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Jack Leach was shocked when England raised doubts about the legality of his action

George Dobell20-Dec-20162:24

Trott: Never noticed anything odd about Leach’s action

Jack Leach, the Somerset left-arm spinner, says he was “shocked” not to be considered for a call-up to England’s tour of India due to concerns over the legality of his bowling action.The ECB confirmed on Tuesday that the problem was raised during routine testing at the national academy in Loughborough following the end of the season in which Leach had taken 65 wickets at 21 in the County Championship. Leach has never been reported for a suspect action by the umpires.While Somerset – Leach’s club – insist the issue was minor, it is likely it convinced the England selectors not to consider him as a replacement for Zafar Ansari when he was forced home from India due to injury. Hampshire’s Liam Dawson was called up in Ansari’s place.Instead, Leach took his place on the England Lions tour of the UAE, where we underwent remedial work on his bowling action while also continuing to play. He claimed 3 for 7 in a one-day match against UAE and 2 for 25 in the four-day encounter against Afghanistan, then was named in the squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in February.Leach has admitted he was “shocked” when ECB tests showed he had an illegal bowling action.”When I did the test and they told me I was as shocked as anyone,” said Leach. “It was only a very small thing in terms of my body position – and it wasn’t helping me bowl a doosra or anything like that.”After that I just worked my nuts off to be honest, with Peter Such from the Lions and Jason Kerr back at Somerset, in terms of making the changes I needed to. I’ve made a hell of a lot of progress, and I was pleased with the way it went out in the UAE.”The important thing is I’ve come to terms with it, and I feel like I’m going to be a better bowler in the future for sorting it out.”The news – and timing of the news – is intriguing. In contrast to most illegal bowling action reports, there had hardly been a whisper of protest about Leach’s action throughout the county season. Quite the contrary: it appeared orthodox and strong and it is understood that no umpires reported any concerns with it. Coming just as England slipped to a 4-0 defeat, it might be seen to deflect attention from some surprising selections and suggest the selectors were powerless to offer alternatives to India’s spin attack.”Jack really has worked like a Trojan since the initial assessment,” Such, the ECB’s lead spin-bowling coach, said. “He’s only made slight modifications but they make a big difference, and we’ve seen really significant progress.””Jack had a tremendous season for Somerset and is an outstanding player and team member,” Matthew Maynard, Somerset’s director of cricket, said. “Whilst he was picked up for a minor abnormality in his bowling action during routine testing at the end of the season, this was quickly addressed with remedial work, allowing him to play for England Lions over the last few weeks. I have every confidence that he will be playing for England in the future and that there is no major issue with his bowling action.”Towards the end of the 2016 season, as Leach spearheaded Somerset’s push for a maiden Championship title, his captain Chris Rogers suggested he was not yet ready for Test cricket.”I am still a big believer that you need more than one good season to play for England,” Rogers said after Leach had taken 6 for 64 at Headingley. “With Jack, I think his game’s in order, I think emotionally he still has a bit of a way to go and I don’t think he’s be upset with me saying that.”He is still a young guy, he has only ever been in Somerset and the challenges in international cricket are a lot more difficult.”

Essex rising star Nick Browne heartened English county professionals who have ever experienced the hardsh glare of Sydney Grade cricket by striking a record 206 for Mossman

