Key events
32nd over: India 107-2 (Gill 16, Rahul 37) Can’t be long before Shoaib Bashir gets the chance to twirl. Woakes goes full to Gill, who responds with the straightest of bats, the on-drive sending the ball to the ropes.
31st over: India 103-2 (Gill 12, Rahul 37) Archer has a short-ball field in place as he tries to bump Rahul. A pull shot follows with the next delivery, but it’s controlled, the ball running low for one. Gill tries something funky, backing away to the leg side to try and swat through off; he doesn’t make clean contact. Gill pulls to end the over but the ball lands safely.
30th over: India 101-2 (Gill 11, Rahul 36) Woakes sends one down the leg side, with Smith failing to hold on – the batters nick a bye. Gill’s immaculate front-foot defence closes the over.
29th over: India 98-2 (Gill 11, Rahul 34) The players take drinks before Archer winds up from the Nursery End. Gill doesn’t look fussed at all, even when ducking under an Archer bouncer. A coaching-manual defence comes out as Ravi Shastri takes great joy from watching spectators devour ice cream. We’ve hit a proper afternoon lull.
28th over: India 98-2 (Gill 11, Rahul 34) Jamie Smith comes up to the stumps for Woakes, who concedes another boundary, a controlled outside edge bringing Gill four. It’s been a struggle so far for the attack leader, his economy rate up to five.
27th over: India 93-2 (Gill 6, Rahul 34) Archer gets a change of ends as Gill takes three off the over, the quick sending a couple down the leg side.
26th over: India 90-2 (Gill 3, Rahul 34) Woakes is back and attacks with the element of surprise, forcing Rahul to dig out a yorker. The opener whips with delight later in the over, the boundary taking him to 32. Another ball on the pads brings Rahul two.
25th over: India 80-2 (Gill 2, Rahul 25) Stokes, who has bowled a pretty disciplined spell, delivers a maiden.
More global correspondence coming in, first from Chris Prettejohn:
Sitting here with my cricket loving family in Ho Chi Minh City on a backpacking holiday not able to listen or use the BBC due to government censorship so watching the OBO on the Guardian instead. Go Jofra!
Then Paul Moody:
In my hammock in Brasil following you but also trying to track some tennis. Hoping it goes for 5 days and Gil stays in double digits.
24th over: India 80-2 (Gill 2, Rahul 25) Archer gets to launch at Gill, who leaves the first ball well alone outside off. The forward defence comes out before Gill pulls for one off the penultimate delivery.
23rd over: India 79-2 (Gill 1, Rahul 25) Gill gets a single off Stokes to open his account before Rahul clips down the leg side for four. I’m telling you all: Rahul’s on for a big one.
22nd over: India 74-2 (Gill 0, Rahul 21) Archer is back to have a go at Gill. He has to take on Rahul first, and an 88mph bumper rattles the glove, the batter doing well to keep the ball down. The Archer-Gill battle is delayed.
21st over: India 74-2 (Gill 0, Rahul 21) Another start for Nair, another middling score. Out comes the man who just bats, bats, bats, and bats. Shubman Gill sees out four dots.
WICKET! Nair c Root b Stokes 40 (India 74-2)
A stunner from Joe Root at slip. Stokes finds Nair’s outside edge and Root leaps low to his left, his left claw doing the rest. The TV umpire checks it out but it’s safely pouched. With that, Root now has 211 catches in Test cricket, the most by a fielder in the format.
20th over: India 74-1 (Nair 40, Rahul 21) Nair picks up three off Carse, Rahul takes two. And then comes this unexpected name from Peter Salmon on the subject of fluent bowling actions.
Always thought Greg Chappell had a beautiful bowling action, more or less invented the dibbly-dobbly too. how good is this vid? And how plumb was Vic Marks when given not out the first ball of it?
19th over: India 69-1 (Nair 37, Rahul 19) Rahul leans in for a cover drive, a shot that has decorated his series so far. England get awfully excited after Stokes arrows one into Rahul’s front pad, the ball then lobbing up for a catch in the cordon. England decide to review: there’s no inside-edge on it, and the ball’s shown to be going down the leg side.
