England seal nail-biting victory over India with dramatic final wicket

What is about July 14 and Lord’s for Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes? Six years on from the day they won the World Cup final for England, they were there again, seizing centre stage and settling another tense game.

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It was not quite victory by the barest of margins but 22 was the closest ever in terms of runs at Lord’s and just like 2019, it took stamina to beat opponents who refused to yield.

Stokes ran into the wind for two ten-over spells of gut-busting, sinew-straining effort for three for 48 and Archer’s morning magic opened up the path to victory but Ravindra Jadeja’s bloody-minded resistance for 181 balls dragged the match beyond tea on day five.

Jadeja batted for more than three hours with Nos 10 and 11, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj, clipping singles to farm the strike, as India never gave in, chipping away at their 193 target.

In a game that had everything, it ended with Shoaib Bashir, his left hand heavily bandaged, running to point, chased by his team-mates when Siraj’s under-edge trickled on to his stumps. Stokes, stood alone at mid-on, was too exhausted to chase after his colleagues. He threw back his head, looked at the heavens and just blew out his cheeks. Relief and joy, just like 2019. And now a 2-1 lead in the series.

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Full report to follow

05:33 PM BST

Sir Geoffrey Boycott’s briefing

05:26 PM BST

Jofra Archer speaks to Sky Sports

Hectic one for first back. Bowled a few more overs than I thought I would. Only played one Test at Lord’s and the last one was just as special as this one. It’s been a long time coming, but moments like this make it worth it.

You never know if you’re ready until you’re ready.

I’m speechless to see how everything came to plan. I have my overs marked out until December so I’m not out of the woods yet.

It was a little bit emotional, a long journey. I can’t tell you the amount of keyboard warriors I’ve had to put away over the last four years. The crowd, the Long Room, I’ve never heard them up like that, moments like this make all that rehab worthwhile.

We said yesterday we’re a bit too nice, we’re nicer to some teams than they are to us and we just tried to shift it. We will keep that one [aggression] in the bank.

[What did you say to Pant when you bowled him out?] I just said ‘Charge that!’He’d charged me a few balls earlier and ot p—– me off.

05:22 PM BST

Ben Stokes talks to Michael Atherton

Part of the reason I went with Jof this morning is that it;s six years ago now to the day. He played a major role [in winning the World Cup] and I had a feeling he’d do something special and crack the game open. A bit of discussion, Brydon was charging in with great rhythm, but I had a gut feeling that Jof’s going to do something in his first game back. Every time he’s announced on the Tannoy, the ground erupts and when the speeds go up on the screen, the feeling changes.

[How deep did you dig?] “I thought I’d taken myself to some pretty dark places before but bowling to win a Test match doesn’t get you up I don’t know what will.. Bashir, [when he batted] we thought those last few runs could be crucial. It was written in the stars to take that last wicket. An absolute warrior.

[How did you keep going?] With what was on the line… I was cooked yesterday, but the game was on the line, nothing was stopping me. I’m an all-rounder, I get four opportunities to influence the game, and if one thing doesn’t click I have another [captaincy, batting bowling and fielding]. I’d like to score more runs, but you don’t have a chance to worry about anything.

05:15 PM BST

Ben Stokes is man of the match

The panel cites his 44, 33, five wickets and running out Rishabh Pant, six yers to the day since England won the World Cup.

05:14 PM BST

Shubman Gill speaks

I’m extremely proud. This is as close as a Test match can get after five days of hard fought cricket and it comes down to the last session, the last wicket. I’m tremendously proud of them.

I was pretty confident this morning with plenty of batting left in our side but the way England kept attacking meant we couldn’t get a couple of 50 partnerships in the top order and they were better than us.

Jaddu [Jadeja] is very experienced. I didn’t want to give him any message. He was batting brilliantly with the tail. I wanted him and them to carry on.

The run out of Pant was crucial. A lead would have been crucial for us.

Yes we have plenty to offer. The scorecard doesn’t always reflect how you’ve played and we’ve played some excellent cricket in this series. You’ll get to know soon [if Bumrah will play in Manchester].