David Hopps23-Nov-2015More than a few English county professionals have struggled to adapt to the harsh glare of Sydney Grade cricket over the years, but nobody can accuse Nick Browne of being among their number. He has become the new star in town. Browne has become the first cricketer from the UK to hit a double century in Sydney Grade, advancing his reputation and sparing the blushes of a few English professionals in the process.Browne, one of the few bright spots in Essex’s 2015 season, struck 206 at the weekend for Mosman against Sydney University at the Allan Border Oval, following up a century in his first match in even more spectacular style.He beat the previous best score by an English batsman – 194 by Mike Gatting in 1979. Gatting had already won England recognition by then – making his ODI debut in 1977 and playing his first Test a year later – and went on to captain England and win 79 Test caps.Many in Essex believe that Browne should have received some sort of England development squad recognition this winter – but although he was overlooked it has driven him to a continuation of the form he showed in the county season.Browne was one of the few successes in 2015 in an Essex season that ultimately led to the removal of Paul Grayson as coach. He made six first-class centuries as he added his name to the long list of contenders urged by the England coach, Trevor Bayliss, to make an unanswerable claim to an England place in county cricket.He finished the season on a high – a career-best 151 not out against Leicestershire (albeit Division Two’s bottom club). His 1157 first-class runs represented the first time an Essex batsman had passed 1000 in the Championship since Ravi Bopara in 2008.This is the second year Browne has travelled to Sydney to play for Mosman during the English winter. His 206 was only four runs short of Mosman’s highest club score, so sparing one of Australia’s most famous clubs more emotional trauma than it could take. His opening partnership of 252 with David Lowery in a score of 406 for 3 was the second highest in the club’s history.

England’s Ashes hopes have been boosted by the news that Kevin Pietersen is provisionally scheduled to return to cricket on June 12 for Surrey against Sussex at Arundel

George Dobell11-May-2013England’s Ashes hopes have been boosted by the news that Kevin Pietersen is provisionally scheduled to return to cricket on June 12 for Surrey against Sussex at Arundel.Pietersen was forced home from the England tour of New Zealand and subsequently ruled out of the IPL, the home Test series against New Zealand and the Champions Trophy after he was diagnosed with bone bruising to his right knee. The ECB had previously suggested he would begin full training “by the middle of June”.A return against Sussex would allow him a minimum of three first-class games before the start of the Ashes. Surrey play Yorkshire in the Championship on June 21 before England take on Essex in a four-day warm-up game ahead of the first Test against Australia at Trent Bridge, which begins on July 10.Micro-fracture surgery on the problem still remains a possibility but it is understood that Pietersen will be 100% fit on his return and there will not be any long-term implications for his involvement in all three formats for England.Pietersen suffered the injury to his knee during a warm-up match at Queenstown ahead of the Tests against New Zealand and, although he played in the first two matches, he was ruled out of the decider in Auckland and returned home. A brace was fitted and rest prescribed but his return has proved more problematic.The question of Pietersen’s workload arose last summer when he retired from limited-overs cricket, citing the England schedule. He was subsequently persuaded to return – following a destabilising stand-off that saw him dropped from the squad – and was rested for the ODI and T20 series against New Zealand in February. In 2009, he missed three Ashes Tests after suffering an Achilles problem.The possibility of Pietersen returning ahead of schedule comes after England named a squad to play New Zealand in the first Test at Lord’s featuring Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann, who both underwent elbow surgery over the winter. As expected, Jonny Bairstow will continue to deputise for Pietersen in the middle-order.

Warwickshire increasingly suggest their promise to be title contenders has more going for it than mere optimism.

Jon Culley at The Oval25-May-2012
ScorecardTim Ambrose’s unbeaten 74 left Warwickshire 41 short with five wickets left as they sought to recover the Division One leadership against Surrey at The Oval•PA Photos

