Show only key events Stokes says he has had the most fun of his cricketing life in the past six weeks. She asked him what he said in his first speech. Scratches his head, “couldn’t have been that inspired.” OK, says Ian Ward, the gist of it. “The results will take care of themselves, let’s go out and have fun and enjoy playing for England. If this isn’t fun and you’re not enjoying every moment, we’re doing something wrong. “There were some who wanted to take 450,” he adds, “to see what they could do.” And that, my friends, is England’s Test captain. Ben Stokes has his arms folded and answers the questions “When you have clarity, sets like this are much easier. 378 five, six weeks ago it would have been… but today it was good. Jonny and Rooty will take the plaudits and rightly so, but in a run chase what the openers did was amazing and they gave us back the dynamic, amazing, fastest stand that England’s players have ever put on.” “We are trying to rewrite how Test cricket is played in England. And all the plans we have gathered we will try to move forward. We know we want to bring new light to Test cricket and the support we have received has been incredible. It’s amazing to think that in a short period of time we are bringing in new fans, inspiring a new generation. We want to make a mark in Test cricket.” Stokes and Bamrah lift the trophy together and, with a 2-2 draw over a year, England retain the Pataudi trophy. India Player of the Series: Jasprit Bumrah. “That’s the beauty of Test cricket, even if you have three good days, you have to hold a good position. I think yesterday is where we let the opposition win.” “That’s how cricket goes, yes England played really well, kept fighting, a tough series. Rishabh Pant is taking his chances, he got us back into the game, he counter-attacked, that’s the beauty of Test cricket, we have different characters in the team.” “[on captaincy] It was a good challenge, I always like responsibility, it was a great honor to lead the team.” The Man of the series: Joe Root. Mike Morris asks a question about the ages: “Because I’m a boring guy, I watch old snooker matches from the early 90s. The interesting thing is how careless the players are: they get to the 30 yard, run out of position, play safety. Because they’re clearly thinking “Hey, you can only win the odd game on one last visit.” There would be around 12 centuries in the world championship. Then Hendry happened and showed these older pros what was really possible, that winning every frame in one visit should always be the goal. And guess what? These other players responded, because it turns out it was possible to win in one visit. “Is that what this England team does? Does it just show us what can happen? Is this just a series of breaks on pitches that haven’t deteriorated or…the 300-odd chase was always possible and you could always compile a Test score using one-day shots, and it was just the few cubic centimeters in the players’ skulls that been stopping them all this time?’ Watch this space Mike, watch this space. It turns out that, like Root and Bairstow, the Test highlights and Blur’s Song 2 are the perfect pairing. “If we are now in Bairoot, is Bairstow new Tristan and Root Siegfried?” asks David Phillips. The presentation is upon us. Man of the match is… Jonny Bairstow He smiles, holding a bottle of champagne. “It’s great fun at the moment, the last month has been a fantastic month for Test cricket, how excited we all are for each other. …The last couple of years have been tough, I’m not a fan of bubbles but it’s great to be back, we had fantastic crowds on day five.” “It’s just not being afraid of failure, going out there and putting pressure on the opposition. We’re going to lose games along the way, but hopefully it’s exciting for people to watch and certainly exciting to play. Asked about the burst on the field yesterday: “Everything under control Butch, they’ve got some world-class bowlers and there are periods of time when you have to enjoy the pressure. They’re trying to intimidate, that’s what they’re trying to do, is shift that pressure back to them. There are periods when you have to settle in… Just two lads from Yorkshire, great to share some special memories, grew up playing together, spent a lot of time in the middle, absolute joy to be out there for his 28th hundred, it’s very special.” A lucky dip into my inbox brings me an email from author Kamila Shamsie, award-winning author of Home Fire among others. “This might be a good time to suggest that anyone who hasn’t yet read Jonny Bairstow’s memoir A Clear Blue Sky (co-written with Duncan Hamilton) might want to do so. It was the 2018 Wisden Book of the Year, chosen by…er…me.” I’m so sorry I haven’t gotten back to the many emails and tweets in my inbox. Many of these can be summarized as follows: Rather than worry, I wonder if Root will reach the target within the boundary before Bairstow reaches his century. Being an England fan isn’t what it used to be. #OBO#ENGvsIND #ENGvIND @tjaldred — Sara Torvalds (@SaraTorvalds) July 5, 2022 Root talks to Ian Ward. He seems emotional, in a good way. He cannot always maintain eye contact. “The feeling in the dressing room right now is that whatever the target is, we’re going to knock it down,” he says. On YJB: “He seems to have a real clarity about how he plays his cricket. There have been several times, it has been in and out of the side, you can blame me for that if you want. It’s great fun to see someone I’ve known since I was 12 making the most of his talent in this format.” He says part of the reason he’s at the top of his game is to settle for going out: “It’s a game of failure and you’re not going to get it right every time.”
