AFTER AN AMAZING DAY… FIVE THINGS ENGLAND COULD DO BETTER AT LORD’S

TIME TO SORT OUT THEIR SORRY SLIP CATCHING

No one will be more relieved England won than Dawid Malan, who dropped Virat Kohli on 21 and 51.

Malan also put down Murali Vijay at the start of India’s second innings, while Alastair Cook missed a chance from Hardik Pandya. But England believe their cordon, with Keaton Jennings at third slip, is the best they’ve got.

Yet there’s little consistency: Jennings was in the cordon for the first over of India’s first innings, and out of it for the second. No wonder players don’t feel comfortable in their roles.

GO BIG IN FIRST INNINGS OR FACE PRESSURE

Since making 514 for eight in the day/night Test at Edgbaston against West Indies last summer, England have averaged 251 in their first innings.

Only twice — against Pakistan at Headingley two months ago g and at the MCG over the winter — have they passed 350. As a result, they’re finding themselves under pressure later in the game.

DEVISE A PLAN FOR RAVICHANDRAN ASHWIN

India’s off-spinner has become a superb operator. But England know their battery y of left-handed batsmen — they had seven at Edgbaston — need to play him better.

Of Ashwin’s seven wickets, five were lefties, including Alastair Cook, bowled twice in a Test for the first time in his 157-match career. If the 20-year-old Sam Curran can find a way y to attack Ashwin, so can his more experienced colleagues.

PRACTICE ISN’T MAKING PERFECT IN THE FIELD

When Virat Kohli’s brilliant pick-up and off-balance throw accounted for Joe Root on the first afternoon, it was another reminder of how rarely England hit the stumps in the field.

Of a dozen or so shies at Edgbaston, only two found their target, and on both occasions the batsmen were safely home.

England spend so much time practising the skill, often aiming at a single stump.

But they are failing to reap the benefits.

BE MORE STREETWISE OR RANKING WON’T IMPROVE

Should Jonny Bairstow (the quickest runner in the team) have called Root (not the quickest) through for a second run as Kohli prepared to gather the ball? Should Root have tucked Ashwin round the corner with a leg slip waiting?

Should Jos Buttler have aimed a forcing shot at Ishant Sharma to the first delivery he faced after lunch on the third day when he knows Sharma only brings the ball back into the right-hander? If England are to rise from their No 5 ranking, they must handle these moments better.