18th over: India 65-1 (Nair 37, Rahul 15) The 50 partnership comes up, but it’s a bit misleading; Rahul looks more at ease than Nair, the former my bet for a big score.
17th over: India 57-1 (Nair 29, Rahul 15) Stokes, after that injury concern yesterday, looks fine at the moment, thundering in with the ball to concede four off the over.
16th over: India 53-1 (Nair 26, Rahul 14) Nair hasn’t had it easy so far but he’s battling. He drives well against Carse, who responds with a delicious nip-backer to end the over.
Dan Johnson writes in:
In the 2006-07 ashes series my wife and I had just moved to Australia (to coincide with the cricket) and went to the Gabba, MCG and SCG (you all know the results).
We had some friends over from England in January and went to see the one-dayer at the SCG. England batted first and did pretty well, but we had to leave at change of innings as we had a restaurant booked. England then went on to win, their first actual non-rubbish performance the tour, but we missed it!
15th over: India 47-1 (Nair 21, Rahul 13) Ben Stokes thunders in to get us underway … and he has Nair caught down the leg side! The finger goes up but Nair reviews immediately – turns out it flicked his trousers.
Some lovely shouts here from Avitaj Mitra:
Of all the ones I have seen live, Shane Bond and Pollock stand out to me for different reasons. Bond for pure liquid grace and Pollock for efficiency.
As a lefty myself, a shout out to Nathan Bracken for an extremely smooth action, and he should definitely have played more than 5 tests in my opinion.
Hamish Simmers takes us back 40 years.
Further to Tom’s comment from the 8th over
I grew up in NZ. I was at Carisbrook in Dunedin for the first day of third test between NZ and PAK as a 9yo in Feb 1985.
We left around 5.30pm feeling deflated, with Pakistan on 240 for 2 and Qasim Umar 96 not out.
By the time we got home half an hour later, Hadlee had a 5-for and Pakistan were 251 for 7.
NZ went on to put on an unbeaten 50-run partnership for the last wicket in the fourth innings (Coney and Chatfield, after Cairns retired hurt) to win the match and pull off one of the greatest comebacks in cricket history.
Some more correspondence on the subject of lovely bowling actions.
Charles Tinsley writes:
There is some very grainy footage of Larwood online and it really is worth a look. Graceful and ballistic in equal measure.
Jeremy Boyce says:
speaking of effortless bowling actions, I would put Curtley and Joel in that category, 15 paces and WHAAM ! My fave fast action ever was (knock ‘is fu**ing ‘ead off) Thommo in his pomp, LOTS of effort, slingshot like Jasprit, and devastating results.
Tea
14th over: India 44-1 (Nair 18, Rahul 13) Woakes is wobbling the seam around, with Stokes jazzing up his field, multiple catching midwickets in place. A ball sneaks past Rahul’s outside edge to close the over and session.
13th over: India 42-1 (Nair 17, Rahul 12) Carse is applying some decent pressure, and he nearly creates a chance with the final delivery, the ball leaping off Nair’s glove but landing safe. The India doc is on, with Nair’s hand in a bit of bother.
12th over: India 42-1 (Nair 17, Rahul 12) Archer gets a breather, with Woakes returning. Stokes puts himself at a catching cover, making Rahul think twice about his luscious drives. Tidy from the seamer as he stays full to produce a maiden.
Kandukuru Nagarjun asks:
Watching his (deceptively) effortless pace, I began to think about cricket’s great, fast bowling actions. Of the ones I’ve watched, the silkiest (besides Archer) would be: Holding, Donald, Lillee, Starc… and Reon King. Who are other OBOers’ favourites?
11th over: India 42-1 (Nair 17, Rahul 12) Carse pummels the middle of the pitch – he’s definitely more of a change-bowler than a new-ball exponent. The Durham quick gets one to leap past Nair’s outside edge.
