Ben Duckett on Ollie Pope
He was just so calm coming out. He probably couldn’t come out in tougher conditions, with Jasprit Bumrah running down the hill with the lights on. I don’t know what’s inside his head, but he’s just stayed true to the way he plays, and there’s no better feeling than that, scoring a hundred against that attack, coming out in the first over. You could see it in the way he celebrated, and it didn’t just mean a lot to him, it meant a huge amount in the dressing room as well. I had goosebumps for him.
“I know people don’t like the term ‘Bazball’but it’s much more than just ‘positive cricket’,” says Gary Naylor. “England are reaping the benefit of one of its tenets – that it’s better to risk picking a player for one Test too many rather than one too few – with that superb ton yesterday. The commentators on the highlights could barely conceal their disappointment that Jacob Bethell (professional centuries 0) was not in for Ollie Pope (professional centuries 32) at No3. Bazball also demands wicket-takers and Josh Tongue did his job, as the last four Indian wickets added just 18. Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav looks on as Shadul Thakur bowls his overs.”
I wouldwho the hell do you think you are, Naylorpolitely disagree on Bethell. Everybody I heard though Pope was right to keep his place, and there was so much warmth towards him yesterday. I’m as obsessed with Bethell as anyone – I was there, in New Zealand, when he made that 10 at Christchurch* – but there are very few precedents for 21-year-olds thriving in such a key position so it’s fine to wait. I also think it was and is fair to query Pope’s record against the best teams at No3. But like almost everyone, I was so happy for him yesterday.
Kuldeep, though. I’ve become world-class at sitting on the fence, straining to see both sides of any argument, but that one is beyond me.
*Okay, I was writing the OBO at home in Whitstable. But I saw every ball!
“Big day for Harry Brook, this,”writes Phil Harrison. “If there’s a serious chink in his armour, I suspect it’s against the short stuff. He was incredibly lucky to get to stumps but Bumrah will work him over first thing – and Australia will be watching with great interest. Haven’t looked forward to a day’s Test cricket so much in years!”
One of my biggest concerns about the Ashes is how a number of England’s batters – Duckett, Brook, Smith, potentially Bethell – will deal with the short ball on those huge grounds.
“What awful news to start the day,”writes Linda Gray. “I logged on full of enthusiasm and anticipation for a great day’s cricket and now I feel quite deflated with a tear in my eye. A lot of things about English cricket in the 1990s weren’t the best but Syd was one of them.”
I can’t really add much to that. He’s one of the few cricketers about whom I never heard a bad word. Even the ones we love usually rub some people up the wrong way; not Syd.
Sounds daft now, but England’s 2-2 draw at home to West Indies in 1991was that generation’s equivalent of the 2005 Ashes. In this paper, Selve wrote that it “represents quite possibly the most stirring of post-war deeds and arguably the grandest of them all”.
Syd Lawrence played a key part in that, hustling a second-innings five-for on a flat Oval track. It was his first five-for in Tests – and his last. At Wellington A few months later, in the last session of a nailed-on draw in a series that had already been decided, he steamed in at full pelt, because that was all he knew. He suffered a fractured kneecap, one of the most horrific injuries ever seen (and heard) on a cricket field, and at 28 his career was effectively over.
He was so indomitable that he made a brief comeback for Gloucestershire in 1997. Those four games, in which he took eight wickets at 45, are the greatest testament to his character.
The fielders finally held on to one in his third spell, when he had Joe Root caught at slip. Then in the final over he bounced out Harry Brook with what turned out to be a no ball. By stumps, he had taken three for 48, and it could easily have been double the first number. His teammates had none for 149 between them.
RIP Syd
Some desperately sad news this morning: David ‘Syd’ Lawrence, England fast bowler of the 1990s and one of the finest men ever to play the game, has died aged 61. He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last year and his book,In Syd’s Voice, was launched this week.
We’ll have more shortly but Taha wrote a terrific piece about him for The Spin last week. The headline is especially poignant.
Our thoughts at this time are with those who don’t like Test cricket. What iswrongwith you losers? A pulsating second day at Headingley was the latest reminder that this is the greatest sporting format of all. Always has been (well, since 1877), always will be (well, until, you know).
There’s every chance today will be equally exhilarating, maybe even more so. England will resume on 209 for 3, a deficit of 262, with Ollie Pope on 100 and Harry Brook 0 not out in his second innings. Pope’s century, his finest innings on home soil, was a gem.
Once upon a time, defiant batting meant over-my-dead-body, but Pope – under so much pressure going into this game – breezed to a hundred from only 125 balls. The ovation he received was a lovely moment for one of the good guys.
Oh, just one more thing. Jasprit Bumrah, bloody hell! He was almost a one-man attack yesterday, taking all three wickets and having Brook caught off a no-ball. Bumrah’s overall Test record, 208 wickets at 19.35, is that of an all-time great, but in the last 18 months he has starting putting his tanks of SF Barnes’ lawn.s
For various reasons, Bumrah didn’t play a Test between July 2022 and December 2023. Since his return at Centurion for the Boxing Day Test, he’s taken 80 wickets in 16 Tests at an average of 15.13. It gets better: 14 of those 16 Tests have been against South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and England.
Great bowlers have carried their teams in the past – Ilford 2nds and all that – but it’s hard to remember the last time a team as good as India were so dependent on one bowler. Here’s the breakdown since the start of the Border/Gavaskar Trophy in November.
Bumrah35 wickets at 13.31
The rest48 wickets at 40.91
Bumrah’s spell this morning will set the tone for the rest of the day, the rest of the match, maybe the rest of the series.