WOAKES A WONDER AS HE LEADS THE CHARGE

All-rounder shines but England are left rueing let-off for Rohit

The edge of Rohit Sharma’s bat was found by Jimmy Anderson and the ball flew towards Rory Burns at catchable height. But a Surrey captain well used to fielding in the slips here failed to pick it up and almost turned his back as the ball flicked his boot and fell to safety.

It was the fifth chance missed by england’s re-organised cordon already in this compelling fourth Test and it might yet prove the most costly.

Rohit was on just six and India were embarking on what could have been a decisive last hour of the second day 99 behind england. But, thanks to that latest miss, they emerged unscathed and had reduced that deficit by 43 at the close.

Advantage england, just, but what another gripping contest this is becoming and what pressure Joe Root and his side will be under should India bat all day today.

how england must regret, too, asking Chris Woakes to share a car with Moeen Ali from Birmingham to heathrow at the start of this difficult year, so triggering a train of events that somehow ruled him out of all Test cricket before this pivotal clash.

There have been many important players out since then, from Jofra Archer to Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad, but Woakes, forced into isolation in Sri Lanka when Moeen tested positive for Covid and missing ever since, has proved here he is as crucial as all of them.

First Woakes was the pick of the england attack with four wickets as India were dismissed for 191 and yesterday he ensured they eventually earned that still formidable lead with a fighting half-century on another actionpacked, high-quality day’s Test cricket.

This was a day when another packed Oval crowd saw a return of the sumptuous stroke-play that not too long ago saw Ollie Pope considered england’s next great Test batsman.

There was also some left-handed elegance reminiscent of David Gower in his pomp from Moeen until he all too sloppily threw it away.

And then there was Woakes on the ground where he made his Test debut as high as No 6 against Australia eight years ago showing again he is a genuine all-rounder and a considerable upgrade on the man he replaced here in Sam Curran.

Throughout it all India stayed in the hunt, catching much more safely than england, fielding like tigers and proving again they have an attack of considerable depth even though it is one still mystifyingly lacking a potential match-winner in Ravichandran Ashwin.

It looked like India had taken a firm hold of this Test and the series when they followed their late capture of Joe Root on Thursday with the early wickets yesterday of nightwatchman Craig Overton and then Dawid Malan. That left england, at 62 for five, still 129 behind and with Umesh Yadav justifying his surprise selection here in place of Mohammed Shami by taking three wickets.

The pressure was very much on two batsmen needing a score in Pope and Jonny Bairstow, much happier in this england side equipped with gloves as well as bat and, with Overton pushed up the order, back in his favourite No 7 slot.

Pope has had a difficult time since announcing himself with that maiden century of rare class against South Africa in Port elizabeth at the start of last year, struggling with two serious shoulder injuries and a tendency to tinker with his technique.

It was quickly clear here he had abandoned the off-stump guard he had seemed determined to stubbornly keep earlier this season and as a consequence Pope was much more fluent on the off side as well as prolific off his legs.

england lost those two wickets for only 25 in the first hour yesterday but then they counterattacked, 47 coming in the second half of the morning session, 28 of them in the first two overs after drinks from Shakul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj.

Sixteen came in four successive balls from Thakur, as Pope showed why england were right to narrowly prefer him here to the different type of promise of Dan Lawrence.

Bairstow is looking much more technically accomplished against the red-ball himself this summer but needs now to go on from the 20s and 30s that have promised much but ultimately not delivered nearly enough for england. he was trapped lbw by Siraj for 37 here before he could make that decisive contribution and departed furious with the Oval stewards for not stopping the all too constant movement behind the arm at the Pavilion end.

It did not appear to matter while Moeen was again showing the folly of his own omission from this side for far too long with batting that should be enough to guarantee his place, let alone combined with off-spin that has brought 193 Test wickets.

Moeen could have gone lbw for 14 to Jasprit Bumrah had India realised the ball had struck his toe first ahead of bat. But after hitting the shot of the day to bring england level, a cover drive for four off Yadav, he attempted a wild slog sweep off Ravindra Jadeja and lobbed the ball tamely to cover.

If Pope had gone on to a century on the home ground where he averaged in excess of a hundred before yesterday, then england would have been out of sight. But he too fell disappointingly, chopping on 19 short of three figures to a shot he had got away with twice before.

It was left to Woakes to get england up to up to 290 and that 99 lead before he was run out for 50 attempting a bye to keep the strike from Jimmy Anderson. But he had more than done his job with ball then bat.

The only problem for england is they could well need him to be at his best again today if India are not to set them the tricky target that anything over 200 would represent.

Game still very much on.