Key events
2nd over: India 13-0 (Rohit 12, Gill 0) Gus Atkinson at the other end. Someone has told him to tuck his shirt in. Starts with a wide, a scrambled seam then hits Rohit high on the thigh. After three dots, Rohit’s frustration gets the better of him and he clunks Atkinson high for four. Bigger, better, next ball – six caressed legside off his ankles.
India innings – need 305 to win
1st over: India 1-0 (Rohit 1, Gill 0) Rohit waits for the stadium announcer to countdown; Saqib Mahmood smooths down his fringe. He runs in, lovely rhythmic approach. Rohit shows the bat face to the first ball, swings at the second -which Saqib is lucky to get away with as it wings away wide of the stumps. Just a single from the over.
As we wait for India to pad up, Tom Hamilton messages: “I think we are the only England fans at Cuttack today, incredible atmosphere! Fear we are 50 or 60 short here…” You lucky things! It feels electric, and that’s just through the television – please keep the OBO updated.
Just echoing Tim’s comment on Gill’s catching – that sprinting, diving effort to dismiss Brook was wonderful. Astonishing that he managed to hold on, he landed on that hard ground with quite a thump.
Thank you Tim for guiding England to a (possibly) defendable total. A decent effort – Duckett and Root providing the ballast, with fireworks from Rashid and Livingstone taking them past 300.
(My swim was reluctant but I’ll grudgingly agree to feel better afterwards.)
England finish with 304
That was an innings of two halves. For 38 overs England made serene progress, by their low standards on Indian soil. Ben Duckett gave them a fast start and then Joe Root brought his usual touch of class. Jos Buttler looked in glorious form but when he was out for 34, England produced the collapse that is always in their back pocket, losing their last seven wickets for 85. Nearly half of those runs came from the bat of Liam Livingstone, who, without being at his blistering best, at least made sure that they reached 300. For India, Ravi Jadeja was masterly with three for 35 and Shubman Gill took three catches, two of them outstanding.
The ground is small, which suggests 304 is not enough. But the wicket is two-paced, which says the opposite. England have certainly given themselves a chance, but the Indians will know that one big partnership should be enough to seal the series.
That’s my cue to clock off. Thanks for your company, correspondence and views on Barney Ronay’s prose. Tanya, refreshed by her swim, will be here shortly.
WICKET! Wood run out 0 (England 304 all out)
And another! Rahul throws down the stumps at the striker’s end, and that is that.
WICKET! Livingstone run out 40 (England 304-9)
It’s another run-out, as Livingstone’s full-length dive isn’t quite enough to beat a powerful throw from Shreyas Iyer.
England reach 300!
Livingstone, facing Shami, has a look in his eye that says he is hitting this one straight. And he does, crouching in his crease and crunching a straight drive for four to bring up the 300. On this ground, that feels like the least you need.
49th over: England 297-8 (Livingstone 34, Wood 0) Ah well, Mark Wood is always fun to watch. And England still managed ten off that over.
WICKET! Rashid run out 14 (England 297-8)
Oh no! A mix-up going for a second run, a fine pick-up and throw from the unstoppable Jadeja, and Rash is gone. That was one of the great cameos: 14 off five balls.
48.4 overs: England 296-7 (Livingstone 33, Rashid 14) Rashid has 14 off five balls with no dots. Livingstone has plenty of dots, but when he hits it, it stays hit. He wallops another six off Harshit, but then …
48th over: England 287-7 (Livingstone 26, Rashid 13) Cometh the death, cometh Adil. Facing Shami, he shows Atkinson how it’s done with three fours in a row – a smack over extra-cover, a whip to midwicket and a slash past the cover sweeper. Lovely stuff.
WICKET! Atkinson c Kohli b Shami 3 (England 272-7)
Perhaps Atkinson too feels that it’s Adil time. He falls to a heavy ball from Shami, which he can only mis-time into the hands of Kohli at deep mid-on.
47th over: England 272-6 (Livingstone 25, Atkinson 3) Gus Atkinson may have a Test century but, in white-ball cricket, I’m not sure why he is coming in ahead of Adil Rashid, who is so experienced and so adept at using the pace of the ball to squeeze a few fours from the final overs. Livingstone is struggling too – or was… he heaves the last ball of Harshit Rana’s over for six.
46th over: England 260-6 (Livingstone 16, Atkinson 1) Jadeja finishes with 3-35, a quiet masterclass. And England, who were 219-3, have now lost three more wickets for only 40 or so. Ah Mr Collapse, we’ve been expecting you.
