England v India: fifth men’s cricket Test, day two – live | England v India 2025
Key events
Rain stops play
48th over: England 242-8 (Brook 48, Tongue 0) Harry Brook lap-sweeps Siraj for six, a bonkers shot played while falling over towards the off side like Rishabh Pant. That’s left half the ground agape. Not Siraj, who stomps back to his mark with a face like the apocalypse.
Brook gives Tongue one delivery to survive at the end of the over, which he does. But the skies are closing in at The Oval and the umpires have called for the covers. Hopefully it’ll only be a short break.
47th over: England 235-8 (Brook 41, Tongue 0) These are the best figures of Krishna’s fledging Test career: 4 for 60 from 14 overs.
WICKET! England 235-8 (Atkinson c Deep b Krishna 11)
Atkinson drives Krishna handsomely for four – but then he cloths a pull to mid-on, where Deep takes a comfortable catch. England have a slender lead of 11.
46th over: England 231-7 (Brook 40, Atkinson 7) Siraj beats Atkinson on the inside with a snorter that bounces over the stumps. Atkinson puts England into the lead and then extends it with a cleverly placed steer to the right of backward point.
England are in a hurry. Runs are the primary consideration – next stop, rocket science – but time is also a factor for England and their three-man attack. If these two bat for an hour and score at five an over, tremendous; if they’re dismissed soon, England’s seamers can bowl around 30 overs tonight and then get some rest.
45th over: England 224-7 (Brook 39, Atkinson 2) The injury to Woakes means England are effectively eight down, with only Josh Tongue to come. Atkinson gives himself room and smashed Krishna through point for … a single, as there’s a fielder out. But he timed the silken undercrackers off that one.
The scores are level,
44th over: England 220-7 (Brook 36, Atkinson 1) Siraj drops Atkinson, a stinging return catch, and then almost bowls Brook round his legs.
43rd over: England 216-7 (Brook 33, Atkinson 0) Krishna completes a double-wicket maiden with a dot ball to Gus Atkinson. With Harry Brook still at the crease, the next half hour could be a lot of fun.
An extended evening session – play can continue until 7pm – begins with the entire ground standing for a minute’s applause in memory of Graham Thorpe. So far £108,000 has been raised in support of the mental health charity Mind. Buy a headband, it’s the least any of us can do.
Have you bought your Graham Thorpe headband? If not, you know what to do. Mine will be stretched around my big, bald, empty head every time I go to the gym, and I don’t care how many quizzical looks I get from the beefcake brethren.
Teatime reading
Tea: England trail by 9 runs
The wicket means the players will take tea even though there’s one ball of the over remaining. It’s been a marvellous session for India: inspired by the unbreakable Mohammed Siraj, they took six wickets for 106 runs and might now be favourites to win this game.
For England, the one upside of this clatter of wickets is that their three-man attack will be able to bowl maybe 10 overs apiece in helpful conditions tonight, sleep and go again in the morning. But if the pitch settles down and/or India’s top order are still batting at lunch tomorrow, England will be in all sorts.
WICKET! England 215-7 (Overton LBW b Krishna 0)
This one’s plumb! Overton whips across a fuller delivery that snakes back to hit him on the knee roll n front of middle stump. He reviewed, just because he could, but that was palpably out.
Overton is not out Yep, it was missing off stump so India lose another review. They have one left.
India review for LBW against Overton He padded up to his first ball from Krishna. My hunch is it didn’t come back enough but it’s close.
WICKET! England 215-6 (Smith c Rahul b Krishna 8)
This is a big wicket just before tea. Jamie Smith chases a very wide delivery from Krishna and snicks it towards second slip, where KL Rahul reaches to clasp a terrific two-handed catch. England are lurching into dangerous territory.
42nd over: England 215-5 (Brook 33, Smith 8) Brook takes a couple of steps down to ping Jadeja through extra cover for four. What a brilliant shot. Brook started friskily but has settled down and is playing beautifully.
41st over: England 211-5 (Brook 29, Smith 7) Krishna, the work-shy freeloader of the Indian seam attack, replaces Siraj and will bowl only his 11th over of the day. Smith wallops a drive without beating the man at cover; later in the over Brook steers two down to third. England trail by 14.
