India Hang On For Vital Draw
Alistair Cook hit his 30th Test Century on Day Five of an enthralling, engrossing test with India, but a brilliant evening display from Rashid wasn't quite enough as England fell short of ensnaring the final four Indian wickets required to take victory in the First Test of the five match series.
Overall, there's lots for England to be positive about, as four of their top six made hundreds, young Hameed looks a top class batsman, as he eventually fell for 82 as England looked to set a declaration, Adil Rashid's seven wickets were easily the best figures of the match, and most importantly, the fact that England are disappointed with a draw says it all. England were the better team across five days, batted and bowled better than India, and all round were very impressive. And despite being the team that were superior and in charge of the game throughout, ultimately England were unable to force a result.
And a lot of credit to that has to go to India, who despite being under the cosh for the majority of the fifth day, were able to keep their heads and bat their way to safety, surviving over 50 overs as England's spinners, led by the impressive Rashid, turned up the heat. On a pitch that had finally start to crack on Day Four crumbled completely on the final day, Rashid was getting turn, the same turn that allowed Mishra to remove Hameed just 18 short of a debut hundred, and Joe Root, putting the pressure back on England before Stokes and Cook engineered a declaration, as the England captain eventually fell for a brilliant 130, although there will, as ever, be those that complain he should have scored faster, and didn't leave his bowlers with enough time to bowl out India.
I for one am bored of the criticism that Cook gets for being conservative every time a result like this comes about, especially when we should be praising Cook for making batting look easy on a pitch where it was increasingly anything but. Cook is by nature a conservative captain and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. This is going to be a long and tough series and the fact that his first priority was not to lose this match is very much the right instinct.
In any case, there's no guarantee that another ten or even twenty overs would have stopped the juggernaut that was Virat Kohli in the second innings, as he held on for 49* off 98 deliveries despite India collapsing to 71-4 in less than 25 overs. Kohli was bolstered by an excellent batting display from Ravi Ashwin, whose batting kept his side alive, and when he finally departed with about ten overs to go in the match, England were able to engineer a sniff of victory. But it was never more than a sniff as Kohli, aided by Jadeja, was able to shut the door.
Once again the star for England with the ball was Rashid, who engineered a couple of crucial wickets in Pujara and Vijay to reduce India for 68-3, before Moeen removed Rahane. And after Ansari got rid of Ashwin, Rashid struck again, getting keeper Saha for 9 to turn half a chance into a full-blooded opportunity, with India six down. Rashid and Moeen plugged away, but were unable to remove Kohli, and India held on. However, England only have themselves to blame, dropping chances early on that could have got Kohli or Rahane in five overs earlier, as both Vijay and Pujara were dropped before they were eventually removed.
Nevertheless, England should not be focusing on the four wickets that they were unable to prise from India, but the 16 that they did take, and the four centuries that their own batsmen were able to make. Cook, Root, Stokes and Moeen are all in hot form, Bairstow at 7 looks good value for runs and Hameed looks like a suave and confident opening batsman. If England can keep batting like they have in this Test, and keep bowling like they were too, with Rashid out-performing the Indian bowlers who in theory should be better used to the conditions, then they will make real inroads in this series.
Ultimately, this was a series that England were expected to lose, and lose very comfortably. But whilst the real trial by spin is yet to truly begin, there were a lot of positive signs from this match that England can do the impossible, and win this series in India.
Murray Starts With A Win
And last night, Andy Murray got his final tournament of 2016, the ATP World Tour final, underway with an excellent 6-3 6-2 win over an out of sorts Marin Cilic. Murray still has to face Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka before securing his place in the semi-finals, but after Nishikori beat an out of sorts Warwinka yesterday, a victory against the Swiss man will surely guarantee Murray a semi-final place. On his day, Murray is capable of beating both men, but he will probably face sterner opposition than he did last night, as Cilic struggled to get out of first gear.
It was a scrappy start to the match from both men, with three breaks of serve in the opening four games, Murray breaking his opponent twice to move 3-1 up despite conceding a break of his own, and saving break points in the opening game. After a poor start from both players, in which unforced errors were proving more numerous than winners, Murray was able to assert control on proceedings. Despite making just two winners compared to fourteen unforced errors, including four double faults, Murray won his next three service games, with Cilic unable to up his game, and Murray took the first set.
If the first set was more of a war of attrition, with Murray making less mistakes than his counterpart, the second set was a different story entirely. Whilst Cilic continued to struggle for rhythm, Murray, no doubt bouyed by taking the first set, stepped his game up significantly, winning four straight games to take the second set (and with it the match) at a canter.
Whilst neither player flew out of the blocks, the longer the match went on, the more in control Murray looked. And it's worth noting that even when the match was scrappy, and neither player was playing particularly good tennis, Murray was still coming out on top. Top players find ways to win matches and Murray is most certainly a top player now. The new world number one demonstrated exactly why he is that, with a hard-fought, well ground out first set, followed by a second set in which he was able to put a strangle-hold on Cilic through sheer quality. If the first set was a scrap, and the second a showcase, then it's very telling that at both ends of the scale, Cilic simply had no answer to Murray.
Murray's mental fortitude has been praised a lot recently, and I think that that once again played a factor here. Having been broken back by Cilic in the third game of the first set, Murray turned around and instantly broke him again. And moreover, on top of that, with Cilic battling to 30-40 immediately afterwards, it would have been easy for Murray to surrender the lead again, only for him to pull out his first ace of the match to pull it back and hold. After that, he never looked back.
Murray will have to play better against Nishikori tomorrow if he's to make it two wins out of two and surely qualify for the semis, but we know that he's more than capable of it, and towards the end of this match he really started to show what he's capable of. It's been a long and brilliant 2016 for Murray, but this result means that he has every chance of ending it on a high, and as world number one.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Tomorrow: F1 and rugby.
- Wales drew with Serbia. Qualification hanging by a thread.
- Ireland bolstered their hopes by downing Austria.
- Aussies collapsed again. 121-2 to 161. Laughable.
- Stevie G has left LA Galaxy. Where next?
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