Key events
21st over: England 88-3 (Crawley 46, Bairstow 16) Ashwin continues, every ball feels like an event at the moment. Bairstow drives for one and Crawley soaks up the rest of the over before nurdling a couple off the last to keep the lead ticking upwards.
James Wallace
20th over: England 85-3 (Crawley 44, Bairstow 15) Thanks Tanya and hello everyone. Gripping stuff this morning. Siraj steams in to Bairstow and is greeted with a blistering pull for four! Bairstow has got his âJonny eyesâ well and truly on. A couple picked off into the leg side and a handsome drive for three through the covers make it nine runs off the over. England lead by 131 runs and counting.
19th over: England 76-3 (Crawley 44, Bairstow 6) Bairstow sledgehammers Ashwin down the ground. And with that, Iâll hand over to Jim Wallace who will take you through to stumps. Thanks so much for the company, and sorry I didnât have time to get to all the emails. Bye!
18th over: England 71-3 (Crawley 44, Bairstow 1) They take DRINKS at the fall of the wicket. Out strides Jonny â time for a big one from him. Sharma gives Siraj a pep talk that is less horse whisperer and more school prefect. Crawley turns his last ball round the corner for four.
âFollowing you since start of play from poolside @ Radisson Blu, Galle.â writes Graham Anderson. âG&Ts to balance the jitters, so my collapse may precede Englandâs.â
Chin, chin!
WICKET! Root lbw Ashwin 11 (England 65-3)
17th over: England 64-2 (Crawley 38, Root 11) Ashwin starts his over with a thing of beauty that bounces past Crawleyâs busy bat. LBW appeal off the last ball, hits Root low on the front pad. Given not out on the field⦠and a sensationally grumpy exchange between Ashwin and Rohit Sharma results in Sharma going for the review â and it is OUT!!!!
16th over: England 64-2 (Crawley 38, Root 11) A bowling change, from spin to seam, as Siraj replaces Jadeja. A single to Crawley, but Root is studiously watchful.
Joey Eley reports that there is no baby waiting in Hong Kong âJust to settle yours and my conscience.â In that caseâ¦
15th over: England 63-2 (Crawley 37, Root 11) Ashwin bowling round the wicket, with some venom.
âNamaste Tanya,â Hello there Deepak Puri.
âIndia supporter here. I was talking to my friends, Ed and Doug (England supporters), at close of play on day one. I refused to make a prediction for day two citing the well known jinxing rule. Doug convinced me that the rule did not apply between days when play had ended.
âI blithely went ahead predicting a big score, and an innings win for my boys. Well, you can see how that turned out. Iâm seeing them later, and boy, I am going to give them both barrels from my passive/ aggressive gun.â
14th over: England 62-2 (Crawley 36, Root 11) Another glorious text-book extra-cover drive from Crawley for four off Jadeja, whose seven overs have gone for 31. Root is just quietly accumulating.
13th over: England 55-2 (Crawley 30, Root 10) The lead has already stretched to 100, and weâre only half an hour or so into the England innings. Just trying to do a quick back of the envelope calculation: Rohit is due a big hundred, Jaiswal is seeing the ball like a toffee â how many would they be happy chasing?
12th over: England 52-2 (Crawley 28, Root 9) Nudge and nurdle.
âHi Tanya, whenever I move location we seem to have a collapse. Just stopped for a beer on the way back from the shops in Hong Kong. Do I stay and get the wife angry or let the country down?â Joel Eley, Iâm staying out of this one (though if there is a baby at home, Iâm ordering you a taxi this minute)
11th over: England 49-2 (Crawley 26, Root 8) Ashwin, stern, with a remarkable flat top squared off at the back, wheels in. The field has started to spread already, tip and tap from England.
10th over: England 45-2 (Crawley 25, Root 5) As dawn breaks over northern England, another four for Crawley, driven just north of mid on.
8th over: England 38-2 (Crawley 20, Root 3) Plonk, big foot forward, Crawley clonks four over long off. Bold. And two more quite lovely drives follow. Very nicely done.
8th over: England 24-2 (Crawley 7, Root 2) Jadeja floats through another, two singles from it.
7th over: England 24-2 (Crawley 7, Root 2) Crawley stops Ashwin mid hat-trick ball stride because of something moving behind his sight line. He survives, a touch jittery though. A growing crowd is rapt.
6th over: England 22-2 (Crawley 6, Root 1) What you love to see: the Joe Root forward defensive.
5th over: England 19-2 (Crawley 3, Root 0 ) Pope goes back to one that doesnât turn and is caught on the back leg. Worth burning a review for, but it leaves Ashwin on a hatt-rick.
WICKET! Pope lbw Ashwin 0 (England 19-2)
A pair for Pope! Ashwin has two in two as Pope reviews but to no avail.
WICKET! Duckett c Khan b Aswhin 15 (England 19-1)
Sarfaraz Khan poaches a catch at short leg as Duckett prods defensively!
4th over: England 17-0 (Crawley 3, Duckett 14) The speed of Englandâs accumulation is going to be tricky for Rohit Sharma who doesnât want many to chase. Turn from Jadeja, England busy
âMorning, Tanya and I am enjoying the coverage from Melbourne, late Sunday afternoon.â Thank you Stephen Hodson! â From the success the India tailenders have enjoyed in the morning session, it would certainly suggest that the wicket is playing fairly easily, despite the dire predictions and outlook from earlier in the match.
