Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley went out on the final morning knowing exactly what sat in front of them: 371 runs, gloomy skies, and Jasprit Bumrah holding a shiny new Dukes ball. Six hours later England were unbeaten, one-nil up, and listening to Ben Stokes talk about déjà vu.
Three summers ago the same group overturned 378 at Edgbaston. On Tuesday they did it again, this time sealing the target in the first over of the last hour when Jamie Smith slog-swept Axar Patel into the Western Terrace. His six ended an unbroken 71-run stand with Joe Root, who was still there on 53. The headline acts, though, were England’s openers.
Duckett collected Player of the Match for 62 and a second-innings 149 off 170 balls, the latter spanning the first 55 overs of the chase. Crawley’s 80 from 145 was less eye-catching but every bit as valuable. Their partnership of 188 knocked the stuffing out of India before lunch and gave the middle order a manageable runway.
“It was unbelievable,” Stokes said at the post-match presentations. “Unless you’re involved in it, [it’s hard to know] the pressure of the fourth innings, going out there. Opening the batting is hard enough, especially in England. So that partnership that Zak and Ben got us off to was just incredible.”
He doubled down a moment later. “Those two complement each other so well. Obviously, Ducky got the big score that contributed towards us winning this game. But I thought the way that Zak was able to stay composed, and stay in the moment, and sense that Ducky was getting off to the flyer [was crucial].”
Measured approach, same result
England’s recent brand has been early belligerence, yet the opening spell was almost old-fashioned. Bumrah probed on a length, the floodlights burned, and the scoreboard ticked at under three an over. Only when Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur replaced the spearhead did Duckett climb into second gear, reaching a 66-ball fifty with a brace of square-cuts.
“In that period, it was really important that me and Zak got through without losing any wickets,” Duckett said at the presentations. “It was pretty clear to us this morning. If we batted for the whole day [at the tempo that] we normally do, we’d probably get the total, so we didn’t overthink anything. Certainly we had to get through Jasprit’s first spell and that new ball, and from there on, we were just playing our natural games.”
The left-hander was quick to acknowledge the threat England had blunted. “He’s a world-class bowler,” Duckett added, after England had denied Bumrah any wickets in the second innings, despite his brilliant five-for in the first. “In that first innings he was superb, so to limit his damage was massive for us. Our individuals are all going to go about it differently, but I thought we did play him very well today.”
India’s missed chances
There were moments when the visitors looked favourites. Five hundreds across the match – two of them from Rishabh Pant – plus Bumrah’s opening-day burst, had England, in Duckett’s words, “completely behind the eight-ball”. Yet the bowlers kept chipping away. Josh Tongue, answering Stokes’s call for “rabbit-pie” – his skipper’s shorthand for short, hostile spells – finished with seven for the match, including Pant twice.
By the time Smith and Root came together, 100 were needed with five wickets left. India posted a deep field, Smith reverse-swept his first ball, and Headingley began to believe. The wicketkeeper’s unbeaten 42 was frenetic, but Root’s presence allowed the younger man to play his shots. The winning blow, high over long-on, was greeted with the kind of roar this ground saves for Test cricket.
What it means
A 371-run pursuit is England’s third-highest in history and the second time in as many home series they have topped 350 against India. More pressingly, it puts them 1-0 up in a five-match contest and extends a run under Stokes and Brendon McCullum that continues to bend conventional wisdom.
The captain, typically, downplayed talk of records. “You never get tired of winning games like this,” he said, before heading off to shake every hand on the balcony. Casual fans might say they’ve seen this movie before. True enough – but it remains compelling viewing.