Warwickshire increasingly suggest their promise to be title contenders in 2012 has more going for it than mere optimism. With five wickets in hand, they will return to The Oval on the final morning needing 41 runs to secure a fourth win in six.Victory would reassume the leadership of the First Division that Somerset hold after their victory over Durham and ensure that Nottinghamshire, who were in front before sitting out the last round of games, feel under a modicum of mid-season pressure at Hove, where Sussex have already ensured that a win will not be easily gained.Momentarily at the close of the third day in south London, it appeared Warwickshire might attempt to complete the job and give themselves Saturday off. Tim Ambrose and Rikki Clarke, the batsmen on the field, clearly considered taking the extra half-hour, but Jim Troughton, the captain, sensibly decided there was no need to rush.Ambrose is unbeaten on 74, and Rikki Clarke, apart from taking a painful blow on the toe during a hostile burst from Stuart Meaker, has settled in relative comfort to be 18 not out but the pitch in this match has been one on which wickets have come in flurries and the offspinners on both sides have been dangerous.After Gareth Batty’s six wickets in Warwickshire’s first innings, Jeetan Patel countered with half a dozen of his own as Surrey were dismissed for 245 in their second innings. The New Zealander bowled with particular skill in returning his best figures in county cricket and Surrey might have left Warwickshire with much less to do but for Jon Lewis and Chris Jordan, whose bold approach added 54 in 14 overs for the eighth wicket.Patel captured both in the end but their show of aggression, in which Lewis set the tone, left Warwickshire a target of 222 which looked potentially tricky, more so when they stumbled to 37 for 4.Batty again was their tormentor, taking three wickets in his first four overs, but a partnership of 111 between Ambrose and the Ireland captain, William Porterfield swung the balance back towards Warwickshire. So impressive had he been in the first innings that the second innings was only 10 overs old when Rory Hamilton-Brown tossed Batty the ball and asked for a repeat performance.Warwickshire had already suffered a blow with the loss of Varun Chopra to a fifth-ball duck and Batty struck with his fourth delivery, to which Ian Westwood pushed forward and edged to slip, where Tom Maynard took a fine catch. With the third delivery of his second over, Batty had Troughton, on the sweep, leg before without scoring as his thin run continued. It was his first duck of the season but nine innings so far have produced only 50 runs.When Darren Maddy then drove the ball back tamely to offer Batty a straightforward return catch, Surrey sensed they might have the trump card again in the 34-year-old former England bowler.But Warwickshire do not lack self-belief these days and Porterfield and Ambrose plotted a sensible course. Cleverly though he bowled, unchanged at the Pavilion End, getting as much as he could from a slow turning pitch, Batty was made to wait more than two hours for another breakthrough.It was time enough for the fifth wicket pair to re-establish Warwickshire in a position of strength, even though Porterfield, whose conversion rate of 50s to 100s might be better, annoyed himself, after more than three hours at the crease, for playing back to the ball pushed through by Batty that had him leg before for 66.The wicket gave Batty 10 in the match for only the second time in his career, the first since he took 10 for 113 against Northamptonshire for Worcestershire eight years ago.Ambrose survived a confident appeal for a stumping off Hamilton-Brown on 35 (with the total 100-4) and looped a bat-pad chance over the head of Jason Roy on 44 but otherwise cut a secure figure.In the morning, Patel had taken five of the six Surrey wickets that remained overnight. He had Maynard caught bat and pad at silly point, ended Jacques Rudolph’s brief stint at The Oval by bowling him as he tried to clip the ball through midwicket, then had Batty caught at short mid-on. Lewis fell to a catch by the diving Porterfield at midwicket and Jordan was leg before on the back foot, the innings wrapped up when Chris Woakes beat an expansive swing by Jade Dernbach.

Virender Sehwag acknowledged that players like him or Adam Gilchrist or Sachin Tendulkar could do anything if they batted for a substantial period

