All-rounder Chris Woakes slammed his maiden Test century as England raced to 357-6 for an overall lead of 250 in the second Test against India at Lord’s.
Jonny Bairstow was dismissed just seven runs short of his century as England scored at nearly four and a half runs an over on Saturday.
For India, fast bowler Mohammed Shami picked up 3-74 but the other bowlers didn’t provide enough support as England looked all set to take a 2-0 lead in the series, weather permitting, with Woakes batting on 120.
Here are the talking points from a brilliant day for England at Lord’s.
SEAMERS STRIKE FOR INDIA
Shami picked up three wickets.
The overnight rain meant that even though the sun was out in London at the start of play on Saturday, there was enough zip in the pitch to assist the quicker men. Both Shami and Ishant Sharma found late movement from round the wicket to trap Keaton Jennings lbw and fellow opener Alastair Cook caught behind, respectively.
The wicket started to misbehave with the ball staying low. Hardik Pandya had debutant Ollie Pope lbw with one that skidded on to the batsman before Shami got one to stay low and hit captain Joe Root on the pad right at the stroke of lunch. At 89-4, it was game on.
BAIRSTOW AND WOAKES’ COUNTER-ATTACK
After Jos Buttler was trapped lbw by Shami, England were in a spot of bother at 131-5. But instead of going into their shell, Bairstow and all-rounder Woakes remained positive as they worked the ball into the gaps while accumulating boundaries. The hosts maintained a run rate of more than four an over throughout the innings, even though they were lucky early on with Bairtsow and Woakes getting numerous inside edges.
But once Ishant and Shami were out of the attack, England knew the Indian bowling didn’t pose much of a threat. Pandya was honest at best while wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav (0-44 from nine overs) looked completely out of sorts at the ‘Home of Cricket’.
LEAD OF MORE THAN 200
Bairstow looked in fine touch.
As the pitch began to ease out, India ran out of ideas. Bairstow and Woakes matched each other shot for shot and scored almost a boundary an over as they raised their 100-run stand in the first over after tea.
The final session went from bad to worse for Virat Kohli. Woakes and Bairstow put the foot on the pedal as they took their partnership past 150 in the 68th over with Woakes steering Ravi Ashwin past long leg for a boundary.
The cloud cover had returned by that time but the Indian bowlers had no clue against the rampant duo. Both were into the 90s after 70 overs with England at a healthy 299-5 and it was Woakes who brought up his maiden Test ton with a swing over mid-on for three runs off the bowling of Pandya.
But right after the two had taken the lead past 200, Bairstow edged Pandya behind to miss out on a deserved ton by seven runs. The two added 189 runs.
Chris Woakes has a higher Test batting average than Mark Stoneman, Dawid Malan, Tom Westley, Keaton Jennings, Ben Duckett, James Vince, Alex Hales, Adam Lyth, Sam Robson, Nick Compton, James Taylor....
— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) August 11, 2018
I could go on.#ENGvIND
ASHWIN MYSTERY
While England’s seamers were all over India in the first innings, India couldn’t make a similar impact. Apart from Shami and Ishant, no Indian bowler looked like picking up wickets consistently. Even then, Ishant went for more than four an over for his 1-88 from 19 overs.
In fact, ace spinner Ravi Ashwin came into bowl only in the 39th over, raising some serious questions about the tactics of the Indian team.
