CRICKET: Stokes fails to fire on his return to the fray
Stokes fails to turn up after Root’s faith in him
THE first day of the third Test was supposed to be about Ben Stokes. In a sense it was but only in as much as the headline act in ‘Waiting for Godot’ never actually puts in an appearance.
At stumps, after being asked to bat under skies grey enough to make Jimmy Anderson salivate, India had reached a useful 307 for six — riches after their demolition at Lord’s. Alone among England’s bowlers, Stokes was wicketless and he rarely threatened.
Stokes being Stokes, he featured in one of the day’s champagne moments, holding on at slip as Virat Kohli — looking for the boundary that would have brought up his second century of the series — edged a flighted leg-break from Adil Rashid. But if England’s talisman was present and correct, he was also strangely anonymous. Figures of 15-1-54-0 told their own story.
Chris Woakes had three cheap wickets by lunch, and Sam Curran grew in stature after being dropped, as is so often the case.
But as Joe Root watched India recover from 82 for three, it was hard to escape the suspicion the captain deserved some sympathy. On Thursday, two days after a jury at Bristol Crown Court had found him not guilty of affray, Stokes looked him in the eye and assured him he was ready to return.
It was just what Root wanted to hear, even if the omission of Curran, he said, was the hardest decision of his time in charge.
Yet, the price to pay for accommodating Stokes’s competitive zeal was the loss of Curran’s left-arm swing, a commodity as precious as a Ming vase. There were even moments, while Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were adding 159 at nearly four an over, when Root might have wondered whether Stokes’ return should have been delayed.
There were signs that India had thought hard about their dismal showing at Lord’s, where they were bundled out for 107 and 130. Recalled in place of Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan set the tone by playing the ball as late as possible, skilfully putting on 60 for the first wicket with KL Rahul. Woakes had Dhawan caught in the slips for 35, then trapped Rahul in front for 23. And when Cheteshwar Pujara took leave of his senses in the last over before lunch, hooking Woakes straight to Rashid at long leg, Root’s decision was paying off. But Kohli and Rahane counter-attacked in an afternoon session that yielded 107 runs without reply. England were wilting and it needed a left-handed slip catch by Alastair Cook, possibly the best of his long career, to remove Rahane for 81.
England perked up when Kohli, replacing his helmet with a cap as he prepared to celebrate another hundred, fell to Rashid for 97. But shoulders slumped again when Keaton Jennings contrived to drop Hardik Pandya at third slip off a disbelieving Stuart Broad on 14.
Anderson collected his 100th Test wicket against India when Pandya, now on 18, edged what turned out to be the last ball of the day to Jos Buttler at second slip. But, in between England were given a glimpse of a rare talent, as India’s 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant lifted his second ball in Test cricket, off Rashid, towards the pavilion for six.
It was a moment which summed up the balance of power at the end of a day which had started with India fighting for their reputation. Perhaps they had been watching Stokes’ court performance more closely than anyone realised.