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Brook and Root's zen-like batting, Indian pace fight back sets up fitting denouement to dramatic Test series at The Oval
Harry Brook and Joe Root slammed centuries and added 195 runs for the fourth wicket, nearly steering England to victory on Day 4 of the fifth Test at The Oval. Reuters
Well good luck sleeping after that. India and England will return to The Oval on Day Five – the abandonment of play with so little left to run in the game adding a touch of farce to a .
The equation: England need 35 runs, India three wickets plus potentially the scalp of a one-armed man – Chris Woakes' participation still a matter of speculation.
How we got there though was the most electric day of cricket, a fitting denouement to a series that has promised much and been closely fought but in reality has lacked this sort of dramatic flair.
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England arrived needing 324 more runs from a target of 374, the sound of Zak Crawley's stumps still faintly clattering in their ears from the night before. History suggests nobody really chases that much – only nine larger targets have been successfully hunted down in Test history.
But wait, not all was as it seems, one of those chases was a Bazballian masterclass against India themselves in 2022 and only four Tests ago in this series England chased down 371 to win at Headingley – history might be with them after all.
From this almost cartoonishly alluring set up the day could surely only disappoint. Well no, as it happens…
Brook, Root nearly take England home
England started determinedly but a world away from the rat-a-tat scoring pace that they like to impose on the opposition – India's tricky trio of seamers making runs a commodity hard to come by. Every play and miss or half chance for the tourists greeted with cheers and whistles from the Indian half of a crowd with evenly divided loyalties.
The anticipatory smell of wickets hung in the air. England were battling bravely but not going anywhere fast, the stoic fight of a team almost certainly heading to defeat but doing so with a stiff upper lip.
The wickets did come, Duckett then Pope, England three down (plus Woakes) with victory still a speck on the horizon 268 runs away.
The only thing that could rescue England was an unfathomably large partnership – a distant dream that Joe Root and Harry Brook soon set about delivering.
Every boundary from Brook & Root's incredible partnership 🤝
195 runs 🏏 24 boundaries 💥 pic.twitter.com/DdaUXWnoCQ — England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 3, 2025
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It started with a moment of high drama, Brook caught on the boundary by Mohammad Siraj on 19, only for him to step on the rope – from out to six in the blink of a clumsily-placed stride – an almost unnecessarily cruel blow for India's most wholehearted competitor in this series.
As reprieves go it looked like being game changing, suddenly Root and Brook were batting in a zen-like state, picking off singles wherever they pleased, toying with India as they ticked the runs and milestones down – Brook notching a 10th Test match hundred with half an hour to go before the tea break.
With just 73 more needed it seemed England were going to do it with a hand tied behind their back – take note Chris Woakes – the drums, shouts and whistles from the once vociferous Indian section of the crowd a long forgotten memory.
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Another twist in the tale
This day though had more twists in store. Brook would go, the inevitability of an England win trudging back to the pavilion with him. The fervour of Indian support had been restored, suddenly the tourists were bowling on a minefield that had only just seemed like a road.
Pacer Prasidh Krishna struck twice after tea on Day 4 of the fifth Test at The Oval, dismissing Jacob Bethell and a well-set Joe Root. Reuters
It seemed Root bringing up his hundred had tipped the momentum back in England's favour, but India had other plans. Suddenly the runs that had flowed all day have never looked harder to come by, England were bogged down by India's relentlessly committed pace attack. Bethell went, then Root, the 35 runs England needed for victory seeming impossible when only a few hours before 200 had seemed like a formality.
Then the rain, the gratification of a result in this Test delayed. The sickening thrill of a match whose status is now 'overnight' – cricket's magical limbo where anything could happen the next day.
35 runs or four wickets? Monday will have the answers.
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