Six years on, England pacer Archer has a moment to savour.. again
It might not have sounded amazing and unbelievable had the 30-year-old pacer been a regular part of England Test team as Archer loves the speed and is known to crank it up.
Given the fact that he was making a Test comeback after 1595 days and a long rehab post multiple surgeries on his elbow, the spell gained prominence. Not to forget the stress fracture on his back.
It was not only about speed as the bowler claimed 5/107 across the match, the joint most among the English bowlers, to hand his team a famous victory in a pulsating match. His scalps included the all-important wicket of Rishabh Pant on Day Five, which swung the balance in England's favour.
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Indian Express
28 minutes ago
- Indian Express
‘He is not outstanding with the ball': Moeen Ali questions Ravindra Jadeja's all-round presence in England
Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali lauded Ravindra Jadeja's stoic presence with the bat in the Lord's Test that ended in a 22-run defeat for India. However, Ali placed questions over the veteran left-arm spinner's bowling presence, having picked only three wickets in as many matches in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. After India's precipitous collapse chasing 193 against Ben Stokes' late on day four and on the final morning of play, Jadeja's vigil stood between an English win and India's hopes to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Batting with No. 10 Jasprit Bumrah and last man Mohammed Siraj, who battled for 84 balls between them, Jadeja stood unbeaten on 61 off 181 deliveries. With the rest of the top-order offering meek resistance, Jadeja's solidity was also present in the first innings of the match when he carved 72 at number six. The southpaw's batting form has carried on from Edgbaston, where he struck twin half-centuries, effectively becoming only the third Indian after Sourav Ganguly and Rishabh Pant to register four successive fifties in England. While the plaudits have come his way for his mature batsmanship, Jadeja has not quite taken the strides as India's primary spinner for the tour. 'He just knows what he's doing. I think he's done it for many years. I think he's been amazing with the bat this series, obviously. I think with the ball, he hasn't quite got the wickets, but he does what he does. He's very tight. He can bowl, but he's not outstanding… 'I think now he's at the peak of his batting. Bowling-wise, I think he just doesn't have the wickets. With the tally, I think he's bowled well, he just doesn't have the wickets,' said Ali in an interaction with India today. With Washington Sundar roped in as the second spin-bowling all-rounder, India have benched their wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav in three successive outings. Ali said he was keen to see Kuldeep get a look in. 'I would like to see Kuldeep in the team, but I don't know who for. Washington has bowled well, Jadeja batted well. So it makes it difficult to bring Kuldeep Yadav in the side. I would like to see Kuldeep in, but I don't think they can fit him in,' Ali added.
NDTV
44 minutes ago
- NDTV
Ben Stokes Gets Massive 'Modern-Day Ian Botham' Praise: "English Media Laughed..."
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Forget captaincy and, you know, the tactical side of captaincy. Ben is an absolute leader." "And when Trevor Bayliss (ex-England coach) suggested that Trevor said at the time that Ben could be the next captain of England, a lot of people in the English media laughed and said, do not be ridiculous. You know, I know that when I was involved with the England team, the more responsibility you give Ben, the better he reacts to that, and he is an absolute leader." "When Ben is doing anything, people want to be part of it. They want to be with him. And I am not saying that he is not a good tactical captain. I am not saying that for one minute, but he is an absolute leader. He's a leader of people," he continued. The ex-England assistant coach also hailed Stokes for steaming in hard while delivering his bowling spells at Lord's and keeping his team uplifted and motivated. "The way he was in the field, the run out of Pant just before lunch, you know, when they were trying to get Rahul on strike to get his hundred before lunch. I mean, that really swung the game England's way. And Ben is capable of that. You know, he is a game changer, and it is great to see him fully fit. It is great to see him with the ball in his hand running in because when he runs in, he bowls genuine wicket-taking balls. He's a game changer. You know, he is our modern Ian Botham (ex-England all-rounder). Both of them used to change the game. He used to get people out of the bars to watch him. Ben is exactly the same," he added. In three matches during the ongoing home series against India, Stokes has scored 163 runs in six innings at an average of 27.16, with a best score of 44. While a big score continues to elude him, he is England's highest-wicket-taking bowler, with 11 scalps at an average of 29.45 and best bowling figures of 4/66. Ben is indeed a man of big moments, be it his 84* against New Zealand in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, his