Category: Cricket

• India captain doesn’t back down over Lord’s spat

• Ben Stokes says England did not ‘go over the line’

The India captain, Shubman Gill, has strongly criticised some of England’s behaviour during their current Test series, describing it as not “what I would think comes in the spirit of the game”.

On the eve of the fourth Test at Old Trafford Gill was asked if he regretted confronting the England batter Zak Crawley during the last match at Lord’s, a moment that prompted England to decide, as Harry Brook put it on Monday, “to give them something back and not be the nice guys we have been in the last three or four years”.

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A walking wicket on the 2018 tour of England, stats suggest Rahul’s average of 35 is more impressive than it seems

The Guardian’s over-by-over coverage is built on reader interaction. We probably receive more than 1,000 emails during an average Test, hundreds of which are published. As an epic Lord’s Test unfolded, the same question kept dropping into our inboxes. “This is the second innings of the series that has left me baffled as to how KL Rahul averages only 35 in Tests,” began one such email from Ned Blackburn. “He seems to have the temperament, technique and discipline to be absolutely elite. What am I missing?”

Rahul’s Test average has become the unsolved mystery of the English summer. But after a day in the statistical dirt – and Ben Stokes thought he went to some dark places on Monday – we can offer some potential explanations. The simplest reason is that after a fine start to his career he became a superstar of Indian cricket, a status that is Kryptonite for an overthinker. “I just couldn’t get out of my own head,” he said in late 2023. “I couldn’t leave cricket or my professional life on the field. It was such a heaviness on me.”

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Fast bowler displayed all the attributes which set him apart from others to deliver optimism for rest of series and Ashes tour

The electric return of Jofra Archer in England’s tight victory against India at Lord’s set straight a couple of narratives that arose during his four-year absence from Test cricket. It is often said that a player’s stock can rise when they are sat on the sidelines – yet sometimes, in some quarters, the reverse can also be true.

Chief among them was a reminder that England possess a special fast bowling talent here, Archer displaying the attributes that set him apart from others. As the man himself confidently put it regarding the 89.6mph beauty to Rishabh Pant that angled in, nipped away and gave the snappers the stumplosion they craved: “I guess it was just a matter of when, if I kept bowling like that. I can’t imagine many left-handers getting away with it.”

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• Hampshire bowler last played Test cricket in 2017

• Rest of the squad unchanged for Old Trafford clash

Liam Dawson has been added to England’s squad for the fourth Test against India, ending an eight-year exile from the longest format in international cricket.

Last month the Hampshire all-rounder made a successful return to England’s T20 side after a three-year absence and, with Shoaib Bashir forced to pull out of the India series with a broken finger, he has finally been rewarded for his excellent red-ball form in recent seasons: 49 first-class wickets in 2023 followed by 54 in 2024, by a considerable margin his two most successful campaigns.

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• Archer only change for third Test as Tongue drops out

• Fellow pace bowler Wood targeting final Test at The Oval

Jofra Archer will start his first Test match in more than four years after being named as the only change in the England team to face India in the third Test at Lord’s on Thursday.

Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse are both retained after the defeat to India at Edgbaston which squared the series 1-1, with Josh Tongue making way for Archer.

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The fast bowler may be underdone but the national side can’t afford to ignore him – the question is who makes way

Tradition usually dictates that after a batting lineup fails in the manner that England’s largely did on a flat one at Edgbaston – four ducks among the top six, just two men passing 50, 157.4 overs batted to India’s 234 – a bowler or two must pay the price.

Given the short turnaround, and with admittedly some merit after shipping over 1,000 runs in a home Test for just the second time in history, this will come to pass at Lord’s on Thursday. All signs point to Jofra Archer’s return. A risk? Undoubtedly. After four years of injury struggles and a slow burn of a comeback in the white-ball formats, a mere 18 overs of priming in county cricket feels instinctively skinny.

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• Brendon McCullum calls for pitch with pace and bounce

• Injury-plagued bowler last played for Test team in 2021

Jofra Archer is poised to make his long-awaited comeback in the third Test against India this week, with Brendon McCullum, the England head coach, calling for Lord’s to deliver a pitch that has pace, bounce and sideways movement.

Archer, 30, joined the England squad at Edgbaston last week but was held back from what became a crushing 336-run defeat by Shubman Gill’s tourists. And now at one-all in the series, England’s seam attack seems likely to be refreshed amid a strong hint from McCullum that this means Archer’s return.

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