England squander chance to take control as tetchy final Test heads for close finish

The Guardian

2 days ago

Day two at the Oval was played in fast forward and when England are batting this usually means one of two things: either the scoreboard spinning like the wheels on a fruit machine and pigeons flying to all parts, or the regular clank of spikes on the stairs down from the dressing room.
There was a bit of both as it happened, plus tempers once again fraying out in the middle, as the Friday crowd witnessed something of a bun fight unfold. But while India were initially skittled for 224 by the completion of Gus Atkinson's fifth five-wicket haul in Test cricket, ­England then folded to 247 all out and an opportunity to take control had been squandered.
The cruel injury that Chris Woakes suffered on day one not only ruined his hopes of playing the Ashes this winter but had also left England a bowler down for the remainder of this series finale. As well as needing to give the remainder of the attack time to recharge — scuppered by just 51.2 overs off the park — this meant a sizable first innings lead was imperative.
Instead, the hosts were undone by the only seamer to go the distance in this series as Mohammed Siraj — and not for the first time in his career — shone in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and shared eight wickets equally with Prasidh Krishna. Both quicks snarled their way through an afternoon session in which the removal of six Englishman swung the pendulum back to India and gave rise to the prospect of 2-2 series draw.
Bazball will get it in the neck from some quarters here, such is the divisive nature of England's high-wire approach and its propensity to unspool at the end of series. Although the most productive partnership actually came when the lizard brain was most in play: when conservative thoughts were fully parked and only the upside to outright aggression was considered.
It came after Atkinson had doused the Indian tail first thing, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley crunching 92 runs between them during 12.5 overs of chaos. Crawley slapped 14 fours en route to 64 from 57 balls but Duckett was the true catalyst, with his 43 from just 38 a veritable flurry of impish ramped sixes and charged square slaps that startled the local birdlife.
This white-knuckle ride was terminated before lunch, however, through the inevitable downside to all this. Duckett's latest premeditated reverse scoop to Akash Deep was gloved softly behind — red meat for England's critics, even if they will have to concede the shot's previous profitability.
What followed raised a few eyebrows. Deep threw an arm around Duckett's shoulder as he walked off and offered a few words to go with it. No one was quite sure if England's opener was cool with this or straining every sinew not to push his executioner away.
In a series of increasing bad blood, the amateur lip-readers were struggling to work it out – not that getting in a batter's personal space after winning the contest is ever a good idea.
There are few cricketers who relish this kind of white-heat cricket more than Siraj and after England resumed on 109 for one after lunch, his wonderfully spiky eight-over spell of three for 35 ripped the heart out of their middle order.
Bowling full and with remarkable energy given the miles on the clock, his trio of lbws saw Ollie Pope, 22, and Joe Root, 29, undone by deliveries that jagged back in and Jacob Bethell, six, mugged by a pinpoint yorker.
Another sign of rising temperature out in the middle was the typically smiling Root swapping verbals with Krishna (cue Indian frustration that umpire Kumar Dharmasena chose only to tick off their man).
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But Krishna played a more ­significant role in England's derailment than chirp alone.
Hitting 90mph on the speed gun, the wiry right-armer profited from Crawley's top-edge pull and, having been manhandled by Jamie Smith at Edgbaston, enjoyed some sweet revenge courtesy of a footwork-devoid drive that flew to slip.
When Jamie Overton's challenging return to the side continued with a duck, England stumbled into tea on 215 for seven.
Among the oddities was Harry Brook watching much of this unfold from the other end for what – by his standards anyway – had been a relatively becalmed 33. The right-hander did swell this to 53, including one outrageous tumbling swept six, but after Atkinson came and went – and with Woakes a non-starter – he was the last to fall. Fittingly it was Siraj who shut things down as the latest ball to nip back and rattled the stumps.
Just 23 runs ahead, back into the field England went and, with an hour to play, India had already moved into the lead. An opportunity was created when Yashasvi Jaiswal, on 20, drove Atkinson to Brook at second slip.
The final 18 overs of the day simply continued the fast forward action. Josh Tongue ended KL Rahul's series on an excellent 532 runs 53.2 from the opener, while Atkinson pinned Sai Sudharsan lbw late on. But Jaiswal ransacked a rapid-fire 51 not out and, to rather sum up this day - possibly the series as a whole - two chances slipped through English fingers.