A barnstorming 99 from Harry Brook turned the Headingley Test into a one-innings game and continued an exhilarating start to England’s Indian summer.
And if the first three days are anything to go by, this opening Test is another Headingley classic in the making.
Brook’s brilliant knock has at least made the test competitiveGettyIndia only had themselves to blame for England getting within six runs of their first innings 471. Yashasvi Jaiswal guilty of putting Brook down at gully much like he’d done against Ollie Pope on day two.
England were eventually bowled out before tea, meaning India had to come out after the break under grey skies, in dank windy conditions with the pressure on.
It was credit to KL Rahul (47*) and debutante Sai Sudharsen (30) that they propelled England’s attack and kept the runs flowing. Even though Sudharsen fell towards the back end of the day, India went into stumps having seen off 23.5 overs of the new ball, and with eight wickets in hand and a lead of 96 still feeling like they have a semblance of control over the destiny of this match.
The day had started with Ollie Pope and Brook walking out to the crease with England 209/3 still some way from matching or surpassing India’s score. Pope had told talkSPORT’s Following On Podcast that he often struggles to sleep after scoring a century duly nicking behind for 106.
Ben Stokes (20) started his innings slowly and looked like a man short of batting but looked generally untroubled as he shared in a 50 run partnership with Brook before edging Mohammed Siraj (2/122) behind.
Jamie Smith (40) and Brook then traded boundaries in an entertaining 7th wicket partnership of 73, their second best in Tests. It came to an end after Prasidh Krishna (3/128), who’d been deposited into the stands first ball of the over went short again and Smith perished thanks to a smart relay catch between Ravindra Jadeja and Sudharsen on the boundary edge.
The timing of the catch was important coming as it did in the final over with the old ball. It meant Chris Woakes (38) had to face Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj with the second new ball.
Not that it seemed to matter with 38 runs coming from the first four overs which also included a bad drop from Jaiswal in the gully with Brook on 83, Siraj attempting, unsuccessfully to get under Brook’s skin, and then with a century in sight, Brook picking out deep backward square leg to be caught for one short of a hundred.
If India thought that now they were through the top seven the tail would be as meek as theirs they were wrong.
Woakes started bashing the ball around with Brydon Carse (22) joining in for an eighth wicket stand of 55 before they both fell in quick succession.
Brook naturally cut a frustrated figure by falling just one run short of a centuryGetty India lead by 96 with eight wickets remaining going into day fourAFPJasprit Bumrah finally got his fourth and fifth wickets by taking the fielders out of the equation and targeting the stumps.
Before India’s batters walked out onto the field and fought and timed the ball well to once again put them marginally ahead in a pulsating Test match. When stumps were called early they were 90-2, a lead of 96.
Overseas cricket fans can listen to live commentary of every England Test this summer by tuning into the talkSPORT Cricket YouTube Channel. The Following On Podcast hosted by Jon Norman and Steve Harmison will also be available shortly after the close of play.
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