England v India: 5th Test, Days 3-4 - Magnificent India Pile On The Agony

 

England v India: 5^th Test, Days 3-4

Magnificent India Pile On The Agony

December 19^th 2016

England have conceded their largest ever total in a Test. On just 22 occasions in Test history has a side conceded more than 700 runs in an innings: this was the seventh highest ever total in a Test. Some consolation for England is that only two of the six higher totals produced a positive result.

In the words of Bill Murray, “it’s Groundhog Day…” (Deep Sigh) “… again.”

This match has taken on a deeply familiar pattern. England win the Toss and put up a reasonable, but not exceptional score. India then bat and put that score into context. And then England go into the last day just hoping to somehow avoid an innings defeat. Here, the situation is less hopeless than it was at Mumbai, as the declaration came right at the end of the day and England’s openers survived comfortably the five overs to return in the morning and the pitch is definitely more friendly.

There, the comfort ends. We were told that the pitch was so slow that if India tried to accelerate, wickets would tumble. India scored 143 from the last 20 overs of their innings as Nair and Jadeja absolutely marmalised the bowling. Not since the days of the great Australian side of the ‘90s and ‘00s has an England attack been treated with such utter, patronising contempt.

However easy the pitch – and this one has produced a triple century, two centuries (one a 199 and the other, a 146) and six, fifties, three of them from #8 or #9 in the order – one has seen time and time again that a side cannot just suspend its competitivity completely for a session, allowing the opposition to score at will and then come out and bat for its life. England will need to bat for a minimum of 95 overs and you can be sure that if there is any hope of forcing a win, India will bowl far more than the minimum 90 overs on the last day. England will more likely not get into the lead until deep into the last hour, which will bring back memories of Cardiff 2009. And, remembering Cardiff 2009, how much England could do with Monty Panesar, fit and on form, although his reward for that sterling effort with the bat was to be dropped because he was already struggling in his day job: Monty’s last six Tests, over three series, produced just 9 wickets at 61 each.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the series. Two weary sides will take a break. India will hope to stir their heroes into one, last stunning performance. The England team, riven with injury problems and poor form to key players, will be thinking of the flight home and seeing their families for Christmas. There is though, plenty to play for. For India, 4-0 will tighten their hold on #1 in the Test rankings and serve to further humiliate their former colonial master. England know that 3-0 sounds a lot better than 4-0, it will break the sequence of defeats (now 5 in the last 7 Tests) and will also break the sequence of Final Test defeats that has gone on now since India visited England in 2014.

If England do save the Test tomorrow, they would prefer it to be saved well, not with 9 wickets down and the last pair at the wicket. There are positives from the series, but they need a strong performance on the last day to keep them positive. The batting and the courage of Haseeb Hameed makes one think that England finally have an opener to serve them for years. Keaton Jennings did enough in his debut innings (and, more surprisingly, with the ball today) to suggest that he will be a key player in the side, maybe even in the Graeme Gooch mould of being a major bat, able to bat in the upper middle order as well as open and who could also do a holding job with the ball when England were in difficulties. However, scores of 112, 0, 1 and, so far, 9* could indicate one, lucky, early big innings (like Lyth, Robson, etc.) rather than the future of English batting. More than anyone, Jennings needs to finish the series with a big innings and with a big opening partnership to show that he is not just a flash in the pan.

Moeen Ali started the series as far and away the No. 1 England spinner. Now that role is far from obvious after taking just 10 wickets at 65. Two centuries and a fifty in the series look pretty good, but his other five innings have produced just 24 runs. Moeen will probably be hoping that he will not need to bat but, if he does, he will hope for a fifty-plus score and not another failure. It is fanciful to say that his success or failure in the series will be judged on this innings but, to end on a high will do him no harm. And what of Alistair Cook? His batting has not been as mercurial as it was in 2012 (he is averaging a tad under 36), his captaincy has been criticised (often with much justification) and his future is subject to more and more speculation, with Trevor Bayliss the latest to suggest that he may decide that enough is enough. Would another surrender tomorrow convince him to give up the captaincy?

India have been brilliant. Do England have the guts to keep the series score fairly respectable?

Meanwhile, across the Indian Ocean, in Australia, the most extraordinary Test for years has just ended. At 67-8 shortly before the Close of the second day, chasing Australia’s first innings total of 429, you would have been forgiven for expecting an innings defeat on the third day. In fact, chasing 490 to win, Pakistan got themselves into a position that with just 41 needed to win and two, set batsmen at the crease, they were probably at that time, even narrow favourites. In the end, just when Steve Smith must have been wondering if his name would go into the record books as the captain who failed to defend a target of 490, Mitch Starc pulled Australian chestnuts out of the fire. It was a stunning finish to an enthralling match.