WICKET! Overton c Gill b Jadeja 6 (England 258-6)
Another skyer, another fine catch from Shubman Gill. He could be Man of the Match for his fielding.
44th over: England 256-5 (Livingstone 14, Overton 5) Varun steps up for his last over. Livingstone does his best to get out, sweeping in the air without much conviction, but he doesn’t succeed, so Varun finishes with 1-54.
“I thought Barney’s article was a gem,” says Paul Lakin. “The description of cricket as ’essentially a picnic that has got out of hand, monetised standing around’ was pure Ronay (though that won’t stop me passing them off as my own in the pub).” Ha. I would go further and say that the first half of that – the picnic that has got out of hand – was pure genius.
43rd over: England 250-5 (Livingstone 11, Overton 1) So Jadeja strikes again. What a cricketer he is.
WICKET!! Root c Kohli b Jadeja 69 (England 248-5)
He;’s the one that they want and they’ve got him! After receiving those gifts, Root offers one in return – a mis-timed chip that loops up and presents Kohli with the simplest of catches at deep mid-off.
42nd over: England 247-4 (Root 69, Livingstone 9) Another gift for Root: Varun tries a quicker ball that ends up as a full toss. Root square-drives, gets a thick edge and picks up four. The 300 is on.
41st over: England 238-4 (Root 63, Livingstone 7) Hardik continues and gives Root a freebie, a fullish ball on leg stump that is just asking to be glanced for four.
Here’s Brian Withington. “Just catching up,” he says, “and was amused to discover that Tanya’s uncanny ability to initiate a wicket extends even before she takes up the reins of the OBO. Elsewhere I see that Barney Ronay has now pegged the England set up as a death cult, and approvingly (but rather selectively) references a Mike Brearley interview in 2023. Reflecting on the two, I found the MB interview typically insightful and compassionate. Barney Ronay’s piece similarly … typical.” Oof.
We can agree about Brearley, but I felt Barney’s column was fascinating, and more nuanced than the headline might suggest. Glad you’ve mentioned it because I forgot to link to it earlier.
40th over: England 230-4 (Root 56, Livingstone 6) Root, looking to lift England’s spirits, tries an un-Root-like stroke, chipping Shami over midwicket. He doesn’t time it but gets two, and England add a few singles.
Here’s Krish again. “Answering your question, ‘Have you been reading Rob Smyth?’ Is there a sports lover who has not?” Ha. Rob is so talented and so modest – I hope he reads that.
39th over: England 223-4 (Root 51, Livingstone 4) Buttler stepped away to leg to off-drive a slower ball from Hardik, but didn’t time it as well as his other shots and gave Gill, at mid-off, the chance to swoop again with his swallow dive. The partnership between England’s two veterans was 51 off nine overs. Just before the wicket, Root had reached fifty for the 56th time in one-day internationals. His celebration was perfunctory: he knows that another fifty is required, and all the more so now.
Liam Livingstone comes in and gets straight down to business, cutting Hardik for four.
WICKET!! Buttler c Gill b Hardik 34 (England 219-4)
Another great catch from Shubman Gill!
38th over: England 216-3 (Root 49, Buttler 33) Rohit sees the seamers doing better and decides to replace Jadeja with Mohammed Shami, who has had a good long rest. England manage nine off the over without a boundary as Buttler, running hard, picks up two twos.
“England’s white ball batters,” says Gary Naylor, “seem to be intent on avoiding collapses rather than driving on to unassailable leads. It may just be my memory playing tricks, but under Eoin Morgan, I seem to recall a lot more tonning up (see Glenn Phillips for NZ yesterday for the impact). England won’t win global tournaments without centuries – who’s going to make them?”
It’s a good question, though if you were trying to sum up this tour in two words, “avoiding collapses” might not be the first ones that came to mind.
37th over: England 207-3 (Root 48, Buttler 26) A good over from Hardik Pandya, only four from it.
And here’s Krish Krishnamoorthy. “If there is one thing that India has not learnt, it is how to ease the yesterday’s superstars through a door marked Do One.” Krish, have you by any chance been reading Rob Smyth?
“It started with Kapil Dev clinging on, refusing to go, knowing he was past his best days, and the selectors who would not wield the machete. And it continues. Indian cricket, formidable and powerful as it is, can go to the next level ONLY if Rohit and Virat leave. Their failures (consistent of late) are papered over by wins delivered by the heroics of a Bumrah or a Pant. They have had their day and it is time they went. Here BCCI can learn a few tricks from Cricket Australia or even England for that matter.” It’s a good point, but the Aussies are ageing too, aren’t they? And doing quite well.
