Harry Brook scored his ninth century in 27 Tests and Jamie Smith hit a blistering century to take England to 355 for 5 at tea on the third day of the second Test against India at Edgbaston on Friday.
After giving away 172 runs in the morning session, the Indian bowlers did manage to bring down the run rate, but did not bowl a consistently attacking line to break the partnership between Brook and Smith. The unbroken sixth wicket partnership stood at 271 off 323 balls as England made 106 runs in 28 overs in the afternoon session.
After the strategy to bowl short deliveries failed in the morning, the Indian pacers started bowling a wide line, especially to Brook. But even this did not work. The only chance that India had in the post-lunch session was when Rishabh Pant dropped a tough catch off Smith while diving to his right. In the morning session, too, India skipper Shubman Gill had dropped Brook, but this was again a tough chance. Brook had slashed hard at Ravindra Jadeja and the edge carried to the first slip, where Gill took the blow on his head after he could not react in time.
Though India are playing two spinners to control the flow of runs, both Jadeja and Washington Sundar did not prove economical. Brook reached his hundred shortly after lunch as he guided Krishna’s delivery towards third man. In the penultimate over before tea, Brook hit a couple of fours using reverse sweep and an attempted pull that connected with the back of the bat, sending the ball racing to the boundary.
In the morning session, Mohammed Siraj struck twice in successive balls, but Smith brought the momentum back in England’s favour with an attacking hundred as the hosts raced to 249 for 5 at lunch. Smith hit a memorable hundred in less than a session as England strikingly scored 172 runs in 27 overs in the first two hours of play.
Resuming the day at 77 for three, England lost half their side in the second over of the morning session when Siraj had Joe Root (22) and Ben Stokes (0) caught behind. Root’s dismissal was a soft one as he got a faint tickle down the leg side, while Stokes was done in by a sharply rising ball. England were reduced to 84 for 5, but Smith and Brook continued to attack and put pressure back on the opposition.
Prasidh Krishna was brought in to execute the short ball plan with six fielders on the leg side, but it failed as Smith hit him for 23 runs in one over, which included four boundaries and a six over deep square leg. His next over went for 11 runs and his bowling figures after the session were 8-0-61-0.
Scoreboard: India 1st Innings: 587 all out in 151 overs. England 1st Innings: Zak Crawley c Nair b Mohammed Siraj 19 Ben Duckett c Shubman Gill b Akash Deep 0 Ollie Pope c Rahul b Akash Deep 0 Joe Root c Pant b Mohammed Siraj 22 Harry Brook batting 140 Ben Stokes c Pant b Mohammed Siraj 0 Jamie Smith batting 157 Extras: (LB-5, NB-11, W-1) 17 Total: (For 5 wkts, 75 overs) 355 Fall of wkts: 1-13, 2-13, 3-25, 4-84, 5-84.
Bowling: Akash Deep 15-1-70-2, Mohammed Siraj 15-2-57-3, Prasidh Krishna 13-1-72-0, Nitish Kumar Reddy 6-0-29-0, Ravindra Jadeja 15-2-57-0, Washington Sundar 11-0-65-0.
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