England v India: first Test, day three – as it happened

Ollie Robinson’s five wickets kept India in check but the tourists still forged a 95-run first-innings lead at Lord’s

8.39pm BST

Related: ‘I thought I might never play for England again’: Ollie Robinson back with a bang

6.28pm BST

So after only a third of a day yesterday, we’ve had half of one today. Yet the game has kept on moving.

When England removed Rishabh Pant, India were 138 for 5 and honours were even, but then the Indian tail – plus KL Rahul, who stuck around for an implausible 214 balls – doubled the score. Ravindra Jadeja got his customary fifty, and Jasprit Bumrah suddenly discovered how to get past ten. England, like India, had two bowlers taking most of the wickets – Jimmy Anderson in his 163rd Test and Ollie Robinson in his second. But, unlike their Indian counterparts, they got no help from the other two, bar a couple of fine catches by Stuart Broad, which ushered Robinson to his first international five-for.

6.12pm BST

That’s that – even though the umbrellas are down and the sun is out. This country. Mad as a batter!

6.10pm BST

The good news is that the umpires are out there. The bad news is that they have their umbrellas up.

6.05pm BST

In other news, Australia’s T20 team are now 3-0 down to Bangladesh.

6.04pm BST

Arthur Graves has a cunning plan. “Now we’ve got the annoying first innings out of the way – very cleverly nice and quickly, and as our boys are evidently much better at the shorter versions of the game, why don’t they just slip back into their collective ‘happy place’, and bat like a one-dayer. Get a quick 350 on the board, then it’s happy days for the bowlers. This thing could be wrapped up by the end of day 4.”

5.59pm BST

“More pedantry I’m afraid,” says Simon Gates, picking up on the 9th over, “but it’s a Reliant Robin, not a Robin Reliant.” Superb.

5.59pm BST

It’s raining again, according to our old friend Lawrence Booth. “And dark,” he says on Twitter. “This could be terminal for the day.”

5.47pm BST

Play was due to resume at 5.45pm, but then, amazing to relate, it rained again. So the resumption has been shunted to 6.10.

5.24pm BST

“Call me a pedant,” says Brandan Large, “but I’d refute Vic Lanser’s claim that it’s difficult to see how England can win. It could happen many ways – Root/Bairstow go big, Buttler smashes it, Jimmy & Broad roll back the years etc. What’s hard is to believe that they will do it on current form.” True – and Zak Crawley always has a big score in him.

5.22pm BST

And Will Vignoles is back for another spell. “Just to continue this OBO version of The Go-Between,” he says, “I actually have a lot of time for Sibley’s temperament and willingness to dig in – I just think that his closed-face technique makes him struggle to find gaps, which means that his partner has to take up more than their fair share of the scoring slack. That’s fine if it’s Root or Stokes at the other end (e.g. in the first test in India this year), but I don’t think it suits Burns’s game to be the aggressor. I’m sure international cricketer Dom Sibley will be taking notes from me, a guy without a fifty for four years.” Ha. You may well be the best player in this conversation.

5.20pm BST

A suggestion from Crawford on Twitter. “Mary Pratt, your American correspondent [84th over], might like to know that the way we all ‘solved’ cricket was via this old chestnut.” Ah yes, I remember the tea towel. But it could do with an update: can some modern tea-towel manufacturer please replace all those “men” with “people”?

5.12pm BST

“In reply to Vignoles,” says Vic Lanser, “what Sibley can do is bat for time, if he can avoid midwicket madness. Hard to see how England can win, but dragging it out and praying for more rain might save them.”

5.10pm BST

Out of a clear blue sky. Literally.

5.09pm BST

11th over: England 25-0 (Burns 11, Sibley 9) The lights are on and the ball “just might start dodging around,” as David Lloyd puts it. Shami bowls a beauty that beats Burns’s inelegant prod, but Burns gets his revenge, guiding an edge for four. He can relax now: he’s overtaken Sibley.

The crowd are getting a bit bored. A fan who has come dressed as Jack Russell – accompanied by several Ian Bothams – gets other spectators to throw a tennis ball at him. His takes are all right, but I’m not sure he could manage a legside stumping off Gladstone Small.

5.04pm BST

10th over: England 21-0 (Burns 7, Sibley 9) A single to Burns, covering his stumps and nudging Siraj down to fine leg.

“In reply to Jim Hornby [7th over],” says Will Vignoles, “he might want to look at India’s run-rate early on – even with such good batters as Rohit and KL Rahul, they barely got above two per over until they were set (and India’s attack is better than England’s as well). Burns and Sibley aren’t a fantastic opening partnership, and can go into their shells too much, but surely sometimes you have to see off the bowling?

