England complete historic run chase to take series lead against India

As Jamie Smith swung the winning six off Ravindra Jadeja shortly before 6.30pm, a crowd that had grown steadily throughout a memorable day rose to acclaim one of England’s most astonishing wins.

Ben Stokes’s Bazballers have given their fans plenty to cheer about and a few reasons to moan, but – with the sun now shining after hours of showers and stoppages – the bond felt warm and unshakeable. Set an almighty 371, they had knocked off the runs with five wickets and nearly an hour to spare. It was both utterly absurd and entirely in keeping with a team who regularly promise the improbable, and now – gloriously – matched word with deed.

Central to the second-highest successful chase in English history was a hall-of-fame performance from Ben Duckett, who touched genius with his reverse-sweeping and turned India into helpless bystanders as they sought to plug the gaps. He has begun the Test summer with scores of 140, 69 and now 149, and we may still not have seen the best of him.

But there were crucial cameos from Zak Crawley, whose disciplined 65 from 126 balls formed part of a superb opening stand of 188 that broke the back of the chase, and Joe Root, who was damned if he was walking off his home ground without a grin the size of the Yorkshire Dales. With him in the evening glow was Smith, who absorbed the pressure and didn’t break sweat.

They could even accommodate a golden duck for Harry Brook, whose casual leg-side flick left Shardul Thakur – until now a spare part with bat and ball – on a hat-trick, and England still needing 118. 

And when Stokes got into a tangle aiming his umpteenth reverse-sweep at Jadeja and was caught for 33 by Shubman Gill, his opposite number, at short third man, they were five down and 69 short. It would be the closest India came to taking control. This defeat could haunt them for the rest of the summer.

Above all, victory was a rousing vindication of Stokes’s decision to bowl on a sunny first morning, a decision based on cricketing logic but which many felt smacked of hubris. And when India reached 430 for three on the second morning, it was in danger of backfiring horribly: 650 looked likely, and a draw – the result Stokes despises – would have been the height of England’s ambitions.

But the self-belief – self-delusion, some have argued – that courses through this team would not allow for defeatism, or even draw-ism. India’s last seven fell for 41, a collapse followed by six for 31 in their second innings. 

No side has ever made five centuries in a Test and lost. Rishabh Pant, who scored 134 and 118 and hit nine sixes, must wonder what more he can do. Indian heads may still be spinning by the time the second Test starts at Edgbaston a week today.

The question at the start of the morning, with England resuming on 21 without loss, was who would take their wickets if not Jasprit Bumrah. Yet one of the many remarkable subplots, and perhaps the game’s most pertinent number, was that Bumrah would finish the day wicketless, seen off with skill and guts by Duckett and Crawley, and not used even when Gill belatedly got hold of the second ball, with 22 still required.

Since the plan is for Bumrah to play only three of the five Tests, it was imperative that India got something out of the first. And well though Prasidh Krishna bowled to have Crawley taken at first slip by KL Rahul with one that swung away, then knock over Ollie Pope for eight with one that jagged in, the tourists’ back-up seamers were mainly a rabble.

In all, Krishna went for 220 at more than a run a ball, while Mohammed Siraj huffed and puffed, and got in the face of Duckett: it all amounted to match figures of two for 173. Thakur’s 16 overs leaked 89. 

The decision to omit left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav looked questionable at the start, awful by the end. There was even another dropped catch, Yashasvi Jaiswal putting down his third chance of the Test when Duckett miscued a pull on 97.

It was a rare false shot in what was the best of his six Test centuries, coming as it did against the new-ball menace of Bumrah and the threat of Jadeja, who had rough to aim for outside the left-hander’s off stump.

But Duckett’s reverse-sweeping was sublime, easing him into the nineties, then through them. When he unfurled it again to hit a six and move into the 140s, it was the shot of the Test – and there had been some competition. As much as anything, it was the effortlessness that stood out.

Crawley, too, played one of his best knocks, putting away the big drives and the pre-meditation, and treating each ball on its merits – a convincing retort to his first-over dismissal on the second day. And with Pope’s first-innings hundred blocking one possible route into the team for Jacob Bethell, Crawley now blocked another.

England didn’t tick every box: few games do. Chris Woakes was too rusty for comfort on the first day, and Brydon Carse took a while to get used to Headingley’s nooks and crannies. Josh Tongue was destructive against the tail, less so against the top order.

And Shoaib Bashir showed as much control as he ever has in his short career, yet still had match figures of three for 190. Jofra Archer, meanwhile, is itching for a Test comeback.

For now, though, England can bask in a win as unlikely as any in the three years since Stokes joined forces with Brendon McCullum. Thrillingly, the summer has only just begun.