Summing up
England’s day overall, though India fans had cause to cheer courtesy of Rishabh Pant’s hobbling heroics and some more encouraging signs with the ball in the last hour. England’s followers, meanwhile, can bask in another forceful bowling performance from Ben Stokes and the effortless fluency of their opening batters, who made the most of some initially substandard Indian bowling.
So there’s a lot to look forward to tomorrow, for which the OBO will be alongside you all the way. Thanks for your many fine emails today, only around half of which I had time and space to use, but it’s all appreciated, and enjoyed. And I’ll leave you with Ali Martin’s initial report from Old Trafford. Enjoy the rest of your day. Bye.
Zak Crawley speaks
“We bowled really well, we beat the bat a lot, found the edge more and everyone deserved more than they got, and Stokesy was magnigicent obviously
We’re happy with where we are right now, we had to be aware of more bounce from the Statham End and adjust your gameplan.” [On his partnership with Ben Duckett] … “He’s just extremely good, he’s an unbelievable player, a phenomenal thinker about the game and is hard to contain.
[On his own approach] Today I was just trying to play every ball on its merits, perhaps in my head previously I was trying to premeditate too much … a lot of the dismissals are too half-hearted but I’m pleased today that I hit the ball well. There was a bit more pace and carry that suits my game, it’s a great ground to play, good batting deck and I enjoy playing here, I can react and play a little more.
“Sometimes you can want it too much and that’s something Baz has been good with me on, allowing me to get in a good place.
[On his dismissal], “he [Jadeja] changes his line so much so when he bowls that wider one you can get a bit lazy. I was fuming with myself but it is what it is.”
