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Stumps: India lead by 52<\/p>\n
The end of a pretty remarkable day at The Oval. Only 75 overs were bowled, but in that time we saw 342 runs, 16 wickets and thousands of Thorpey headbands.<\/p>\n
India, who looked a beaten team during a bruising the morning session, showed extraordinary resilience to fight back and then edge ahead in the game. They were inspired by Mohammed Siraj, who took out England\u2019s entire middle order across two superb spells.<\/p>\n
England need something similar from Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue or Jamie Overton tomorrow morning. If not, they could be facing their fourth consecutive 2-2 draw at home to India or Australia.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a>Bad light stops play<\/p>\n The umpires tell Ollie Pope he can\u2019t bowl his fast bowlers because of the deteriorating light. \u201cWe don\u2019t have spin,\u201d he says to Kumar Dharmasena. \u201cNah only joking.\u201d<\/p>\n England don\u2019t have a specialist spinner, just Joe Root and Jacob Bethell, and Pope decides that\u2019s too big a risk against Jaiswal. The players leave the field and that\u2019ll be stumps.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 18th over: India 75-2 (Jaiswal 51, Deep 4) <\/strong>Akash Deep comes out as nightwatchman and chips his first ball for four. It didn\u2019t go where he intended, not he will or should care.<\/p>\n Incidentally, replays showed that Sudharsan was in the process of walking off when he heard something, presumably from Duckett, and turned back towards the England huddle.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>WICKET! India 70-2 (Sudharsan LBW b Atkinson 11)<\/p>\n Gus Atkinson traps Sudharsan LBW with a straight delivery from round the wicket. It hit both pads and knocked Sudharsan off his feet. Sudharsan reviewed \u2013 no idea why \u2013 and then had angry words with Duckett before leaving the field.<\/p>\n Sai Sudharsan and Ben Duckett exchange pleasantries as the Indian batsman walks off. Photograph: Paul Childs\/Action Images\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.17 EDT<\/p>\n 17th over: India 70-1 (Jaiswal 51, Sudharsan 11) <\/strong>Jaiswal bends his back to steer Overton for six over the keeper\u2019s head, a cracking shot that brings up a 44-ball fifty<\/strong>. He\u2019s giving England a taste of their own medicine, taking the game away form them at dizzying speed.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 16th over: India 64-1 (Jaiswal 45, Sudharsan 11) <\/strong>Tongue takes a break, with Atkinson replacing him. He starts well with an accurate maiden to Sudharsan.<\/p>\n There are 25 minutes\u2019 play remaining tonight. England need a wicket in that time, ideally Jaiswal.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 15th over: India 64-1 (Jaiswal 45, Sudharsan 11) <\/strong>Now Sudharsan has been put down in the slips. That\u2019s the third dropped catch of the innings<\/strong>. Sudharsan drove at Overton, bowling round the wicket, and snicked it to the left of Crawley at third slip. He was beaten for pace and could only punch the ball for three runs.<\/p>\n England look flat, slightly aggrieved too. A series victory \u2013 which looked nailed-on on last Saturday and even earlier today \u2013 could be slipping away.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Jaiswal dropped by Dawson<\/p>\n 14th over: India 56-1 (Jaiswal 41, Sudharsan 7) <\/strong>Oof, Jaiswal has been dropped<\/strong>. That feels like a huge moment. He hooked Tongue straight to long leg, where the substitute Liam Dawson lost sight of the ball and shelled what would otherwise have been a routine catch. He\u2019s quite lucky it didn\u2019t do a number on his front teeth.<\/p>\n Tongue has a big LBW shout against Sudharsan turned down by Ahsan Raza later in the over. It was straight enough but probably too high. Tongue\u2019s figures (7-1-25-1) don\u2019t tell the story of a genuinely brilliant spell.<\/p>\n Liam Dawson drops a huge chance at long leg. That was massive. Photograph: Stu Forster\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.02 EDT<\/p>\n 13th over: India 55-1 (Jaiswal 40, Sudharsan 7) <\/strong>A maiden from Overton to Sudharsan, who is leaving as many deliveries as possible. His temperament looks suited to batting No3.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 12th over: India 55-1 (Jaiswal 40, Sudharsan 7) <\/strong>Sudharsan gets off the mark by turning Tongue wide of Bethell at leg slip for four. That tactic has been successful against Sudharsan but right now, in the sixth over of a ferocious spell, I\u2019m not sure Tongue needs to deviate from his usual line.<\/p>\n Eight from the over. India lead by 32.