36th over: England 205-3 (Root 45, Buttler 25) Another over from Jadeja, another five singles.
35th over: England 200-3 (Root 45, Buttler 22) Hardik returns to find Buttler in lovely touch. He gets the commentators purring with an off-drive, on the up, so well timed that it beats the dive from the man at long-off.
34th over: England 186-3 (Root 44, Buttler 14) Rana’s lively third spell ends as Rohit goes back to Jadeja. Five singles off his over.
And here’s Simon McMahon. “I hope Tanya is going wild swimming in freezing cold water, which seems to be a bit of a thing these days,” he says. “And is very much in keeping with the Bazball ethos. Once you get over the initial shock, very pleasant. Though not without risk.”
Drinks: England haven’t collapsed!
33rd over: England 186-3 (Root 42, Buttler 11) Varun reckons he’s got Root LBW and Rohit goes for a review. It takes so long that you wonder if it has been referred to Stockley Park. After several hours, the third umpire spots that Root got a glove on the ball. He celebrates with a reverse sweep for four and another for two. And that’s drinks, with England – so far – avoiding the cluster of wickets that is always beckoning to them in India. Whether they have enough, I rather doubt, but they’re giving it a good go. They now need more from these two old hands: ideally, a hundred from Root and a quick fifty from Buttler.
32nd over: England 180-3 (Root 36, Buttler 11) In the mood or not, Buttler can’t cope with this snorter from Rana – short, fast and seaming away. Rana has steam coming out of his ears and shows it with a shy at the stumps that goes for four overthrows. Quite an achievement to hit a four off your own bowling. And deny yourself a maiden.
31st over: England 176-3 (Root 36, Buttler 7) Buttler is in the mood, crunching Varun through the covers for four. But there’s not much to come after him, with Bethell injured and Livingstone out of form. It feels as if England could end up with 320 or 250.
30th over: England 169-3 (Root 35, Buttler 1) Jos Buttler gets off the mark right away with a fluent push for a single, back past the bowler. But that is a big wicket for India. Brook thought he was safe, calling for two, but Gill did brilliantly. And so did Rohit, showing faith in Harshit Rana after Brook had hit him for those two fours in his previous over.
WICKET!! Brook c Gill b Rana 31 (England 168-3)
This is a wonderful catch. Brook hits a slower ball into the deep blue sky. Gill has to run back, and dive, and hold on, and to the crowd’s delight he makes it all look easy.
29th over: England 165-2 (Root 33, Brook 30) It’s still spin at one end with Axar, who is pulled for four by Root. England have managed to get into fourth gear, but on a ground with such short boundaries, they surely need to find fifth.
28th over: England 158-2 (Root 27, Brook 29) Brook’s struggles on this tour have had a lot to do with having to start his innings against spin. (He might be better as an opener in India.) Now Rohit goes back to seam, giving Harshit Rana a third spell, and Brook celebrates with a lovely four through the covers, no more than a well-timed push. Rana responds well – dot, dot, dot – and Brook, feeling the need for another four, goes down the track to blast the last ball over extra cover.
The first of those fours brought up the fifty partnership off 69 balls. Sedate but effective.
27th over: England 150-2 (Root 27, Brook 21) Axar continues and after a couple of singles, Root goes deep in the crease and plays a whipped pull for four. He has done pretty well with 27 off 36 balls, while Brook, even with that fabulous six, has only 21 off 42.
Note to younger readers: this is what one-day cricket was like from 1971 to 1996.
26th over: England 143-2 (Root 22, Brook 20) When Rohit sees the replay, he throws his hands up in frustration, looking like Ruben Amorim. Meanwhile Jadeja continues and the batters do better, finding five singles.
In the crowd, men with hoses spray the crowd with gentle jets of water to cool them down. “How good is that?” says Ravi Shastri. “Let’s hope the liquid coming out is nice and fresh.”
25th over: England 137-2 (Root 18, Brook 18) Root, facing Axar, shows Brook how it’s done by playing a late drive for two, then hanging back to flick the next ball for a single. But still, only three off the over. And there was an LBW shout in there which might have brought a wicket on review had Rohit gone for it – Root was down the track, which rather obscured the fact that the ball was hitting leg stump.
24th over: England 135-2 (Root 16, Brook 18) Jadeja, bowling to Brook, delivers a maiden! And it only takes 75 seconds. The man is a batter’s nightmare, and a live-blogger’s too.