Abhishek Purohit06-May-2011Five days ago, Virender Sehwag had come up against a pitch in Kochi that was keeping so low that batsmen were being dismissed boot before wicket. Sehwag responded with 80 off 47 deliveries, when survival was a lottery for others. Five days later, Sehwag came up against his own team-mates in Hyderabad. His fielders forgot to hold catches. His bowlers chose no-balls to take wickets. His batsmen took turns at pressing the self-destruct button. Sehwag responded with 119 off 56, when it would have been easy to throw it away with a shot in anger and frustration.Delhi Daredevils needed 144 from 13 overs. They won with an over to spare, and the margin would have been wider had Sehwag not been dismissed in the 17th over. Twice in three games, Sehwag has shown that he is to Delhi what Sachin Tendulkar was to India for a large part of his career. The show begins and ends with Sehwag. The man knows it, and is candid enough to acknowledge that he is special. “Batsmen like Warner, or me, or Gilchrist or Tendulkar, can do anything if we play for so many overs,” Sehwag said. “I told my boys, just play fearless cricket.”Fearlessness is one of the foundations of Sehwag’s batting. Discretion, however, is not a measure that he applies in abundance, especially in the shorter formats of the game. When both virtues combine, his batting scales another level. On such days, his targeting of the weak links in the opposition bowling attack is almost predictable. Inevitably, Ishan Malhotra and Bharat Chipli disappeared for 43 in two overs.On such days, he also realises that the contest between him and the cream of the opposition attack need not be a gladiatorial showdown. Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma were given the respect they deserved on a bouncy pitch, though Sehwag still managed four boundaries off them.Spin and Sehwag have a tempestuous relationship. It brings the best and worst out of him. Predictably, Amit Mishra was taken for 37 in 14 deliveries. Predictably, the two dropped catches also came off Mishra.”I was telling myself that just play through the spell of Steyn and Ishant. They don’t have a fifth bowler and I have played Amit Mishra a lot in the nets,” Sehwag said. “I knew I could come hard at them. I just thought let me play my shots and if we can get momentum, we can do this.”Despite their indifferent performance, Sehwag did not think it was correct to blame his team-mates for not pulling their weight. “We have played ten games, and I have clicked only in three. So I have not been consistent, and I can’t really blame the others. I have more responsibility. The others are not that experienced; only Venugopal Rao is a bit experienced. They will take time; it takes time to build a good team.”Even as Delhi’s campaign has now come down to them needing a win almost every time they step out on to the field, Sehwag has carried his heavy responsibility as lightly as only he can. In five days, he has overcome a minefield on one occasion and on another a team that seemed intent on scoring own goals. Today, he scored 102 more runs than his side’s next-highest scorer in the game, James Hopes. “That’s the kind of player he is mate,” Hopes said. “He is as good as it gets in world cricket.”

Senior BCCI functionaries met the top brass of IMG in Mumbai today to question their role in the various allegations related to the IPL

Nagraj Gollapudi17-May-2010Senior BCCI functionaries, including Shashank Manohar (president) and N Srinivasan (secretary) met the top brass of IMG in Mumbai on Monday to seek clarifications on their role in the various allegations related to the IPL. The meeting was described by Andrew Wildblood, IMG’s senior vice-president, as “brief, friendly and constructive.”IMG, one of the top global sports management firms, has been a key part of the IPL since its inception, primarily involved in areas such as formulating the franchise bidding, player contracts and auctions, the media rights issues, the broadcast rights and especially the day-to-day running of the league. Its role in the running of the league has come into question since the suspension of Lalit Modi as the IPL chairman. It was expected that the board would clarify whether IMG was aware of Modi’s alleged misdemeanours, including the charges related to rigging of the initial bids for a couple of franchises in 2008.The IMG team in Mumbai also included its senior legal counsels Paul Manning and John Laffhagen, the latter having drafted the player contracts.Manohar had seemingly pointed fingers at IMG immediately after the IPL governing council meeting on April 26, saying the council trusted Modi and the IMG to run the league in a professional manner. He was responding to a query about the culpability of the council in the IPL mess.”An institution functions on trust,” Manohar had said. “If you are expecting every governing council member to come here every morning at 10 and leave at 10 in the night to look at what is happening everywhere, then we don’t need the other staff which is there. Then we don’t need to pay IMG Rs 27 crore [approx $6 million] and we don’t need a CEO to run the IPL. It is their job to do all these things.”This is not the first time IMG has been caught in a web of controversy. The board was unhappy with the original deal signed by the IPL with IMG which involved a management fee of 10% of tournament revenue. IMG was paid Rs 43 crore after IPL 1 and Rs 33 crore after the tournament was shifted to South Africa in 2009. The board then asked IMG to submit a revised proposal but the latter failed to do so within the stipulated deadline and hence the contract was terminated in 2008. Eventually the contract was re-negotiated and both parties settled for a figure of Rs 27 crore as annual payment from the third season.Apart from the IPL controversy, the board was also expected to question IMG’s role in the proposed “parallel IPL” in the UK, a charge that was pressed by Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman recently. Clarke alleged that Modi was trying to induce counties to set-up a rebel Twenty20 league that would undermine the ECB. The reason IMG got dragged into the imbroglio was because of the presence of two of its senior officials – Wildblood and Peter Griffiths (director of operations) at the March 31 meeting, where Modi met representatives from Lancashire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire.IMG vehemently denied their role in setting up any such league and clarified through a statement that they had just facilitated a meeting between Modi and the counties. The BCCI issued a second show-cause to Modi in the Clarke affair, asking him to submit his reply in 15 days. The deadline expires on May 21.

