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107th over: India 412-5 (Gill 164, Jadeja 88). Ouch. The first SIX of the day: Jadeja belts Bashir over long-on, advancing and meeting it on the spin with ruthless intent. A wide one is then cut for a single. Bashir then gets an apparent carom ball to turn, to Gill’s mild befuddlement. No such angst next ball though, which Gill sweeps high and mightily way over backward square leg for SIX MORE.
“Further background on the pavilion at Stanway,” adds John Swan, “legend has it that JM Barrie paid for it too. Having told the local club that if he ever managed to take a hat-trick, he would pay for a new pavilion, there inevitably followed a canny bit of what I can only describe as spot-fixing, and lo! Stanway had a major benefactor.” The lad Barrie walked into that one there. Properly mugged off.
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106th over: India 399-5 (Gill 158, Jadeja81). India continue to demoralise England with old-fashioned Test batting, not taking risks but dealing with the hittable balls, as Jadeja does when sending a fuller delivery from Tongue skimming beyond mid-on for four.
“Is it harsh, or does the England bowling feel a bit like they have a surfeit of excellent support bowlers, but no real superstar?” writes Mike Morris. “That special something maybe Mark Wood or Jofra might be able to bring, but at the moment it’s all a bit like The Supremes without Diana Ross. Course, now I’ve written that down, watch Tongue take 4-12 in 4 overs…”
I think that might count as a reverse-reverse jinx. No sign of that four-fer yet. Anyway, another analogy might be all Miracles no Smokey Robinson. Though no miracles yet either.
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105th over: India 391-5 (Gill 158, Jadeja 74). Bashir continues with a legside heavy field at Jadeja, whose pushed single is the only run off a tight and accurate over.
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104th over: India 390-5 (Gill 158, Jadeja 73). Tongue, who frankly was well off his game yesterday, replaces Carse at the big stand end. He’s reasonably accurate but these well-set batters are able to add three more singles without fuss.
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103rd over: India 387-5 (Gill 157, Jadeja 71). Bashir now has a close catcher in for Jadeja at a shortish mid-on but India have hit almost nothing in the air this morning, and Gill takes advantage of a vacant area behind square on the off and reverse-sweeps deftly for four. This continues to be a near-flawless knock. by the captain.
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101st over: India 382-5 (Gill 153, Jadeja 70). Carse continues with the same tactic, as does Jadeja who pulls him away for the single. Carse comes back at Gill well and unsettles him short outside leg that the India captain bats awkwardly away on the off. England are trying manfully to make things happen here, but things are stubbornly refusing to.
“In the Hollies today, I’m sad to report that the Barmy Army trumpeter still does not seem to have mastered his rather limited repertoire. Who’d have thought that Hey Jude was such a challenging piece?” hisses Tom Hopkins.
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150 for Shubman Gill!
101st over: India 377-5 (Gill 150, Jadeja 68). Gill drives Bashir to mid-on for the single that makes him the first India batter to make 150 on this ground. This is also now his highest Test score, and he has led from the front here in calm and elegant fashion. Bashir’s still putting it in good areas, and mixing it up by going over and then around the wicket, but nothing doing still for England.
Shubman Gill brings up his 150. What a player. Photograph: Scott Heppell/APShare
Updated at 12.25 BST
100th over: India 374-5 (Gill 149, Jadeja 68). More leg-theory from Carse, fielders scattered around the legside, but Carse can only bang one in at hip height, which Jadeja punishes with a magnificently controlled pull through those gaps for four. That’s terrific, canny batting. Another wrist-rolling pull brings one more, which is followed by an effortless back-foot punch square in the off for another four. It’s not working for Carse here. Too wide, too hittable.
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99th over: India 365-5 (Gill 144, Jadeja 63). It’s quiet and flat, on the field and in the stands, which is off-brand for Edgbaston. Bashir sends down a perfectly decent maiden, the first of the day, but India stay firm. Jadeja then cheekily has words with the umpire, perhaps grassing up Bashir for running on the pitch. Bantstastic stuff.
“Hi Tom.” Hi Peter Salmon. “May I humbly submit the pavilion at Stanway?
Designed by J M Barrie of Peter Pan fame, it’s thatched – Barrie used to play cricket there in teams featuring H G Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle and A A Milne. Irrelevant fun fact: Wells, the composer Percy Grainger and the former prime minister Arthur Balfour and the painter Joh Singer Sargent once piled into Balfour’s car and drove to nearby Winchcombe Workhouse to collect folk songs. The residents were not best pleased.”
