Gillnetting: Woakes and Smith make England’s grand plan work

“He’s out,” read the banner headline in the London evening newspaper The Star, such was the sense of relief in England when Don Bradman was finally dismissed for 230 at The Oval in the final Test of the 1930 Ashes. In the absence of a modern equivalent, it was Chris Woakes’ face that evoked the same sentiment when he had Shubman Gill caught behind at Lord’s.

Gill arrived in England averaging 35 and with plenty to prove away from home but his name has been mentioned in the same breath as Bradman’s ever since his 430-run match at Edgbaston. With 585 runs in the first two Tests of this tour, Gill could put Bradman’s record tally for a five-match series – 974 – under genuine threat before he heads home in August.

While Gill was out in both innings in Birmingham, his dismissals hardly felt repeatable: his tired pull to square leg on 269, and skying a caught-and-bowled to Shoaib Bashir on 161 were simply the results of mental and physical exhaustion. Ben Stokes would not be drawn on England’s plans for the Lord’s Test, beyond saying: “We’ve got plans for all the Indian batters.”

Stokes and England would not admit as much, but the timing of Jofra Archer’s comeback seemed like a direct response to Gill’s dominance. There remains a suspicion that Gill’s main vulnerability is genuine, express pace; within four balls of his first Test spell in four-and-a-half years, Archer had bowled the fastest delivery of this series.

As soon as Gill walked in at No. 4, Archer returned for a second spell. His first ball to him was right on the money, at 88mph/141kph, and he had Gill flinching and dropping his hands to avoid his short deliveries. Archer has an excellent record against Gill – two dismissals in 28 balls in Tests, three in 19 in the IPL – and was desperate to extend it.

With the ball becoming gradually softer, Stokes turned to his familiar short-ball ploy and set an extraordinary six-three leg-side field for Archer: long leg, backward square leg, deep square leg, square leg, forward square leg and midwicket. Gill was untroubled, even shimmying outside leg stump to forehand-swat a short ball into the covers.

But Stokes had another plan up his sleeve. As soon as Gill walked in, a helmet came out so that Jamie Smith could stand up to the stumps with Woakes bowling. When Gill whipped his first ball from Woakes into the leg side for one, Smith took it straight back off and stood back when KL Rahul took strike.

Gill batted well out of his crease at both Headingley and Edgbaston, where he made Woakes look like a medium pacer: their head-to-head for the series read 153 balls, 102 runs, zero dismissals. But Smith’s proximity forced Gill back, giving the ball a greater chance to move off-straight – his average interception point against Woakes was half-a-metre deeper than it had been at Edgbaston.

Woakes drew a false shot three balls into the plan, Gill pressing forward and edging him through past second slip for four. He looked comfortable enough when pushing a half-volley down the ground with a pristine straight drive, but when Woakes went a fraction wider on the crease, he caught the outside edge and Smith gleefully gobbled up a tough chance.

England’s celebrations told the story of a plan coming together even if, at 80mph, the wicket ball was significantly slower than one Stokes might have imagined when calling on Archer. Woakes beamed as he ran away with arms outstretched, aeroplane-style. “I’ve seen a lot of him bat already – as we all have – so it was nice to take that wicket,” Joe Root said later, with a relieved grin.

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Manjrekar: Can’t find fault with Gill for his dismissal

Sanjay Manjrekar dissects the India captain’s dismissal on day two at Lord’s

The long-term implications of England’s attack leader bowling with the keeper up were less than ideal, but with the series level and the match in the balance, it was the here and now that mattered. “It was a good bit of bowling – clever, as well,” Root added. “Sometimes as a bowler, you’ve got to take your ego out of it, and I think it was smart.

“On a wicket where you’re working with a slope, if you can put someone further back in the crease, there’s more time for the ball to deviate one way or the other. You feel like you’re bringing more modes of dismissal into the game, and it stops them batting out of the crease and cuts the angles down… It was good thinking, good skill to be able to execute it as well.”

Root seemed to have finished his answer when he realised that he should mention Smith’s “unbelievable catch” too, and this was an important moment for England’s wicketkeeper. Smith may not be as natural with the gloves as his predecessor and Surrey team-mate Ben Foakes, but this dismissal would not have been possible without his ability to stand up to a seamer. Added to another counterattacking half-century, Smith’s catch completed a fine day for him.

It left Gill trudging off having scored 16, only his second failure of a sparkling maiden series as captain. If he can add another 373 runs in his five remaining innings of the tour to go clear of Bradman’s benchmark, then England will be buoyed that after a week of chasing leather in Birmingham, a ploy to get him out finally worked.