NZ captain Devine praises Down for swift comeback after birth of child in January

Vithushan Ehantharajah25-Jun-2024England will use the upcoming white-ball series against New Zealand to fine-tune their preparations for the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh later this year, with Heather Knight suggesting XIs will be more experimental than usual in home conditions to establish better role clarity ahead of the ICC tournament.The first engagement is an ODI series, which begins at Chester-le-Street on Wednesday. The five-match T20I series that follows offers more suitable preparation for the low, turning pitches that await in October on the subcontinent. But with the 50-over leg separate from the ICC Women’s Championship – England sit second, four points behind Australia, with the top five qualifying directly for 2025’s ODI World Cup – there is scope to use the first three matches of this White Ferns tour to try different things.The weather will also help that preparation. The UK is in the midst of a heatwave, and while Durham may be a long way from Dhaka, where England start their T20 World Cup against South Africa on October 3, temperatures are expected to reach as high as 30 degrees Celsius in the north-east on Wednesday. The pitch, which spent Tuesday morning uncovered, is likely to favour spin.”It will probably turn a little bit, which is great for the spinners that we have,” Knight said in her press conference on Tuesday. “It’ll be really great conditions for us for what we’ve got coming up with Bangladesh. It’s going to be hot, the pitch is going to be a little bit dry and it’s going to spin.”It is a far cry from the damp, overcast conditions for last month’s series against Pakistan, with England winning all five completed matches. Though they will be favourites once more over the coming weeks, having beaten this New Zealand side 4-1 and 2-1 in WT20Is and WODIs in March and April of this year, Knight insists that a results-first approach will still be the priority, regardless of any experimentation.”Winning is obviously really important, and with that T20 World Cup coming up we want to build up that momentum,” Knight said. “But also get the combination of the XI we play on the field, get that right.Sophie Devine was in the runs in New Zealand’s last match against England•Getty Images

“We might try a few things that we’re thinking about doing in Bangladesh that might not necessarily match the conditions we’re playing in here. I’m talking more about the T20 series here, obviously. But there might be a few little bits that we try.”The main thing is about trying to get the whole squad in the best place that we can and give that clarity around roles as much as we can. In an ideal world, as a captain, I want my bowlers to bowl in all different phases and be able to bowl players in different stages when the match-up is right, or when I get a feeling.”That flexibility, we’ve been trying to build that up over the last year or so. Winning is the main thing, but there are little narratives inside of that as well.”With Sophia Dunkley recalled and Nat Sciver-Brunt ready to reprise her role as an allrounder, there is a familiar feel to the squad. However, an abominable niggle picked up by Kate Cross last week while playing for the ECB Women’s Development XI against New Zealand has ruled her out of the first ODI.South East Stars seamer Ryana Macdonald-Gay has subsequently been drafted into the squad as cover, arriving in Durham on Tuesday afternoon. The 20-year-old has started the domestic season strongly, taking 12 wickets in the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy – the second most – off the back of an impressive England A tour of New Zealand in March with 11 wickets across two 50-over and two T20 appearances. She was also part of the England squad for 2023’s inaugural women’s U19 World Cup.Related