Lovely picture-postcard stuff indeed. Has anyone got any modern, brutalist examples? Or a bit of art deco, a la the glorious stand at Enfield Town FC for example? Be nice to mix it up a bit.
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98th over: India 365-5 (Gill 144, Jadeja 63). Bat has not dominated ball at all in recent England-India series but it really looks as if it will in this one. The combination of zip-less pitches in a dry English summer and both attacks missing key players could make this a really high-scoring set of contests. Carse has no slips and plenty of fielders out square as he tries to force Jadeja to hook and pull, which he does adeptly for a single. A fine stop at cover by Pope then denies Gill a certain four, and fine fielding from Duckett ensues from deep backward square to prevent another one. They run two instead. And that’s drinks after a first hour of Indian dominance.
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97th over: India 362-5 (Gill 142, Jadeja 62). Jadeja advances down the pitch to have a go at Bashir but there’s not much pace on it and he grubs it into the ground – decent bowling from the spinner. Jadeja’s next, nudged single takes this potentially match-defining partnership to 150.
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96th over: India 359-5 (Gill 140, Jadeja 61). At last – a genuine play and miss from good bowling, Carse zipping a beauty past Gill’s outside edge. He’s got a very front-of-square heavy field, as England continue to tempt Gill on the drive from fuller balls, but when you’re as set as Gill is you can drive through those gaps for four, as the Indian captain does beyond mid-on and then beyond extra cover.
That was a pretty decent over from Carse yet it still went for nine.
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95th over: India 350-5 (Gill 132, Jadeja 61). A double change – Bashir from the City End, the new ball 15 overs old. He gets some bounce and drift in the breeze and offers no freebies but a couple more singles take India to the 350 mark.
Shoaib Bashir comes on to try and make a change for England. Photograph: Alex Davidson/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 12.13 BST
94th over: India 349-5 (Gill 131, Jadeja 61). The Barmy Army trumpeter pumps out a version of Gary Numan’s Cars as Carse (geddit) replaces Stokes at the “pavilion” end, amid much concern about the foot-knack he appeared to be toiling with yesterday. He looks OK here, a decent line and length, but India remain distinctly unbothered.
“Talking of fine pavilions,” mails OBO stalwart Brian Withington, “can I recommend the almost aptly named Stoke Park for its ‘Italianate Splendour’ set in Rural Northamptonshire, a county with a fine cricketing tradition. The park was a favoured haunt of that most sporting of kings, Henry VIII, before the hunting lodge was replaced by a Palladian inspired Inigo Jones design. The main house was visited by Charles I and Sir Isaac Newton, but destroyed by fire in 1886 and replaced by a Jacobean style building that did not suit the surviving pavilions. After the war a publishing family bought the estate, pulled down the offending house and restored the pavilions to their former glory. The splendid grounds include terraced gardens and delightful pond, and the only thing missing is a cricket pitch.”
Lovely stuff. Any overseas nominations? The SCG’s obviously glorious, somehow even more so now every stand around it is so recent. Where else?
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93rd over: India 348-5 (Gill 130, Jadeja 61). India probably need 450-500 in this innings but this pair look well equipped to get them most of the way there. Woakes sets his field for offside traps, but when you’re seeing it as well as Gill is he can handle it, as he does with an exquisite cover drive threaded past those traps for four. It’s not a bad over, not wayward or anything, but nothing is doing really at all for England at present
“Following my rant yesterday about India’s bizarre selections,” roars Anand, “I wanted to ask fellow OBOers and Bazball afficionados on when they think England will regret the decision of putting India in? – or does Bazball have no regrets?”
Perhaps not, though I do, on one of them old-fashioned CDs:
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92nd over: India 343-5 (Gill 125, Jadeja 61). Consecutive boundaries off Stokes as Jadeja times a push through the covers to such perfection that it goes for four, then cuts a shorter wider one behind square for four more.
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91st over: India 335-5 (Gill 125, Jadeja 53). Few things demoralise bowlers more than quick singles and frequently rotated strikes and India are doing the basics well in that regard. One thing that does demoralise bowlers more is overthrows and Woakes wildly misjudges a shy back at the stumps off his own bowling that Stokes has to hare after as India add two more.
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90th over: India 331-5 (Gill 124, Jadeja 50). Stokes manages to eke out a bit more carry and bounce to Jadeja, but India sail calmly on. They’ll be happy with this first half-hour.
“If we’re going for the best pavilion in local cricket I am going to nominate those of the excellent Dales League,” says James Austin, “IMO the cricket league which most embodies the true spirit of cricket and has the most beautiful grounds. Littondale CC have this top level pavilion: But arguably the location makes it worthwhile:
Admittedly, the pitch can be treacherous: You can see highlights from the league here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_dC-iutgv5/”
James has sent in some tasty pics too, which I’ll try to upload later using my sketchy pic-editing skillz.