05:08 PM BST

The end of the match in four stunning photos

05:03 PM BST

Scyld Berry’s player ratings

England took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series against India after a superb bowling performance on the final day saw India bowled out for 170, just 22 runs short of victory.

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Give your opinion on whether each player had a good game👍 or bad game 👎 with our voting tool.

04:56 PM BST

And here’s how it ended

The ball bounced, he played it with soft hand, it hit the turf and spun back, nutmegging him and clipping leg stump.

04:56 PM BST

A word for the No 1-ranked Test all-rounder

Truly incredible game. A word for Ravindra Jadeja, who spent 181 balls out there and finishes not out. Remarkable competitor. Who knows if his go-slow tactics were right, but he gave his team a chance.

04:55 PM BST

England win by 22 runs

India will be cursing their luck. Ravi Jadeja and Nos 10 and 11 fought with dogged resolve to take it deep. India fall 2-1 behind in the series but England are ahead only by a nose. The two sides are equally talented and equally flawed. It’s a compelling series. Roll on Old Traffford in eigh days.

04:52 PM BST

Wicket!

Siraj b Bashir 4  Defended with a full blade but the ball skipped back off the turf and cannoned into leg stump just dislodging the bail.

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For all the talk of beef between the two sides, England embrace Siraj to show it does not endure.

04:48 PM BST

OVER 74: IND 169/9 (Jadeja 60 Siraj 4) chasing 193

Archer bellows an appeal and there’s a sharp intake of breath around the ground when Archer pins Jadeja but he neither saw nor heard the inside edge that saved the batsman. Jadeja cuts hard for a single and catches his broken finger as he slides yet still keeps it down to one.

Siraj has one to face and wears a nasty 88 mph bouncer on the point of the shoulder but he survives. On comes the physio.

With Shoaib Bashir at deep point, and nursing an injured left hand, Jadeja could try and run twos if he hits it in that direction. He could have done that ball, but with only one delivery remaining this over, prefers to keep the strike. Only six overs till the second new ball, which will give England much more assistance.

Seriously brave fielding there from Bashir, given he’s likely got a broken finger.

04:42 PM BST

OVER 73: IND 168/9 (Jadeja 59 Siraj 4) chasing 193

Siraj inside-edges on to his pad and pops the ball up to where silly point would have stood but there was no fielder there and they pilfer a single.

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Jadeja tries to sweep but is done by the bounce then plays tip and run to cover, beating Jamie Smith’s throw at the non-striker’s stumps.

Siraj blocks to a huge cheer. And does so again to an even louder one.

Amazing to think the second new ball is in play here. It’s eight overs away, and India still need 27 to win. If England can keep it tight then there will still be a significant target required at that point.

04:39 PM BST

OVER 72: IND 166/9 (Jadeja 58 Siraj 3) chasing 193

Even with a sponge of a ball, Archer generates lift. He’s conserving himself for Siraj, limiting himself to the low 80s for Jadeja who can’t knock the soft ball off the square. The fourth ball squirrels past the splice as Jadeja played late, trying to late cut. Jadeja plays tip and run to cover and Archer has to field to take a single off the fifth. One ball for Siraj to survive. Two short legs and a leg slip.

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Siraj fends it off his body between leg slip and Root the squarer of the short legs and takes a single, happy to face Bashir. .

04:35 PM BST

OVER 71: IND 164/9 (Jadeja 57 Siraj 2) chasing 193

Trying to ensure they have a second new ball if one is needed. Jadeja clips a single off his boot-laces, leaving Siraj three to face which he plays out, endangered by only one that turned and kicked up but he fended it between leg slip and short leg. Archer is going to replace Stokes at the Nursery End.

04:31 PM BST

England walk out to Jerusalem

Bashir will bowl the 71st over.

Shades of Wes Hall bowling 40 overs on the last day of the Lord’s Test in 1963. Ben Stokes keeps saying one more over… but Jofra Archer has to have a go from the pavilion end doesn’t he?

