Tensions, Stokes' fitness, Bumrah dilemma – talking points ahead of fifth Test
Harry Brook says England must ditch their "nice guy" persona 🏴#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/2tHqeTjrfq
— England's Barmy Army 🏴🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy) July 22, 2025
Relations between the sides have become increasingly strained, with a time-wasting spat at Lord's, some overly aggressive send-offs, plenty of sledging and the handshake row at Old Trafford. With just three days between games there has barely been a chance for cooler heads to prevail, and another highly charged contest must be expected. The team that channels their emotions best in the finale could claim an important edge.
England skipper Ben Stokes has had a wonderful series, including player-of-the-match performances in each of the last two games. But it is no secret that his body is creaking under the weight of his workload. He has already sent down 140 overs and faced almost 600 balls, with bouts of cramp and concerns over his knee, calf and bicep. It is almost four months until the start of the Ashes but the one thing England cannot countenance is their captain breaking down. Will anyone be able to stop him pushing himself too far?
India tied their hands unnecessarily at the start of the tour by repeatedly committing to the idea that the world's number one bowler Jasprit Bumrah would only play three Tests. The rationale, to prevent exaggerating existing back issues, was sound but the policy was always too rigid. Now they find themselves in a must-win situation with Bumrah's allocation already used. The temptation to bust their own guidelines will surely win out. If it does not, England's batters will be the ones breathing a sigh of relief.
Well worth the wait, Daws! 🙌
Jaiswal caught by Brook off Dawson 🤲
🇮🇳 1⃣2⃣0⃣-2⃣ pic.twitter.com/b7H3zXAcXy
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 23, 2025
Shoaib Bashir's broken finger led to a recall for Liam Dawson, eight years after his previous Test outing. The Hampshire stalwart struck early in the first innings but did not bag another wicket, leaving him with just one success in 62 overs. He was tidy but toothless for long spells and England may conclude that they are better loading the attack with pace and relying on Joe Root for occasional bouts of spin. It is a combination that some favour for Australia and now could be the chance to take a look.
The combination of unresponsive balls and flat pitches has made for a run-fest this summer, with all four matches going the distance as bowlers toiled away for long, taxing spells. In all there have been 18 centuries and a further 22 fifties. Might the Kia Oval finally offer a plot twist, with ball getting the better of bat? Surrey have been known to prepare greener surfaces and there is a steady pattern of teams bowling first to exploit early movement. Neither side have suffered a batting meltdown yet but the conditions for a collapse could come together in south London.
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Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
England might be favourites had they taken their chances on a chaotic day of 15 wickets but India remain pumped-up and desperate to salvage a series draw, writes LAWRENCE BOOTH
Only two days into this fifth and final Test, England are facing a gloves-off battle against a pumped-up Indian team desperate for what they regard as the just deserts of a series draw. At lunch on the fourth day in Manchester, England had seemed poised for a 3–1 lead and their best triumph since the arrival of Brendon McCullum. By Friday-night stumps at The Oval, following another day of fast cricket and flaring tempers, the possibility was growing of 2–2, after Yashasvi Jaiswal – dropped on 20 and 40 – gave India 's second innings a turbocharged start. The tourists will resume on Saturday morning on 75 for two, of which Jaiswal has 51 from just 49 balls. They lead by a slender 52, but know that their opponents are a man down because of Chris Woakes's shoulder injury, and that the weather is set fair for what should be the best batting conditions of the match. Had England taken their opportunities on a chaotic day of 15 wickets, they might now be favourites. But Harry Brook couldn't cling on to a tough chance at second slip as Jaiswal flashed at Gus Atkinson, before the substitute fielder Liam Dawson contrived to drop him at long leg after miscuing a pull. Sai Sudharsan was put down too, by Zak Crawley at third slip off Jamie Overton, though that proved less costly. With the light fading, Atkinson – comfortably England's best bowler in this match, and a shoo-in for Australia – pinned Sudharsan leg-before for 11, another late twist on a day full of them. As Sudharsan walked off, he paused to speak to the England huddle, apparently unhappy at something he had heard. Ben Duckett was front and centre, while Brook – improbably – played peacemaker. These sides had been at each other for three sessions, and there is unlikely to be a backward step before the series is done. Earlier, with the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy on the line, India had no compunction crossing it as they set about defending a modest first-innings total of 224 in which Atkinson had produced the superb figures of 21.4–8–33–5. At Lord's, it had been England who promised to stop being Mr Nice Guys. Now it was the tourists' turn to ditch any pretence at diplomacy. The aggro began when Duckett, after counter-attacking superbly for 43 in conditions still helpful to swing and seam, reverse-scooped Akash Deep into the gloves of Dhruv Jurel and immediately found Deep's arm round his shoulder and some words in his ear. Those who argued Deep's intentions were friendly both misread the situation and missed the point. A batsman deserves privacy in the moments after his dismissal. A verbal send-off is bad enough. To instigate physical contact with your victim breaks an unwritten code: Shubman Gill might call it the spirit of the game. Duckett did well to keep his cool. At lunch, with England 109 for one, having knocked off almost half India's total in just 16 overs, the former Australian captain Ricky Ponting spoke for many. 