Stumps: India 310-5 (Gill 114, Jadeja 41)
That’s yer lot. Woakes can’t find a dramatic last over breakthrough for England but both sides will be happy with their work today. India probably nudge it with runs on the board and with Gill and Jadeja set, but, as they know all too well after Headingley the visitors need to be looking at 550-600 to bat England out of the game. And even then they don’t have Jasprit Bumrah to call upon with the ball. It’s all set up for an intriguing day two.
85th over: India 310-5 (Gill 114, Jadeja 41)
Key events
James Wallace
Okay doke, time for me to bid adieu. Ali Martin’s report will be along any moment. Thanks for your company, join us again tomorrow for day two. Goodnight!
In case you missed it… today’s Spin by Daniel Gallan on a hidden and cricketing corner of London town:
Simon Burnton was out and about at Edgbaston today:
FAO Michael White (78th over) “The University of Kent British Cartoon Archive has a complete archive of Punch magazine from 1841 through to 2002. Not online though, but Michael could try them.”
Thanks Patrick Fullick!
https://www.kent.ac.uk/library/special-collections/british-cartoon-archive/punch-collection
Stumps: India 310-5 (Gill 114, Jadeja 41)
That’s yer lot. Woakes can’t find a dramatic last over breakthrough for England but both sides will be happy with their work today. India probably nudge it with runs on the board and with Gill and Jadeja set, but, as they know all too well after Headingley the visitors need to be looking at 550-600 to bat England out of the game. And even then they don’t have Jasprit Bumrah to call upon with the ball. It’s all set up for an intriguing day two.
85th over: India 310-5 (Gill 114, Jadeja 41)
84th over: India 308-5 (Gill 113, Jadeja 40) India accumulate four runs off Carse’s over but despite some gardenign Monty Don would be proud of the over is done with two minutes left on the clock. We will have one more from the Wizard to close out the day.
83rd over: India 304-5 (Gill 110, Jadeja 39) Just a single off Woakesy. That might be him done for the day. In another universe he picked up four or five wickets today and heads home with his cow’s lick proudly popped.
“I had a good giggle on the way home from work at Michael Vaughan’s assertion on TMS that the bowlers were having a chat with Umpire Dean Gaffney.” says Charlie Tinsley. “I can only assume Barry off EastEnders was at fine leg.”
Did you know, umpire Wellard* Kettleborough will become England’s most capped on-field Test umpire when he stands in the second Test between West Indies and Australia in Grenada from tomorrow? Now you do.
*Richard. But fine to join in.
82nd over: India 303-5 (Gill 109, Jadeja 39) Brydon Carse shares the new ball but sends down something of a scrappy over, full and too wide. Gill throws his hands at an exceedingly wide half volley and picks up four with a thick outside edge. Carse is hobbling a bit, he has a history of troublesome toes… which could be the name of a Crosby, Stills and Nash tune. But isn’t. Three hundred up for India. It sounds kind of mad, but I think this is an honours even sort of day.
81st over: India 296-5 (Gill 102, Jadeja 39) Jadeja edges Woakes between slip and gully! It was very catchable but bisected the England catchers perfectly.
80th over: India 291-5 (Gill 102, Jadeja 35) The new ball is taken. Here comes Chris Woakes.
Shubman Gill gets down on his haunches and sweeps Root for consecutive fours to go to his century! He enjoyed that one, a leap and a regal bow to the crowd. Warmly applauded at Edgbaston. It’s been a tightly structured innings, but, dare I say it, not one that has hurt England. Yet.
79th over: India 283-5 (Gill 94, Jadeja 35) Bashir rattles though another over. Here’s Joseph Edward Root to whirl through an over of spin before the new ball is taken.
78th over: India 280-5 (Gill 92, Jadeja 34) Shot. Gill plays that short armed glide from close to his body and picks up four off Tongue. India’s captain into the nineties.
“Hi James, your reference to a Beckettian passage of play reminds me of a lovely article in Punch magazine around 1970 which was written as a review of the second Test at Lord’s as if it was a Beckett play. I wonder if there are any OBOers as old as me who can remember it? I’d love to find a copy, as I only have a hazy memory. It spoke of men dressed all in white wandering aimlessly around a field, while the real action took place in a box suspended above the field of play where older men reminisced about heroic deeds of the past.”
Oooft we’ve gone highbrow at the end of day one. Can anyone help Michael White out?
England and Ben Stokes must go on. They can’t go on. They will go on.
77th over: India 275-5 (Gill 87, Jadeja 34) There’s a lengthy delay and no little booing as Gill gets treatment whilst lying prone on the outfield. Nowt wrong with Jadeja’s movement though, Bashir tosses one up and is clubbed wide of mid on for four. Shadows lengthening at Edgbaston, we’ll probably get five more overs in, a couple of which could be with the new Dukes.