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Knight admitted she has not seen all that much of Macdonald-Gay., although the England captain was part of the broadcast team for Oval Invincibles versus Manchester Originals in last year’s women’s Hundred when Macdonald-Gay took 4 for 16.”I first saw her in The Hundred. I think I interviewed her – I was working for the BBC down there and she got player of the match. I remember thinking she was quite accurate and quite skilful with her variations of pace. She doesn’t leave the stumps too much as a little skiddy seamer. From what I can hear, she’s grown a lot in the last year.”That A tour to New Zealand was a really big one for her, she performed really well, against good opposition as well. She’s started this season stellar-ly, and she can bat and field as well. I saw her in the U19 World Cup, she was quite impressive out there for England as well.”Meanwhile, New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine believes her team can cause an upset. Wednesday will be their first international fixture since the visit of England in March and April. And though the finale was a consolation win in the third ODI at Hamilton, led by Devine’s unbeaten 100, the 34-year-old believes the introspection that followed, along with three gruelling training camps, has them in good stead to exact some form of revenge.”I think it’s something that New Zealanders are pretty used to, to be fair,” she said of the underdog tag. “Unless it’s rugby union.”Whether we’re underdogs or favourites, it doesn’t really matter to us. We know at the end of the day that we need to be playing to our strengths. And know that we’re going to have fear, but we need to play in the face of fear.”We’ve looked back on that tour because we thought it was a really important phase for us. We came close in a number of those matches but it showed England’s strength to get out of a number of tricky positions. We went back, we reflected really hard on that, and we’ve had a really incredible block of training where we’ve come here and ready to take them on in their backyard.”Devine also championed White Ferns opening batter Lauren Down, who will earn her first international cap since December 2022 after giving birth to her daughter, Ruby, in January.”She certainly makes me feel a little bit guilty,” said Devine. “I’m tired and here she is with her five-month-old daughter Ruby, up and down in the night.”What she’s been able to achieve has been incredible. I certainly hope she feels she’s got 15 aunties on tour. She certainly has been handing Ruby around a little bit, in the changing room or back at the hotel.”I think it’s really important we make her feel comfortable and safe in our environment. But what she’s been able to do on the cricket field has been just astonishing. She’s such a professional in terms of she wants to be in the best possible shape before she steps out on the park, and that’s something I’ve got a lot of time and respect for.”We’re really stoked to have her back, and it’s obviously nice to have another little bub on tour. It certainly brings a little bit of perspective to the group as well. Cricket is incredibly important to us. But when you’ve got a little one there that doesn’t care how your day is gone, all she cares about is getting fed and getting cuddles from mum, it certainly brings a smile to a lot of our faces.”

Valiant Talukdar innings not good enough for Riders; Finals against Comilla Victorians on Thursday

Mohammad Isam14-Feb-2023Sylhet Strikers reached their first BPL final after they defeated Rangpur Riders by 19 runs in the second qualifier in Dhaka. They will take on three-time champions Comilla Victorians – also last season’s winners – in the final on February 16.But it could have easily been Riders playing the final. Rony Talukdar and their captain Nurul Hasan added 82 runs for the fourth wicket, and were taking Riders rapidly towards the 183-run target, but Tanzim Hasan Sakib’s match-turning 18th over changed the game’s fate.Strikers took extra time to decide who would keep wickets when Mushfiqur Rahim returned to the field, and Nurul appeared frazzled. The Riders captain fell first ball after the delay, later spotted shouting at someone while walking back. Rony fell later in the over, run out for 66 after being too careless to return to the crease, with Zakir Hasan, the new gloveman, getting a direct hit.Luke Wood, another late arrival in the BPL, then bowled Strikers to victory with a double-wicket 19th over, giving away just three runs. The left-arm Wood had Mahedi Hasan caught behind and Dwayne Bravo caught in the deep next ball. Dasun Shanaka struck Rubel Hossain for two fours in the last over, but it was a bit too late as Rubel closed out the game with the Sri Lanka captain’s wicket in the last ball.Riders had lost Sam Billings in the second over of the chase when Sakib trapped the opener lbw. Billings felt he had come too far down the pitch for it to be the right decision, but replays showed that the umpires got it correct. Shamim Hossain, who was player of the match for Riders in the eliminator against Fortune Barishal, then hit some boundaries off Rubel in the fifth over.But Strikers took the upper hand when Wood removed Nicholas Pooran in the ninth over. Pooran struck him for ten runs off the previous two balls, before holing out in the deep leg-side boundary. He made 30 off 14 balls, with four sixes and a four. After that Rony’s innings gave Riders hope, but it wasn’t to be in the end with Strikers holding on to their advantage.Earlier, the Strikers openers Towhid Hridoy and Najmul Hossain Shanto gave them a rock-solid start with a 65-run opening stand. Shanto dominated the stand with a 30-ball 40 that had five fours and a six, but he wasn’t happy with the lbw decision that Riders took via the DRS, which replaced the ADRS from the league stage.Hridoy struck a six and two fours in his 25 while Strikers captain Mashrafe Mortaza, promoting himself for the second game in a row, smashed three fours and a six in his 28 off 16 balls. However, Zakir Hasan, Ryan Burl and Mushfiqur could not push on, leaving Thisara Perera and George Linde to give them Strikers a final thrust in the slog overs that took them to 182.

