Cricket: an England victory for the ages
The first Test against India was, “without question, one of the great England Tests”, said Simon Wilde in The Sunday Times. At times, England’s position “looked hopeless”: when Jos Buttler was dismissed in the second innings, leaving them a mere 87 for 7; when Virat Kohli scored a half-century for India on the fourth day. But, in the end, it was a “classic backs-to-the-wall victory” at Edgbaston. In a “bowling spell of supercharged energy”, Ben Stokes dismissed Kohli and then Mohammed Shami in the space of only four balls; he finished the job less than an hour later, bowling out Hardik Pandya to seal a 31-run win. Yet it was “not just the end of the match that was extraordinary”, said Tim Wigmore in The Sunday Telegraph. “It was the journey to get there too.” There was Kohli’s brilliance, with a score of 149 in the first innings; there was Adil Rashid’s successful return to the England camp, following a 328-day absence from first-class cricket. When Test cricket is as good as this, no other sport can match it.
It was Sam Curran who “changed everything”, said Andy Bull in The Observer. Playing in only his second Test, the 20-year-old all-rounder impressed with the ball in the first innings, taking four wickets. But his most important contribution came in the second innings. Positioned eighth in the batting order, he single-handedly rescued England with his score of 63 – which made him the fourth youngest Englishman to score a Test half-century. But it was Stokes, once again, who proved himself to be “England’s most influential cricketer”, said Paul Newman in the Daily Mail. He was at his indefatigable best here, “an irresistible force”. Two days after the climax of this Test, however, he went on trial in Bristol – over a fight that took place last September – and was accused of mocking a gay couple. The trial rules him out of the second Test – and potentially many more, depending on the verdict. “England will miss him.”
For Joe Root, this was a landmark Test, said Scyld Berry in The Sunday Telegraph. In much of the match England were out-fielded and outbatted; they won, however, because Root “out-captained” his counterpart, Kohli. Displaying a maturity “he had never shown before”, he was clever in his use of bowlers and “brought the best out of all his players” – notably Stokes and Rashid. But the team still have one obvious weakness: their catching at slip. Dawid Malan, who dropped three catches at second slip, is to be replaced by Ollie Pope in the second Test, but Alastair Cook, at first slip, was also found wanting. Compared to the likes of Australia and South Africa, England have always neglected fielding. On this occasion, it almost cost them the Test.