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England v India: fifth men's cricket Test, day three

England v India: fifth men's cricket Test, day three

The Guardiana day ago
Update:
Date: 2025-08-02T09:07:54.000Z
Title: This was Ali's take on a memorable
Content: day two:
Update:
Date: 2025-08-02T09:06:41.000Z
Title: Preamble
Content: Good morning! After the fiery furnace of day two, we roll into day three - which could be the crucial one in the series. And yes, we have been here before. The pitch is spicy, the players tetchy, the house full – and the weather promises to behave – barring the odd light shower.
India have a 52 run lead, eight wickets left, and Jaiswal, whose series has drifted, will have his eyes on three figures and beyond. England's stand-in fast bowers, Atkinson excepted, will want to perform with more bells and fewer whistles second time around. Play starts at 11am, don't miss a ball of the last Test Saturday of the summer.
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Miyu Yamashita seals Women's Open title as Lottie Woad continues meteoric rise
Miyu Yamashita seals Women's Open title as Lottie Woad continues meteoric rise

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Miyu Yamashita seals Women's Open title as Lottie Woad continues meteoric rise

Japan's Miyu Yamashita secured victory in the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl with an assured performance that mocked the golf's world scant knowledge of her previous achievements and abundant potential. Her triumph was built around a second round of 7-under-par 65 played in the calmest conditions of the week. Half the field had the opportunity to make such a decisive move yet only Yamashita did so. Heading into the weekend with a three-shot advantage over her compatriot Rio Takeda, she was seven strokes clear of everyone else in the field and the buffer proved vital. Only England's Charley Hull, who was a distant 11 shots back at halfway, mounted a concerted bid for the title, twice getting with a shot of the champion. Ultimately, however, she recorded a fourth second place finish in the major championships – her first victory remains elusive. Yamashita completed an 11-under par total of 277 to land her first win on the LPGA and while some viewed the result as a shock she was ranked 15th in the world at the start of the week off the back of 13 wins in her homeland since turning professional in 2020. It would be no surprise if this major win was the first of many. Early in Sunday's final round, England's Mimi Rhodes, who finished T19th, completed a remarkable hole-in-one at the 184-yard par-3 fifth. Her partner, Australia's Stephanie Kyriacou, had made an ace of her own at the eighth hole in the second round and on this occasion knocked her tee shot to within inches of the hole. Rhodes's effort then went in-off Kyriacou's ball. If Yamashita was the champion, England's Lottie Woad was the golfer who drove most conversations through the week. The 21-year-old can't remember what she was doing on the first day of July, but essentially she was a student on her summer break. 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Joe Root dedicates century to mentor Graham Thorpe in emotional tribute
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Joe Root dedicates century to mentor Graham Thorpe in emotional tribute

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When England came to the climax of an equally tight Test, back at Lord's in 1963, England's last man was Colin, later Lord, Cowdrey. He had broken his left arm in the first innings against West Indies. Bandaged up, he returned with all four results possible – and saw England through to a draw, even though he did not have to face a ball. If Chris Woakes has to bat on Monday, he might bat right-handed as normal – but then his left shoulder and arm would be defenceless against a short ball. Cowdrey later revealed he was going to bat left-handed in order to protect his broken left arm. His right arm, which was working, would have to do all the work. With England needing 35 to win, the marginally greater likelihood is that they will win. Three local lads, or Surrey men, have to bat before Woakes is required. In the tensest circumstances outside an Ashes series, surely some comfort from local knowledge is valuable. A big decision has to be taken by India's captain Shubman Gill after 3.4 more overs have been bowled: to take the new ball or not. This pitch has been irrational in that the ball 70 overs old has done more – has moved laterally more – than the new ball. So it might pay for Gill to keep his three seamers going with the old, initially at any rate. A second reason not to take the second new ball of course is that it will go to the boundary more quickly. This is what often happens when a second ball is taken: the scoring rate shoots up even if wickets fall, and in the age of Bazball the scoring rate could shoot up even further. Jamie Smith has run out of batting gas since the third Test but the adrenalin could make him fire again, on his home ground. Jamie Overton is a violent T20 hitter so any edged shot he plays against a new ball is capable of flying over the slips. Gus Atkinson has not batted in a competitive game since the Zimbabwe Test but he played an immaculate straight-drive in his first innings comeback. Above all, his temperament is solid. It was he and Smith who batted England up to a working total at Rawalpindi last October after their team-mates had collapsed against Pakistan's spinners. England to edge it England to edge over the line without Woakes having to bat. But, happy truth, nobody has a real clue. The break was a god send for them. Had they stayed out, India would have finished them off in that light and the pressure on. Now they can refresh, and the coach and captain (Ben Stokes) can steel them for one last push in the morning. One more heavy roller will help and Jamie Smith may well be more comfortable facing the new ball if they take it. Break helps England more For all that India's knackered bowlers get a night's sleep, I think this break helps England more. Their batsmen also get a rest – Smith especially looks tired – and the heavy roller can run up and down the pitch for seven minutes more, squashing the live grass back down and calming conditions. They have plenty of big-hitting batting left, and to pick up four wickets so quickly, India's bowlers will have to instantly be right on the money. England by two wickets The sense is that India believe that they could have won on the fourth evening, and with good reason: the ball was jagging both ways under gloomy skies and both Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton were continually threatened. But better batting conditions on the final morning should help England – as will further use of the roller to flatten out uneven bounce.

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