Online Reporter
DAY Two at the Oval was played in fast forward and when England are batting this tends to mean one of two things: either the scoreboard spinning like wheels on a fruit machine and pigeons flying to all parts, or the regular clank of spikes up and down the dressing room stairs.
There was a fair bit of both, as it happened, plus tempers once again fraying, as the Friday crowd witnessed a bun fight unfold out in the middle. But while India were initially skittled for 224 by the completion of Gus Atkinson’s fourth five-wicket haul in Test cricket, England then folded to 247 all out and an opportunity to take full control had gone begging.
The injury that Chris Woakes suffered on day one not only ruined his Ashes but it also left England a bowler down in this series finale.
As well as needing to give the remainder of the attack time off their feet, this meant securing a decent lead. On a day when £124 000 was raised for Mind in memory of Graham Thorpe, England simply needed some of his appetite for the scrap.
Lasting a mere 51.2 overs and nudging just 23 runs ahead, none of this was achieved.
The hosts were undone by the only seamer to go the distance in this brutal series as – not for the first time in his career – the wild and wonderful Mohammed Siraj stepped up in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, sharing eight wickets with the recalled Prasidh Krishna.
Both quicks snarled their way through an afternoon in which the removal of six Englishmen for 106 runs swung the pendulum back to India. By the close, having been plunged back into the field, Ollie Pope’s three-man seam attack had picked up the 14th and 15th wicket of the day. But with India reaching 75 for two – a lead of 52 – a 2-2 series draw was still loading.
If so and this Test remains hugely volatile, given the seaming surface then England’s approach will once again be questioned, both the high-wire batting and their broader propensity to unspool at the end of a series. Although the most productive stand came when Bazball’s lizard brain was most in play: when conservative thoughts are fully parked and only the upside to unfettered aggression is considered. – guardian.com.
