Unreachable to unplayable - how England had mixed opening day

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2 days ago

At the start of the 40th over - after two long rain delays, with cloudy skies and a green pitch at his disposal - Josh Tongue had the in-form Ravindra Jadeja in his sights.
The first ball of the over flew past wicketkeeper Jamie Smith for four byes. The second was short, wide and flashed for four. The third was a beauty on a good length, nibbling away from the left-hander and taking the edge.
From unreachable to unplayable, bizarre to brilliant.
Three balls that encapsulated England in their entirety, as they restricted India to 204-6 on day one of the fifth Test at The Oval.
Neither Tongue, nor India's batters, seemed to know what was coming next, as the sheepish giggle after Jadeja's wicket suggested.
Four overs previously, a similar delivery accounted for Sai Sudharsan after a gritty 107-ball 38, while he had started the day with a nine-ball over that conceded 11 runs from wides.
"Tongue looked like the bowler I would least like to face," former England captain Michael Vaughan told BBC Test Match Special.
"You'd have no chance of lining him up - he was wide down the leg side, wide down the off side, half-volley, bouncer and then all of a sudden right in the perfect zone."
Tongue was not the sole bowler guilty of inconsistency, though that was probably to be expected with England's depleted stock of quicks.
Already without captain Ben Stokes through a shoulder injury and Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse for rotation reasons, late in the day their fortunes went from bad to worse.
Chris Woakes, 14 overs into his legs and playing his fifth consecutive Test, sprawled over the boundary rope to try and save a four and immediately clutched his shoulder in agony and is unlikely to play a part in the rest of the match.
Gus Atkinson was impressive on his return from a hamstring problem, with figures of 2-31 from his 19 overs, but England must be wary of over-working him, with Stokes as a case study.
Tongue and Jamie Overton - playing just his second Test, three years after his first - offered little in terms of control and Joe Root and Jacob Bethell are part-time spin options. It is fair to say that stand-in skipper Ollie Pope has a headache.
India fail to punish England's 'liquorice all sorts'
Despite England's wayward day, however, India were unable to assert their dominance when they are in need of a win to avoid a series defeat.
England bowled 20% of their deliveries down the leg side and attacked the stumps with just 12% - the second-lowest for any innings in the series. But, at the same time, they drew 24% false shots from India, the highest for day one throughout this series.
But considering they were faced with tricky batting conditions, Tongue's erratic spell at one end and Atkinson's economic efforts at the other, perhaps it is of little surprise that India's minds were somewhat scrambled.
"Tongue made India do things they don't want to do," former England batter Sir Alastair Cook told BBC Test Match Special.
"He has bowled a couple of absolute jaffas, but liquorice all sorts is what we used to call them when you're bowling like that. When you face someone who's so inconsistent, you feel you've got to be scoring.
"You think there's plenty of opportunities to score, but because it could be anywhere it really upsets your rhythm. It's that mental thing, knowing he's not bowling well so I should be going after him and he drags you into shots."
India's stubborn pair of Karun Nair and Washington Sundar led them out of a pickle from 153-6, playing with assured control that the rest of the top order had been lacking.
It was a curious day with neither side able to seize momentum for significant periods, but there is a sense that England missed their opportunity considering the conditions and India's loose dismissals.
"England, if they're being brutally honest with themselves - on a pitch that they've bowled on today with 8mm of grass - there's been enough seam movement and swing that they would've fancied bowling India out today," Vaughan added.
"They'll be thinking, if two of us bowled like Gus Atkinson then we'd have bowled them out."
Woakes injury mars England's bizarre opening day
Inconsistent England restrict India on day one of fifth Test - as it happened
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