4.59pm BST

9th over: England 20-0 (Burns 6, Sibley 9) Burns, embarrassed to find himself outpaced by a Robin Reliant, steps on the gas and clips Shami for four.

Here’s John Starbuck, picking up on Jim Hornby’s point from two overs ago. “That Burns and Sibley aren’t openers is very clear,” he reckons, “but that’s no reason to drop them; either but not both should be retained to partner a more aggressive opener, such as Hameed. Although he often takes a while to get going too, he has more stickability. I’d keep Burns, mainly because Sibley’s style is so ugly he offends sensibilities, as well as being the worse fielder.” Alas, poor Sibley. Does anyone feel he should keep his place?

4.54pm BST

8th over: England 15-0 (Burns 1, Sibley 9) I thought Bumrah might be changing ends but Siraj continues. Que Siraj Siraj. Sibley thick-edges him for four, then flirts with the danger that did for him on Wednesday, the chip to short midwicket. This time he keeps it just low enough. And let’s just register the fact that he is outscoring Burns by nine to one.

4.50pm BST

7th over: England 11-0 (Burns 1, Sibley 5) Burns edges Shami’s first ball, but downwards and with reasonable control. That’s a maiden.

“Six runs in five overs?” says Jim Hornby. “These guys aren’t openers, they’re dampeners —dampening any confidence, excitement or interest in the game, just like they did against New Zealand when offered the chance to make a game of it in the last innings of the first Test. Dismal.”

4.47pm BST

The Indians are back out there. It looks as if Kohli has realised the error of his ways and sent for Mohammed Shami.

4.34pm BST

An email with your cuppa. “Hello Tim!” Hello Tim Sanders! “As a boyhood Essex fan, the Andrew Samson stat (79th over) reminded me of Keith Fletcher’s struggles to establish himself in the Test team. He was first picked for the 1968 Ashes, but his undoubted class didn’t tell until 1973, when he averaged 62 against New Zealand, then 67 as England were soundly beaten by the West Indies. He enjoyed another season as a regular pick before the 1974-75 Ashes tour, which included being hit on the forehead by a Thommo delivery in the Sydney Test. Even though he had as good a tour as anyone, averaging 36, it was then seven years more of never quite being established.

“As a grown-up living in Yorkshire, my favourite cricketer now is Jonny Bairstow. You kind of get used to the in-and-out selection thing.” Ha. Bairstow does seem to be treated as if Alec Bedser was still in charge.

4.30pm BST

6th over: England 11-0 (Burns 1, Sibley 5) Intoxicated by getting off the mark, Sibley clips Siraj off his pad for four. If he carries on like this, he’ll reach a hundred before Christmas. His run glut is rudely interrupted by a ball that strikes him in the most painful area known to man. Siraj then joins in the no-ball frenzy, so extras are now level with Sibley on five.

And that’s tea, with England hanging in there (by a thread) and India still well on top, although the ball has barely swung for them so far in this innings. That’s good news for Burns, whose mission, should he choose to accept it, is to stay there so long that Kohli regrets not having Ashwin to bowl at him.

4.23pm BST

5th over: England 6-0 (Burns 1, Sibley 1) Another no-ball from Bumrah, and a wide, given for height. England are getting ’em in extras – until Sibley manages a leg glance, off his 17th delivery, to the sound of ironic cheers.

“Sam Curran a livewire @TimdeLisle?” snorts Bernard Walsh, picking up on the 80th over of India’s innings. “I’ve seen better bowlers in the Ribblesdale League 2nd Division. Basically Curran was picked as a specialist number eight batsman, a strategy so flawed that it should result in the hapless Silverwood being sacked.” That’s entertaining but not entirely fair – last time India were here, Curran was England’s Player of the Series.

4.17pm BST

4th over: England 3-0 (Burns 1, Sibley 0) After batting like millionaires, India’s tail-enders are now bowling like misers – just one single off 26 balls so far. Siraj almost persuades Burns to play on as he pats a short one down into the crease.

4.13pm BST

3rd over: England 3-0 (Burns 1, Sibley 0) Bumrah to Sibley: two cricketers with no time for the coaching manual. It’s almost a maiden, but then Bumrah is found to have committed another no-ball. The seventh delivery has some venom to it, though Sibley manages to withdraw his bat. The sun pokes its head out, curious to see if England can put together a decent opening partnership.

