England succumbed to yet another humiliating and painful defeat yesterday at Lords against India, losing a Test match that had been set up almost perfectly for them to triumph in. Against a side that had not won away from home in roughly three years, on a pitch that should have suited their much-vaunted pace attack down the ground, and after winning a toss that should have gone a long way towards deciding the result, the hosts still managed to produce cricket that reeked of fear, ineptitude and a complete lack of confidence. Euan Cunningham reports
After winning the toss and putting India in to bat on a pitch that was as green as any produced at Lords in a long time, England should have utilised the home conditions, and put the batsmen under serious pressure. This never happened. Instead, the bowlers aimed their deliveries anywhere but at the stumps, on a pitch that clearly required full, straight bowling. India were thus able to post an above-par score of 295, which would have been less but for some more mishaps from beleaguered wicketkeeper Matt Prior and another irritating succession of partnerships from the Indian lower order. James Anderson and Stuart Broad too often failed to make the batsmen play, and Liam Plunkett and Ben Stokes showed their inexperience by displaying frustrating inconsistency.
Beginning their reply early on the second morning, England were soon in trouble as the Indian bowlers immediately found a better length and line than the home attack, and set about troubling the hosts top order. Cook and Ian Bell both fell cheaply, leaving it up to young Gary Ballance to continue his outstanding form this summer by scoring a composed, classy 110. He shared a partnership of 98 with another relative novice in the international game, Moeen Ali, perhaps a sign that there must still be a little optimism where Englands batting is concerned. The tail also contributed late runs, with Liam Plunkett bludgeoning 55 precious runs. From a precarious 217-6, the hosts hauled themselves into the lead, finishing on 319 with a lead of 26. But they knew it should have been far more, and that the bowling would need to improve substantially in order to restrict the run chase to a manageable total.
As it turned out, they were thwarted and put onto the back foot by a recurring theme that causes intense frustration amongst players and supporters alike; tail-end partnerships. In this case it was a partnership of 109 for India’s 8th wicket that swung the momentum towards the tourists. Ravi Jadeja, who appeared in front of a tribunal today after bringing serious charges against James Anderson with regard to an apparent altercation at the Trent Bridge Test, swung the bat with abandon and scored a priceless 68, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar once again showed his all-round credentials in notching another half century. While Englands bowling was at times much better and more incisive than the first innings, that burst from Jadeja did serious damage, and once again Cook looked fairly out of ideas as events seemed to just unfold around him.
If his captaincy is raising alarms, then the state of his batting must be terrifying the ECB hierarchy. Another failure in the second dig, a scratchy 22 from 93 balls, means that any authority he has over the team (and his captaincy and place as an opener), must be hanging by a thread. As usual, this precipitated the now-standard top order collapse, with England subsiding from 72-1 to 73-4. Moeen Ali and Joe Root (who amidst the chaos scored a gritty 66) thought they had steadied the ship with a 100 run partnership before lunch on the final day, but when Ali fell to a short ball just before lunch the belief just drained from them.
In a chaotic period of just over 13 overs after lunch, bowler Ishant Sharma used the short ball to maximum effect, dislodging the whole of Englands middle and lower order to rash shots that smacked of recklessness, desperation and poor game-awareness. From 172-4 the home side subsided like a team that simply wanted to be out of there, that had no pride in putting on the Three Lions, to 223 all out.
Questions will follow. About Ian Bell, who has yet to hit true form this summer, about Matt Prior, who dropped more catches and failed with the bat, and about James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who were out-bowled on a wicket that should have suited them perfectly. But most of all they will be aimed at Cook, who must surely be perilously close to the edge after yet another failure as a batsman and captain.