To which Rachel Pearce adds: “The thatched pavilion of North Devon Cricket Club at Instow takes some beating.”
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88th over: India 330-5 (Gill 123, Jadeja 50). Jadeja brings up a valuable half-century with another flick to leg and treats us to his trademark bat-sword celebration thing. What an asset he remains with bat in hand. The singles continue to come pretty easily.
Ravindra Jadeja celebrates after reaching his fifty. Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 11.27 BST
88th over: India 327-5 (Gill 121, Jadeja 49). This partnership continues to look serene and untroubled. Stokes bangs one into the pitch and Jadeja nudges it off his ribs for another quick single, Gill adds another, then Jadeja repeats the shot for one more single.
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Updated at 11.15 BST
87th over: India 322-5 (Gill 119, Jadeja 47). Woakes, yesterday’s stand-out, starts from the City End, and concedes four first up thanks to a gorgeously timed clip through midwicket by Jadeja. The umpire then has a word with Jadeja about running on the pitch (to give himself some juicy rough to bowl into later presumably), and the No 7 responds by veering sharply left and running the next single from the very edge of the strip. More anguish for Woakes ensues when a no-ball is edged through the cordon for four by Gill, who to be fair played it with good, soft hands.
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86th over: India 312-5 (Gill 115, Jadeja 42). Ben Stokes opens up from the Pavilion end, though “pavilion” seems a misnomer these days given that it’s more a massive modern stand. In fact, the traditional pavilion is fading from view at England’s Test venues these days, with Trent Bridge also undergoing a makeover and Old Trafford’s old one partly obscured. What are our favourite pavilions? Get in touch with your hot hutch chat.
Anyway, Gill flicks the first ball away on the legside for a single as Stokes keeps it on the fuller length this pitch makes necessary. Jadeja dabs the shortest ball and the last ball of the over forward and runs a smart quick single – two from it.
Ben Stokes opens the bowling for England in sunny Birmingham. Photograph: Andy Kearns/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 11.12 BST
Jerusalem rings out as the players toddle out.
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It’s sunny with a smattering of clouds in south Birmingham. The pre-day pitch reort with Nasser Hussain and Stuart Broad highlights the lack of pace and bounce relative to Headingley. A few cracks are emerging and the greater heat could open them out a bit but the sluggish surface, Broad points out, gives batters time to react. “England shouldn’t be too worried,” he reckons.
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Elsewhere, Steve Smith has made a quick return to Australia’s side for the second Test against West Indies as the tourists try to sort their batting out, having (eventually) comfortably won a first Test that had been compellingly nip-and-tuck for a couple of days.
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Updated at 10.56 BST
Some day one reading before play starts:
Ali Martin’s report:
Andy Bull on the ever-watchable Rishabh Pant:
And our food and drink correspondent Simon Burnton deep-dives into the Hollies Stand and more:
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KK Nair’s been having a pre-session chinwag with Sky on his return to the team: “It’s been amazing, what I’ve dreamed of, to finally be here and get this opportunity feels amazing,” he chirps. “I’ve always been prepared to bat wherever the team wants and I was told a couple of days ago I’d probably bat at three and was mentally well prepared for that. It’s a good chance to set up the game for the team. There are two different ways of playing [compared with at No 6] and as a batsman you have to be prepared to do both. I think we’re in a very good position, it’s about this morning’s session and continuing the partnership will be beneficial to us.”
As regards those late-order collapses, Nair says it’s “100% something that has to be discussed but not something we’re too worried about. It can happen and it’s our responsibility to stop it.”
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Updated at 10.29 BST
Not cricket-related but some awful, tragic news:
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Preamble
Morning/afternoon everyone. Round we go again then. As at Headingley, Ben Stokes won the toss yesterday and inserted India, whose captain made a composed century while England’s most potent bowler was a 30-something stalwart and the day ended with the tourists seemingly having compiled a commanding score.
The first session today should tell us a good deal more about how commanding it really is, and whether India’s team selection – which appeared to be more aimed at not losing the last Test than winning this one – has paid off. It’s been a batter’s series so far and England’s top seven will be looking forward to having a go on a thus-far placid surface against an attack missing Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav.
Anyway, the Edgbaston forecast is set fair – warm and dry but with the temperature not matching the horrors of earlier in the week – and the game could go in any direction. Let’s tuck in. Play starts at 11am BST.
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