4.07pm BST

2nd over: England 2-0 (Burns 1, Sibley 0) The other new-ball bowler is not Mohammed Shami but Mohammed Siraj. “When he bowled with the new ball in Australia,” says Dinesh Karthik, “he did really well.” Another Indian wicketkeeper, Rishabh Pant, may not be such a fan as Siraj lands one ball just in front of him, on the second bounce. Burns plays out the over with no alarms.

4.02pm BST

1st over: England 2-0 (Burns 1, Sibley 0) Rory Burns, on a pair, faces his nemesis from the first innings. He plays and misses at what turns out to be a no-ball, but then gets a nice friendly short one and helps it round the corner. Dom Sibley sees out the second half of the over with his signature contribution – the dot.

England’s chance of a win, according to CricViz, is just 10pc, with India on 43 and the draw still shading it on 47. They must be expecting a lot of rain.

3.57pm BST

The players are out there and Virat Kohli is looking – what else? – intense.

3.50pm BST

Another great catch from Broad, who is now a specialist fielder, hands a five-for to Ollie Robinson, the man who may well be his successor. Robinson fully deserves it but India are laughing all the way back to the dressing-room. They have a lead of 95, massive in the circumstances, and Bumrah is celebrating his first Test score of more than 10. His average has rocketed from 2.26 to 3.55.

3.43pm BST

84th over: India 274-9 (Bumrah 24, Siraj 7) Root removes Curran and gives Jimmy Anderson the chance of yet another five-for, but the merriment continues. The lead is 91.

“An American here,” says Mary Pratt, “still trying to solve cricket ... if that’s possible. What are ‘pants’? Batters who just stand there?” Ha, no, batters who can’t bat. In Britain and Australia, where Geoff is from, pants means useless.

3.38pm BST

83rd over: India 270-9 (Bumrah 23, Siraj 4) It’s still Robinson, searching for the first five-for of an embryonic and very promising Test career. The late Mike Hendrick would recognise his lift, movement, accuracy and persistence, if not his spiky persona. But he can’t stop Bumrah getting four off the glove with an attempted pull.

3.34pm BST

82nd over: India 264-9 (Bumrah 17, Siraj 4) Root keeps Curran on for the new ball, God knows why. Bumrah helps himself from the buffet – four, six, four (off the edge). This is what would happen if Curran bowled to himself. The lead is 80.

3.30pm BST

81st over: India 249-9 (Bumrah 3, Siraj 4) Someone seems to have told the Indian tail that Geoff Lemon described them as pants. Mohammed Siraj, coming in at No 11, plays a straight drive off Robinson that is more like Pant.

3.27pm BST

Handed the new ball, Ollie Robinson responds by pitching it up and thudding it into Shami’s pad, from where it thumps into the stumps.

3.25pm BST

80th over: India 245-8 (Shami 13, Bumrah 3) Curran continues, filling in before the new ball. Having him as one of only four bowlers looked like a bad idea, because he’s a livewire not a workhorse, and so it has proved. India have now added 100 since the fall of the fifth wicket, to England’s 45.

3.18pm BST

79th over: India 244-8 (Shami 12, Bumrah 3) Bumrah squirts Robinson past gully, picks up two and stretches the lead to 61. That should be enough to win the match, unless the rain gods have other ideas. At drinks, India are the happier team; England would be on level terms if they had fielded better.

A killer stat from Andrew Samson on Twitter. “After 17 Tests Ravindra Jadeja averaged 20.62 with the bat,” he notes. “In his 53rd Test he now averages 35.80. Only one player with a lower average after 17 Tests has had a higher average after 53: Keith Fletcher – 19.11 to 39.38.” Just give him a bit more time and Jadeja will make an excellent captain of Essex.

3.14pm BST

78th over: India 241-8 (Shami 11, Bumrah 1) Amid the mayhem, a maiden from Curran. Not quite sure how he managed that.

3.10pm BST

77th over: India 241-8 (Shami 11, Bumrah 1) Bumrah becomes the latest Indian to try to run himself out, scampering back to the non-striker’s end, but Anderson’s throw is less accurate than his bowling. The field has far too many holes in it. Robinson ends up bowling bouncers to keep Shami off strike, a compliment he may not quite have earned.

3.06pm BST

76th over: India 238-8 (Shami 9, Bumrah 0) It’s a double change as Sam Curran replaces Broad at the wicketless end. After seeing Jadeja perish to a skyer, Shami thinks “I’ll have a bit of that” and targets every cloud he can see. One of these shots is dropped by Anderson at deep mid-something. The lead goes past 50.