10th over: India 41-1 (Nair 17, Rahul 11) Nair pops the ball up with a drive, but it’s too wide to be a caught-and-bowled opportunity. Rahul is far more comfortable, driving along the carpet to get off strike. Archer has rhythm but needs protection, too. Interesting to see if Stokes turns to him for a sixth over …
Ian Batch writes in:
Regards Tom Davies email – My friend Greg went out to South Africa to watch England play. On the day Stokes went crazy and hit 200+ my mate decided to miss that days play to go up Table Mountain instead. I’m sure he had a lovely time etc but missed one of the great Stokes innings.
9th over: India 39-1 (Nair 16, Rahul 10) Carse replaces Woakes, and the Durham quick finds a bit of nip away from the right-hander. Some wonderful replays pop up of Archer celebrating his wicket – he had a big old bear hug with Shoaib Bashir, who was as pumped as the quick.
8th over: India 37-1 (Nair 15, Rahul 9) Gorgeous from Archer as he gets the ball to zip past Nair’s outside edge. The batter responds well later in the over, punching to the long-off rope for four. Stokes, at leg slip, is nearly in play as Nair gloves one to the fine-leg boundary. Another tidy drive follows.
Our very own Tom Davies writes in:
Greetings from my day off in a chargrilled grandstand at Lord’s, where the water queues are three times longer than the beer ones. I was stuck in one when Archer got Jaisval just now. Which got me to thinking, what champagne moments have readers been present at but missed due to being stuck on the concourse. There must be people who were in the loo during Flintoff’s magic over at Edgbaston in 2005 for example.
PS the over rates in this Test are an insult to the paying public
7th over: India 27-1 (Nair 5, Rahul 9) Rahul pulls away for four and even when he edges to the cordon, soft hands keep the ball low. He already has a Lord’s ton to his name and knows exactly how to go about it in these conditions.
Colum Fordham writes:
The joy of watching Jofra Archer run up to bowl for England in a test match transcends even the thrill of witnessing the marvellously tigerish batsmanship of Jamie Smith. And to see him snaffle Jaiswal’s wicket is, for me, the highlight of the test thus far. Poetry in motion.
6th over: India 23-1 (Nair 5, Rahul 5) Archer loses his line for the first time, going down the leg side to Rahul. There is a leg slip in position as Rahul, with great skill, deftly drops Archer into the off side to steal a single. A bouncer fizzes through to Nair, who goes all Matrix with his duck. India’s No 3 squirts the ball behind point for two.
5th over: India 20-1 (Nair 3, Rahul 4) Woakes, as brilliant as he is, isn’t the event at the moment. Three off the over as we return to Archer, the headliner.
The OBO’s reach is wide. Kevin Rodgers writes in:
Up in Juoksengi Sweden (pop: 255) on the Arctic circle following Guardian OBO. Perfect blue skies, 24 degrees and – if the locals knew the first thing about the game – a great place for a village cricket match. Unlikely, to happen if I’m honest.
4th over: India 17-1 (Nair 2, Rahul 2) Rahul bunts Archer to get off strike immediately. The quick is getting some very healthy bounce, his third ball clocking in at 91mph. But he’s never been solely about pace. What made him so brilliant in 2019 was the control that came with it, and he maintains a disciplined line outside off to keep Nair quiet.
3rd over: India 16-1 (Nair 2, Rahul 1) Still got goosebumps from that Archer over. Woakes, after a tricky beginning, gets the ball to jag away from Nair, who got starts at Edgbaston. Another jaffa follows moments later, Woakes having found his line with two right-handers now at the crease.
2nd over: India 13-1 (Nair 0, Rahul 0) Archer greets Karun Nair with a 93mph bouncer, the line wide and safe for the right-hander to leave. He’s back.
WICKET! Jaiswal c Brook b Archer 13 (India 13-1)
After four years away, Jofra Archer returns. And it takes him just three deliveries to strike! With the seam angled to the slip cordon, he gets enough movement to catch Jaiswal’s outside edge, with Brook gobbling up at second slip. Archer is pumped, full of joy and release. What a beautiful, beautiful moment.
