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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
England resume bid to crush India and win series at Old Trafford
10:20AM Hobbs and Root are England's greatest Landmarks were ticked off at regular intervals by Joe Root on day three at Old Trafford in his ascent to the summit of the highest Test run-scorers. In the morning session Root passed Rahul Dravid, of India,on 13,288 Test runs. He passed South Africa's Jacques Kallis, with all his technical perfection, on 13,289 runs, and thereby went into third place in the all-time list. In the afternoon, Root watched his fellow Yorkshireman Harry Brook run down the pitch and give his wicket away, the sort of donation that is given tax relief. Root put his head down, reached his 38th Test century, celebrated briefly then pressed on to 120, in order to overtake Australia's former captain Ricky Ponting and reach second place, behind the 200-Test Sachin Tendulkar alone on 15,921. Just before tea, with a specimen of his signature stroke, the steer behind point, Root did it and Old Trafford rang with the boo-like sound of 'Rooooot!' The Yorkshireman is second among the highest Test run-scorers since the format was launched in 1877. His only peer is Sir Jack Hobbs. Indeed, I could not separate Root and Hobbs at the top of the charts last October when I ranked the greatest 10 England batsmen of all time. 10:12AM Weather outlook According to the Met Office, it will be cloudy with a 30 per cent chance of rain from noon today, maximum temperature of 20C with the sun out in the hour before lunch and again from about 3pm. 10:02AM Preview Good morning and welcome to live coverage of the fourth day's play of England's fourth Test against India at Old Trafford which begins with Ben Stokes' side 186 runs ahead with three first-innings in hand and, with the captain himself at the crease, on the verge of clinching a victory that would secure the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Stokes starts on 77 and although he hasn't been as fluent as he has been at his best, often appearing as though he was batting with a chair leg, his bat all edges and toe, he must have his eye on a first Test century for two years to go with his first five-wicket return for eight years, cramp notwithstanding. Given that the pitch is now betraying signs of uneven bounce, taking turn and England's batsmen have given their bowlers a long rest for the first time in ages, England may well be confident of wrapping up victory today. Rishabh Pant will probably try his boy stood on the burning deck act again but scoreboard pressure, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Chris Woakes will each fancy their chances of a wicket-taking spree on that pitch. India, by contrast, are in a hole of their own making because of their pusillanimous selection policy that has become a dirty habit on tour, packing their batting to the detriment of their bowling It wasn't just the sidelining of Kuldeep for the entire tour but the way Shubman Gill underused his best bowler, Washington Sundar, yesterday, persevering with the dibbly Shardul Thakur and the dobbly Anshul Kamboj who between them share figures of 29-1-144-1. Left-arm leg-spinners are such rare, rare finds and to ignore one who has taken 56 Test wickets at 22 borders on the negligent. Perhaps Gill and his batsmen can dig the selectors out by batting for the best part of two days to keep the series alive but the odds, pitch and momentum are all against them.


The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
An octagonal city and the closed Acropolis: photos of the day
Holidaymakers and lorry drivers come to a standstill as traffic builds at the border Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA Authorities have closed the Acropolis to visitors during the hottest part of the day as a heatwave engulfs the country Photograph: Petros Giannakouris/AP A picket line at Manchester Royal Infirmary as up to 50,000 resident doctors in England, formerly known as junior doctors, begin five days of industrial action over pay and conditions Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian Children try to stay cool in a fountain. The peninsula has been blanketed by a double layer of high pressure that has nudged the temperature to a scorching 37C (100F) Photograph: Chung Sung-jun/Getty Images A man wades past kelp as he goes for a swim in the Pacific Ocean at La Jolla Shores in California Photograph: Gregory Bull/AP An aerial view of an octagonal fortress that forms one of the most extraordinary cities in the world. Constructed in the 17th-century by Sébastien Le Prestre, a military architect serving King Louis XIV, the city in Alsace features evenly spaced bastions, perpendicular streets and star-shaped fortifications Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images A Ukrainian soldier fires D-20 artillery Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images The sun rises over the New York City skyline. An extreme heat warning is in place in New Jersey from 10am to 9pm on Friday Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters Yusuf al-Ladavi, an eight-year-old Palestinian boy, at al-Ehli Baptist hospital, where he is receiving treatment after being injured in an Israeli attack on the strip. There are more child amputees in Gaza than anywhere else in the world Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images People use poles to ride an improvised float along a flooded road. Typhoon Co-may has intensified seasonal monsoon rains Photograph: Aaron Favila/AP An environmental group carry a portable wildlife observation booth at the Punta San Juan reserve, where a decline in guano birds, sea lions and penguins has alarmed scientists Photograph: Sebastian Castañeda/Reuters Xantheia Pennisi of Australia competes during the women's 20-metre high-diving event at the World Aquatics Championships Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA Dead palm trees line a road as authorities battle an influx of red palm weevils, which have been devouring the usually hardy species Photograph: Matilde Campodonico/AP A woman at a pro-Palestinian rally holds aloft an image of a starving child. Gaza is facing human-made mass starvation caused by the blockade of aid into the territory, the head of the World Health Organization has said Photograph: Orestis Panagiotou/EPA Joaquín Romero blows air into the face of a Hereford cow to calm the animal during a livestock sale at the Rural Society's annual exposition Photograph: Natacha Pisarenko/AP The country singer-songwriter Craig Campbell performs at the Kenny Campbell Foundation benefit concert in Tennessee. The event aims to raise funds and awareness for colorectal cancer Photograph:


Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
England produce their best day of the summer to pull ahead in fourth Test against India as they push for series victory
The sun came out in Manchester on Thursday - and it began to shine on England's chances of pulling clear in this relentless tussle of a series. India have pushed them all the way this summer, and may yet do so again over the next three days. But as Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett responded to the tourists' 358 with a punitive opening stand of 166 at more than five an over, it was hard to avoid the sense that something had finally shifted, that a crack had opened at last. England are desperate to avoid heading to The Oval next week all square at 2-2, and girded their loins to produce their best all-round day of the series. Inspired first by Ben Stokes 's latest heroics with the ball, they were later boosted by an opening pair who exploited some dreadful Indian bowling. In the final session alone, England scored 148, and if a little gloss was removed by the demise of Crawley, caught at slip by KL Rahul off Ravindra Jadeja for 84, and of Duckett, edging a cut off the debutant Anshul Kamboj for an even more agonising 94, then they will tell themselves that another day's batting should put this game beyond their opponents. On a pitch that remains true, it ought not to be beyond them. The conditions, for sure, favoured England. The ball did all sorts in the morning under grey skies, when the average swing of 1.6 degrees was higher than it has been at any point during the summer. Then, soon after Crawley and Duckett began the reply, the clouds began to part, as if the ECB were now controlling the weather. And yet that could only partially explain why England outplayed India, who began by serving up an array of freebies on Duckett's pads - 'rubbish', their former coach Ravi Shastri called it up in the commentary box, speaking on behalf of a nation. It didn't help that Shubman Gill handed the new ball to the nervy Kamboj ahead of Mohammed Siraj, India's leading wicket-taker in the series. Sensing his chance, Duckett took 12 off Kamboj's first over, and helped himself to the first 26 runs of the innings. Crawley, meanwhile, embarked on his best Test knock since destroying Australia here two years ago, a vindication - the management will argue - of his continued selection ahead of the return Ashes this winter. 'I always want more from myself, and I certainly have for the last year or so,' he said. 'I owe it to myself to have a few good more performances. It makes days like today worth it.' For his part, Duckett rediscovered the touch that had yielded his fourth-innings masterpiece in the series opener at Headingley, only to scratch an old wound by falling short with three figures his for the taking. Another wicket or two before stumps might have redressed the ledger, but Ollie Pope survived some jumpy moments, and with Joe Root ushered England to 225 for two, a deficit of 133. With Bumrah enduring a rare off day, India looked mainly toothless. Shardul Thakur went at seven an over, Siraj at nearly six, and Kamboj at just under five. Even Jadeja's normally precise left-arm darts were milked at 4.62. It was no recipe for any kind of control. There were just five maidens out of 46, and four came from Bumrah. The first half of the day had belonged to England, too, as Stokes continued to harry India in what has turned into the bowling summer of his life. The initial breakthrough was supplied in the second over by Jofra Archer, whose expertise against left-handers earned him the wicket of Jadeja, well caught by Harry Brook low to his right at second slip to end a sequence of four half-centuries. TOP SPIN AT THE TEST Ben Stokes became only the fourth player in Test history to achieve the double of 10 hundreds and five five-fors, after Garry Sobers, Ian Botham and Jacques Kallis. He now has 229 Test wickets, drawing level with England fast bowler Darren Gough, having surpassed the 15 Stokes picked up in his first Test series, in the 2013-14 Ashes. Ben Duckett has now fallen between 71 and 98 on 10 occasions – and remains marooned on six Test hundreds. Thakur and Washington Sundar steadied India's ship, but now Stokes imposed himself on the game, as he had on Wednesday with the wickets of Gill and Sai Sudharsan. His nominal role as England's 'fourth seamer' increasingly feels like a breach of the Trade Descriptions Act. Thakur, on 41, edged him into the gully, where he was superbly caught by a flying Duckett, before Stokes persuaded Sundar to top-edge to fine leg - just as he had Sudharsan. When Kamboj was caught behind three balls later for a duck, Stokes had his first Test five-for since 2017, and more wickets (16) than in any series in his career. If he has ever bowled better, no one could immediately pinpoint when. Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant - perhaps the only player on either side to outrank Stokes in the box office - had hobbled back to the middle to resume his innings on 37, making light of a suspected broken foot and roared on by another vocal Indian contingent. The question of whether this was an act of bravery or bravado disappeared as he pulled Archer for six, then - feet in cement - timed Stokes through the covers to bring up his fifth score of 50-plus in the series. Archer ended his fun moments later, reproducing the gem that had knocked back his off stump at Lord's, and might have been too good for Pant this time even if he had been mobile. And when Root persuaded Stokes to review a faint glove down the leg side from Bumrah off Archer, India had lost their last five for 44. They are not out of this game, but all this has made their life much harder.