3.02pm BST

75th over: India 232-8 (Shami 3, Bumrah 0) The field was a mess for that ball, with only one slip, but Jadeja’s miscue and Broad’s experience did the job for England.

3.01pm BST

Got him! Jadeja takes 4-2-4 off Robinson but then gets carried away and sends a slog into the sky. Stuart Broad at mid-off engages reverse gear to take a cool catch, his first meaningful contribution of this Test.

2.57pm BST

Jadeja cuts Robinson for a crisp four and joins a select club: Root, Rahul and now Ravi, the only batters to reach 50 in this match. He celebrates with a lavish twiddle of the bat, like Alec Stewart on steroids.

2.55pm BST

74th over: India 222-7 (Jadeja 46, Shami 3) While Anderson is busy being 39 years young, things are now going so badly for his old mate Broad that he has allowed Mohammed Shami to stroke a three off the first ball of an over. It’s a classy stroke too – a cover push, hit on the up. England then bungle yet another run-out chance as Jadeja looks to keep the strike and Burns misses when a direct hit is required. India lead by Anderson’s age.

2.50pm BST

73rd over: India 218-7 (Jadeja 45, Shami 0) Jadeja, facing Anderson, peppers backward point: a couple of gentle cuts, which would be singles if he had any faith in Shami, followed by a pop off the splice, just over Burns’s outstretched arm at gully, which somehow goes for four. Then a flick over fine leg for six! And finally a big old heave at thin air, straight out of the as-yet-unpublished coaching manual called How to Bat Like Me by R Pant.

2.46pm BST

Thanks Geoff, afternoon everyone and welcome back to the Jimmy Anderson show.

2.45pm BST

Thanks for the company. That’s enough cricket for me.* From here you’ll be in the capable hands of Tim de Lisle.

* Yes, I will be watching the rest of the cricket.

2.44pm BST

72nd over: India 208-7 (Jadeja 35, Shami 0) Very good. “Will Jadeja be a bit more aggressive?” asks Mike Atherton.

“Depends how much faith he has in Shami,” replies Michael Holding.

2.39pm BST

71st over: India 205-7 (Jadeja 32, Shami 0) Generously, the rest of India’s batting is pants. Shami is a No11. So is Bumrah. So is Siraj. By lottery, one of them has to bat at No9. Shami only has to survive one Anderson ball, and does.

2.37pm BST

Too good, James Anderson. Again that immaculate length, Thakur unsure how to go about defending it. Again the inward angle and slight movement away. Thick edge from the defensive shot on the line of middle, and this time Root at slip makes up for his sins. His first drop hasn’t cost much, his catch has got England right back in the game.

2.32pm BST

70th over: India 205-6 (Jadeja 32, Thakur 0) Broad to Jadeja, with 10 overs to go before the second new ball. You wonder whether England would want it, actually. This one is doing a bit, and sometimes the lacquered ball goes straighter in England for the first 10 or 20 overs. Jadeja is defending, evading, Broad trying the short ball a couple of times. Nothing from the over.

2.30pm BST

69th over: India 205-6 (Jadeja 32, Thakur 0) Anderson does go past Kumble now to 620 Test wickets. Shardul Thakur comes to the middle, the first of the genuine non-batsmen, though he can bat. Defends the last ball of the over correctly. India’s lead is 22. So much rests on what happens now.

2.27pm BST

At last, Anderson gets his man!

He starts the over a little unsteady, Rahul, as he digs out a full straight ball from Anderson to the leg side. Airborne through midwicket and he’s lucky that he gets it square of the field for two. Much more convincing through the off side as he reads the pitch of the ball and cover drives for four. Proper. But that gets his confidence a bit too high, and he goes again at a much better Anderson delivery. That good testing length, short enough to move and full enough to make the movement dangerous. A bit of seam movement after angling in. And Rahul goes hard enough at it to give up the nick behind.

2.23pm BST

68th over: India 199-5 (Rahul 78, Jadeja 32) Jadeja filling his plate off the leg-line buffet. All the way to the boundary this time as Broad bowls straight from around the wicket. The wind has picked up so strongly that it blows Broad off his run-up twice in the over. Then the breeze blows one ball nearly past the keeper, away for a bye as Buttler half saves. Another break as Rahul gets some eye drops, while Jadeja has a drink. He must have been thirsting for that. The lead is up to 18.

