Key events
43rd over: England 256-5 (Livingstone 14, Overton 5) Varun steps up for his last over. Livingstone does his best to get out, sweeping in the air without much conviction, but he doesn’t succeed, so Varun finishes with 1-54.
“I thought Barney’s article was a gem,” says Paul Lakin. “The description of cricket as ’essentially a picnic that has got out of hand, monetised standing around’ was pure Ronay (though that won’t stop me passing them off as my own in the pub).” Ha. I would go further and say that the first half of that – the picnic that has got out of hand – was pure genius.
43rd over: England 250-5 (Livingstone 11, Overton 1) So Jadeja strikes again. What a cricketer he is.
WICKET!! Root c Kohli b Jadeja 69 (England 248-5)
He;’s the one that they want and they’ve got him! After receiving those gifts, Root offers one in return – a mis-timed chip that loops up and presents Kohli with the simplest of catches at deep mid-off.
42nd over: England 247-4 (Root 69, Livingstone 9) Another gift for Root: Varun tries a quicker ball that ends up as a full toss. Root square-drives, gets a thick edge and picks up four. The 300 is on.
41st over: England 238-4 (Root 63, Livingstone 7) Hardik continues and gives Root a freebie, a fullish ball on leg stump that is just asking to be glanced for four.
Here’s Brian Withington. “Just catching up,” he says, “and was amused to discover that Tanya’s uncanny ability to initiate a wicket extends even before she takes up the reins of the OBO. Elsewhere I see that Barney Ronay has now pegged the England set up as a death cult, and approvingly (but rather selectively) references a Mike Brearley interview in 2023. Reflecting on the two, I found the MB interview typically insightful and compassionate. Barney Ronay’s piece similarly … typical.” Oof.
We can agree about Brearley, but I felt Barney’s column was fascinating, and more nuanced than the headline might suggest. Glad you’ve mentioned it because I forgot to link to it earlier.
40th over: England 230-4 (Root 56, Livingstone 6) Root, looking to lift England’s spirits, tries an un-Root-like stroke, chipping Shami over midwicket. He doesn’t time it but gets two, and England add a few singles.
Here’s Krish again. “Answering your question, ‘Have you been reading Rob Smyth?’ Is there a sports lover who has not?” Ha. Rob is so talented and so modest – I hope he reads that.
39th over: England 223-4 (Root 51, Livingstone 4) Buttler stepped away to leg to off-drive a slower ball from Hardik, but didn’t time it as well as his other shots and gave Gill, at mid-off, the chance to swoop again with his swallow dive. The partnership between England’s two veterans was 51 off nine overs. Just before the wicket, Root had reached fifty for the 56th time in one-day internationals. His celebration was perfunctory: he knows that another fifty is required, and all the more so now.
Liam Livingstone comes in and gets straight down to business, cutting Hardik for four.
WICKET!! Buttler c Gill b Hardik 34 (England 219-4)
Another great catch from Shubman Gill!
38th over: England 216-3 (Root 49, Buttler 33) Rohit sees the seamers doing better and decides to replace Jadeja with Mohammed Shami, who has had a good long rest. England manage nine off the over without a boundary as Buttler, running hard, picks up two twos.
“England’s white ball batters,” says Gary Naylor, “seem to be intent on avoiding collapses rather than driving on to unassailable leads. It may just be my memory playing tricks, but under Eoin Morgan, I seem to recall a lot more tonning up (see Glenn Phillips for NZ yesterday for the impact). England won’t win global tournaments without centuries – who’s going to make them?”
It’s a good question, though if you were trying to sum up this tour in two words, “avoiding collapses” might not be the first ones that came to mind.
37th over: England 207-3 (Root 48, Buttler 26) A good over from Hardik Pandya, only four from it.
And here’s Krish Krishnamoorthy. “If there is one thing that India has not learnt, it is how to ease the yesterday’s superstars through a door marked Do One.” Krish, have you by any chance been reading Rob Smyth?
