James Anderson said yesterday that “I have a fair feeling that our best line of defense will be the offense. Our knives are naturally offensive. We want to score and move the game.” This has certainly been the case in the Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum era so far, but it is an approach that has taken risks and there will be days when England outgrow their new attack, attack, attack philosophy. Whether this is such a day remains to be seen, and England’s fate in this game, at least in all likelihood, rests in the hands of the two men at the crease, Stokes himself and Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow seems to be loving his cricket at the moment and if he and the skipper can get going again, they could overcome some or all of that deficit with a hot series. We will continue playing at 1030 this morning. Anderson told the BBC: “We have to try and come back and put pressure on them again. We’re up against it, but we were in that position before this summer.” They certainly have, and if they can somehow get out of this latest pickle, then it could go down as one of England’s great escapes. What a summer of cricket this is turning out to be. But standing in their way is the formidable Indian bowling attack, the wonderful Jasprit Bumrah is already on the wickets and if England think they can get away with his bowling, they are in for a shock. The weather looks good on the ground right now, so let’s get to it.