“I made my cricket chops in the South Notts 18-over midweek league,” writes Chris. “Our pitch was a lovely, flat square in the middle of old Mr White’s cow meadow, usually protected by an electric fence, As the youngest on the team, aged 13, I was made to field in the covers. One evening, the opposing team’s less-than-popular skipper flayed one in my direction. The ball came to a sudden halt in a large, wet cowpat. He thought I’d been beaten and set off for a run. I retrieved the heavily coated ball and threw down the stumps in a greenish-brown mist, with the captain well out of his ground. I received slaps on the back from my teammates and learned new vocabulary from the receding batsman. I had to wash my own ‘whites’ when I got home, mind you. Happy days!”
40th over: England 207-5 (Brook 27, Smith 6) Time for some spin. Ravindra Jadeja replaces Akash Deep, who has already bowled 17 overs today. Brook laps his second ball easily for four, almost on autopilot. Like the commentators, I’m surprised India didn’t turn to Washington Sundar first; he has arguably been India’s best bowler in the last two Tests, certainly their best spinner.
39th over: England 201-5 (Brook 22, Smith 5) Siraj, the only fast bowler to survive this bruising series, is still charging in as it if was the first morning of the series. He bowls the first over of the innings – the only run was a leg-bye – to add a bit more pressure on England. When the dust settles on this game, Siraj’s post-lunch effort of 8-1-35-3 might be credited as the spell that saved the series for India.
38th over: England 200-5 (Brook 22, Smith 5) India’s three seamers can’t bowl forever, so there’s an incentive for Brook and Smith to bat time either side of tea. On the other hand, they are Harry Brook and Jamie Smith. The latter gets off the mark by clattering a very wide delivery to the point boundary.
In other news, this email from Phil Harrison had me nodding my big, bald, empty head.
“Everything that has happened since Duckett got out has emphasised how well-conceived and brilliantly enacted that Duckett/Crawley partnership was,” writes Phil. “England are losing wickets now but they’re losing them from a position of close proximity to India’s score. I suspect most England teams would still be 70-80 behind at this point.”
37th over: England 196-5 (Brook 22, Smith 1) “Others have made the point, but I wanted to add my two cents,” begins Matt Dony. “ The OBO and MBM communities are, by and large, entertaining and supportive and collaborative. When covid put paid to live sport, I found that I really missed following games on here. At its best, it’s like being in a big ol’ pub, watching the match, but also making stupid jokes about 90s music or prestige TV or whatever the thread happens to be that day. I like to think we can make certain assumptions about most of the people who read and contribute, but even so, a lot of us can probably tend towards the (ugh) ‘blokey’ and stoic.
“I went through some ‘stuff’ a few years ago, and a huge part of the reason I’m here now with mental health relatively intact is that I have good friends who checked in on me. Sometimes simply asking if I was ok. I often wasn’t.
“And, equally, it’s important for us to be there for them. Put ourselves out there. There’s always someone going through something. And I doubt any of us of certain generations will ever truly get comfortable with, say, sending a text that just says ‘How are you feeling? I’m thinking about you.’ But it’s our responsibility to do it. To each other, and to the generations following. Show them the importance of empathy and compassion. Make sure that they’re better equipped than we might have been at their age.”
India have roared back into this game. Bethell larruped the previous ball for four after charging down the track. Siraj responded with an inswinging yorker that hit Bethell plumb in front with his bat stuck behind the pad. Bethell didn’t even talk to Brook about a review, just smiled wryly as he walked past him.
The resilience shown by India, and especially Siraj, is beyond admirable. For the second Test in a row, I thought a rampant opening partnership from Crawley and Duckett had flattened them.
WICKET! England 194-5 (Bethell LBW b Siraj 6)
Fantastic bowling from Mohammed Siraj!
36th over: England 190-4 (Brook 21, Bethell 2) Lovely bowling from Deep, who sets Bethell up with some wider deliveries and then bowls a big inswinger. Bethell, head falling over, clips it in the air and not far short of Jaiswal at midwicket. Bethell has hardly batted all summer so you’d imagine it’ll take him 20 or 30 balls to get up to speed, if he lasts that long.