“It started with Kapil Dev clinging on, refusing to go, knowing he was past his best days, and the selectors who would not wield the machete. And it continues. Indian cricket, formidable and powerful as it is, can go to the next level ONLY if Rohit and Virat leave. Their failures (consistent of late) are papered over by wins delivered by the heroics of a Bumrah or a Pant. They have had their day and it is time they went. Here BCCI can learn a few tricks from Cricket Australia or even England for that matter.” It’s a good point, but the Aussies are ageing too, aren’t they? And doing quite well.
36th over: England 205-3 (Root 45, Buttler 25) Another over from Jadeja, another five singles.
35th over: England 200-3 (Root 45, Buttler 22) Hardik returns to find Buttler in lovely touch. He gets the commentators purring with an off-drive, on the up, so well timed that it beats the dive from the man at long-off.
34th over: England 186-3 (Root 44, Buttler 14) Rana’s lively third spell ends as Rohit goes back to Jadeja. Five singles off his over.
And here’s Simon McMahon. “I hope Tanya is going wild swimming in freezing cold water, which seems to be a bit of a thing these days,” he says. “And is very much in keeping with the Bazball ethos. Once you get over the initial shock, very pleasant. Though not without risk.”
Drinks: England haven’t collapsed!
33rd over: England 186-3 (Root 42, Buttler 11) Varun reckons he’s got Root LBW and Rohit goes for a review. It takes so long that you wonder if it has been referred to Stockley Park. After several hours, the third umpire spots that Root got a glove on the ball. He celebrates with a reverse sweep for four and another for two. And that’s drinks, with England – so far – avoiding the cluster of wickets that is always beckoning to them in India. Whether they have enough, I rather doubt, but they’re giving it a good go. They now need more from these two old hands: ideally, a hundred from Root and a quick fifty from Buttler.
32nd over: England 180-3 (Root 36, Buttler 11) In the mood or not, Buttler can’t cope with this snorter from Rana – short, fast and seaming away. Rana has steam coming out of his ears and shows it with a shy at the stumps that goes for four overthrows. Quite an achievement to hit a four off your own bowling. And deny yourself a maiden.
31st over: England 176-3 (Root 36, Buttler 7) Buttler is in the mood, crunching Varun through the covers for four. But there’s not much to come after him, with Bethell injured and Livingstone out of form. It feels as if England could end up with 320 or 250.
30th over: England 169-3 (Root 35, Buttler 1) Jos Buttler gets off the mark right away with a fluent push for a single, back past the bowler. But that is a big wicket for India. Brook thought he was safe, calling for two, but Gill did brilliantly. And so did Rohit, showing faith in Harshit Rana after Brook had hit him for those two fours in his previous over.
WICKET!! Brook c Gill b Rana 31 (England 168-3)
This is a wonderful catch. Brook hits a slower ball into the deep blue sky. Gill has to run back, and dive, and hold on, and to the crowd’s delight he makes it all look easy.
29th over: England 165-2 (Root 33, Brook 30) It’s still spin at one end with Axar, who is pulled for four by Root. England have managed to get into fourth gear, but on a ground with such short boundaries, they surely need to find fifth.
28th over: England 158-2 (Root 27, Brook 29) Brook’s struggles on this tour have had a lot to do with having to start his innings against spin. (He might be better as an opener in India.) Now Rohit goes back to seam, giving Harshit Rana a third spell, and Brook celebrates with a lovely four through the covers, no more than a well-timed push. Rana responds well – dot, dot, dot – and Brook, feeling the need for another four, goes down the track to blast the last ball over extra cover.
The first of those fours brought up the fifty partnership off 69 balls. Sedate but effective.
27th over: England 150-2 (Root 27, Brook 21) Axar continues and after a couple of singles, Root goes deep in the crease and plays a whipped pull for four. He has done pretty well with 27 off 36 balls, while Brook, even with that fabulous six, has only 21 off 42.
Note to younger readers: this is what one-day cricket was like from 1971 to 1996.
26th over: England 143-2 (Root 22, Brook 20) When Rohit sees the replay, he throws his hands up in frustration, looking like Ruben Amorim. Meanwhile Jadeja continues and the batters do better, finding five singles.
In the crowd, men with hoses spray the crowd with gentle jets of water to cool them down. “How good is that?” says Ravi Shastri. “Let’s hope the liquid coming out is nice and fresh.”
