LONDON (AP) — Joe Root and Ollie Pope dug in and led England to 153-2 against India after a gritty wicketless afternoon session in the Lord’s test on Thursday. They inched England from 83-2 at lunch, adding 70 runs in 24 overs at 2.9 runs per over.
LONDON (AP) — Joe Root and Ollie Pope dug in and led England to 153-2 against India after a gritty wicketless afternoon session in the Lord’s test on Thursday.
They inched England from 83-2 at lunch, adding 70 runs in 24 overs at 2.9 runs per over.
Root was 54 not out from 109 balls and Pope on 44 off 103.
The sleepy afternoon session was pockmarked by a slow over rate, brilliant India squeeze bowling, and lengthy delays for wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant’s apparent finger injury and a change of ball. The fourth umpire merely ambled out to the middle with a box of optional red balls.
It didn’t appear the scoring couldn’t get any slower than the morning session, when England’s 83 runs in 25 overs were its slowest rate to start a test in the three-year era of coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
But while Root and Pope were slow they were also solid, extending their partnership to 109 runs in 35 overs in a way that was as far from ‘Bazball’ as England has ever played.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj squeezed them for 28 consecutive dot balls, the longest string England has suffered in three years.
But the bowlers created few chances. Nitish Kumar Reddy, who removed the openers in one over in the morning, got an edge off Pope on 21 but the ball didn’t carry to the slip cordon.
England reached 100 in the 36th over, its second slowest in the Bazball era.
Root became the first test batsman to score 3,000 runs against India then reached his 50 off 102 balls.
His 103rd half-century in his 156th test tied him all-time with Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting. Only Sachin Tendulkar has more test scores of 50-plus.
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AP cricket:https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
Foster Niumata, The Associated Press