ROUT OF THIS WORLD!

Brilliant Broad joins party as hapless India are demolished

Ben who? england did not miss their absent friend in the least at Lord’s, where they moved to the brink of a series win against the best team in the world by dominating an utterly one-sided second Test.

not even rain that washed out the whole of the first day and reduced the second to just 35 overs could stop england winning on the fourth yesterday as India were completely outclassed.

In fact, with India being bowled out twice in just 82.2 overs and england batting for 88.1, this was a Lord’s Test that in effect lasted for less than two days’ play. no chance yet, then, of burn- out caused by five Tests in six weeks.

And a thumping victory by an innings and 159 runs that leaves england two up with three to play was achieved while their talisman Ben Stokes was preparing to continue his attempt to clear his name at Bristol Crown Court.

The contrast between the negativity of a criminal trial on a charge of affray for england’s highest profile player and the positivity of a second Test that has showcased Joe Root’s team at their finest could hardly be greater.

This, in the form of the sublime bowling of the master craftsman in Jimmy Anderson and an allround performance of considerable substance from Stokes’ replacement Chris Woakes, was the perfect antidote to Bristol.

It has been sorely needed, too, by an england Test team who were on the brink of crisis when they were defeated by Pakistan here at Lord’s in the first Test of this summer.

now, after a narrow victory in a thrilling first Test at edgbaston and a display of superiority here, england will head to Trent Bridge, one of their happiest hunting grounds, confident of rapidly wrapping up this Specsavers series.

Surely India must now regret their arrogant and unprofessional approach to preparations for this series that saw them cut short their only warm-up game in essex and just go through the motions for three days. Yes, India have traditionally struggled against the moving ball in england and had the very worst of conditions here from the moment Root won an important toss but this was a brutal defeat for a proud captain like Virat Kohli.

The best batsman in the world ended the match restricted by a back complaint that will be a huge worry for India and Kohli will now have the weight of the world on his shoulders ahead of the third Test.

There are no such worries for Root, other than what fate might befall his great friend Stokes, who now looks sure to miss the third Test and quite probably the whole series even if he is found not guilty in the next few days.

It is impossible to see who could be left out even if Stokes were available after a display reminiscent of the days when england were no1 in the world. Woakes (left) made a pretty decent stab of replacing Stokes here with his maiden Test century and two wickets in each innings to earn the man of the match award ahead of Anderson.

There was a second mature performance in a row from another all- rounder, Sam Curran, while any thoughts of Stokes playing instead of a batsman would surely be ruled out by a debut of promise from Ollie Pope.

Yesterday followed the same pattern of english domination as Friday and Saturday with Root, who appears to have visibly grown as a captain in the last two games, understandably deciding to extend england’s first innings.

There were those who felt he should declare overnight, but with two days’ play left and an improved weather forecast, the england captain had every right to wait until Curran became the seventh wicket to fall before calling his side in. By then Woakes had reached an unbeaten 137 and Curran had again shown his batting promise by adding 40 that featured an extraordinary six smashed in tennis- style off the unfortunate Mohammed Shami. The only question then was whether India could take the game into a final day but the answer was emphatically ‘no’, with Anderson again magnificent in going past 100 wickets at Lord’s.

But the pick of the england attack this time was their other thoroughbred, Stuart Broad, who galloped in from the Pavilion end to take four wickets — with the chance of a hat-trick — in a brilliant seven-over spell only ended by more rain.

If Broad’s rhythm had not been interrupted it could easily have gone down as another of his fabled match-winning spells but instead it was confirmation of his return to his best form, summed up by a late inswinger to bowl Cheteshwar Pujara that was as good as anything Anderson managed.

The late resistance of Ravi Ashwin and Hardik Pandya that took India to 130 was ended before the umpires, who had set a precedent by taking the players off for bad light under floodlights on Saturday, could do so again.

That was the only complaint about a display of officiating that Aleem Dar and Marais erasmus could be proud of in difficult conditions for umpires, with the first 10 of their 12 decisions that were reviewed upheld by technology.

now all eyes will be back on Bristol after england showed that, however long they will be without Stokes, they are capable of coping just fine without him.