âGranted, England have winkled out a couple, but this surely bodes well for England prospects of batting later, with the majority of the pitch gremlins banished back to whence they came?
I feel deeply unqualified to read this pitch. It has so many cracks but they are as yet unmoved. Just beginning to be more turn though, so I definitely wouldnât want to bat last on it and have to chase more than 200.
3rd over: England 13-0 (Crawley 2, Duckett 11) No time to think for England, or your correspondent, with India ripping through these overs. Duckett picks up another boundary with a sweep from Ashwin.
2nd over: England 7-0 (Crawley 1, Duckett 6) Jadeja, who would have definitely been a cavalier ( Wrong but Wromantic) in 1066 and all that, opens from the other end. A dinky paddle sweep brings Duckett four, the last ball turns past Crawleyâs outside edge.
Afternoon session
1st over: England 2-0 (Crawley 1, Duckett 1) More Jerusalem from the barmy army, as the long-legged Ashwin starts his long-legged approach. The very first ball slips past Crawleyâs outside edge.
And hello Paul Harrison. âGreetings from Spanish Wells in the Bahamas!
âMostly: thank you for the coverage! I have no idea how you get up to do this, particularly as Iâm assuming you went to bed seething that *I know you so well* wasnât on the set list. Reminds me of seeing Dylan in Benicà ssim. Not a single known song was sung.â
No! I was gutted, especially as she was selling T-towels decorated with the words âHe dries them so well,â
âSo: do you and the OBO crew keep averages of what happens wicket-wise on your watches? I canât help feeling that things always take a turn for the worst for England fans when youâre at the helm. I thought it was just me, until yesterday you breezily suggested that England were going to âtick past 400â and promptly collapsed. Any empirical evidence either way?â Outrageous! But no, I donât think so⦠I better ask Robâ¦
And already the players are out on the pitch, Ashwin has ball in hand.
Coffee, coffee, coffee. With five minutes till the start of the afternoon session, everything feels in the balance. Hello there Mohammed Yaser:
âWith regards Bashir and his movement to the floor, as is common with Muslim cricketers, this is a prostration to the ground where the forehead is placed on the ground with the nose, not kissing the ground; itâs not that scared, though does admittedly render the act questionable.â
Ah, of course â thank you. And hello to Pananjady Swathi, whose email is entitled : What a contest!
âTest cricket at its best
All attrition, no rest
Ask no quarter, give none
A little lapse, youâre gone
Thatâs what makes it a great contest.â
After an intriguing session, time for lunch in Ranchi, and breakfast in Manchester. Magnificent from Jurel, who has taken India to near equality, though the 46 run lead could still be crucial if those cracks ever show their teeth. And huge congratulations to five-wicket Shoaib Bashir. What a gut-pick he was.
WICKET! Jurel b Hartley 90 (India 307, trail England by 46 runs)
A ripe peach of a delivery from Hartley, spins past the outside edge and eventually does it for Jurel, who allows himself a small frown of disappointment. Is immediately congratulated by Joe Root, and applauded off the pitch. A superb match-evening innings from a man in only his second Test, reducing the deficit from 134 this morning to 46.
103rd over: India 307-9 (Jurel 90, Siraj 0) Four byes takes the deficit below fifty as every defensive prod from Siraj is cheered with pom-poms and pink lemonade.
102nd over: India 303-9 (Jurel 90, Siraj 0) Jurel throwing care to the wind now, muscling Hartley for six over mid wicket and four more: clear, clean, lines. Can Siraj stick around for him to make three figures?
WICKET! Deep lbw Bashir 9 (India 293-9)
101st over: India 293-9 (Jurel 80) Fabulous response from Bashir after being panned for six by Deep from the first ball of his over. Traps him in the crease, clopping him high on the back pad. A first five wicket haul in first-class cricket. Bashir kisses the ground, then â after waiting for a review to upheld the on-field umpireâs decision – holds up the ball for all to see. Delicious!
100th over: India 287-8 (Jurel 80, Deep 3) A maiden from Hartley, who is lovely and loopy.
Lovely to hear from you Colum Fordham:
âHello from a dark and dismal Naples as I set off on an early morning flight to that sun-kissed land known as Britain.
This stand is really rather annoying and Jurel may not be as thrilling to watch as the wonderful Rishab Pant – glad to hear heâs due to make a comeback – but heâs doing a great job for his team.Hope we manage to get through the tail for decent lead.â
99th over: India 287-8 (Jurel 80, Deep 3) Such poise from Jurel, who carpet-bags Bashir for another six, then a glorious shot through the covers for a single to turn the strike. And Ali confirms that it was Robinson who dropped Jurel at midwicket â just went straight through his hands. He was moved, immediately, by Stokes.
98th over: India 280-8 (Jurel 73, Deep 3) A hurried single leaves Akash scrabbling in the dust. Less than 20 minutes till lunch. Andrew Crossley, time for another one of your âTruth telling or cheap attempt at tempting the Godsâ¦
but thereâs no wicket happening in this session, is there?â emails?