2.17pm BST

67th over: India 193-5 (Rahul 78, Jadeja 27) Back after lunch, which means we’re an over or two from the next player-mandated drinks break. Anderson to bowl from the Radcliffe Road end. A single here, a leg bye there, then KL Rahul is dropped at first slip. Joe Root this time, after Sibley dropped him the day before. Wide, Rahul reaches, takes a top edge, and that is a simple chance really. Not coming too quickly, around head height so he has a good line of sight, and Root just isn’t switched on. Goes at it a bit late, parries it away, and Anderson stays level with Anil Kumble on 619 Test wickets.

2.01pm BST

With other news, Phil Sawyer. “Thanks, Geoff. I’ve now got ‘drop a little short, give a little width’ (59th over) stuck in my head as an earworm to this tune. Actually, there are worse states to be in.”

1.58pm BST

Back to our discussion about getting the game moving, Brian Withington.

“Rejecting any unworthy observation about Antipodean indifference to the precious sanctity of the condition of the ball, you make a good (unarguable?) point about what is really most important for cricket. Presumably the holy grail is to develop a pink ball that would be considered acceptable for all conditions, but in the absence of that, swapping over seems entirely preferable to no play. Maybe the batting team could have some choice of how long to carry on with the red when the light is marginal but not dangerously so?”

1.49pm BST

Also broadly related to the Olympicisation of cricket, Mike Gibb links us to this article from El Pais on getting the sport federated in Spain. One quote:

“When we started the league, cricket was only recognized as a hobby in Spain. In 2010, we managed to get it recognized as a sport, and since then we have been in the process of federation,” explains the MCC [no, the Madrid Cricket Club] president. The cricketers have been fulfilling the requirements of the Sports Ministry for more than 10 years, only to have more demands placed on them, complains [Jon] Woodward. First, there had to be 30 registered teams in the country; then 40, in five different regions; then 80 and a children’s game program. Last time authorities also asked for women’s teams. The cricketers managed to organize this and are now waiting for a response.”

1.43pm BST

Back to more important matters, here’s Chris Bourne. “For the Olympics, we should have an entirely new format in which umpires compete to make the fewest mistakes, a bit like showjumping, but without the leaping around. There could also be a batting competition in which batters are marked out of ten for shot difficulty and artistic interpretation.”

I can tell you, Chris, if you’d like a glimpse behind the OBO curtain, that I’ve spent a not insignificant amount of time recently playing a cricket video game in which you are an umpire and you make decisions on lbw appeals. That’s it. There is no other aspect to it. But the deliveries are all different, and it takes a certain skill. Just lodging this in case there is ever any debate about how cool I am.

1.40pm BST

An interrupted session, but KL Rahul didn’t let it break his concentration. Instead he proceeded calmly throughout when he was able to get into the middle, and was very judicious in choosing when to score. Rishabh Pant gave some entertainment and a relatively early departure, but Ravindra Jadeja has been valuable support for Rahul since then. India added 66 for the loss of one wicket, which is probably a reasonable trade.

England will still have the chance to rattle through the lower order if they can get one more wicket, but India have a good chance to forge ahead before then.

1.32pm BST

66th over: India 191-5 (Rahul 77, Jadeja 27) One over after India’s voluntary drinks break, that’s lunch. Three singles from Curran’s over, India lead by 8 runs, and that’s a strong morning’s work from them.

1.31pm BST

65th over: India 188-5 (Rahul 75, Jadeja 26) Jimmy’s back, which means it will start raining any second now. Again it’s the punch through point, should be four but Bairstow chases and dives and saves. Jadeja flicks a couple off his pads. India lead by 5. And they celebrate by having a runner come out with a towel and drinks. FIVE MINUTES before lunch.

Somebody, please, do something about this. There are two umpires who just stand there and let this happen. Frankly, unless someone has a broken piece of kit to swap out, nobody but two players from the batting side should be allowed onto the field during play. There’s a drinks break once a session. They could add more breaks if they really needed them. But random interventions for new gloves or more drinks whenever someone feels like it is absolute nonsense.

1.21pm BST

64th over: India 183-5 (Rahul 72, Jadeja 24) Rahul draws India level with England on 183, clipping Curran square. Now it’s all about how far ahead this pair can build. Even a lead of 50 could be significant.

1.19pm BST

63rd over: India 182-5 (Rahul 71, Jadeja 24) Jadeja makes things look easy. A simple little check-drive from Broad, rolling straight of Anderson, and so well timed that it beats him for four. Just looked like a forward defensive, but it reaches long on. India one run behind.