“One reason fielders didn’t dive in the past was the cost of cleaning their flannels,” writes Ian Dawson. “I remember reading an inter-war professional saying that they had to pay their own cleaning costs and so keeping their whites clean was a priority. This was still the dolly tub and mangle era too so no quick washing cycle. This may well have still been the case post-war too.
“I took two catches diving forward in my first under-15 school game in 1966 which led to grass stains on my flannels and was roundly told off by my mother for getting my kit dirty. My father had apparently never done so – never mind the score, think about the washing!”
35th over: England 186-4 (Brook 18, Bethell 1) Brook edges Siraj between second slip and gully for four. I’m surprised India don’t have a third slip to save runs, never mind take catches.
Brook clonks a pull to the midwicket boundary later in the over. He’s always positive but right now Brook seems to be in his eff around and find out era.
“More pedantry,” says Geoff Wignall. “I’m afraid that in the Smyth context, Y is most certainly a vowel.”
Look, I watched a lot of Countdown when I was younger. It changes you.
34th over: England 176-4 (Brook 9, Bethell 0) India’s last visit to The Oval, in 2021, is a template for how they can win this game. They trailed by 99 on the first innings and triumphed by 157 runs.
Bethell is beaten by his first ball, a gorgeous outswinger from Deep. He plays for his off stump for the remainder of the over, as he did when he made that mythical 10 on debut in similar conditions in Christchurch.
33rd over: England 175-4 (Brook 8, Bethell 0) Jacob Bethell (remember him?) is the new batter. One more wicket and India will be right back in this game.
WICKET! England 175-4 (Root LBW b Siraj 29)
India’s fightback continues with the key wicket of Joe Root! Siran picked up him with a superb nipbacker that beat the bat by a distance and hit Root on the kneeroll. He reviewed, probably in the hope it did too much. It did just enough and would hit the top of leg stump.
Root hit two fours earlier in the over, both glided through the cordon, but the irrepressible Siraj had the final word.
32nd over: England 167-3 (Root 21, Brook 8) Jurel decides to move back for Deep, so Brook stands out of his crease and drops a single on the off side.
“Hi Smythe,” writes Phil Keegan. “May I be the first of 1,057 pedants to point out that actually we are in August already?”
Only if I may be the first of one pedants to point out my surname is a vowelless affair. (And yes, I don’t know why I thought we were still in July. It’s been a long summer.)
31st over: England 165-3 (Root 20, Brook 7) Rook waves Siraj majestically to the cover boundary. Siraj responds with a heartfelt nipbacker and an even more heartfelt LBW appeal; alas, this time, there was a big inside-edge. Probably too high as well.
Thanks Daniel, afternoon all. There are times when the Oval Test has been the wayzgoose of the English summer; not this year. We’re not even barely in August, for one thing, and there’s nothing convivial about the contest between England and India. It’s compelling stuff, though, and Thorpey would have loved to be front and centre alongside Joe Root.
30th over: England 161-3 (Root 16, Brook 7) Deep fires one towards the pads and the ball scampers past Jurel, still stood up, for four. India will be seriously displeased with their lack of intensity this morning – it might just decide the series – and, though we’re only a ball away from what I’m about to say being rendered shtuss, these two might just be settling, three singles completing the over. That is drinks, which means that’s also the end of me: here’s the great Rob Smyth to chill with you through what promises to be a jazzer of half-day. This s also the end of my series, so thanks all for your company and comments throughout the summer – it and you have been a joy and a privilege.
“Call me old school,” writes Krishnamoorthy V, “but can’t the players see the difference between aggression and arrogance? There is a purpose behind calling this a gentleman’s game. The most aggressive team I recall was that under Clive Llod and could one ever say that they were arrogant?”
Imagine Akash Deep trying with him what he did to Duckett.
29th over: England 154-3 (Root 14, Brook 6) Two dots from Siraj then Jurel again opts to stand up, this time with Brook on strike, and given the heat the bowler’s sending down, that’s a seriously ballsy, but also totally understandable move. And so, I guess, is Brook’s decision to skip down and thrash, though it’s also exactly what his team don’t need, and when he doesn’t get the contact for which he’s hoping, he’ll be relieved to see the ball drop over the infield buy shy of fielders; they run two.