25th over: England 137-2 (Root 18, Brook 18) Root, facing Axar, shows Brook how it’s done by playing a late drive for two, then hanging back to flick the next ball for a single. But still, only three off the over. And there was an LBW shout in there which might have brought a wicket on review had Rohit gone for it – Root was down the track, which rather obscured the fact that the ball was hitting leg stump.
24th over: England 135-2 (Root 16, Brook 18) Jadeja, bowling to Brook, delivers a maiden! And it only takes 75 seconds. The man is a batter’s nightmare, and a live-blogger’s too.
23rd over: England 135-2 (Root 16, Brook 18) Root, facing Axar, hits his first four too, with a reverse sweep. But when Axar drops short on leg stump, he can’t get his flick through the ring. “These two are batting beautifully,” says Kevin Pietersen, rather surprisingly. I would say – knowing far less about it – that they’re hanging in there and allowing too many dots.
22nd over: England 130-2 (Root 12, Brook 17) Jadeja to Brook: dot, dot, dot … four! It’s too short, for once, and Brook cuts hard, flashing his hands through the ball, bisecting the two backward points and collecting his first four. But then Jadeja bites back, beating Root with a big turner – pitched middle, went over middle as Root missed with a push to leg.
21st over: England 125-2 (Root 12, Brook 12) Again, only two singles off the bat, although Axar gives England a bonus with a wide that beats KL Rahul and goes all the way to the rope. Harry Brook has already faced 23 balls.
20th over: England 118-2 (Root 11, Brook 11) Against Jadeja, though, it’s back to square one – one for each batter. And here comes Axar Patel, whose bowling is not unike Jadeja’s, slow left-arm and relentlessly accurate.
19th over: England 116-2 (Root 10, Brook 10) What is Brook going to do, stick or twist? He’s not a sticker, even if he did once score a triple century. Facing Varun, he dances down the track and hits an off-drive, in the air but flat, for six. That’s an extraordinary shot, a killer drop-kick.
18th over: England 107-2 (Root 9, Brook 3) Another over of spin, another three singles. England are becalmed. All the seamers went for at least a run a ball, but the spinners have bowled seven overs and taken two for 26. The four batters not called Duckett have faced 53 balls and hit only three of them to the boundary. Do you get a vague feeling of doom?
17th over: England 104-2 (Root 7, Brook 1) Chakaravarty soon bothers Brook, beating his forward prod and going up for LBW. It’s either brushing leg or going down: a shake of the ump’s head, a big conference, but India have burnt one review already and Rohit doesn’t want to risk another. Brook lives to fight another day and gets off the mark with a measured cut for a single.
16th over: England 102-2 (Root 6, Brook 0) So as soon as they face spin at both ends, England are on the slide. That was Jadeja’s fifth ball, and it was angled across Duckett, forcing him to drag it from outside off. Root hasn’t got going yet (six off 11 balls) and Brook has been in poor form by his high standards.
WICKET!! Duckett c Hardik b Jadeja 65 (England 102-2)
The big one! Duckett finally picks the wrong moment to attack, hitting Jadeja high in the air and giving Hardik at long-on the simplest of catches.
Drinks: England pegged back
15th over: England 98-1 (Duckett 63, Root 5) England’s problem is Chakaravarthy. They take only three singles off this over, so he now has 4-0-16-1. Are they just going to try to see him off? That seems a bit too much respect to pay to a debutant.
I wonder if anyone in the England camp is old enough to know how they dealt with Anil Kumble’s leg-breaks when he first appeared in 1990. Graham Gooch’s team treated him as a medium-pace inswing bowler, and it went quite well: Gooch made 333 and 123 in the first Test. Mind you, that was at Lord’s, not in India, where Gooch duly led England to a resounding defeat two years later.
14th over: England 95-1 (Duckett 62, Root 3) Harshit Rana continues and bowls the best over from a seamer so far, according to one of the commentators – but Duckett is seeing the ball so well that he still manages to shovel a decent ball over midwicket for four.
Here’s Tom van der Gucht, looking further down the scorecard. “‘d hoped Livingstone had finally turned a corner,” he says, “and was going to start delivering on his potential after the WI tour. But I’m worried that was an outlier and he’s now returning to his norm of slightly disappointing cameos that hint at promise before he gives it away.