1.13pm BST

62nd over: India 178-5 (Rahul 71, Jadeja 20) Rotating pretty comfortably off his pads, is Jadeja, another run from Curran this time. Trickier for the right-hander, who pushes a little at the ball that holds its line, and gets an edge on the bounce into the cordon where Root dives to his right and fields one-handed. Saves four. The English lead is down to five runs.

1.11pm BST

61st over: India 177-5 (Rahul 71, Jadeja 19) KL takes Broad for a single, driven square. First ball of the over, Broad would hate that. It does give him a look at the lefty though, and Broad is immediately around the wicket to Jadeja. Tries to come in at the pads but Jadeja is equal to it, whipping to fine leg for one.

1.04pm BST

60th over: India 175-5 (Rahul 70, Jadeja 18) Sam Curran comes on for Robinson, and the short left-armer is all about pitching it up to find swing. Overpitches twice though, and Jadeja picks off two runs from his pads before driving four down the ground. Already a useful contribution from the all-rounder, closing the gap to 8 runs.

1.02pm BST

59th over: India 169-5 (Rahul 70, Jadeja 12) Robinson is having a long chat with bowling coach Jon Lewis on the boundary line as Broad continues bowling. What Lewis won’t be saying is: drop a little short, give a little width. Broad does, and Rahul punches crisply through cover point for four. Hard into the ground, safe as houses, and timed well enough to make the rope. Broad goes wider and Rahul leaves. The sun has vanished again and a strong breeze is rippling across the ground. Broad tries a bouncer and Rahul sways like a strong sapling.

Last ball of the over, a big appeal. Broad bowls from wide on the crease and Rahul doesn’t even really play, just stands and leaves his bat in its backlift. The English cordon is convinced, convinced that there’s a nick. Rahul shakes his head. Umpire Kettleborough takes his time, thinks about it, and normally when he doesn’t like a shout he looks down at his clicker immediately. Eventually he says it’s not out. Root reviews immediately, thought Buttler was trying to drag him back.

12.54pm BST

58th over: India 165-5 (Rahul 66, Jadeja 12) Robinson around the wicket to the left-hander, and Jadeja picks up another boundary through fine leg with the angle, a bit more controlled than the first. The deficit is cut to 18.

“Greetings from a sunny but only just warm Cape Town,” writes Trevor Tutu. “It is obvious to me that the problem is Anderson – the rain comes on when he bowls. Is there a witchdoctor that he has failed to pay in full from his last visit to South Africa? Their vengeance can be devastating.”

12.52pm BST

57th over: India 161-5 (Rahul 66, Jadeja 8) KL Rahul has been a model of patience. When he’s been beaten, he’s only been defending down the line of the ball. When Broad overpitches he calmly drives two runs past mid off. Not concerned about his scoring rate.

12.44pm BST

56th over: India 158-5 (Rahul 64, Jadeja 7) Robinson testing out Jadeja outside the off stump. A large yellow napkin does an American Beauty dance in the wind, interrupting the bowler, and the camera’s line of sight. Jadeja glances a single, he’s been very measured so far. Rahul is beaten once again, but he abides. England lead by 25.

12.42pm BST

55th over: India 157-5 (Rahul 64, Jadeja 6) Bathed in Met Office proprietary sunshine as one Stuart Broad comes on for the first time today. The ultimate Notts Outlaw, the Celebrappealer, Big Bad & Better Than His Dad, Scourge of Warner, Draco Malfoy on Stilts.

He’s bowling to the right-hander, making Rahul play, and beats him nicely with the sixth ball, having a quiet word afterwards about how close that may have been to edge or glove.

12.36pm BST

54th over: India 157-5 (Rahul 64, Jadeja 6) India really keen on run outs in this match. After Rahane’s kamikaze work yesterday, and Rahul’s dodgy call in the previous over, he makes an even worse one. Drops Robinson to cover and just bolts. Jadeja is the fastest in the team but he knows there isn’t a run there. He hangs back and then realises he has to go, if only to save his partner. Does the team thing, and luckily for him Lawrence fires at the striker’s stumps instead of taking a beat and throwing to the approaching keeper. Would have been a wicket either way. Instead the throw misses, and Jadeja stays. Takes a breath, clips two runs through midwicket, leaves anything wide of him, plays inside the line of a good one.

The deficit is 26.

12.31pm BST

53rd over: India 154-5 (Rahul 63, Jadeja 4) Anderson sizes up his new challenge, after Rahul takes a sprinter’s single to mid on. Another left-hander in Jadeja. Two balls at him. Anderson goes a little wide, a tempter, then swings in a fuller ball at the pads, driven nicely by Jadeja but saved. He’s been a proper batting contributor for the past two or three years, has Jadeja, rather than a bowler who can help out.

