The word at the end of day one, hard to quibble with in the circumstances, was that the second innings were where this match would be decided. But with 30% of England’s first-innings wickets still standing overnight, this left the remainder of their opening knock in a strange hinterland of presumed irrelevance. It stood overnight like the stump of an already-felled tree, its demise already mourned, nobody expecting it to do much growing. Those already looking beyond it presumably included most of those actually tasked with extending it, minds wandering to exertions still to come with ball rather than bat in hand.
There was a memorable moment in England’s last Test against New Zealand, at Edgbaston last summer, when their second innings stood at stumps at 122, six more than their total here, and with nine wickets down rather than seven. The fielders emerged the following morning and took their positions, the batters walked to the middle, the crowd settled and silenced. Olly Stone took his guard, Trent Boult took the ball, the ball took the edge, the keeper took the catch, and they all turned around and headed off again.