half-century during the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 or his lone-warrior effort of 135* at Headingley back in 2019, Stokes has had multiple instances of winning big matches for his side and guiding them to trophies. Farbrace hailed Stokes for "dragging his team" in the Lord's Test and said that the match has shut down all the noises around the current England Test team not being about winning but focusing on entertaining through their attacking 'Bazball' brand of cricket. "Goodness me, the fire in their bellies, the way that they approached this game, you know, it was a feisty test match from start to finish. And as long as, you know, there is not too much of a cost in the line, then absolutely you want to see that. You want to see people playing the game hard and tough." "But the great thing is, as soon as that game finished, you know, Siraj was down on his haunches, you know, and the England players were straight to him congratulating him. What a great game. And there will be a few days of rest and recuperation and it will go again at Old Trafford," he concluded. Coming to the match, England won the toss and opted to bat first. England was reduced to 44/2, but a 109-run stand between Ollie Pope (44 in 104 balls, with four boundaries) and Joe Root (104 in 199 balls, with 10 fours) and a counter-attacking 84 run stand for the eighth wicket stand between Brydon Carse (56 in 83 balls, with six fours and a six) and Jamie Smith (51 in 56 balls, with six fours) took England to 387. Jasprit Bumrah (5/74) was the highlight for India with the ball. 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During the run-chase, Team India was reduced to 82/7. However, Jadeja (61* in 181 balls, with four boundaries and a six) was not in the mood to give up. He put up resilient partnerships with the lower-order batters that put England under tension, but Mohammed Siraj 's unlucky dismissal, where the ball spun back to the stumps following its landing on the pitch, hurt a million hearts as India was bundled out for 170. India trails 1-2 in the series. Stokes won the 'Player of the Match' for his handy knocks of 44 and 33 and a total of five wickets in the match, including a three-wicket haul taken in the second innings in tandem with Jofra Archer, who also got three wickets.
The Hindu
44 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Off-side: The grey zone of greatness
As the sun sank at Lord's in a haze of tired white flannel and sweat, Zak Crawley, as if auditioning for Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, wandered off twice before Jasprit Bumrah could bowl. He then called for the physio after a glancing blow to the glove. And one over quietly disappeared into the English dusk. The host walked off with 10 wickets intact, and Shubman Gill, visibly frustrated, offered a round of sarcastic applause. What Crawley did was gamesmanship. A performance with just enough ambiguity to avoid a reprimand. The next day, Akash Deep — tailender, rookie, and possibly hoping for the same Oscar nomination — tried the same trick. He gestured for attention, stalled for time, and hoped to escape one last over from Ben Stokes. But unlike Crawley, he failed. The England captain ended his brief stay at the crease, leaving India at 58/4 going into the last day of a fascinating Test match. This was sport's legal grey zone — a space full of performative cramps and raised eyebrows. While sportsmanship is about fairness and restraint, gamesmanship is essentially its sly twin — rule-abiding on the surface, but underneath, just petty opportunism and loophole hunting. Crawley's act — or Glove Gate — danced on that tightrope. Unsportsmanlike behaviour, though, is something else. It's Dennis Lillee kicking Javed Miandad, Trevor Chappell bowling underarm to stop a six. It's Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' goal at the 1986 World Cup. In tennis, Novak Djokovic is the unofficial king of strategic disruption. He has taken medical timeouts mid-match, often when losing, sparking accusations of gamesmanship. During the Wimbledon quarterfinal against Jannik Sinner in 2022, Djokovic, two sets down, vanished for a bathroom break and came back a different player. He won in five sets and went on to clinch his seventh All England title. A 2021 Wall Street Journal analysis found Djokovic wins 83.3 per cent of sets — 10 out of 12 since 2013 — immediately after bathroom breaks. It's higher than his overall career set winning percentage at Grand Slams (78.6). The ATP, in 2022, implemented stricter regulations, limiting players to one break per match for a maximum of three minutes (plus an additional two minutes for changing clothes), and only at the end of a set. What Crawley and Djokovic share is the ability to game the structure — not break it, just bend it to suit their end. And so, we arrive at the dilemma: is sporting greatness just measured in numbers — 24 Grand Slams, a Test hundred, a final-day escape. Or do we factor in the way they navigate the in-betweens? The pauses. The loopholes. The moral shade of performance. Do we love our champions for what they win, or how they win it? That, perhaps, is the loneliest line in all of sport. Not the crease or the baseline, but the one between winning, and winning good.
