The tall innings from the wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow and the all-rounder Chris Woakes have strengthened England’s position in the ongoing second Test against India at Lord’s. At the end of the day, England was batting on 357/6 as they have a huge 250-run lead over India.
After the washout first day and mostly rain-interrupted second day, the third day of the ongoing Lord’s Test finally saw some full-day action. On the third day of the Test match, India had a good first session but Bairstow and Woakes helped England to come out from the stressful situation and take the driving seat of the match.
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After bundling out India for just 107 at last night, England team came out to reply on the third-day sunny morning. All the English top-order batsmen failed to play big innings as all the top four batsmen were dismissed under 30 runs. Openers Alastair Cook (21) and Keaton Jennings (11), skipper Joe Root (19) and debutant Ollie Pope (28) were the top four English batsmen. At the lunch, England was on 89/4.
In the second session, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler started to counter-attack and easily surpassed India’s first innings total. At 131, England lost their fifth wicket as Buttler was dismissed on 24. Then Woakes has joined with Bairstow and produced a remarkable 189-run partnership for the sixth wicket that helped England to get 200+ lead.
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Woakes completed his maiden international hundred off 129 balls and Bairstow was also looking for his deserving hundred but failed to get it as he was caught behind on 93 runs (12 fours). The previous Test hero Sam Curran played a small fast innings at the end of the day as he remained not out on 22 off 24 balls (4 fours) while Woakes has scored 120* off 159 balls (18 fours).
Among the Indian bowlers, Mohammed Shami (3/74) took three wickets while Hardik Pandya (2/66) and Ishant Sharma (1/88) bagged two and one wickets respectively.
Some important stats of day 3 of the Lord’s Test between England and India
- English batsmen Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes put a crucial 189-run partnership for the sixth wicket. It is the highest sixth-wicket Test partnership for England against India. The previous record was 171 between Ian Botham and Bob Taylor at Mumbai in 1980.
- English wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow was caught behind on 93 runs. Sixth wicketkeeper-batsman to be dismissed on nervous nineties in a Test match at Lord’s. The other five wicketkeeper-batsmen were – Jock Cameron (South Africa), Jim Parks (England), Jack Russell (England), Adam Gilchrist (Australia) and Brendon McCullum (New Zealand; twice scored nervous nineties).
- English all-rounder Chris Woakes remained unbeaten on 120 runs. It is his maiden hundred in the international cricket career as his previous best knock was 95* in ODI. However, in his first-class career, it is his 10th century.
