After the heist at Headingley, the evisceration at Edgbaston. England arrived in Birmingham with a spring in their step, but will limp to Lord’s this week after a thumping so heavy it deserves an asterisk.
The series is all square now with three to play, but it is India – disconsolate after blowing the first Test in Leeds – who have the wind in their sails after a stunning 336-run triumph.
Jasprit Bumrah is expected to return for Thursday’s third Test, and they still have the option of Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm wrist-spin. In Shubman Gill, meanwhile, they possess the batsman of the series, his 430 runs at Edgbaston the second-highest individual tally for any Test match. For England, his batting represented death by elegance.
But there were Indian heroes everywhere, cheered to the hilt by a last-day crowd in which home fans were so anonymous as to be invisible.
Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep made superb use of the new ball, each collecting a six-for and skidding it through on a pitch which defeated England’s taller bowlers. And Washington Sundar chipped in with the wicket of Ben Stokes, leg-before on the stroke of lunch as his front pad intercepted the ball a fraction before his bat.
For all England’s behind-the-scenes grumbles about a surface that played into India’s hands, the truth is that they were out-fought and out-thought.
India celebrate taking the wicket of Jamie Smith of England for 88 with the score on 226 for 8
Smith hit a half century on day five of the Second Test but was eventually dismissed for 88, ending any faint hope the hosts had of snatching a draw
Three down overnight, they had to survive 80 overs on the final day after rain delayed the start. Instead, they were dismissed at 5.10pm for 271, with only Jamie Smith’s 88 detaining the tourists. This was their first win at Edgbaston in nine attempts, and one of their most rousing anywhere.
For Stokes and Brendon McCullum, the post-mortem must be honest, and it may even be painful, because they have got themselves into a dreadful mess.
Only when Harry Brook and Smith were adding 303 against the old ball on Friday did they threaten to compete, and even then from a position of hopelessness.
Otherwise, the lone ticks in their box were a probing new-ball spell from Chris Woakes on the first morning and Smith’s second innings, though even that ended with an attempted third successive six off Deep – the kind of stroke that drives Bazball’s critics to distraction.
This defeat, though, was not the fault of a player who scored a majestic 272 runs for once out, but the result of a series of errors and misjudgments, some more endemic than others.
For a start, Stokes pushed his luck when choosing to bowl, as McCullum later admitted, even if the decision wasn’t as grievous as some have made out. The plan worked at Headingley, and they were told to expect pace and carry at Edgbaston. Neither was on offer.
Still, with India 211 for five, and despite umpiring decisions going against them, England were in the game. But they were scuppered by Gill, and by their attack’s failure to replicate India’s fuller lengths, in the case of Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue, or their zip and nip, in the case of Woakes.
As Mail Sport revealed yesterday, England may yet replace all three at Lord’s, with Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Sam Cook and Jamie Overton waiting in the wings.
Akash Deep shook hands with England Head Coach Brendon McCullum after taking the last wicket and his 6th of the innings
Just as problematic is Shoaib Bashir, whose off-breaks offer neither penetration nor economy. His eight wickets in the series, mainly the result of slogging, have cost nearly 60 each, and he has gone at almost four an over.
England’s faith in their 21-year-old off-spinner is not in doubt, but Stokes cannot rely on him for control. And on pitches that don’t turn, control is Bashir’s job. A match analysis of five for 286 from 71 overs was as painful as it sounds.
There is trouble, too, at the other end of the order. Zak Crawley’s dismissal on the fourth evening for England’s seventh duck of the Test was a dereliction of duty.
A target of 608 was out of the question, and survival until stumps was key to England’s chances, yet Crawley flayed Siraj to backward point, kickstarting the demise.
Of his 102 Test innings, 56 have now ended in dismissal below 20, and 42 have not reached double figures. After taking one step forward at Headingley, he regressed by three. England have justified his selection by pointing to his record against India and Australia. So far in this series, he is averaging 22.
Ollie Pope, too, has fallen away after a promising start, as he has before. Faced with the chance to shepherd his side to safety, he couldn’t get beyond the first ball of the fourth over, bowled by Deep via his elbow playing a defensive shot as crooked as it was unconvincing.
It is baffling enough to many England fans that both Crawley (Test average: 31) and Pope (35) have between them been indulged for 114 matches. That they should be doing so to the continued exclusion of Jacob Bethell further scrambles the mind.
For this, England have only themselves to blame, insisting Bethell stay at the IPL rather than play in the Zimbabwe Test at Trent Bridge.
Ben Stokes has just four days to pick up his troops for the third Test at Lords’ after a comprehensive defeat
There, predictably, Crawley and Pope filled their boots, making themselves undroppable and delaying Bethell’s Test education. How costly will it all prove as the Ashes approach?
Bethell also offers left-arm spin, while Hampshire’s slow left-armer Liam Dawson is another option: like Bethell, but unlike Bashir, he offers batting and fielding too.
England may pinpoint specific moments. The wicket of Joe Root on the fourth evening may have been an unnoticed no-ball. And Brook’s dismissal to Deep, soon after the removal of Pope, came after the ball appeared to hit a crack.
But the details cannot mask the bigger picture: England were trounced. It will take all Stokes’s qualities as a leader to repair the damage before Lord’s.
