Rain wipes out first day’s play at Lord’s
Root growing into England captaincy role
Play has been called off for the day without a ball being bowled in the second Test between England and India at Lord’s yesterday.
Showers rarely relented in north-west London on the opening day, with the umpires making their final decision at 4:50pm local time.
With the rain never stopping long enough for the toss to take place, both England and India have still to name their starting XI.
Meanwhile, Joe Root believes he is adjusting to the demands of being England’s captain in Test cricket after more than a year and 17 matches in charge.
Root will look to back-up last week’s 31-run win at Edgbaston by leading England to another victory. Going 2-0 up would represent a welcome change for Root, all of whose three previous home series as England skipper have been level at 1-1 after two Tests.
In May, a nine-wicket defeat by Pakistan at Lord’s meant England had gone eight Tests without a win following series losses in Australia and New Zealand.
But they squared a twomatch campaign with Pakistan courtesy of an innings and 55run victory at Yorkshire batsman Root’s home ground of Headingley before winning a thrilling opener against India.
“It does take a little bit of time to get used to things ... there has been a lot of learning throughout the year-and-ahalf,” Root told a news conference at Lord’s on Wednesday.
“(But) I think from the start of this summer I had a real clear idea about how we want to go about things,” added Root, whose England commitments meant he had limited captaincy experience before being appointed as the successor to Alastair Cook.
This Test season did not start well for England but few things boost collective morale like a hard-fought win such as the one England enjoyed at Birmingham’s Edgbaston ground.
At Lord’s, England will be without Stokes, who took key wickets in the closing stages of the first Test, including the prize scalp of India captain Virat Kohli, because of his ongoing trial in Bristol on a charge of affray.
Nevertheless, Root reckoned there were lessons from Edgbaston, where the 20-year-old Sam Curran starred with both bat and ball, for the team as a whole that could yet prove useful at Lord’s, even in the absence of all-rounder Stokes.
“It fills you with masses of confidence ... to win a close game,” said Root.