England batters hit back after Stokes grabs five

England rally behind Stokes

Ben Stokes’ first five-wicket haul in eight years and a dizzying opening partnership gave England much the better of the second day of the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford.

Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett flayed some wayward India bowling at a rate of more than five an over in their stand of 166, taking a huge chunk out of the tourists’ 358.

For Crawley, 84 on the ground he made his career-highlight 189 against Australia two years ago was a welcome contribution. Duckett, the premier opener in the world, crunched 94.

Though they fell in the space of two overs, Ollie Pope and Joe Root were able to take England to 225-2, 133 behind.

Stokes claimed three of the six India wickets to fall on Thursday to end with 5-72, while Jofra Archer continued his comeback with 3-73.

England were superb with the ball, though they were partly held up by the bravery of Rishabh Pant.

Pant retired on day one with a suspected broken foot after being struck by Chris Woakes. In scenes of high drama, he hobbled down the stairs to resume his innings on 37 and nudged his way to 54 before Archer spectacularly uprooted his off stump.

Pant is not keeping wicket and India are yet to confirm his injury. It seems likely he will bat in the second innings, when the visitors look set for a battle to stay in the series.

For so long there were worries whether Stokes would again be fit enough to act as England’s fourth seamer. Right now, he is their best seamer.

His 16 wickets in this series is the most by any bowler on either side. It is the most Stokes has taken in a single series and his 129 overs is his heaviest workload, still with a potential three innings to go.

From 264-4 overnight, India had to face the second new ball right away. Archer set the tone in his first over, once again showing his prowess to left-handers by having Ravindra Jadeja edge to second slip, where Harry Brook took a fine diving catch.

It is a mystery how it took England almost 17 overs to take their next wicket. Thakur, who made 41, and Washington Sundar, 27, showed excellent defence and left well in a stand of 48.

It needed Stokes, in a 10-over spell either side of lunch, to work through the lower order. Thakur slashed to gully and Duckett held a sharp chance.

England dropped the field for Pant, so India’s progress was slow. Washington top-edged Stokes to fine leg and Anshul Kamboj edged behind to give the skipper his fifth Test five-for. The 76 matches since his previous five-wicket haul is a record in Test cricket.

Still Pant remained, his gutsy effort finally ended by Archer. When Jasprit Bumrah tickled Archer down the leg side, Stokes had to be talked into a review by Root in order to wrap up the innings.

Just as England’s bowlers had swing to work with, so too did India’s. The tourists wasted it with a poor line and were punished by England’s openers.

Even with the great Bumrah in their attack, India were constantly drifting into the pads of left-hander Duckett, who scored two-thirds of his runs through the leg side.

Crawley was on nought for 13 balls, finally taking a single off his 14th. By the time Crawley got off the mark, Duckett had 26, but the Kent man caught up with drives and clips. When left-arm spinner Jadeja came on, Crawley plonked his second ball for a straight six.

This was their fifth century stand as an opening pair and they appeared unstoppable until Crawley edged Jadeja to slip. Duckett was within one blow of a hundred when he nicked a cut to give debutant Kamboj his maiden Test wicket.

One more wicket as the shadows lengthened would have given India a massive boost and Bumrah was revved up for a final spell.

Root survived a huge appeal for caught behind, India rightly opting against a review as replays showed the ball had only made contact with a pad.(BBC sport)