series, it is finely balanced and difficult to predict.
It is hard to describe just how different the conditions were in the opening session, with the clouds sitting heavily over the ground and the floodlights on, compared to late in the day in the evening sunshine. After Jofra Archer had dismissed Jadeja in the second over of the morning, Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar, initially, and then Pant, fought to stretch India’s first innings to 358, a doughty effort in the circumstances.
England’s catching was sharp — Harry Brook and Duckett took two excellent catches at slip — but the bowling lacked pinpoint accuracy, until Stokes brought himself on for the second hour of the day. He then bowled an excellent ten-over spell either side of lunch to add three wickets to the two taken the day before to complete his first five-wicket haul since the Lord’s Test of 2017 against West Indies.
This was due reward for some hard technical work put in before the start of the Test summer when recovering from the hamstring strain incurred in New Zealand. Before the Leeds Test, he spoke about how he felt that the long-term injuries to knee and hamstring had produced some unhelpful changes to his action and how hard he had worked to get back to bowling as he had done about five years ago when at his peak as a bowler.
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Two of his wickets on the second day, that of Thakur and Kamboj, showed him at his best, with balls that angled in, bounced and nipped away, while a well-aimed bouncer to Sundar brought his third wicket. He now has 16 wickets for the series, the most of any bowler on either side, and the most he has taken in a series before.
After the dismissal of Thakur, Pant had come hobbling to the middle to great, appreciative cheers from the crowd. Despite the rumours that his series was done and his foot broken, there had been no official word from BCCI until 45 minutes into play, when they announced he would not be keeping wicket for the rest of the match but would bat “as required”.
After making 17 painful runs, Pant has his off stump removed by Archer for the second time in the series
STEVE TAYLOR/SHUTTERSTOCK
In the end, he made 17 off 27 balls faced in the morning, including a jabbed drive for four through the covers that brought up his half-century. It was a brave effort, because he was clearly in pain, and unable to run freely, and it meant India were able to add 35 more runs while he was at the crease. He had no answer to a thunderbolt from Archer, that sent his off stump cartwheeling spectacularly.