<\/strong><\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.52 EDT<\/p>\n 11th over: India 47-1 (Jaiswal 39, Sudharsan 0) <\/strong>Overton angles a delivery across Sudharsan. At first I thought Sudharsan was beaten but on reflection he played well inside the line; he does that a lot and must be a nightmare for the data bros who record things like false strokes and plays and misses.<\/p>\n \u201cHave you noticed?\u201d says John Starbuck. \u201cJosh Tongue, when he takes a wicket, sticks his tongue out. Well done him, on several levels.\u201d<\/p>\n Thank goodness Harry Butt was a wicketkeeper.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 10th over: India 46-1 (Jaiswal 38, Sudharsan 0) <\/strong>KL Rahul ends the most productive series of his career with 532 runs at 53.20. The pleasure was all ours.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>WICKET! India 46-1 (Rahul c Root b Tongue 7)<\/p>\n Josh Tongue gets his reward for a barnstorming spell of bowling. KL Rahul starts to open the face of the bat, then tries to leave the ball at the last minute. Too late: it runs off the face to first slip, where Joe Root takes a nice tumbling catch. England needed that wicket.<\/p>\n Josh Tongue with the breakthrough! Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The GuardianShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.40 EDT<\/p>\n 9th over: India 41-0 (Jaiswal 33, Rahul 7) <\/strong>Jamie Overton replaces Atkinson, whose first spell of 4-1-22-0 confirmed how brilliantly he bowled in the first innings.<\/p>\n Jaiswal knows what\u2019s coming \u2013 short stuff \u2013 and uppercuts deliberately for six<\/strong>. That\u2019s a brilliant stroke. Jaiswal\u2019s pulsating start has made India favourites, a scenario that was almost unimaginable five hours ago. They lead by 18 runs.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Read Simon Burnton on \u2018A Day for Thorpey\u2019Share<\/a><\/p>\n 8th over: India 34-0 (Jaiswal 25, Rahul 7) <\/strong>Tongue starts his fourth over with a perfect yorker that is skilfully dug out by Jaiswal. Good lord, what has Tongue had for supper? He\u2019s bowling spectacularly.<\/p>\n Jaiswal blatantly copies Ben Duckett charges the next ball and misses an almighty yahoo. The next ball brings a run-out chance<\/strong>, missed by Duckett, when Jaiswal calls Rahul through for a dodgy single on the off side.<\/p>\n Rahul continues an eventful over by square-driving Tongue\u2019s first poor delivery for four. Compelling stuff.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 7th over: India 29-0 (Jaiswal 25, Rahul 3) <\/strong><\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 6th over: India 28-0 (Jaiswal 24, Rahul 3) <\/strong>Tongue beats Rahul four times in an outstanding over, almost comically good. The third of the four led to a big appeal for caught behind; England decided not review and replays showed the ball hit only the flap of the pad. Brilliant umpiring from Ahsan Raza.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.17 EDT<\/p>\n 5th over: India 26-0 (Jaiswal 24, Rahul 1) <\/strong>Fantastic shot! Atkinson, who hasn\u2019t been able to pick up where he left off this morning, is driven exquisitely through extra cover by Jaiswal. That\u2019s his fifth boundary in the last 10 balls.<\/p>\n He makes it six fours in 13 balls when Harry Brook drops a sharp chance at second slip<\/strong>. Brook was beaten for pace and could only help the ball on its way to the fence. I reckon Brook would take that maybe eight times out of 10.<\/p>\n That last boundary has taken India into the lead<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Harry Brook chases the ball down to the boundary rope. Photograph: Henry Nicholls\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a013.16 EDT<\/p>\n 4th over: India 17-0 (Jaiswal 16, Rahul 0) <\/strong>Jaiswal, cramped from room by a good ball from Tongue, still manages to force a cut into the ground and between third slip and gully for four. Dangerous signs here for England.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 3rd over: India 12-0 (Jaiswal 12, Rahul 0) <\/strong>Jaiswal gets off the mark with a sumptuous on-drive for four off Atkinson. He could be so dangerous in a lowish-scoring game, something that is easy to overlook give his modest form in the second half of the series.<\/p>\n Jaiswal proves that point by taking two more boundaries in the over, a thick edge followed by a withering cut stroke. In the first innings Atkinson conceded only one boundary in 130 deliveries; in the second he\u2019s been hit for three in 12.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2nd over: India 0-0 (Jaiswal 0, Rahul 0) <\/strong>Josh Tongue shares the new ball. His third delivery, left safely on length by Rahul, comes back so sharply that Jamie Smith has to dive a long way to his left to save four byes.<\/p>\n In the first innings, Tongue was all over The Oval. He starts the second with an excellent maiden, very accurate.