Key events<\/p>\n
Show key events only<\/p>\n
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n
46th over: England 231-7 (Brook 40, Atkinson 7) Siraj beats Atkinson on the inside with a snorter that bounces over the stumps. Atkinson puts England into the lead and then extends it with a cleverly placed steer to the right of backward point.<\/p>\n
England are in a hurry. Runs are the primary consideration \u2013 next stop, rocket science \u2013 but time is also a factor for England and their three-man attack. If these two bat for an hour and score at five an over, tremendous; if they\u2019re dismissed soon, England\u2019s seamers can bowl around 30 overs tonight and then get some rest.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45th over: England 224-7 (Brook 39, Atkinson 2) The injury to Woakes means England are effectively eight down, with only Josh Tongue to come. Atkinson gives himself room and smashed Krishna through point for \u2026 a single, as there\u2019s a fielder out. But he timed the silken undercrackers off that one.<\/p>\n The scores are level,<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 44th over: England 220-7 (Brook 36, Atkinson 1) Siraj drops Atkinson, a stinging return catch, and then almost bowls Brook round his legs.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 43rd over: England 216-7 (Brook 33, Atkinson 0) Krishna completes a double-wicket maiden with a dot ball to Gus Atkinson. With Harry Brook still at the crease, the next half hour could be a lot of fun.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n An extended evening session \u2013 play can continue until 7pm \u2013 begins with the entire ground standing for a minute\u2019s applause in memory of Graham Thorpe. So far \u00a3108,000 has been raised in support of the mental health charity Mind. Buy a headband, it\u2019s the least any of us can do.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Have you bought your Graham Thorpe headband? If not, you know what to do<\/a>. Mine will be stretched around my big, bald, empty head every time I go to the gym, and I don\u2019t care how many quizzical looks I get from the beefcake brethren.<\/p>\n Bjorn Stokes wears his Graham Thorpe tribute headband. Photograph: Javier Garc\u00eda\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Teatime reading<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Tea: England trail by 9 runs<\/p>\n The wicket means the players will take tea even though there\u2019s one ball of the over remaining. It\u2019s been a marvellous session for India: inspired by the unbreakable Mohammed Siraj, they took six wickets for 106 runs and might now be favourites to win this game.<\/p>\n For England, the one upside of this clatter of wickets is that their three-man attack will be able to bowl maybe 10 overs apiece in helpful conditions tonight, sleep and go again in the morning. But if the pitch settles down and\/or India\u2019s top order are still batting at lunch tomorrow, England will be in all sorts.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>WICKET! England 215-7 (Overton LBW b Krishna 0)<\/p>\n This one\u2019s plumb! Overton whips across a fuller delivery that snakes back to hit him on the knee roll n front of middle stump. He reviewed, just because he could, but that was palpably out.<\/p>\n Prasidh Krishna celebrates the dismissal of England’s Jamie Overton. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.23 EDT<\/p>\n Overton is not out Yep, it was missing off stump so India lose another review. They have one left.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n India review for LBW against Overton He padded up to his first ball from Krishna. My hunch is it didn\u2019t come back enough but it\u2019s close.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>WICKET! England 215-6 (Smith c Rahul b Krishna 8)<\/p>\n This is a big wicket just before tea. Jamie Smith chases a very wide delivery from Krishna and snicks it towards second slip, where KL Rahul reaches to clasp a terrific two-handed catch. England are lurching into dangerous territory.<\/p>\n KL Rahul takes a sharp catch to dismiss Jamie Smith. Photograph: Stu Forster\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.57 EDT<\/p>\n 42nd over: England 215-5 (Brook 33, Smith 8) Brook takes a couple of steps down to ping Jadeja through extra cover for four. What a brilliant shot. Brook started friskily but has settled down and is playing beautifully.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 41st over: England 211-5 (Brook 29, Smith 7) Krishna, the work-shy freeloader of the Indian seam attack, replaces Siraj and will bowl only his 11th over of the day. Smith wallops a drive without beating the man at cover; later in the over Brook steers two down to third. England trail by 14.