12.28pm BST

52nd over: India 153-5 (Rahul 62, Jadeja 4) A touch of luck for Jadeja to get off the mark with a boundary. Not the classic edge through slips, but he gets a shorter ball from Robinson at the body and fends fairly aimlessly, the ball leaping off the shoulder of the bat through fine leg. India trail by 30.

12.24pm BST

51st over: India 149-5 (Rahul 62, Jadeja 0) England’s lead stands at 38 runs as the last of India’s proper batting contributors comes to the crease. Shardul Thakur next is decent, but English conditions may not be his go. Rahul is on strike for this over though, and plays a lovely square drive against Anderson after surviving a very enthusiastic lbw appeal after an in-ducker. It hits him outside the line, and England fortuitously decide not to chance their last referral on this one.

12.17pm BST

50th over: India 133-4 (Rahul 58) This is... a very funny over. It’s raining, a bit. Drizzly. The umpires say they’re going off. Then it stops and they stay on. Then it comes back, and KL Rahul starts walking off. But he’s ordered back by Umpire Gough. Rahul would love to be back in the change room until the conditions are easier for batting. Rishabh Pant doesn’t mind being out there though. After a leg bye that thundered into Rahul’s thigh pad, Pant pokes at a ball and edges Robinson for four. Between gully and slip. Pant has a smile, another four runs to his name. He’s going at better than a run a ball. Because of course he is. And so he hooks his next ball for six! Off the top edge, over the keeper. 25 from 19 balls. Who cannot love this man?

The sun comes out for a second. Pant takes time to let his eyes adjust. Takes guard two feet down the crease. And chips a drive to short cover. Through the shot early, the ball stops in the crease, and it’s a simple catch.

12.11pm BST

49th over: India 133-4 (Rahul 58, Pant 14) We’re back. For a minute. Anderson finishes the over, bowls a short ball that Rishabah has a huge swish at outside off stump, and misses. Appeal for a nick. Umpire says no. England don’t review. Pant follows up with a single into the leg side.

11.54am BST

Next planned resumption of play is at 12:05pm, ten minutes from now.

11.53am BST

Relevant to all of this discussion of lost play, the Guardian’s consumer writer Miles Brignall was at Trent Bridge yesterday and wrote this review.

“Having paid £120 for two very average seats, we had a very frustrating day not helped by the the way the ECB runs Test matches. It was a bright sunny day at 10am, when they should have started the game. What came later was incredibly frustrating. When the game was fantastically poised, just after Anderson had just taken his two wickets, they went off the bad light even though the floodlights were on, and it was perfectly playable. Of course then it started raining and we had 3 balls after that.

11.46am BST

Krishnamoorthy writes in. “When will the anomaly called ‘bad light stops play’ end when every ground is equipped with floodlights?”

Your main problem there is that the red ball is quite dark, so when the sky is overcast and the floodlights are on it’s quite hard to see. It becomes a safety problem because players can be hit. That’s why they put so much research and effort into the pink ball, to develop one that would almost glow under lights.

11.43am BST

“Now that karate without an opponent to fight is apparently an Olympic sport, surely shadow batting must be a shoo-in,” writes Andrew Cosgrove. “Also, with regards to swapping to a pink ball, there’s no such thing as a pink ball of similar wear and tear to a red one. The way they are made is very different, so they wear differently.”

Well, yes, but this is what I mean about cricket’s preciousness. The ball is treated as sacred, its condition inviolable. But getting some from of cricket happening is better, in my opinion, than having perfect cricket that isn’t happening.

11.39am BST

Halloween H20: The rain has come back.

11.37am BST

Bad news from Peter Salmon.

“Lots of fascinating contributions on getting cricket to the Olympics, but I’ve gone to the charter and alas, its not going to happen.

11.35am BST

“It seems to me that The Hundred has been specifically designed for inclusion in the Olympics,” writes Arthur Graves. “They seem to like shortened versions of sports, both in terms of time taken and players involved. So with a small tweak, of just ten players per side, it’s good to go.”

Base ten! Base ten!

11.31am BST

The Met Office forecast up until 2pm is more cheerful than the BBC one. Pretty dry for a couple of hours, rain from 2 until 4, then clearing again. We’ll see.

11.29am BST

The TMS overseas link for today is here, if you’re after it.