28th over: England 152-3 (Root 14, Brook 4) Krishna whose ruckus with Root was so absorbing, is replaced by Deep, who directs his loosener into the same batter’s pad. There’s an appeal, but impact looked outside the line and we move on, Jurel opting to stand up to keep Root from standing outside his crease to smother any swing or seam. Not for the first time, an over delivers five dots, then runs of its final delivery – in this case, four of them, Deep swinging one on to the pads which Root is never missing out on out on which Root is never missing, flicking to the fence at deep square for four.
27th over: England 148-3 (Root 10, Brook 4) India’s bowlers have found a much better length this afternoon – fuller and straighter, but not too full or too straight. Root, though, is batting well outside his crease and was created for situations such as this: a stern examination of skill under pressure. He sees away four dots, then forces one off his junk and takesa single to leg.
26th over: England 147-3 (Root 9, Brook 4) This is a colossal partnership in terms of the series. If these two make runs, England will be close to impregnable, but if they don’t, it’s Bethell in next and though they bat deep, they’re a man down. We’re at that stage where every ball is an occasion, the antipathy palpable, and the over yields just one via Root-cut. He’ll know how much rests on him, and so will India.
“About six years ago, i found myself sitting on the platform of my local train station, unable to get rid of the idea that when the next train arrived, I was going to walk forwards and step under it, writes James Brough.
“I was freshly out of a si-year relationship, ended with a text message from my partner. I’d lost my job because depression meant I was incapable of working. All my belongings were in storage because I’d been supposed to move house in April. Problems had arisen which meant I wouldn’t be able to move until November. So my house was furnished with a tv and a garden bench in the living room and an inflatable mattress with a slow puncture in the bedroom.
It wasn’t that I wanted to kill myself. I just couldn’t think of a single reason not to.
As luck would have it, a few minutes before the train was due, my phone rang. I forget who it was, but the conversation distracted me for long enough that the train arrived and left, with me still on the platform and still in one piece.
When I heard the news about Graham, that evening on the platform was the first thing I thought of and it’s what I keep thinking of now.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, there’s a spot where it’s forever the mid-90s and England are 50/2. Atherton’s 9 not out from a few singles on the offside and one of his off-balance hook shots. Meanwhile Thorpe’s 35 not out, alternating one-legged pull shots through midwicket and thumps through the covers. He looks like he could take on the world. He achieved so much through his career and at the end, it must have felt to him like none of it mattered any more. Poor bloody Graham.”
Well done on sticking with it. Things always get better.
25th over: England 146-3 (Root 8, Brook 4) This is a dangerous time for England who, not long ago looked set for a big first-innings lead. They might still build one, of course, but in the meantime, India have got themselves going, making the contest personal, and they won’t mind at all when Brook swings the final ball of the over, edging four just past his wickets.
WICKET! Pope lbw b Siraj 22 (England 142-3)
We’re rocking and rolling now! The ball jags back, almost seems to gather pace, and that’s clobbering the top of leg-peg. Two new batters in, and this match is sprinting to a series-deciding result.
25th over: England 142-2 (Pope 22, Root 8) Looking to calm things down, Gill introduces Siraj to the attack, while the ball is passed through the ring; there’s no changing it. Three dots open the over, then Siraj unleashes a brute, full, finding Pope like a heat-seeking missile and slamming his back pad; the bowler is sure it’s dead, so am I, and when the umpire says not out, he convinces his captain to review.
24th over: England 142-2 (Pope 22, Root 8) I don’t now what Root said to Krishna, but it must’ve ingratiated him, because he’s offered a wide, overpitched piece of nonsense that he drives to deep backward point for four. Krishna, though, responds really well, beating the bat with one that moves away off the seam. Next ball, Root follows one down leg-side and the bowler thinks there’s a catch behind, but Jadeja, at square leg, counsels to the contrary. This is really intense stuff now, extra bounce surprising Root, who quickly adjusts to play into the ground, so Krishna well and truly looks at him. It’s well scary.