<\/p>\n \u201cI made my cricket chops in the South Notts 18-over midweek league,\u201d writes Chris. \u201cOur pitch was a lovely, flat square in the middle of old Mr White\u2019s cow meadow, usually protected by an electric fence, As the youngest on the team, aged 13, I was made to field in the covers. One evening, the opposing team\u2019s less-than-popular skipper flayed one in my direction. The ball came to a sudden halt in a large, wet cowpat. He thought I\u2019d been beaten and set off for a run. I retrieved the heavily coated ball and threw down the stumps in a greenish-brown mist, with the captain well out of his ground. I received slaps on the back from my teammates and learned new vocabulary from the receding batsman. I had to wash my own \u2018whites\u2019 when I got home, mind you. Happy days!\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.47 EDT<\/p>\n 40th over: England 207-5 (Brook 27, Smith 6) Time for some spin. Ravindra Jadeja replaces Akash Deep, who has already bowled 17 overs today. Brook laps his second ball easily for four, almost on autopilot. Like the commentators, I\u2019m surprised India didn\u2019t turn to Washington Sundar first; he has arguably been India\u2019s best bowler in the last two Tests, certainly their best spinner.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 39th over: England 201-5 (Brook 22, Smith 5) Siraj, the only fast bowler to survive this bruising series, is still charging in as it if was the first morning of the series. He bowls the first over of the innings \u2013 the only run was a leg-bye \u2013 to add a bit more pressure on England. When the dust settles on this game, Siraj\u2019s post-lunch effort of 8-1-35-3 might be credited as the spell that saved the series for India.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.40 EDT<\/p>\n 38th over: England 200-5 (Brook 22, Smith 5) India\u2019s three seamers can\u2019t bowl forever, so there\u2019s an incentive for Brook and Smith to bat time either side of tea. On the other hand, they are Harry Brook and Jamie Smith. The latter gets off the mark by clattering a very wide delivery to the point boundary.<\/p>\n In other news, this email from Phil Harrison had me nodding my big, bald, empty head.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything that has happened since Duckett got out has emphasised how well-conceived and brilliantly enacted that Duckett\/Crawley partnership was,\u201d writes Phil. \u201cEngland are losing wickets now but they\u2019re losing them from a position of close proximity to India\u2019s score. I suspect most England teams would still be 70-80 behind at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 37th over: England 196-5 (Brook 22, Smith 1) \u201cOthers have made the point, but I wanted to add my two cents,\u201d begins Matt Dony. \u201c The OBO and MBM communities are, by and large, entertaining and supportive and collaborative. When covid put paid to live sport, I found that I really missed following games on here. At its best, it\u2019s like being in a big ol\u2019 pub, watching the match, but also making stupid jokes about 90s music or prestige TV or whatever the thread happens to be that day. I like to think we can make certain assumptions about most of the people who read and contribute, but even so, a lot of us can probably tend towards the (ugh) \u2018blokey\u2019 and stoic.<\/p>\n \u201cI went through some \u2018stuff\u2019 a few years ago, and a huge part of the reason I\u2019m here now with mental health relatively intact is that I have good friends who checked in on me. Sometimes simply asking if I was ok. I often wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, equally, it\u2019s important for us to be there for them. Put ourselves out there. There\u2019s always someone going through something. And I doubt any of us of certain generations will ever truly get comfortable with, say, sending a text that just says \u2018How are you feeling? I\u2019m thinking about you.\u2019 But it\u2019s our responsibility to do it. To each other, and to the generations following. Show them the importance of empathy and compassion. Make sure that they\u2019re better equipped than we might have been at their age.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n India have roared back into this game. Bethell larruped the previous ball for four after charging down the track. Siraj responded with an inswinging yorker that hit Bethell plumb in front with his bat stuck behind the pad. Bethell didn\u2019t even talk to Brook about a review, just smiled wryly as he walked past him.<\/p>\n The resilience shown by India, and especially Siraj, is beyond admirable. For the second Test in a row, I thought a rampant opening partnership from Crawley and Duckett had flattened them.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>WICKET! England 194-5 (Bethell LBW b Siraj 6)<\/p>\n Fantastic bowling from Mohammed Siraj!<\/p>\n Mohammed Siraj strikes again! Photograph: Gareth Copley\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.31 EDT<\/p>\n 36th over: England 190-4 (Brook 21, Bethell 2) Lovely bowling from Deep, who sets Bethell up with some wider deliveries and then bowls a big inswinger. Bethell, head falling over, clips it in the air and not far short of Jaiswal at midwicket. Bethell has hardly batted all summer so you\u2019d imagine it\u2019ll take him 20 or 30 balls to get up to speed, if he lasts that long.