'I like the way Ben Duckett plays his cricket,' he told Sky Sports. 'I like him even more now. To not react to that, hats off.' Things got tastier. Prasidh Krishna removed Zak Crawley, pulling to midwicket for a hard-hit 64, then became involved in a slanging match with Joe Root, of all people. The umpires stepped in, but to no avail, with even the level-headed KL Rahul telling Kumar Dharmasena: 'What do you want us to do, keep quiet? Bat, bowl and go home?' Siraj, revelling in the niggle, pinned Ollie Pope lbw for 22 after successfully overturning Ahsan Raza's decision, and Brook walked out to a mouthful from Ravindra Jadeja, who hadn't forgotten the mouthful Brook gave him on the fractious final evening in Manchester. India fed off the energy. Siraj trapped Root for 29 and Jacob Bethell, finally playing his first Test innings in England, for six. And in the last over before tea, Krishna had Jamie Smith caught in the slips, then trapped Jamie Overton, who has struggled on his comeback, plumb in front. Brook's half-century gave England a lead of 23. Not for the first time in this series, though, India had made light of the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, the world's top-ranked bowler, who missed the game they won at Edgbaston, and finished on the winning side in none of the three he played, at Headingley, Lord's and Old Trafford. Siraj averages 10 fewer when Bumrah doesn't play, a backs-to-the-wall cricketer who flourishes when his team needs him most. So it felt appropriate that he emerged after tea wearing the headband that sold in its thousands on Surrey's 'A Day for Thorpey', in memory of Graham Thorpe, who died last year. This was the kind of battle he would have loved: a game, and a series, in the balance, and each run chiselled from adversity. Siraj's high-class four-for took his haul for the series to 18, one more than Ben Stokes. And with Woakes now out of action, and in all likelihood the winter's Ashes, Siraj may shortly be able to claim to be the only seamer on either side to have got through all five Tests. First, though, there is a game to be won. Increasingly, too, there are scores to be settled. Despite the rancour of the past few weeks, there are some who insist these teams actually get on. A combustible summer could yet explode its way to a conclusion.
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Gus Atkinson punches ticket to Ashes as obvious key peg in England's attack
Don't talk about the Ashes. Don't talk about the Ashes. Don't. Talk. About the Ashes. OK. We can talk about the Ashes. But just for a bit, and only in the context of some quietly vital events in the opening session at a green and swampy Oval on the second day of this fifth Test. Two things happened here that will have nudged the dial, not just in this match, but before Perth in November and England's next one. The second of these was an hour of revivalist Bazball as Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley produced a wonderfully breezy 92-run opening stand in reply to India's 224. This was back to the source. It was Ur-Bazball, Bazball Classic, Mexican Bazball with genuine cane sugar – really the best Bazball, from some very handsome Bazball guys. The fifty opening stand from seven overs was the fastest for England in the first innings of a Test. Early on Duckett took 24 off nine balls, including an outstanding example of the Hedgehog Sweep, bunching his quills into a ball, rolling over, whirling his bat past his left shoulder. Crawley kept battering the ball through the offside with such noble and soldierly command you half expected to look down and notice he was batting in epaulettes and a plumed hat. It felt like a Baz-manifesto statement at exactly the right moment, timed to disrupt lengths on a line and length pitch. And for a Stokes-free England a sense, as the ball fizzed to all corners, of Stokes being utterly present, a giant head in the sky above the red brick pavilion, beard massive, eyes blazing. The second and more vital of the two vital things came immediately before this, as Gus Atkinson did an important thing without really seeming to do an important thing. He did so brusquely and methodically as ever, marking a pencil point, inserting a rawlplug of appropriate gauge and putting a first firm screw in the wall, the obvious key peg in England's attack come November in Perth. Atkinson was his usual bashful self as he raised the ball to the stands on his home ground after completing five for 33 to close India's innings. He has that studied anonymity, the look of the forgotten sixth member of a boyband, now grudgingly back for the reunion tour. But he made a decisive statement here, and at a key moment. It is easy to lose sight of the fact England don't really have a hypothetical first choice bowling attack right now. Who have we got then? What's the check-board? Archer: yes, hopefully fit. Wood: yes, who knows. Woakes: crocked. Tongue: fit, raw. Carse: fit, decent. Cook: don't think so. Potts: hmm. Overton: no. And outside of this, who knows? Another Overton? Sonny Baker? Eddie Jack? Jack Eddie? Promising Yorkshire quick Dougal Cakebread? At the end of day two at the Oval England do now have the only actual double tick. Atkinson: yes, fit and ready. And to be fair it probably was always Atkinson and four others. But was it really? Why was he playing club cricket? Why is he suddenly in Surrey Twos? What are the whispers about endurance, fatigue, dipping pace? Is Atkinson actually good? Is this thing for real? The five-for here was confirmation, first of that stellar early record, and second, just in the eye test. Atkinson looked so much better than everyone else here, all clean lines, simple, easy action, the whip in his delivery, the flick of the wrist. His pace was up at 88mph at times. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion Of his wickets Dhruv Jurel was a good, Aussie-facing one, a hard edge from bounce not lateral movement that flew thrillingly high to Harry Brook. And yes, Australia isn't really a thing you can masterplan, despite the fact England always try. Well, we need tall, very quick, hit-the-deck bowlers who can go all day. Good luck with that. We remember Boyd Rankin flailing about like a wounded wampa in Sydney in 2010. He was tall. Atkinson is more from the 2010 metronomic plus decent pace template. Although the real key to that series was that Australia weren't very good. For the second day in a row Atkinson found a lovely rhythm early on. He had Washington Sundar caught hooking at an 87mph bouncer. He padded the numbers with two in an over at the end, bowled and nicked off, having promised to go straighter. But it was well deserved having provided the only element of control on day one. He looked like a leader too. It is easy to forget how good his start has been, and how hard this is to do after just 21 non-Test first class games to date. His method looks transferable. He has skills, can bowl a yorker, can, crucially, seam the ball away from the right hander, a function perhaps of how high his arm is at point of delivery. Atkinson may lack the star power and extreme early-spell speed of Jofra Archer. But he also has the Test record Archer was meant to have by now. Late in the day India kicked off their second innings 23 runs in arrears. It was Josh Tongue who made the breakthrough from the Vauxhall End. By then Atkinson had already laid down his own marker.
Telegraph
29 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Brittle England batsmen fail to grind out ugly runs
Already, ahead of this winter's Ashes, this England team had been hailed as 'the most imposing' batting line-up they have sent to tour Australia. Not any more they won't, not after they lost seven wickets in an afternoon session that was only slightly extended. India's seamers reacted well after they had been thoroughly trashed before lunch by Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett: they pitched the ball fuller and got more out of the pitch than England, as they have done for much of the summer except when Ben Stokes has been bowling. Nevertheless, the image that England wanted to take to Australia, of being a 'most imposing' batting line-up, evaporated in the time it took for them to descend from 129 for one to 247 all out with the series on the line. The opening partnership by Crawley and Duckett was dazzling, even by their audacious standards, and threw India completely off their lengths. All that the rest of England's batsmen had to do was to keep out India's seamers – only three of them – until they had tired, and the tourists had to bring on their spinners. An Indian spinner duly emerged after 39 overs, but by then England had lost five wickets and let India back into the game. The lecture delivered over lunch by Professor Morne Morkel, India's bowling coach, must have been an impressive one. The three seamers did not even have to get the ball changed to expose what has lurked beneath the surface of this England side: a brittleness, a reluctance to grind it out and accumulate ugly runs. Since the last Oval Test, less than a year ago against Sri Lanka, England have been dismissed in fewer than 40 overs four times. On this occasion England lasted 51.1 overs, which forced Gus Atkinson and the two surviving seamers to go again, morning and evening. No country has made so many runs in a five-Test series in England as this India side: Jamie Smith has therefore had an enormous task as England's wicketkeeper in the first four Tests of this series but above all in this fifth Test, because Josh Tongue and Jamie Overton have sent Smith diving all over the shop. It was a tired dab with his bat at a 45-degree angle, when Sky Sports's experts had been preaching that the bat had to be either vertical or horizontal on this lively pitch. Why Overton was selected in the first place is a question that could be raised in the House – because he might touch 90mph in a Test this winter? Or because England think he is a useful No 8? Either way, after the call-up of Liam Dawson for the Old Trafford Test instead of Jack Leach, here is an echo of the old days when England's selectors opted for 'bits-and-pieces' players and for bowlers on the grounds that they could bat a bit. It is inexplicable that two bang-it-in bowlers were selected for an Oval green-top in Overton and Tongue. Tongue has worked hard for his place, and he showed at the start of India's second innings that he is no one-trick pony and can pitch the ball up. But if any Overton was to be selected, it should have been the other twin. Jamie has taken two wickets for 164 runs, and had three innings, for Surrey in the championship this season; Craig has taken 27 wickets and had 10 innings for Somerset. Jacob Bethell looked strange when he walked out in white clothes, as if they were borrowed. And since last Christmas he has played one first-class match – one red-ball game, that is, for Warwickshire. He looked a little rusty; he did not read the red ball that Mohammed Siraj swung into him. Bethell, Smith and Overton were blown away at the time when the ball was softening, and when Harry Brook required a partner to stay in. When England last won an Ashes series in Australia, back in 2010-11, their batting line-up consisted of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, both to be knighted, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior. When England toured Australia in 1928-9, their top four batsmen had either reached the landmark of one hundred first-class centuries or were soon to reach it, while another couple of their batsmen scored one hundred first-class centuries but were only selected for one Test each. Time will soon tell how imposing the line-up of this current England side will prove to be. I suspect they will be imposing in their audacity – when the going is good.