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 1st over: India 0-0 (Jaiswal 0, Rahul 0) <\/strong>Gus Atkinson opens up to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has been out for 0 in the second innings of the last two Tests. He tries to get off the mark with a sizzling cut off the first ball; Ben Duckett denies him with a fine stop. Instead it\u2019s a maiden, including the obligatory play and miss when Atkinson gets one to hold its line from round the wicket.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A reminder that play can continue until 7.30pm<\/strong>, with a maximum of 33 overs to be bowled. It\u2019s a big hour 100-odd minutes for England\u2019s makeshift attack.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>WICKET! England 247 all out (Brook b Siraj 53)<\/p>\n Siraj finishes the job with a nipbacker that Brook drags onto the stumps. He has inspired a mighty fightback from India, who were facing a 3-1 series defeat when England vroomed to 129 for 1. Siraj finishes with 4 for 86 having wiped out England\u2019s middle order: Pope, Root, Brook and Bethell, all LBW or bowled.<\/p>\n Krishna also recovered excellently to finish with 4 for 62. But Siraj, the only seamer bowl in every innings of this series, was the driving force.<\/p>\n That\u2019s it for England in the first innings. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The GuardianShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.55 EDT<\/p>\n 51st over: England 247-8 (Brook 53, Tongue 0) <\/strong>The slow dance continues. Brook takes a single off the fourth ball, Tongue does the rest.<\/p>\n England lead by 23.<\/strong><\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 50th over: England 246-8 (Brook 52, Tongue 0) <\/strong>Brook slaps Siraj for two to reach an excellent fifty: at times mature and controlled, at others outrageous and beyond the scope of the Collins Dictionary.<\/p>\n Brook\u2019s unsuccessful attempt to steal another two almost leads a run-out at both ends. No matter: Tongue continues his Geoff Allott tribute act by playing out the rest of the over. Okay, I\u2019m getting carried away: Tongue has faced five balls, Allott batted for 77<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSome wonderful and poignant messages today on Graham Thorpe,\u201d writes Darren Vickers. \u201cWhat an incredible bunch the OBO community is. I could say that I\u2019ve felt like I had \u2018something in my eye\u2019 all day whilst reading the messages, but in the spirt of Thorpey, let\u2019s ditch the euphemism and just acknowledge the emotional and open messages that are being written on depression and mental illness.<\/p>\n \u201cMy own memory of watching Thorpe is of a standout player in what were otherwise some very average England teams. One of my favourite ever players and I\u2019ve always wanted a Kookaburra bat (yellow grip) as a result. Always felt a great shame to me that he was one series away from the 2005 Ashes and being able to enjoy that after so much toil.\u201d<\/p>\n As sad as I was for Thorpe, who along with Robin Smith was my teenhood hero, I always thought there was something fitting about our most Australian player have his career ended in such an unsentimental manner.<\/p>\n The great Graham Thorpe playing for England in 2004. Photograph: David Davies\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.43 EDT<\/p>\n 49th over: England 243-8 (Brook 49, Tongue 0) <\/strong>Mohammed Siraj has come back out wearing a Graham Thorpe headband. When the book of this series is written, Siraj will be one of the lead characters.<\/p>\n Brook turns down a single off Krishna, then takes one off his fourth delivery. Tongue survives the remainder of the over.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The players are back on the field.<\/strong> Let\u2019s get it on.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cToday has been the best of this strange, quirky, fully lovely place,\u201d<\/strong> writes Guy Hornsby, and I have a bad feeling he\u2019s referring to you lot. \u201cI\u2019ve been reading the OBO as long as it\u2019s been around, and sending in mostly drivel since the late 2000s. In some of those years it really did feel like a therapy session as England fell in a comfortingly familiar heap and the rest of us grasped onto anything to distract from it.<\/p>\n \u201cLife, as they say, imitates art, and some of the beautiful, sad, and admirably honest correspondents today have shown that cricket truly is the backdrop to our existence, the best and worst of it. I loved Graham Thorpe dearly and was devastated last year when the worst suspicions were confirmed. He embodied what we all wanted to be back then, raging against defeat, full of style and grit. If the world we\u2019re in now is much kinder then the one he played in, that\u2019s no better reason to remember to talk to each other, however desperate it might feel. Thanks to all the OBOers for giving us a chance to bypass things and lean into what we love.