Category: England Cricket

• Fourth Test, day three: India 358; England 544-7

• Root races up to second in all-time Test runs list

Friday in Manchester belonged to Joe Root as 20,000 people inside Old Trafford watched a master at work. Inevitable is a dangerous word in a fickle sport like cricket and yet the events that transpired felt as close to this as is possible: the likeliest of outcomes once Root gambolled out to the middle first thing under an azure blue sky.

The first expectation was that England, trailing India by 133 runs on 225 for two, would take control of this fourth Test and, sitting 2-1 up, the series as a whole. Ben Stokes, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley had inflicted such damage on day two that it was going to take something remarkable from the tourists to turn their fortunes around.

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• Fourth Test, day one: India 264-4

• Wicketkeeper’s participation at Old Trafford in doubt

After the row about time-wasting at Lord’s came an unscheduled 10-minute delay on the opening day in Manchester, but this time no one was grumbling. Rishabh Pant was being driven off on a golf buggy nursing a suspected broken foot, the agony on his face as clear as the egg that had swollen up within seconds.

This was a very Pant way to get injured, India’s zany wicketkeeper having attempted a reverse sweep off Chris Woakes only to bottom-edge the ball on to his right boot. England burned a review for the lbw but it was as good as a wicket, Pant retiring on 37 and his further participation in this pivotal fourth Test left very much in doubt.

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Spinner may have thought his Test days were gone, but consistent performances for Hampshire have been recognised

As the one enforced change in England’s XI for the hotly anticipated fourth Test against India at Old Trafford this week, Liam Dawson replacing the injured Shoaib Bashir represents a 180-degree turn on pretty much every metric.

Bashir has been the long-term investment this past year: a 6ft 4in right-arm off-spinner who, aged 21, struggles to get a look-in at Somerset and has instead been honing his craft at the highest level. His ceiling is fancied to be higher than his towering release point, even if he is a No 11 with the bat and a competent fielder at best.

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England team hang on their captain’s every word but he is on his longest run of Tests without a century

A day out from the second Test against India at Edgbaston and Andrew Flintoff was dog-sticking to England’s batters in the nets, his very presence bringing memories of 20 years ago flooding back. It was here where Flintoff wrote his name into Ashes folklore, igniting the afterburners for England’s statement first innings, rescuing the second with a six-laden counterattack, and then sending down a famous over on the third evening that vaporised Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting.

As well as driving England to that famous two-run victory, 141 runs and seven wickets across the four days made it Flintoff’s statistical peak as a fast-bowling all-rounder – the only time he went north of 100 runs and five wickets in the same Test. People often underestimate the physical and mental demands that the dual role places on those hardy enough to even attempt it; expecting both facets of their game to deliver consistently is unrealistic save for a handful of freakish greats.

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Northamptonshire and England cricketer hailed as a fearless batsman who was nicknamed ‘Ned’

It was some time in the 1980s. The details have gone hazy: it could have been any county cricket ground and any captain being asked by the press why they had lost so badly to Northamptonshire: “What went wrong?” The answer was equally terse: “We got Nedded.”

A “Nedding” meant being on the receiving end of a blistering innings from Wayne “Ned” Larkins, who has died in hospital, while awaiting a heart bypass, aged 71. When he was hot, he could be the most thrilling batsman in the country. But demons of insecurity lurked beneath his cheery countenance and his 13 Test matches were a feeble reward for an exceptional talent.

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• Rob Key: ‘We’ve gone slower than we could have done’

• Fast bowler may be held back for third Test at Lord’s

Rob Key has played down concerns about Jofra Archer’s readiness for Test cricket, insisting England could have fast-tracked his comeback sooner and saying he trusts Ben Stokes not to flog such a precious commodity.

Archer, 30, was the standout name when an otherwise unchanged squad was picked for the second Test against India that starts at Edgbaston next Wednesday. But coming after a four-year absence from first-class cricket, and just 18 overs with a red ball for Sussex this past week, the selection also raised eyebrows.

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Gloucestershire fast bowler who was the first British-born black cricketer to play for England

David “Syd” Lawrence, the Gloucestershire and England cricketer who has died aged 61, a year after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, knew only one way to bowl. It was to charge up to the crease and hurl the ball down as fast as he could – whether it was eleven o’clock in the morning or six in the evening after a long day in the field. He became the first British-born black cricketer to play for England on his Test debut in 1988.

For Gloucestershire he united with Courtney Walsh, the great West Indian paceman, who would soon become a friend. They would also enjoy themselves as revellers at the St Paul’s carnival in Bristol each year. Together they formed a formidable, contrasting pair of opening bowlers. Walsh was the more calculating cricketer, bowling fast one day and relying on accuracy, cunning and late movement the next. Lawrence just kept racing in with abandon, a spectacular, uplifting sight unless you happened to be the batsman at the other end.

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