11.24am BST

The covers are coming off, and play (meaning another two deliveries) is allegedly set to resume at 11:40am local time. Which is in 15 minutes.

11.23am BST

Controversy on the OBO, with a counter proposal from Brian Withington. Could this lead to the Great Rift of 2021?

“Fine work displacement from TvdG already. But why combine into a decathlon rather than offering individual medals? In case coin tossing proves a bridge too far (important but no advantage to legacy nations), I was mulling over a dressage style event awarded for leaving the away swinging ball; nicking off down leg-side; and padding up outside off to the in-ducker. Marks awarded for elan, technical difficulty and artistic impression.”

11.19am BST

“I like the idea of multiple skills for cricket players,” writes John Starbuck, “but it should be treated like a pentathlon/heptathlon, with all competitors having to tackle all the disciplines, otherwise we get medal inflation like so many Olympic sports. There ought to be a direct competition for run-outs, with opposing double players against the fielder (operating from set distances).”

11.16am BST

Em Jackson on the email has a few suggestions of their own to add to our Olympic event.

“Good Morning Geoff, good morning everyone (the ubiquitous cricketing opening line really). Can I take the first eight events of Tom’s event but change #9 to ‘Invent a Franchise Mission Statement’ with points awarded by an expert judging panel of international poets, authors, marketing analysts - say six judges, one from each continent. Points awarded for originality, deducted for cliche. And #10 - Etch-A-Crest. Where a slide-show of cricket counties / franchises / states are shown to competitors and they’ve got to guess them. In the event of a tie, fastest finger wins. All crests are shown in the style of an Etch-a-Sketch. As to events at Trent Bridge, a day’s worth of Qwik-Cricket at a local comp’s gym for India and England surely? Keep the match going...”

11.12am BST

48.3 overs: India 132-4 (Rahul 58, Pant 13) It was looking like fun, too. Anderson bowling, Pant squeezing out a bottom-handed flick through square leg for two runs. Then next ball, skipping down at Anderson and smashing him wide of mid-off for four.

That’s when the rain came. Two balls from Anderson, six from Robinson, three more from Anderson. So poor old Jimmy still hasn’t got to bowl a full over in a single stint of play.

11.10am BST

That lasted a long time.

11.10am BST

48th over: India 126-4 (Rahul 58, Pant 7) Ollie Robinson will start us off from the other end, and bowls a pretty good over first up. A little rusty on line once or twice, but hangs around outside off for the most part. No score by Rahul.

11.03am BST

47th over: India 126-4 (Rahul 58, Pant 7) Anderson gets to finish his over on his fourth attempt, a day later. And guess what, he’s right on the money first ball of the day. Good length, testing around off stump. KL Rahul manages to press it away for a single towards cover point but it was a good one. Pant defends the sixth and final of what was more an odyssey than an over.

11.01am BST

We’ll get some play!

11.01am BST

Bill Hargreaves writes in. “Michael Vaughan was giving it large on the telly yesterday arguing that there were times when white or pink ball cricket would have carried on under the lights. He was critical of the ECB, I think, saying they needed to do what was necessary so that more play could be enabled. Any thoughts?”

Yep, fair point - the proposal of switching to a pink ball of similar wear and tear when bad light intervenes is one that my colleague Adam Collins has made in recent years. Test cricket is very precious about conditions, but a willingness to compromise could be to its advantage.

10.40am BST

Tom van der Gucht is procrastinating already.

“I was wondering if the best way of getting cricket into the Olympics would be to do away with the team aspect and instead tasks that show off cricketing skills to their highest human degree like in the decathlon.

10.10am BST

For what it’s worth, the BBC weather report for 11am in Nottingham with its cute little pictograms has simultaneous cloud, rain, sunshine, and lightning.

The precipitation chance drops below 50% by 3pm, by which time the ground will probably be deemed too wet to play. Onward, optimists! The glass is indeed half full. Of rainwater.

10.06am BST

Email, birdphone, dealer’s choice. Drop me a line with your thoughts on... let’s be honest, it will mostly be about rain.

10.06am BST

Test cricket. You curious beast. We had a full day’s play on day one, with the extra half hour, and still only managed 81 overs. We had ongoing interruptions yesterday and managed a tick under 34 overs. Now we’ll try to resume on the third day with more rain forecast through the day, but not all at once. Hope springs.

We may be treated to the sight of Jimmy Anderson attempting to finish an over that will have spanned at least two days and four sessions of play, given that yesterday he bowled four deliveries across three segments either side of rain delays.

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