Joe Root and the imposing Jonny Bairstow got the chase off to a flying start on Monday afternoon after a flurry of three quick wickets to leave England within striking distance of their mammoth target of 378. They need another 119 to win with seven wickets in hand, and two sets of batsmen including Bairstow who is in the form of his life. Alex Lees claimed England’s “absolute belief” in each other helped propel them into the hunt for history. England have already produced some magnificent fourth innings efforts this summer, reaching targets of 277, 299 and 296 against New Zealand, but if all goes well on day five in Birmingham, they will have set a new high watermark. Their target is higher than any England team has ever managed and deserves a place in the top 10 chases ever completed in Test cricket. Considerable credit must go to the opening pair of Lees (56) and Zak Crawley (46), who raised the roof with a century agenda. Lees spoke for the team when he claimed that smashing an England record 359, set by Stokes’ “miracle of Headingley” during the 2019 Ashes, never came close to deterring them. “I just think there’s an absolute belief in each other, one through 11, that we could do this,” he said. “I think we’re very optimistic about it. You know the goal is there, but you just try to put it on the backburner. It’s not something we’ve necessarily talked about.” Expanding on his own approach, which saw him hit the first of eight boundaries off his third ball of the innings, the left-hander said: “My role in a run game is to put pressure on the bowlers. Brendon McCullum pretty much simply said : ‘Go and do your thing’. We all know the brand this team wants to play. I just want to express myself.” The game starts at 10.30am. and we’ll have live updates for you throughout – plus all the post-match reaction.
