Root scoop shocker sparks collapse... ENGLAND IN REVERSE
By RICHARD EDWARDS JOE ROOT’S rush of blood sparked an England collapse and left their series hopes hanging by a thread.
England headed into day three on 207-2 with a golden opportunity to overhaul India’s first innings and put the hosts on the back foot in Rajkot.
But instead of ramming home their advantage, Root chucked it away with a reverse scoop that should give him nightmares.
And having failed to reach 30 in five innings on this tour, questions could now be asked of the former skipper, even if England opener Ben Duckett swatted aside criticism of the Yorkshireman.
“Rooty’s a freak, he can do things a lot of us can’t do,” said Duckett, who fell for 153.
“In my eyes it is just the same as playing a drive and nicking off to second slip.
“He plays that shot so well, and I’m sure those people weren’t saying that when he hit Pat Cummins for six in the summer.”
Given India’s premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had left the hosts as a result of a family emergency, England’s first-innings capitulation will have frustrated even the most ardent supporters of Bazball.
After Root’s crazy dismissal, the rest of the innings succumbed in predictable fashion with Ben Stokes (left, at stumps) and his men losing their last eight wickets for 95 runs to finish 319 all out.
Handed a first-innings advantage of 126, India’s top order then cashed in with Yashasvi Jaiswal (below) hitting a ton to leave England facing almost impossible odds to save the match, despite Duckett’s predictably positive take on events.
“You’ve got to give credit to the way they played, but we batted superbly (on Friday) and they gave us nothing this morning and bowled really well,” he said.
“We were attacking, it just didn’t pay off.
“Even sending in a nightwatchman when you’re 320 ahead at the end shows that they’re slightly wary of us. “We’re going to continue the way that we play and if we get two or three blokes in on that pitch scoring quickly then you never know what can happen.” Despite yesterday’s horror show, Duckett can look back on one of the great overseas Test match innings.
He is rapidly becoming the best sweeper in world cricket.
“It’s incredibly fun,” he said. “There’s a lot more theory behind it than people think.
“People probably thought that sounded quite reckless, but I’ve learned from playing in Pakistan that I’ve got so many different options.
“I was quite gutted a couple of weeks ago when I got out to Kuldeep Yadav caught at silly point, so my game is if they want to attack and have people around the bat then I’ll try to get rid of them and then I can rotate a lot easier.”
BY PAT NOLAN
DAVID CLIFFORD crowned his comeback with a brilliant late winner as Kerry denied 14-man Mayo in Tralee.
Kerry had to withstand an unlikely comeback from Mayo, who defied their numerical disadvantage following Sam Callinan’s dismissal in the 59th minute by kicking three points to level the game.
But Clifford popped up with his fifth of the night with virtually the last kick to give Jack O’connor’s side a second successive win.
With team captain and elder sibling Paudie weighing in with 0-4 from play, it was the Clifford show.
The Fossa brothers made a seamless return on what was their first starts for Kerry since last year’s All-ireland final defeat to Dublin.
The result moves Kerry ahead of Mayo on scoring difference and somewhat avenges a pair of defeats to the same opponents last year, with Kevin Mcstay’s side’s win in Killarney particularly painful in that it inflicted Kerry’s first home defeat in Championship football for 28 years.
On a mild evening, with Austin Stack Park close to full, the game got off to a breathless start with Fergal Boland putting Mayo ahead after just 24 seconds followed by a brilliant David Clifford equaliser on the oneminute mark.
Paudie clipped two points in the sixth minute to put Kerry ahead and although Callinan replied with a point for Mayo, the game then descended into a lull for much of the rest of the half, which included 13 scoreless minutes.
David Clifford did have the first goal opening of the night in the 10th minute but his weak right-footed shot didn’t trouble Colm Reape and the supply lines to him dried up for much of the rest of the half.
Playing with the wind advantage, Kerry were wasteful, with seven first half wides and another effort dropped short by David Clifford, after which Gavin White was blocked down, as Mayo, with only three wides, stayed in touch.
Leading by 0-7 to 0-5 at the break, Kerry had work to do but the anticipated Mayo surge after the break didn’t materialise.
Kerry were leading 0-14 to 0-11 when Callinan, carrying a yellow card from the first half, was sent off after receiving a black card for a needless off-the-ball pull-down on Diarmuid O’connor.
Reape kicked a superb free shortly after but David Clifford restored Kerry’s three-point lead as the home side looked set to kick for home.
But a fine Ryan O’donoghue point was followed by another from Fergal Boland before an O’donoghue free, after an uncharacteristic David Clifford miss, brought Mayo level in the 69th minute for the first time since the opening exchanges.
But Kerry settled it at the death. It was a slow build-up until Sean O’shea, once again operating in the full-forward line, made yards before finding his strike partner Clifford who fired over beautifully.