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Play will restart at 5.25pm<\/p>\n Woot! Woot woot!<\/p>\n If the weather holds, the evening session will be extended until 7.30pm. If, iffity, if.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.19 EDT<\/p>\n The covers are going on<\/strong><\/p>\n And the umbrellas are going back up. Play needs to resume by 6.30pm or the umpires will call stumps.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The covers are coming off<\/strong><\/p>\n No news yet on a restart time but as I type it\u2019s dry at The Oval.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a012.05 EDT<\/p>\n Weather update<\/strong><\/p>\n The Sky commentators are suggesting light rain could linger for around an hour. That\u2019s bad news for England, who want to bowl as many overs as possible before the close. The more they bowl tonight, the less likely they are to need a long spell from Joe Root and\/or Jacob Bethell tomorrow.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n In case you missed it earlier<\/strong><\/p>\n Share<\/a>Rain stops play<\/p>\n 48th over: England 242-8 (Brook 48, Tongue 0) <\/strong>Harry Brook lap-sweeps Siraj for six<\/strong>, a bonkers shot played while falling over towards the off side like Rishabh Pant. That\u2019s left half the ground agape. Not Siraj, who stomps back to his mark with a face like the apocalypse.<\/p>\n Brook gives Tongue one delivery to survive at the end of the over, which he does. But the skies are closing in at The Oval and the umpires have called for the covers. Hopefully it\u2019ll only be a short break.<\/p>\n Unconventional is an understatement. Photograph: Andy Kearns\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.46 EDT<\/p>\n 47th over: England 235-8 (Brook 41, Tongue 0) <\/strong>These are the best figures of Krishna\u2019s fledging Test career: 4 for 60 from 14 overs.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.38 EDT<\/p>\n WICKET! England 235-8 (Atkinson c Deep b Krishna 11)<\/p>\n Atkinson drives Krishna handsomely for four \u2013 but then he cloths a pull to mid-on, where Deep takes a comfortable catch. England have a slender lead of 11.<\/p>\n Prasidh Krishna celebrates after taking the wicket of Gus Atkinson. Photograph: Paul Childs\/Action Images\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.44 EDT<\/p>\n 46th over: England 231-7 (Brook 40, Atkinson 7) <\/strong>Siraj beats Atkinson on the inside with a snorter that bounces over the stumps. Atkinson puts England into the lead and then extends it with a cleverly placed steer to the right of backward point.<\/p>\n England are in a hurry. Runs are the primary consideration \u2013 next stop, rocket science \u2013 but time is also a factor for England and their three-man attack. If these two bat for an hour and score at five an over, tremendous; if they\u2019re dismissed soon, England\u2019s seamers can bowl around 30 overs tonight and then get some rest.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.36 EDT<\/p>\n 45th over: England 224-7 (Brook 39, Atkinson 2) <\/strong>The injury to Woakes means England are effectively eight down, with only Josh Tongue to come. Atkinson gives himself room and smashed Krishna through point for \u2026 a single, as there\u2019s a fielder out. But he timed the silken undercrackers off that one.<\/p>\n The scores are level,<\/strong><\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 44th over: England 220-7 (Brook 36, Atkinson 1) <\/strong>Siraj drops Atkinson<\/strong>, a stinging return catch, and then almost bowls Brook round his legs.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 43rd over: England 216-7 (Brook 33, Atkinson 0) <\/strong>Krishna completes a double-wicket maiden with a dot ball to Gus Atkinson. With Harry Brook still at the crease, the next half hour could be a lot of fun.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n An extended evening session<\/strong> \u2013 play can continue until 7pm \u2013 begins with the entire ground standing for a minute\u2019s applause in memory of Graham Thorpe. So far \u00a3108,000 has been raised in support of the mental health charity Mind. Buy a headband, it\u2019s the least any of us can do.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Have you bought your Graham Thorpe headband?<\/strong> If not, you know what to do<\/a>. Mine will be stretched around my big, bald, empty head every time I go to the gym, and I don\u2019t care how many quizzical looks I get from the beefcake brethren.<\/p>\n Bjorn Stokes wears his Graham Thorpe tribute headband. Photograph: Javier Garc\u00eda\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n