I would bring Shoaib Bashir back to bowl at whichever end. Tossing one up to Jasprit Bumrah would have had him caught if there had been a midwicket. Getting one above the eyeline of Mohammed Siraj might well make him lose patience. And then there is a second new ball in only ten overs is all else fails…

04:20 PM BST

Tea verdict

We are still here. A remarkable session of blocking and cat and mouse with the Test on the line, England taking just one wicket. India showed incredible willpower with Jadeja hanging in with the last two wickets to keep them alive. They need 30 at tea, England one wicket.

Jadeja has 56 off 162, battled for 35 runs for the ninth wicket across 22 overs with Bumrah, before he hacked to mid on. Siraj has dug in, and Jadeja has chewed up balls, leaving his no 11 just one or two to face per over. Stokes dug deep with a 10-over spell but it is still up in the air.

What a Test match.

04:15 PM BST

TEA: IND 163/9 (Jadeja 56 Siraj 2) chasing 193

India need thirty to win after a terrific session of dogged batting and committed, aggressive bowling with a ball that is doing neither side any favours. England, of course, need one wicket to go 2-1 up. It has been nip and tuck for the entire Test and continues to be so.

04:13 PM BST

OVER 70: IND 163/9 (Jadeja 56 Siraj 2) chasing 193

Stokes with the last over before tea, his 10th in succession. And he can still extract some life out of a virtually extinct ball with one that angles in, kicks and nips away as Jadeja tries to punch it off the back foot. That whistled past the edge. Stokes follows up with a back of a length one angling in and Jadeja nicks it into his pad. Jadeja closes the face to take a single to mid-on.

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One ball left of the session, Stokes to Siraj. It’s a bouncer and Siraj fends it off his helmet between the finer of the short legs and leg slip but doesn’t take the single.

04:08 PM BST

OVER 69: IND 162/9 (Jadeja 55 Siraj 2) chasing 193

Carse, round the wicket, tries to trouble Jadeja with an offside bouncer but he sways out of the way. He takes a single by carving a cut off the fourth ball and then the game’s on with Siraj up for two balls. Stokes takes the helmet to join Pope as short leg catchers but Siraj evades both with a tuck off his hip. No run. Carse goes for the bluff, pitching it up and Siraj drives down to long off, settling for two when three was on the cards but would have left him on strike.

Bowling from one end, short leg at the other. You don’t see that very often. But it is Ben Stokes.

04:02 PM BST

OVER 68: IND 159/9 (Jadeja 54 Siraj 0) chasing 193

Fifty for Jadeja with a slash over third slip for four. No Zorro twirling bat celebration today with work to do. That’s his fourth successive half-century of the series. He blocks the next on the back foot and the ball bounces in the crease and over the stumps. A controlled pull could have yielded a run but he turns it down and takes it off the next ball instead with a flicky on-drive.

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Siraj whisks one off his hip well short of Crawley at leg slip. Then defends a lifter well into the onside.  

Tea, having been delayed, means Jadeja is caught short and has to jog off for a pee.

India’s fans are going mad because there’s only 35 to win, but Jadeja isn’t even bothering with his sword celebration. Would have been an especially solemn effort.

03:55 PM BST

OVER 67: IND 154/9 (Jadeja 49 Siraj 0) chasing 193

Yikes! Pope is very close but even he could not grab the ball on the full when Siraj fends the bouncer off his waist. Almost. Two balls later he fends again and it loops to backward short leg. Pope had no hope of reaching that. But another fielder next to him would have. There are still men out on the hook. For Siraj. The No 11 plays out the over, bravely getting in line for his team.

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Stokes is going to have a ninth over in thsi spell after reeling off nine on the spin this morning.

03:50 PM BST

OVER 66: IND 154/9 (Jadeja 49 Siraj 0) chasing 193

Stokes perseveres with Stokes and beats Jadeja twice outside off, once with the slower ball that jumps off Smith’s glove and hits him on the boot, which stops it striking the helmet and incurring a five-run penalty. Stokes pushes it as wide as he legally can to keep Jadeja down that end with the fifth ball then calls up the field. Jadeja accepts the invitation and whisks the last delivery off his pads for four.