<\/p>\n \u201cOne reason fielders didn\u2019t dive in the past was the cost of cleaning their flannels,\u201d writes Ian Dawson. \u201cI remember reading an inter-war professional saying that they had to pay their own cleaning costs and so keeping their whites clean was a priority. This was still the dolly tub and mangle era too so no quick washing cycle. This may well have still been the case post-war too.<\/p>\n \u201cI took two catches diving forward in my first under-15 school game in 1966 which led to grass stains on my flannels and was roundly told off by my mother for getting my kit dirty. My father had apparently never done so – never mind the score, think about the washing!\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 35th over: England 186-4 (Brook 18, Bethell 1) Brook edges Siraj between second slip and gully for four. I\u2019m surprised India don\u2019t have a third slip to save runs, never mind take catches.<\/p>\n Brook clonks a pull to the midwicket boundary later in the over. He\u2019s always positive but right now Brook seems to be in his eff around and find out era.<\/p>\n \u201cMore pedantry,\u201d says Geoff Wignall. \u201cI\u2019m afraid that in the Smyth context, Y is most certainly a vowel.\u201d<\/p>\n Look, I watched a lot of Countdown when I was younger. It changes you.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 34th over: England 176-4 (Brook 9, Bethell 0) India\u2019s last visit to The Oval, in 2021<\/a>, is a template for how they can win this game. They trailed by 99 on the first innings and triumphed by 157 runs.<\/p>\n Bethell is beaten by his first ball, a gorgeous outswinger from Deep. He plays for his off stump for the remainder of the over, as he did when he made that mythical 10 on debut in similar conditions in Christchurch.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.14 EDT<\/p>\n 33rd over: England 175-4 (Brook 8, Bethell 0) Jacob Bethell (remember him?) is the new batter. One more wicket and India will be right back in this game.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>WICKET! England 175-4 (Root LBW b Siraj 29)<\/p>\n India\u2019s fightback continues with the key wicket of Joe Root! Siran picked up him with a superb nipbacker that beat the bat by a distance and hit Root on the kneeroll. He reviewed, probably in the hope it did too much. It did just enough and would hit the top of leg stump.<\/p>\n Root hit two fours earlier in the over, both glided through the cordon, but the irrepressible Siraj had the final word.<\/p>\n India are loving this. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The GuardianMohammed Siraj has Joe Root lbw! Fantastic bowling from India. Photograph: Shaun Botterill\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.17 EDT<\/p>\n 32nd over: England 167-3 (Root 21, Brook 8) Jurel decides to move back for Deep, so Brook stands out of his crease and drops a single on the off side.<\/p>\n \u201cHi Smythe,\u201d writes Phil Keegan. \u201cMay I be the first of 1,057 pedants to point out that actually we are in August already?\u201d<\/p>\n Only if I may be the first of one pedants to point out my surname is a vowelless affair. (And yes, I don\u2019t know why I thought we were still in July. It\u2019s been a long summer.)<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 31st over: England 165-3 (Root 20, Brook 7) Rook waves Siraj majestically to the cover boundary. Siraj responds with a heartfelt nipbacker and an even more heartfelt LBW appeal; alas, this time, there was a big inside-edge. Probably too high as well.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.59 EDT<\/p>\n Thanks Daniel, afternoon all. There are times when the Oval Test has been the wayzgoose of the English summer; not this year. We\u2019re not even barely in August, for one thing, and there\u2019s nothing convivial about the contest between England and India. It\u2019s compelling stuff, though, and Thorpey would have loved to be front and centre alongside Joe Root.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.01 EDT<\/p>\n 30th over: England 161-3 (Root 16, Brook 7) Deep fires one towards the pads and the ball scampers past Jurel, still stood up, for four. India will be seriously displeased with their lack of intensity this morning \u2013 it might just decide the series \u2013 and, though we\u2019re only a ball away from what I\u2019m about to say being rendered shtuss, these two might just be settling, three singles completing the over. That is drinks, which means that\u2019s also the end of me: here\u2019s the great Rob Smyth to chill with you through what promises to be a jazzer of half-day. This s also the end of my series, so thanks all for your company and comments throughout the summer \u2013 it and you have been a joy and a privilege.<\/p>\n \u201cCall me old school,\u201d writes Krishnamoorthy V, \u201cbut can\u2019t the players see the difference between aggression and arrogance? There is a purpose behind calling this a gentleman\u2019s game. The most aggressive team I recall was that under Clive Llod and could one ever say that they were arrogant?\u201d<\/p>\n Imagine Akash Deep trying with him what he did to Duckett.