All come unstuck for England in this one... Nothing necessarily
awful about that ; India are a strong team and any side can have a bad day/session ,
But the concern is the apparent failure of the England brains trust to learn from experience : that short attack on the tail has failed too often so why not give it a rest and ask world class bowlers to attack the stumps of tail enders ? Has some analyst produced data to show Shami and Bumrah get out to short balls for small scores rather often ? Perhaps (I have neither the time nor the inclination to investigate) but if so have the circumstances surrounding those dismissals (score , partner , pace/arm of bowler , pitch conditions ) all been taken into account ? Have to doubt it : memory of just one year ago between the same teams should surely have over ridden it anyway , no ?
Even so , 416 as against 380 neither here nor there if they bat well. But in bowler-friendly conditions , against top class seam bowling , the limitations of the current England top three were shown up again. It is a serious worry , despite Pope's two fine knocks against NZ and Lees' gradual improvement. Crawley has been given huge support - something to applaud in one way ; but perhaps the obligation to justify that support has become too much of a cross to bear : he looks shot to me - at least for now. (Hope that guarantees a second innings century
)
Was excellent bowling from Bumrah and Shami though. If England hoped to be batting in sunshine on the second afternoon they were savagely repaid for trusting a British weather forecast ! I don't think many bats would have fancied facing those two in the conditions , and even Joe Root looked far from his usual
busy and calm self in that late session. Five down including the
sacrificial goat night watchman - it might have been worse !
Might be a bit much to expect Jonny and Cap'n Ben to save the day again : but I guess this summer has taught us all that Nothing is Impossible. Would prefer the rain to work to a better timetable though : hard enough watching in this time zone without having to make sleep or wait decisions at 2 am...