Recent Match Report – England vs India, India tour of England, 3rd Test

England 387 and 192 (Root 40, Washington 4-22) beat India 387 and 170 (Jadeja 61*, Stokes 3-48, Archer 3-55) by 22 runs

Six years ago, Ben Stokes raised his hands in apology. Now he was clenching his fists in triumph. On the anniversary of the day when he made England world champions, he found them a route to victory again. It felt like he couldn’t rest without it.

He bowled seven overs with the second new ball on Saturday, and the coach Brendon McCullum dispatched a member of his staff down to the boundary line to remind him that he is still flesh and bone. On Monday, nobody dared to interfere. Stokes pushed through a 9.2-over spell, came back to deliver a 10-over spell and was essentially such a lord and master of proceedings that a member of the opposition felt the need to ask his permission for a bathroom break.

Ravindra Jadeja was the one who needed to sprint off. Apparently, nature doesn’t care if you’re the only thing standing between your team and defeat. It comes calling. Just as a whole line-up of Englishmen did, looking for his wicket, or even just a mistake. But nothing was forthcoming. India’s allrounder was every bit as heroic as his red-haired, red-faced, red-hot counterpart, scoring a fourth successive half-century and shepherding the tail towards something legendary. But it wasn’t to be.

Five overs after tea, a man with a broken finger got the ball to spin off the middle of the bat and onto the stumps. Lord’s. On July 14. It is not a place for the faint of hearts.

Full report to follow