ENGLAND WON BY SEVEN FICKETS
76.4 overs: England 378-3 (Root 142, Bairstow 114) Target 378 Too easy! Root evens the score with a beaut of a reverse sweep and repeats the shot for the win. Bairstow gives Root a whack on the back side with his bat, Root throws his arm around his neck. Warriors both. England’s Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow leave after the win Photo: Alex Davidson/Getty Images Updated at 12.22 BST 76th over: England 372-3 (Root 137, Bairstow 113) Target 378 Does Root want 150? It better not be as YJB sees the ball balloon again: three consecutive fours from Siraj: dropped to point. pancake over his head; with a zip above the middle.
A fourth summer hundred for Bairstow!
75th over: England 357-3 (Root 136, Bairstow 100) Target 378 After three nervous coaches, Jonny whistles a single from his boots and sprints for the fastest single of the day, prompting DRS to decide whether Root made his ground. He did and Jonny smiles, in sheer happiness, some of the pent-up emotion seems to have run out with his quarter-hundred in five innings. 12th Test hundred overall. Root gives him a huge hug and Edgbaston gets up. Not out for another century. Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images Updated at 12.01 BST 74th over: England 346-3 (Root 135, Bairstow 99) Target 378 The crowd roars for Jonny: Root takes a single down to third man, and Jonny takes a single to mark. Root eats more runs, including a sweet square cover for four, to reduce the total needed to 22. YJB to face Jadeja on 99. Updated at 11.52 BST 73rd over: England 346-3 (Root 125, Bairstow 98) Target 378 Bairstow bowls the first five balls of Jadeja’s over. A girl! Root now should not score too much from Thakur. Updated at 11.52 BST 72nd over: England 346-3 (Root 126, Bairstow 98) Target 378 Root gallops to the wicket and drops Thakur back over his head for four, a man falling from the cup of divine trust. Then he flips with an edge for another four. Joe, hey, don’t forget Johnny on the other end. India executed a side and a no-ball for good measure. Updated at 11.46 BST 71st over: England 332-3 (Root 115, Bairstow 97) Target 378 Jadeja at last, and causing trouble immediately, coming into the straight and having Root in two minds. Updated at 11.46 BST 70th over: England 331-3 (Root 114, Bairstow 97) Target 378 YJP hits Thakur with a powerful sword, to fall one stroke short of another hundred. A suggestion from Tom for the fifth day of free tickets. I can’t see a downside to this, although you might dispute the price. There is one; “Tickets are £10 for a nominated charity when you book online, at the gate as your QR code is scanned, do you have the option of a refund or keeping the donation? It’s still free to join, but there is a cost for not joining.” Updated at 11.46 BST 69th over: England 325-3 (Root 113, Bairstow 92) Target 378 Root motoring while Bairstow is stuck. They’re getting Drinks, I think, as we have a long commercial break. OBO is in high spirits with England rolling towards victory. David Reynolds writes, with the bowler booming: “I’m sure we all remember 18 months or so ago in India when a series of very bowler-friendly wickets served up an uneven match in the bowler’s favor – every English pundit seemed to be screaming for the its unfairness, as well as the dullness of the resulting spectacle, in which the gates fall too easily and quickly. Now we have the reverse situation, in which test after test this summer serves up a dry, lifeless wing, complemented by a dull, lifeless, rapidly softening ball. The result is a situation in which batsmen can hit the ball with impunity, knowing that there will be almost nothing through the motion to surprise or unsettle them. And yet our press is beside itself with astonishment at how thrilling and exciting this is. “But there is nothing…
