Pressure on Froome is Massif now
AT TRENT BRIDGE IN THE spirit of positivity and endless possibility that courses through England’s dressing room these days, Joe Root will no doubt embrace the idea of a shot at history over the next two days.
One thing is certain, if England do go down, as seems likely, they will do so all guns blazing as they attempt to post the highest Test run chase to win the second Investec Test at Trent Bridge.
The reality, however, is that England, who survived 16 torrid minutes before the close, will lose this Test match in the next 48 hours and by a resounding margin after South Africa declared at 343-9, setting them 474 to win.
The highest total chased down in a Test is 418 by West Indies against Australia at St John’s, Antigua in 2003. The chances of it happening on a pitch beginning to misbehave with some uneven bounce are minimal.
This was a second chastening day on the trot for Root, who was unable to influence the relentless direction of the match in South Africa’s favour. He shuffled his bowlers as best he could but however he arranged them, the Proteas held the upper hand.
England took six wickets, Ben Stokes producing his best bowling of the summer to finish with 2-34 from 20 overs and Moeen Ali mopped up another four to give him 14 in the series, but they will be footnotes in defeat.
Root will have things to ponder before they decamp all square to the Oval for next week’s third Test, not least of which will be his authority on the process of reviews, because yesterday was a shambles.
Ten have been called during this series to date with just three successes, which feels under par.
But yesterday there was no quality control or consultation with bowlers seemingly TAMMY BEAUMONT is confident there are match-winners throughout the England side as they prepare for tomorrow’s Women’s World Cup semi-final against South Africa.
The hosts meet the Proteas at Bristol for a place in the Lord’s final, with England holding the psychological edge after a 68-run victory in the group stages.
Opener Beaumont took centre stage in that game, scoring 148 in SWEPT AWAY: Amla led the way for South Africa as they slowly but surely batted England out of the match a 275-run stand with Sarah Taylor. But the burden has been shared throughout the competition, with Nat Sciver scoring two centuries and captain Heather Knight making a vital 62 in Saturday’s final group stage win over West Indies.
Beaumont said: “The best part about our squad is that someone steps up every single game. We all need to be on form heading into a semi-final.” CHRIS FROOME breathed a huge sigh of relief at the finish here yesterday after the Sky rider came within a whisker of losing the Yellow Jersey for a second time this week.
Things went seriously awry for the Briton when his back wheel broke just moments after French rival Romain Bardet and his AG2R La Mondiale team had launched a mass attack.
Following a frantic roadside wheel change with a Sky team-mate, Froome was left trailing the main pack by almost a minute – a time loss that would have pushed him down to fifth overall.
So Froome was forced to launch into a furious uphill pursuit for almost all of the stage’s toughest climb, the 8km Peyra Taillade, only for Bardet to attack in person just as Froome regained contact. Froome saw off the Frenchman’s challenge, but the 32-year-old admitted he had been under major pressure.
“It was a stressful moment. I wasn’t sure if I’d get back on again,” he said. “AG2R rode their race and rode fast.
“Just before the climb, I had a problem with my back wheel, it was damaged. [Teammate Michal] Kwiatkowski gave me his wheel because the team car was stuck behind. I gave it my maximum to get back up to the leaders.
“I’ve got to thank my team-mates yet again for helping me – they gave it their maximum too.”
The hot, hilly trek through France’s remote Massif Central region was won by lone breakaway Bauke Mollema of the Netherlands. And the stage’s big loser was Colombian Nairo Quintana, three times a Tour podium finisher behind Froome, who struggled badly.
Froome’s scare was just the latest in a race proving far trickier for the triple Tour winner to dominate than in previous years. Prior to 2017, he had never once relinquished the lead after the race had entered the mountains.
But his neardisintegration on a lung-bursting final slope of a Pyrenean stage last Thursday meant Froome was forced out of yellow and looking seriously vulnerable for the first time since he started to dominate the Tour with victory in 2013.
Froome snatched back the lead from Italy’s Fabio Aru on Saturday’s uphill finish in Rodez, but his luck almost turned against him yesterday and the overall classification remains far closer than Sky or their leader would like.
Fifteen days into the 104th Tour de France, the four top riders are separated by less than 30 seconds, with such a small gap between so many top contenders so late in the race unprecedented.
Froome leads Aru by 18 seconds overall, with Bardet in third at 23 seconds and Colombian Rigoberto Uran fourth at 29 seconds.
In Froome’s favour, he has by far the strongest climbing team of the 2017 Tour even without Geraint Thomas, who crashed out in the Jura mountains.
But time-wise, Froome has no margin for error when incidents such as yesterday’s wheel change arise, and his rivals know it.
Today is a muchneeded rest day for the peloton.