Victory thrown away in a fit of cricket madness
England lose their heads in a crude, costly and futile attempt to exact revenge for Bumrah’s bombardment of Anderson
England threw this game away in a fit of midsummer madness. When cricketers in the field lose their temper, their immediate reaction is to bowl shorter and shorter, faster and faster. Logic and reason are replaced by adrenalin and aggression, and when Jos Buttler is so fired up that he has to be told by his captain to back off, relations are getting frayed.
James Anderson lies at the heart of this antipathy between England and an Indian team who have never been so nationalistic. In the Mumbai Test of December 2016 the two teams came closer to fisticuffs on the pitch than in any other game I have seen.
Anderson in a press conference during that Test had criticised Virat Kohli which, given his status, was seen as heresy. Kohli had scored many runs on Indian pitches against England, but Anderson suggested he would not be so successful in England in 2018 – indeed, that Kohli would fare much as he had in the 2014 series when he averaged 13.40.
When Anderson walked out to bat on the final morning of that Mumbai Test, some of the Indian fielders surrounded him on the way to the wicket – a sight without much precedent – and laid into him for having dared to criticise their captain. This is the closest I have seen to cricket turning violent. Yet the beauty of it was that a few minutes later, when the match was over, the sport’s etiquette forced the players to shake hands, if not to make up.
Anderson never dismissed Kohli during that 2018 series, when England won but Kohli averaged 59. But he did dismiss him at Trent Bridge in the opening Test of this series, handing India’s captain the ignominy of a first-baller. Tensions rose further when Mohammed Siraj was bowling, especially to Jonny Bairstow, and holding a finger to his lips after getting Bairstow out. Shut up, in so many words.
The latest spark came on Saturday evening in Jasprit Bumrah’s 10-ball over at – rather than to – Anderson. England on the fifth morning clearly wanted revenge for that bombardment. Reason dictated that Anderson, having taken the second ball (with the attendant risk that it would fly further if tail-enders started hitting), should bowl more than three overs with it.
But no, Joe Root – perhaps his advisers too, like Buttler – wanted
Root – perhaps his advisers too, like Buttler – wanted Wood to dish out bouncers
Mark Wood to dish out bouncers at Bumrah. Spreading the field for Rishabh Pant was logical, but not for India’s tail-enders. All England had to do was bowl line and length with a fly slip for the top edge if the tailenders did wind up. By spreading the field, Root let the tail-enders take singles off good balls after their initial slogging.
Ollie Robinson took his two wickets, unveiling tricky slower balls; Wood delivered his thunderbolts to order, hitting Mohammed Shami on the shoulder and Bumrah on the helmet (but not the stumps), even though his right shoulder was so injured he could not throw the ball in to Buttler, only bowl it; while Sam Curran was more a marginal figure than a fourth seamer.
Shami had averaged 11 with the bat in Tests, Bumrah 3.6. Together they helped themselves to 89, until the lead was such there could only be one winner, and it was not England. Together with the lesson about self-control, this passage of play illustrated how the best players tend to rise to extra responsibility. England packed their batting at Trent Bridge, picked only four bowlers, and promptly collapsed.
India’s tail-enders, by their batting at Trent Bridge and Lord’s, put India on top, then channelled their aggression into bowling England out.