“I read that McCullum talks a lot about ceilings, but then seems to stick with players who average 30 with the occasional flash of inspiration (Pope, Crawley etc). It’s unfortunate Bethell is injured as I’d hoped he’d had the potential to edge out Livingstone and one of the above mentioned Test players this winter…” Yes, Bethell is a bit special. And his injury is a real shame, though it shouldn’t affect his chances in Tests, as I don’t think England have any until the summer.
13th over: England 89-1 (Duckett 57, Root 2) Another good over from Chakaravarthy, just three from it. This is India’s chance to turn the screw: Root is the last man standing who believes in playing himself in.
12th over: England 86-1 (Duckett 55, Root 1) Rohit brings back Harshit Rana and he almost nabs Duckett with a bouncer that climbs steeply on him. Duckett plays a tennis shot over backward point and is dropped in the deep by Shreyas Iyer – a tough chance, to be fair, as he had to dive forwards and risk a broken nose.
A few minutes ago I got a message from Tanya, who will be with you later. “Just going swimming,” she said. “Hope it isn’t done in an hour!” And the next thing that happened was Salt being out.
Fifty to Duckett
11th over: England 81-1 (Duckett 51, Root 0) Chakaravarthy had just sprung a surprise by bowling a no-ball. That gave Salt a free hit, whcih he couldn’t do anything with – he went for a legside heave, much to the disapproval of Kevin Pietersen, who said the ball was bound to be turning the other way, so “don’t hit against the spin”. Salt’s mis-heave brought a single, which allowed Duckett to take a single and reach a fine fluent fifty from only 36 balls. But maybe the mis-heave also made Salt go for the big shot that brought his downfall.
Joe Root starts by missing a straight-ish one. The Indians go up for LBW, the umpire shakes his head, Rohit reviews … and HawkEye agrees with the ump – going down. That may be a big moment.
WICKET! Salt c Jadeja b Chakaravarty 26 (England 81-1)
Chakaravarty does it again! His first victim in ODIs is Phil Salt, going for a huge slog-sweep and merely sending a top edge into the safe hands of Jadeja at mid-on.
10th over: England 75-0 (Salt 24, Duckett 48) Pandya starts well again – dot, dot, one – but then Salt spots a slower ball, opens his shoulders and hits a six over long-on. That’s the first six of the day and it won’t be the last. Salt follows up with a late cut for two, which would have been four had Ravi Jadeja not produced some nifty footwork on the third-man boundary. Here endeth the Powerplay, with these two still going serenely.
9th over: England 66-0 (Salt 16, Duckett 47) And here it is, spin time. Rohit gives pride of place to the new boy, Varun Chakaravarthy, who is also an old boy. At 33 he is apparently India’s oldest ODI debutant since Farokh Engineer, back in the mists of the 1970s. The batters treat his Kumble-ish leg-breaks with respect, settling for singles and finding only four of them, to make this the best over so far for India.
8th over: England 62-0 (Salt 14, Duckett 45) Hardik starts his over well – dot, one, dot – but then gives Duckett a freebie on the pads, which he clips for four more. It feels as if England have to get 300 here, and that will hinge on how they handle the spinners.
7th over: England 54-0 (Salt 12, Duckett 39) So how does Salt celebrate that reprieve? By driving the next ball for four. It’s still Shami and, great bowler though he is, that’s fine by the batters on this small ground. Duckett cuts for four yet again to bring up the fifty partnership, the third in a row from these two. Getting a start hasn’t been England’s problem: the question is, can they avoid their customary middle-overs collapse?
6th over: England 44-0 (Salt 7, Duckett 34) Rohit makes his first bowling change, replacing Harshit Rana with Hardik Pandya. He bowls a fuller length but gives Duckett some width, allowing him to take two, four and one in the cover-point region. Salt faces the last ball as Graeme Swann, on commentary, makes an astute point, saying that being outscored by your opening partner brings pressure and he may go for a big shot now. Salt duly plays a lavish upper-cut, the ball soars into the air over third man – and Axar Patel drops it!
