By Nick Hoult
In the evening light and as grey clouds circled Headingley, England pulled off another miraculous triumph with a performance that suggests Bazball has shifted into a new, mature phase.
Joe Root – of course it was Joe Root – guided them home to a five-wicket victory over India with a nerveless 53 not out after Ben Duckett’s 149 made the impossible possible. This win will be all the more satisfying because India were in the ascendancy for most of the Test and England made mistakes but still won.
Joe Root and Jamie Smith embrace after England secure victory on day five of their Test against India.Credit: Getty Images
They stuck India in at the toss in glorious batting conditions and conceded 835 runs in the match but still made 373 to win with 13 overs to spare. It is the second-highest total they have successfully chased down in Test cricket and the 10th highest successful chase of all time.
They were confidently in charge for most of the final day by batting with great control and at an easy tempo but there were scares when they lost two in two and needed 165 with six wickets left. When Ben Stokes was out there was still another 69 to be chipped away but Jamie Smith and Root put on an ice cool 71 stand. This being Stokes’s team there had to be a Hollywood finish. Smith whacked Ravindra Jadeja for six over long-on to win the Test at 6.28pm (UK time), just as the sun burst through to light up the finale.
England won by blunting the best bowler in the world, possibly of all time, with Jasprit Bumrah bowling 19 wicketless overs in the fourth innings and with a fifth-day pitch to exploit.
An enthralling Test match, only the third in history in which every innings was worth more than 350, was in the balance until an hour after tea on day five and if this is the template of what is to come, then buckle up for the rest of the summer – and the Ashes.
This will sit alongside this team’s other marvels against New Zealand at Trent Bridge in 2022 when they chased 299 to give birth to Bazball; the 378 against India at Edgbaston a few weeks later; and the 254 against Australia at Leeds two years ago when they made the highest score of the match to win and set up an Ashes comeback from 2-0 down. It was the sixth time this team have defied logic and chased more than 250 to win a Test.
Those wins were generally adrenalin-fuelled, seat-of-the-pants thrill rides but this was an outside-lane cruise in a Volvo set up by an unfussy 188-run opening stand between Duckett and Zak Crawley. They soaked up the pressure when Bumrah and Jadeja were on and seized opportunities to score when presented. With a nod to the Ashes, it is a hugely encouraging sign that this team has recognised that winning can be achieved more than one way, and ugly if necessary.
Indian quick Jasprit Bumrah in action at Headingley on day five.Credit: Getty Images
As a team, India were a shambles. No question that as a collection of individuals they are a talented crop despite recent retirements but they need time to click. They became the first side in Test history to score five hundreds and still lose. They collapsed twice, losing seven for 41 in the first innings when 600 seemed certain and six for 31 on the fourth day when they should have posted a 400-plus target that would have forced the Bazballers to contemplate the unpalatable; batting for a draw.
India made 11 single-figure scores in the match, England just four. Their fielders failed to back up the bowling with six crucial catches dropped, and some lackadaisical fielding that Virat Kohli would not have stood for. They missed his snarling in the field. Bumrah was a one-man band with the ball taking five for 140 in the match while his three other seamers took nine for 489. Everyone knew the game was up and the Western Terrace started partying when Bumrah did not take the second new ball with 22 needed; India opting to save his legs.
Tickets for day five were just £20 for adults, £5 for children bunking off school, and they bought a terrific day of drama. It may not have the Ashes sheen of 1981 or Stokes in 2019 but Duckett’s man-of-the-match innings deserves its place in Headingley’s history of heroic deeds.
From 170 balls he struck 21 fours to clock up a sixth Test hundred, that included an imperious six with a reverse sweep off Jadeja. His stand for the first wicket with Zak Crawley took them beyond 2,000 runs as an opening pair made at an unprecedented 5.03 an over. They really do have a special bond.
Crawley’s slowest Test fifty was a sign he too has shed some of his flakiness and knuckled down for this era-defining run of matches. He was content to let his partner dominate while he dropped anchor. His 65 ended caught at slip off Prasidh Krishna and when Ollie Pope inside edged on to his stumps two overs later, India had a way back in with 165 still required.
Duckett was the key man. He had signalled intent Monday night when he left the first two balls of an innings for the first time and was watchful against Bumrah, waiting for Krishna to come on and punishing him in particular before finding his range with his sweep against Jadeja.
Yashasvi Jaiswal of India drops a catch on day five.Credit: Getty Images
On 97 he offered a catch to deep square leg but Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped his third chance of the match and bowler Mohammed Siraj cursed the heavens. Four balls later he hammered a sweep to bring up his hundred.
After a short shower, the ball started to swing more. England kept out Bumrah and relaxed when Shardul Thakur, the worst player in the match, ran in from the Kirkstall Lane End. Duckett drove a half-volley to cover, and first ball Harry Brook flicked a leg-side catch to the keeper; England were four down with 119 needed.
Ben Stokes was scratchy and his flirts with danger playing the reverse sweep to Jadeja was his downfall, caught at short third-man but Root was super cool. He has been here and done it before. Smith hammered Jadeja for 18 in the final over to speed up the finish.
