Live England vs India, fourth Test: Ben Stokes wins toss and opts to bowl

Telegraph

6 days ago

10:32AM
England win the toss and bowl
Shubman Gill calls incorrectly for the fourth game in a row. Ben Stokes laughs a little sheepishly and announces that - as in the first two Tests - England will bowl first. As Will said, it feels like a decent bowling day.
10:30AM
Kamboj set to make Test debut for India
Good morning from Old Trafford, where it's grey and gloomy but crucially dry. Historically, it's been a brave captain who bowls first here, but I wouldn't be surprised if both Stokes and Gill are planning to today. It feels a lovely bowling day.
Lancashire are honouring two of their great overseas players this morning, by naming a stand after Farokh Engineer and Clive Lloyd.
There was lots of whooping and hollering in the India huddle just now. Looks like the uncapped Anshul Kamboj will make his debut, having beaten Prasidh Krishna to replace the injured Akash Deep.
10:13AM
England right to embrace dark arts with Bazball legacy on the line
Shubman Gill is right: England did break the spirit of cricket with their time-wasting at Lord's, but it may well turn out to be a decisive moment in the evolution of the team.
The 'spirit of cricket' is a nebulous concept interpreted by teams according to whether they are on top or under pressure. If England are serious about embracing the darker arts then they cannot cling to notions about moral Ashes but you suspect those days have gone anyway.
England are more business-like now. The clock is ticking on Bazball and they know this series and the next will define their legacy. The results matter and that may involve sharp elbows and even sharper practices. As long as they are prepared to take it as well as dish it out then so be it.
10:11AM
Scyld Berry: 500 not out
Our chief cricket writer Scyld Berry is in the press box at Old Trafford, ready to cover his 500th England Test match. Five hundred. This piece, on his memories of the first 499, is highly recommended.
Most exciting day
It is not as if the result of this Test was anywhere close. It was the type of cricket that was exciting, and we will never see its like again, not least because umpires now do not allow more than two bouncers per over.
It was the opening match of the West Indies v England Test series in 1985-86, played at Sabina Park in Kingston (where pitches have not always been reliable). And it was cricket at its most basic, a fight for survival. It was like boxing without gloves – a fight between the heavyweight West Indies and the lightweight England. Joel Garner and Michael Holding were made to look like medium-pacers by Malcolm Marshall and his new opening partner Patrick Patterson: hence the inner game, in which the Barbadian was intent on proving he was faster than the young Jamaican.
One ball reared and passed over the heads of the batsman and wicketkeeper and then, with only one more bounce, over the boundary rope. I wish the speed of the action could be conveyed by other objective measurements, but it was the last England Test of which there was no film coverage. West Indies won, by the way.
10:03AM
Good morning
Hello and welcome to Telegraph Sport's live, over-by-over coverage the fourth Test between England and India at Old Trafford. A five-Test series is one of sport's great endurance challenges, for spectators never mind players, yet it can still have a blink-and-you'll-miss-it quality.
It feels only last week that Ben Stokes chose to bowl first on a Headingley belter. Yet here we are, heading into the final straight of a series that has slowly come to the boil. Back-to-back Tests at Old Trafford and The Oval will determine whether Ben Stokes or Shubman Gill is the first captain to lift the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
Six different results are possible, from 4-1 England all the way round to 3-2 India. But for England the situation couldn't be much simpler: if they win here they will clinch the series with a match to spare.
The good news is that the Manchester weather forecast is decent. It's overcast this morning, with a chance of rain, but it looks clear for days 2-4 and pretty good on Sunday. Given the over-rates and the quality of English pitches this summer, the two bowling attacks may need every minute they can get to take 20 wickets.
England's attack includes Liam Dawson, the left-arm spinner who has been recalled after an eight-year absence from the Test team and umpteen outstanding performances for Hampshire. Right now he is a replacement for England's No1 spinner Shoaib Bashir, but that could change in the next fortnight – especially as he is a superb batsman whose presence at No8 gives England their best lower order since the glory days of Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad.
'He is a wily, old fox, very experienced and a very skilful cricketer,' said Harry Brook, who captained Dawson in this summer's T20 series against West Indies. 'He's willing to always fight for the team, he's very competitive and it's good to have him here.'