76th over: India 270-5 (Gill 86, Jadeja 30) Jadeja stands tall on his tippytoes and punches Josh Tongue through the covers for four. One of the shots of the day. A single guided to point brings Gill on strike. The Indian captain looks to be struggling with a bit of a dicky lower back. A pull shot is hauled in by Duckett on the leg-side fence. We’re going to have a bit of a delay whilst the physio works some essential oils/voltarol into Shubman’s lumbar region.
75th over: India 262-5 (Gill 83, Jadeja 25) Bashir whistles through another over. England’s eyes are firmly on the new ball. Shubman’s Gill’s are on a Test match ton and being unbeaten overnight.
74th over: India 259-5 (Gill 82, Jadeja 23) Josh Tongue does indeed replace Stokes. Very sensible. The field is set back – are we going to see a bouncer barrage? Double bluff – Tongue is full and at the stumps but Gill is equal to it, holding the pose in his defence and leaving with considerably more success than Nitish Kumar Reddy…
Some plonker wrote this about the leave.
Hear that? Pitter patter of footsteps. Whoosh. Silence. Thud. Groan. The sound of leather not on willow. Cricket revolves around the tussle between bat and ball. But in order to make runs, batting in the longest format is as much about survival and occupation: of actively choosing not to hit the ball.According to CricViz, 16% of all deliveries in Test cricket are left, which makes the abjuration of a stroke comfortably the second most common “shot” in the format after the forward defensive. All that energy expended over nothing. A Beckettian passage of play that repeats sometimes over a hundred times a Test match. Day after day. Nothing happens. Somebody bowls. Somebody lets it go. It’s … absorbing?”
73rd over: India 258-5 (Gill 82, Jadeja 22) Jadeja takes a couple of strides down the wicket and deposits Bashir back over his bonce for four.
72nd over: India 252-5 (Gill 81, Jadeja 17) Harry Brook pulls off a diving stop at backward point to save a few runs for his side and his captain. Stokes has bowled five on the spin, might be time for some Josh Tongue, mind that red zone Benjamin!
71st over: India 247-5 (Gill 79, Jadeja 15) “I’m not sure India are in that bad a position” writes Paul Griffin. “They could easily get 350/400 and could unleash the best fast bowler in the w… what? Oh.”
70th over: India 246-5 (Gill 78, Jadeja 15) Stokes is around the wicket to Jadeja with two slips and a gully in place. Jadeja batting in his cable knit short sleeve jumper despite the positively tropical midlands weather. Two singles scampered.
69th over: India 244-5 (Gill 77, Jadeja 14) Bashir replaces Carse and pins Jadeja on the pad… the bowler likes it a lot and starts skipping down the wicket but the umpire is unmoved. After a hurried meeting in the middle Stokes decides not to review it. ooooft. Clipping leg stump, another decision doesn’t go England’s way on umpire’s call. Bashir could do with a wicket like that, just for the optics if anything. All of his wickets so far in the series have been caught in the deep.
68th over: India 243-5 (Gill 77, Jadeja 13) Gill plays the ugliest shot of his innings in trying to smear a wide ball from Stokes through the off side. No one came out of that too well tbh. Drinks are taken with about an hour or so left in the day, the new ball is twelve overs away so England might get an over or two with that tonight if they get a wiggle on.
67th over: India 238-5 (Gill 76, Jadeja 9) Gill caresses a wide Carse delivery backward of point for four with Andrex soft hands. The bowler follows up with a speared in yorker. He goes full again and is picked off for a couple of singles. India rebuilding after Pant and Reddy fell in a flash.
66th over: India 232-5 (Gill 71, Jadeja 8) Stokes is a bit too loose and is duly punished – one short ball is pulled nonchalantly by Gill and another is smoked square on the cut by Jadeja. Two boundaries in the over and Stokes stomps off with his sunhat looking like the proverbial nettle chewing bulldog.
65th over: India 223-5 (Gill 66, Jadeja 4) Carse thunders through a maiden.
The Grade Cricketer boys are sat just along from the Guardian blob in the press box, they are in town for their live show in Birmingham tomorrow night, apparently some bloke called James Anderson will be joining them on stage. Me neither. Anywho – a little Antipodean birdie tells me there might be a few final tickets left if you are in town tomorrow and fancy a giggle…
64th over: India 223-5 (Gill 66, Jadeja 4) Stokes senses a moment and brings himself on for a bowl. No dice this over but you sense it is happening for England.
“Hello James, can you give a big build up to the rest of the Indian batting line up? Regards Matthew Doherty”
It’s a bit of fun.