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 29th over: England 154-3 (Root 14, Brook 6) Two dots from Siraj then Jurel again opts to stand up, this time with Brook on strike, and given the heat the bowler\u2019s sending down, that\u2019s a seriously ballsy, but also totally understandable move. And so, I guess, is Brook\u2019s decision to skip down and thrash, though it\u2019s also exactly what his team don\u2019t need, and when he doesn\u2019t get the contact for which he\u2019s hoping, he\u2019ll be relieved to see the ball drop over the infield buy shy of fielders; they run two.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 28th over: England 152-3 (Root 14, Brook 4) Krishna whose ruckus with Root was so absorbing, is replaced by Deep, who directs his loosener into the same batter\u2019s pad. There\u2019s an appeal, but impact looked outside the line and we move on, Jurel opting to stand up to keep Root from standing outside his crease to smother any swing or seam. Not for the first time, an over delivers five dots, then runs of its final delivery \u2013 in this case, four of them, Deep swinging one on to the pads which Root is never missing out on out on which Root is never missing, flicking to the fence at deep square for four.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 27th over: England 148-3 (Root 10, Brook 4) India\u2019s bowlers have found a much better length this afternoon \u2013 fuller and straighter, but not too full or too straight. Root, though, is batting well outside his crease and was created for situations such as this: a stern examination of skill under pressure. He sees away four dots, then forces one off his junk and takesa single to leg.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 26th over: England 147-3 (Root 9, Brook 4) This is a colossal partnership in terms of the series. If these two make runs, England will be close to impregnable, but if they don\u2019t, it\u2019s Bethell in next and though they bat deep, they\u2019re a man down. We\u2019re at that stage where every ball is an occasion, the antipathy palpable, and the over yields just one via Root-cut. He\u2019ll know how much rests on him, and so will India.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout six years ago, i found myself sitting on the platform of my local train station, unable to get rid of the idea that when the next train arrived, I was going to walk forwards and step under it, writes James Brough.<\/p>\n \u201cI was freshly out of a si-year relationship, ended with a text message from my partner. I\u2019d lost my job because depression meant I was incapable of working. All my belongings were in storage because I\u2019d been supposed to move house in April. Problems had arisen which meant I wouldn\u2019t be able to move until November. So my house was furnished with a tv and a garden bench in the living room and an inflatable mattress with a slow puncture in the bedroom.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t that I wanted to kill myself. I just couldn\u2019t think of a single reason not to.<\/p>\n As luck would have it, a few minutes before the train was due, my phone rang. I forget who it was, but the conversation distracted me for long enough that the train arrived and left, with me still on the platform and still in one piece.<\/p>\n When I heard the news about Graham, that evening on the platform was the first thing I thought of and it\u2019s what I keep thinking of now.<\/p>\n Somewhere in the back of my mind, there\u2019s a spot where it\u2019s forever the mid-90s and England are 50\/2. Atherton\u2019s 9 not out from a few singles on the offside and one of his off-balance hook shots. Meanwhile Thorpe\u2019s 35 not out, alternating one-legged pull shots through midwicket and thumps through the covers. He looks like he could take on the world. He achieved so much through his career and at the end, it must have felt to him like none of it mattered any more. Poor bloody Graham.\u201d<\/p>\n Well done on sticking with it. Things always get better.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 25th over: England 146-3 (Root 8, Brook 4) This is a dangerous time for England who, not long ago looked set for a big first-innings lead. They might still build one, of course, but in the meantime, India have got themselves going, making the contest personal, and they won\u2019t mind at all when Brook swings the final ball of the over, edging four just past his wickets.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>WICKET! Pope lbw b Siraj 22 (England 142-3)<\/p>\n We\u2019re rocking and rolling now! The ball jags back, almost seems to gather pace, and that\u2019s clobbering the top of leg-peg. Two new batters in, and this match is sprinting to a series-deciding result.<\/p>\n Mohammed Siraj has Pope lbw! Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The GuardianShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.45 EDT<\/p>\n 25th over: England 142-2 (Pope 22, Root 8) Looking to calm things down, Gill introduces Siraj to the attack, while the ball is passed through the ring; there\u2019s no changing it. Three dots open the over, then Siraj unleashes a brute, full, finding Pope like a heat-seeking missile and slamming his back pad; the bowler is sure it\u2019s dead, so am I, and when the umpire says not out, he convinces his captain to review.<\/p>\n