Seamer prises out crucial late wicket of Kohli to cap another sturdy day’s work

Andrew Miller12-Aug-2021From the moment of his Test debut against New Zealand, and irrespective of his off-field issues, Ollie Robinson has performed like a senior member of England’s bowling attack. And on a day of hard toil in the second Test against India at Lord’s, he rose to the challenge of filling Stuart Broad’s boots, by prising out the crucial late wicket of Virat Kohli to cap another sturdy day’s work.Robinson’s close-of-play figures of 1 for 47 in 23 overs were England’s most economical of the day, and reflective of a two-string England attack in which he and James Anderson posed a consistent threat to India’s well-set batters, but the rest found no answers as Rohit Sharma, with an overseas-best of 83, and KL Rahul, with a fine unbeaten 127, carried their side to a dominant 276 for 3 at the close.But in inducing an edge off a well-set Kohli, caught at slip by Joe Root for 42 off the second new ball, Robinson crafted an opening for England that he hoped they could yet capitalise on in the morning.”It was huge and gives us a bit of momentum for the morning,” Robinson said at the close. “The plan to him was always fourth, fifth stump, back of a length… luckily the plan worked. We toiled hard today against their batters and to be fair, they played well.”Related

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India’s openers also played within themselves in tough conditions in the morning session, grafting their way to 14 for 0 in 12 overs before the introduction of Sam Curran allowed Rohit to climb onto the offensive. Robinson resumed after lunch in tandem with Mark Wood, bowling dry at one end while Wood tried in vain to prise an opening in a brisk but expensive spell at the other, but had to wait until his 21st over of the day to earn his first reward.Given that England had won the toss and chosen to bowl first under overcast skies, the returns for their day’s work were scant, but Robinson believed they lacked a bit of good fortune too.”I expected that. County cricket, you get two or three good batters, here you get six or seven good batters. That’s international cricket. I’ve shown over the last couple of games that I’m ready for the toil when it comes.”I think on another day it might have happened,” he added. “There were probably 10 or 15 play-and-misses that I could count and, on another day, we might have had them two- or three-down early. We definitely looked at conditions and thought we could get a few early ones here. It’s just one of those days where they didn’t nick it to be honest.”The swing was a little bit inconsistent, I don’t know if it was the ball or the overheads. We decided to go wobble-seam for a little bit, which we felt was a good plan, but the wicket was a little bit slow for it and not as receptive as we thought it might be.”Robinson’s promotion to the new ball came after Broad had been ruled out of the series with a calf tear, and for 24 hours before the start of the match, it seemed that Anderson too would be missing out with a quad strain. In the end, England were grateful for his indomitability, as he claimed each of the other two wickets to fall, including Rohit to break an opening stand of 126.”From speaking to him personally, he said he was absolutely fine,” Robinson said. “I think it was more precaution. It’s a long series. But he declared himself fit in the morning and you can see he’s bowled 22 overs… same old Jimmy. He bowled very well, we’ve come to expect that of him now, and he just keeps on providing.”We spoke about getting one or two with the new ball and to have them four- or five-down overnight would have been a good day. If we can get a couple of early ones in the morning we’re right in it.”

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Valkerie Baynes05-Aug-2020