Merseyside Cricket Online at the Test: Crawley and Duckett seize control after Pant steals Manchester hearts

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett during their stand of 166
(Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

A partnership of 166 between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett put England in charge of the fourth Test, with a huge chance of wrapping up the series at Emirates Old Trafford.

Lasting exactly 32 overs, the opening stand was just two overs longer than India’s yesterday, but yielded 72 more runs as the tourists’ attack struggled in the afternoon sunshine.

By close, the score was 225/2 after both openers fell within sight of their centuries, but Ben Stokes’ side will resume tomorrow morning 136 shy of India’s first innings total, with Ollie Pope on 20 and Joe Root 11.

India began the day on 264/4 and managed to add 92 runs to finish on 358.

Seven of the top eight passed 20, but none made more than Sai Sudharsan’s 61. It was the sort of innings that has frustrated England fans in recent years, with several wickets falling to loose attacking shots – except the overall run rate was just 3.13 an over. 

Jofra Archer’s first over, from the James Anderson end, could have yielded more than the one wicket it did, Ravindra Jadeja edging low to Harry Brook at second slip. It was a beautiful display of swing and seam, one Anderson himself would have been proud of, and Jadeja’s is the only new ball wicket in this Test so far.

Shardul Thakur made a breezy 41 and Washington Sundar dug in for 27 off 90 before both fell to Stokes, getting through more overs than he ever has in his Test career.

But the highlight of the India innings came after Thakur’s dismissal, when Rishabh Pant hobbled to the crease to pick up where his broken foot forced him to leave off yesterday. 

He could barely walk, let alone run, and will play no part in the series after this Test – but he can still swing the bat.

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England, naturally if cruelly, aimed at his toes; Pant usually got his bat in the way and even managed to pull Archer for six when he dropped short.  

Lunch came early courtesy of a shower, the only time the Manchester weather has misbehaved so far.

Old Trafford rose as one when Pant managed to squeeze a wayward Stokes yorker out to the cover boundary to pass 50 – he didn’t celebrate with a backflip, but his off-stump did moments later courtesy of an Archer nip-backer.

Anshul Kamboj, on debut, nicked his third ball to Jamie Smith, giving Stokes his first Test five-for since 2017 and perhaps illustrating why India had sent the guy with the broken foot out ahead of him; Bumrah gloved Archer down the leg side to end the innings. 

Stokes led the team off with 5/72 to his name, while Archer finished with a well-deserved 3/73.

Much depended on how India’s seamers used the new ball, and how England’s top order responded. The answer, delivered over the course of the afternoon and evening, was emphatic.

Crawley didn’t get off the mark until Duckett had moved to 24, feasting on some leg-side half-volleys. 

But the Kent man, who made a brilliant 189 here against Australia in 2023, was catching up by the time their stand passed 50, again helped by some unusually wayward seam bowling.

Anshul shared the new ball with Bumrah, ahead of Mohammed Siraj; neither made a compelling case for the decision being either right or wrong.

Even the great Bumrah was lacklustre, beating the outside edge a few times but seemingly down on his usual pace. By his own pre-announced schedule, this will be his last Test of the series.

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Both batters flirted with danger – Duckett almost dropped his bat on to his own stumps on 4 and Crawley was desperately close to being LBW, padding up to Siraj on 26.

But they brushed off the near-misses and raced to 77 off 85 balls between them by tea.

Little changed after the break; Crawley and Duckett kept compiling, India’s seamers kept straying. Duckett ran Shardul off the face to bring up his 50 from 46 balls then celebrated with the shot of the day, a back-foot punch through the covers to bring up the pair’s fifth century opening stand and their second of this series.

Crawley followed Duckett past 50 a couple of overs later, off 54 balls. Gill didn’t turn to spin until the 26th over, with the score 124/0 – Crawley launched Jadeja’s second ball into the stands, then lap-swept his fourth to the fine leg boundary.

India just had no way of stopping the runs and when drinks came out after 30 overs, the scoreboard read 156/0.

The deficit had dipped below 200 before Jadeja finally separated the openers, KL Rahul taking a sharp low catch to remove Crawley for 84. 

(The previous ball, swept for four towards the lively party stand, had been a no-ball, from which India benefited massively for a cost of just one run; free hits in all forms of the game need to be brought in before any messing around with substitutes.)

The second wicket was a gift of a maiden Test scalp to Anshul as Duckett flashed wildly outside off stump on 94, when subtler shots had been serving him so well.

Root came out with half an hour of play left, and Bumrah was soon back on to hurl himself at him. But the Yorkshireman, who averages 65 at this venue, made it to close despite one big appeal.

With two balls to go in the day, Siraj wandered in from cover and switched the bails at the striker’s end, hoping to invoke an old superstition – Pope punched Bumrah’s next delivery for four. It wasn’t the only thing which didn’t work for India’s seamers today.

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