63rd over: India 218-5 (Gill 64, Jadeja 2) Carse replaces Bashir and is around the wicket. Shot! Gill sends a high elbowed drive skimming through the covers for four. A lot rests on the Captain’s shoulders now as the set man.
“Hi Jim, I was just about to ask you if India had ever fielded a number six with a first class average of 25 when Nitish Kumar Reddy made my point rather more decisively than I could.”
Gary ‘Stick the boot in’ Naylor there.
61st over: India 212-5 (Gill 59, Jadeja 1) Ravindra Jadeja joins his captain in the middle with India spluttering and Edgbaston rocking.
WICKET! Nitish Kumar Reddy b Woakes 1 (India 211-5)
There are only two types of leave! Kumar Reddy shoulders arms and sees his off peg knocked back by a roaring Chris Woakes! England have another in the hutch and the game is tilting their way on day one.
61st over: India 210-4 (Gill 58, Reddy 1) Nitish Kumar Reddy is the new batter. This guy can play and isn’t short of confidence. He gets off the mark with a clip to leg. England are chipping away at India’s batting card on day one.
WICKET! Rishabh Pant c Crawley b Shoaib Bashir 25 (India 208-4)
India gift another wicket to England! Pant chips Bashir to Crawley at long on and the lissom limbed opener takes a decent catch. That came from nowhere – Bashir wasn’t threatening at all and the visitors are in danger of letting a promising situation slip once again. The Hollies stand give Pant a vociferous send off. His Captain didn’t look best pleased with him either.
60th over: India 208-3 (Gill 57, Pant 25) The Barmy Army start to work their way though their ‘repertoire’. Runs starting to flow more easily for India now, drives, flicks and glances off full balls. Six off the over.
59th over: India 203-3 (Gill 53, Pant 23) Bashir drops short and Pant, resembling a man beating a dusty carpet against a garden wall, hoicks behind square for four. That’s 200 up and ticking for India. They haven’t been able to get away from England as of yet but there are still nearly two hours left in the day.
58th over: India 196-3 (Gill 52, Pant 18) Woakes continues. He’s seemed to be on the edge of combustion all day after those two early and very marginal DRS decisions went against him. Some real Michael Douglas in ‘Falling Down’ energy (more film chat, seriously?) No More Mr Nice Guy.
*Three runs off the over.
57th over: India 193-3 (Gill 50, Pant 17) Jofra Archer is spotted running drinks on the boundary edge and gets a hearty cheer from the crowd. England could do with a bit of his stardust out there right about now. Bashir is plopped back over his head for four by an advancing Gill, that takes India’s captain to a pretty serene half century.
56th over: India 188-3 (Gill 46, Pant 16) Woakes stitches the dots to Gill before venturing too full and onto the pads, Gill doesn’t miss out, regally clipping through midwicket for four.
55th over: India 183-3 (Gill 42, Pant 15) Rishabh Pant is booed by some voracious souls in the Hollies as he blocks out a couple of dots to Bashir.
“I quite like Carse for Brody” says Nicholas Way. “Mayor Vaughn is tricky now B**ball is in its mature second iteration, but Duckett’s ‘whatever they score, we’ll chase’ has something of the right flavour.”
“One of the best things about Jaws is that the shark doesn’t actually make an appearance until about 80 minutes into the film.” Chimes in Simon McMahon. “The technical difficulties with Bruce – the mechanical shark – meant that Spielberg had to find other ways to build tension through inference, music and storytelling. Maybe India are doing the same with Bumrah?”
That made me smile… you son of a…
Righto, the players are back out there. Chris Woakes has changed ends (‘and Umpire’ says a wag in the press box) can he winkle up a wicket for England? Shubman Gill on strike. The Wizard runs in from the Pavillion End and lands it on a handkerchief for a maiden first up after tea.
54th over: India 182-3 (Gill 42, Pant 14)
53rd over: India 182-3 (Gill 42, Pant 14) Bashir is worked for two singles through cover and that is tea. India added 84 runs and England took one wicket in what was an absorbing and attritional session. Honours about even perhaps – BIG FINAL SESSION.
“Taking your Jaws spitballing to its grisly conclusion” says Barry Norman Will Ellen. “Surely Jasprit Bumrah plays the title role? A terrifying force of nature that has any sentient human in its vicinity quaking in their spiked boots… which makes India’s decision not to play him all the more inexplicable. Jaws without a big man eating monster isn’t quite as scary, no?”
They’re gonna need a bigger boat lotta runs.
52nd over: India 180-3 (Gill 41, Pant 13) Gill flicks Stokes off his pads and scampers two runs. Stokes is right on the money for the rest of the over – but so is Shubman. India’s skipper holds the pose on a couple of Fort Knox defensive strokes as if to say ‘get past that’.
