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Hameed out for a golden duck
For the second Saturday in a row, England are hoping for a show-stopper from their captain. Joe Root resumes today 48 not out, leading the fightback in the second Test.
A better day two kept them in the match, England carried by two genuine world-class performers in Root and James Anderson. Seven India wickets fell for 88, inspired by Anderson before Root rallied his team from 23 for two to reach 119 for three. But they need to go close to India’s 364 total to keep their hopes alive and, given recent history, much will rest on Root to make that happen.
He is exuding calm confidence and looking remarkably fresh given the burden he carries. He is in fine form after last Saturday’s brilliant 109 and has already in this innings moved past Graham Gooch into second place as England’s highest Testrun scorer.
Root once again rescued a toporder failing, this one tinged with more disappointment than usual after Haseeb Hameed recorded the 14th duck by an England top-three batsman this year, which is more than Root’s entire 107-match Test career (eight noughts).
None of the previous 13 in 2021 were as crushing for morale as this one. The once golden boy is thicker set with longer hair and a full beard, the youthfulness of 2016 long buried by the harsh realities of professional sport.
Hameed sat looking relaxed in the England dressing room, padded up patiently waiting for his chance and strode to the middle to encouraging cheers from the crowd.
Moments later he was walking back to silence, crestfallen after being bowled first ball by Mohammed Siraj. It was a good full ball, 85.5mph, but dead straight and Hameed’s defence should have looked after him, but he played inside the line with his feet weighted down by nerves.
With Siraj steaming in and adrenalin pumping, Root showed Hameed how it is done, comfortably getting in line to keep out a fast, straight delivery with an even straighter bat.
Root was a boy wonder himself once and will have sympathy for Hameed, but he must be out of patience with Dom Sibley.
The problem was not that he only made 11 off 44 balls, it was the manner of his dismissal. India stationed three men catching on the leg side, and with Siraj firing the ball into him down the slope, he knew where the danger lay, but Sibley could not help himself. He plopped a catch straight to short midwicket playing away from his body again, replicating his first-innings dismissal of last week. He knew it was a poor shot, and swiped his bat angrily at the turf before walking off. Sibley has played 10 Tests this year, and has an average of 20 inflated by 60 not out made here against New Zealand when England should have been going for their total. This is his 22nd Test, more chances than were granted to Keaton Jennings, Nick Compton and Joe Denly, and his average is sinking to around their mark of below 30.
He probably has one more chance in the second innings.
Rory Burns made a good 49 after escaping in the first over when a nick fell just short of slip, and he looked better than last week thanks to more time facing a red ball. He survived a difficult time against the new ball, played a crashing pull for four and a wonderful cover drive to move into the 40s, but as the dark clouds gathered he was beaten by a nip-backer from Mohammed Shami and given leg before, breaking an 85-run stand that would have given real confidence for today had it survived to the close.
Anderson once again carried the attack for his 31st five-wicket haul, seventh at Lord’s and just 48 hours after he was virtually written out of the game with a thigh strain. He insisted in private he was fit on Wednesday night, desperate not to miss out on a Lord’s Test with his record here superb, especially against India.
Anderson now averages 15 against them bowling up and down the Lord’s slope and in taking his five for 62 he became the oldest seamer, two weeks after his 39th birthday, to claim five wickets in a Test innings since 1951.
It was a masterful performance from Anderson, using the crease and changing the angle of attack on another slow Lord’s pitch that lacks carry, but he needs better support from his fielders. Burns dropped a catch at gully, a tough opportunity admittedly, that would have brought Anderson a fifth wicket earlier while Jos Buttler missed a diving catch down the leg side.
England also failed with four runout chances, a familiar theme from Trent Bridge.
It was Ollie Robinson who opened up the India innings with the second ball of the day. KL Rahul added two to his overnight 127 before driving Robinson to cover while Ajinkya Rahane prodded at Anderson’s first ball and was caught low down at first slip for one.
Rishabh Pant gave Anderson and Mark Wood the charge but, with such a long tail, sometimes India just need their brilliant wicketkeeper-batsman to keep his head for a little longer. His 49-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja ended when he inside-edged Wood behind playing an expansive drive.
When Shami fell to Moeen Ali for the sixth time in 28 balls, England had taken four for 72 in an excellent first session. Anderson returned in the afternoon to clean up Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah before Wood finished off the innings when Jadeja top-edged a pull.