5th over: England 35-0 (Salt 6, Duckett 27) Shami has an LBW shout against Salt, probably going down, and then bowls a wild delivery to Duckett, a wide way down the leg side. KL Rahul does well to get a hand to it and stop it turning into five wides. As Shami switches back to the off side, Duckett cuts for four.
4th over: England 28-0 (Salt 6, Duckett 22) Rana continues, tall and military, though not medium. Duckett pulls him for four more, hitting it beautifully. Phil Salt is just a passenger in Duckett’s Porsche.
3rd over: England 23-0 (Salt 5, Duckett 18) If you’re going to flash, flash hard. Duckett cuts Shami with venom and collects four more as Chakaravarthy manages a dive but not a clean pick-up. Shami bounces back with three dots in a row as the commentators spot some uneven bounce, which may explain why Jos Buttler opted to bat first. Duckett finishes the over with a clip to long leg for four more. That’s five fours so far, and only three singles.
2nd over: England 15-0 (Salt 5, Duckett 10) Harshit Rana, so impressive the other day, starts with a loosener. It’s short of a length and Duckett finds the middle of the bat with a crunching pull. Then Duckett gets some more luck as he under-edges an attempted cut and picks up a jammy four to long stop.
1st over: England 6-0 (Salt 5, Duckett 1) Shami finds some swing right away. Phil Salt copes with it, tucking the first ball away for a single. Ben Duckett is less assured, edging the second but getting away with it as there’s no second slip. The first big shot comes from Salt, a slash outside off that connects with a whole lot of thin air – but then he tries again and gets it right, lifting the last ball over the ring.
The players are out there in the blazing sunshine and Mohammed Shami has the ball.
An email! “Mo Mentum,” says Andrew Benton. “Indeed, once Brendon McCullum has fired things up, it’s essential that Maureen Mentum pops in periodically to keep things moving in the right direction. Hope she’s now a member of the support staff. “ Ha.
Teams: India
At the toss, there was one moment that was greeted by a huge cheer. That was when Rohit Sharma mentioned that Yashasvi Jaiswal – possibly the best young player in the world – was being left out. The crowd don’t have anything against Jaiswal: it’s just that his replacement is Virat Kohli. Rohit announced one other change, with Kuldeep Yadav giving way to Varun Chakaravarthy, who makes his ODI debut. In the T20 series, he tied England up in knots.
India 1 Rohit (capt), 2 Gill, 3 Kohli, 4 Iyer, 5 Rahul (wkt), 6 Pandya, 7 Axar, 8 Jadeja, 9 Chakaravarthy, 10 Rana, 11 Shami.
Teams: England
Three changes for this struggling England side: Jacob Bethell has a hamstring injury, and Tom Banton (remember him?) is flying out to join the squad. Bethell’s place goes not to Rehan Ahmed, the other slow-bowling all-rounder, but to Jamie Overton. Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson also come in as Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse are rested. So England, whose policy of playing three fast bowlers hasn’t been a great success, now have four. That’s Brendon McCullum for you.
England 1 Salt (wkt), 2 Duckett, 3 Root, 4 Brook, 5 Buttler (capt), 6 Livingstone, 7 Overton, 8 Atkinson, 9 Rashid, 10 Wood, 11 Mahmood.
England win toss and bat
Jos Buttler wins the toss and, unusually, wants to bat first. “It looks,” says Rohit Sharma, “like a typical Indian pitch.”
Preamble
Morning everyone and welcome to the second game in the ODI series. This is it, the crunch. If England lose again, another series will be gone. If they win, it’ll be 1-1 and they may even go into the third and final game with a modicum of momentum.
The good news is that this match is taking place at Cuttack, which is traditionally full of runs. The bad news is that India lose only one game in four here: last time England were in town, eight years ago, they made 366 and still lost. The neither good nor bad news is that Cuttack hasn’t hosted an ODI for five years, so it may have changed its ways.
India, as usual, are hot favourites. They are so good at white-ball cricket that they can even get away with recalling their big names. Today, Virat Kohli is due back after missing the first ODI with a bad knee. It’s the kind of thing that can happen when you’re 36 and you’ve got 550 international games on the clock.
The first ball is due to be bowled at 1.30pm in Cuttack, which is 8am in London. I’ll be back about 25 minutes before that with the toss, the teams and possibly some toast.
