2:28
The pick of the action from day three of the second Test
Double honours for Woakes, bullish Bairstow and DRS dilemmas – all you need to know from day three of the second Test at Lord’s….
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The Report
Chris Woakes hit his maiden Test century as England hammered home their advantage over India in the second Test at Lord’s, writes Sam Drury.
The all-rounder shared a sixth-wicket stand of 189 with Jonny Bairstow, who fell seven short of a hundred of his own, to help England to 357-6, a lead of 250, when bad light brought day three to a close.
2:28 The pick of the action from day three of the second Test
Moment of the Day
With skipper Joe Root roaring him on from the balcony, Woakes completed his maiden Test century in his 25th Test with a crunching three over midwicket. The Warwickshire man roared in triumph, kissed his England helmet and received a heavy hug from Jonny Bairstow. Pure drama and elation.
Stats of the Day
Chris Woakes became only the seventh England player – and 10th overall – to etch his name on both honours boards at Lord’s when he completed his maiden Test century, following in the footsteps of Gubby Allen, Ian Botham, Stuart Broad, Andrew Flintoff, Ray Illingworth and Ben Stokes.
Ishant Sharma has 12 wickets in Tests at Lord’s, his most at any ground outside of India.
Talking point
Do England have the right angle on DRS? That was the question after the hosts lost both of their reviews in quick time, Keaton Jennings and Ollie Pope reviewing ‘out’ lbw decisions in vain. As ever, the non-striker’s input is key in these things and both batsmen had little hesitation in asking Alastair Cook and Joe Root respectively for their tuppence worth. Fair enough, you’d say, if the non-striker is stood quite close to the umpire but in Cook’s case he was well wide of the mark – and certainly didn’t have the best view to suggest to Jennings it was wise to depart sharpish. Pope’s trust in Root was rather more understandable, on debut, but did little favours for the hitters to come.
What they said
MIKE ATHERTON on Ollie Pope: “It’s very unusual to see Joe Root struggle as he did this morning. If you’d come down from Mars and looked at Pope and Root and said ‘who’s the old stager?’, you’d have picked the wrong one!”
CHRIS WOAKES on his ton: “It’s an incredible feeling to raise your bat at Lord’s and be on that honours board. I went from 60 to 80 pretty quickly and all of a sudden started thinking about it – my beans were going and I tried to hit every ball. The nineties were a bit of a blur but I am so pleased to get there.”
NASSER HUSSAIN on bad light: “The one thing I’d like to change in cricket is to stay on – conditions do change in cricket. India had to bat under lights, under cloudy skies and rain and people have spent £110 for a ticket and waited patiently for play. England wanted to stay on – but the umpire’s taken them off. We keep hearing that Test cricket is in jeopardy and that we have to look after it but conditions are good and we come off! The game needs to move on. That’s the first thing I’d do if I was in the ICC.”
Tweets of the Day
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