03:47 PM BST

OVER 65: IND 150/9 (Jadeja 45 Siraj 0) chasing 193

The ball is as soft as bunch of rags and Jadeja doesn’t want to risk plinking it so is looking for gaps rather than boundaries with the field well spread. He takes a single off the fourth ball then Carse hits Siraj on the splice as he flinches and the ball lands half a metre short of Pope at a very close forward short leg.

We’re not going for a tea break yet. When will Jadeja have a pop? He’s been excellent, soaking up 140 balls, but he needs to take more of a risk if India are to make these 44 runs.

03:41 PM BST

OVER 64: IND 149/9 (Jadeja 44 Siraj 0) chasing 193

An on-drive and a pull could have delivered singles but Jadeja leaves them in the bank. Stokes tries the slow yorker at 70 mph, Jadeja digs it out down to long on. He refuses a single off that and Stokes yells swearily at Archer to sprint in even though no one was running to show they were still playing with physical intensity.

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The single comes on ball four with a cut to the point sweeper. Stokes bounces Siraj who sways inside the line then defends the last stoutly, steering it down to third slip on the bounce with soft hands.

03:37 PM BST

OVER 63: IND 148/9 (Jadeja 43 Siraj 0) chasing 193

Jadeja turns down two singles before taking one off the fourth ball which flies off the edge down to third man while aiming for mid-on. Siraj twice shows a competent forward defensive to keep the pattern of the afternoon session going.

Stokes is going to have a seventh over in this spell. Tea will be delayed for half an hour because nine wickets have fallen.

03:33 PM BST

OVER 62: IND 147/9 (Jadeja 42 Siraj 0) chasing 193

Wicket maiden for Stokes who looks more relieved than elated. India need 46 runs. Siraj, who is given a volley after yesterday’s contretemps with Duckett, blocks out the last two after leaving his first.

Good bottle from the sub fielder Sam Cook there – that was perhaps a trickier catch than it looked pedalling back.

Brave stuff from Bumrah, batting for almost two hours.

03:26 PM BST

Wicket!

Bumrah c sub (Cook) b Stokes 5 Kept swinging and missing at short ones and now flaps one high to mid-on after finally connecting. He batted for 108 minutes but could not resist the temptation when offered for the umpteenth time. Stokes raises both fists, arms bent at the elbows, a bit like Billy Bremner at St Andrew’s in 1973. Ask your dad grandad. FOW 147/9

03:25 PM BST

OVER 61: IND 147/8 (Jadeja 42 Bumrah 5) chasing 193

Carse replaces Bashir who departs the field. Two bouncers, the first called wide, tempt Bumrah into hooking, missing both, then Carse fires one in on a good length and straight. Bumrah, squared up, nonetheless gets the bat down as he does to the next ball which is fuller still. Pope is very close at forward short leg and has to race to mid-on to chase Bumrah’s defensive push. They run a single surprisingly off the fourth ball. In comes the field and Jadeja can’t find a gap off the fifth and is forced to defend the last that angled into him, back of a length and rose to waistband height, cramping him for room.

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How are your nerves?

03:19 PM BST

OVER 60: IND 145/8 (Jadeja 42 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Leaves are Jadeja’s favourite currency at the start of overs and he shoulders arms to two from Stokes but is genuinely beaten when he comes down to try to make the angle to work a single. That was Stokes’ slower ball and did him for lack of pace. With one to come Stokes brings in the field then paints the tramlines with one outside off to keep Jadeja down that end.

03:15 PM BST

OVER 59: IND 145/8 (Jadeja 42 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Jadeja mixes it up by taking a single off Bashir’s third ball, working against the turn to clip it through square leg. Bashir tempts Bumrah with flight and the overspin makes it drop rapidly. Bumrah takes the bait and hoicks through the line, wide of Stokes at mid-on. Bashir goes for a dart with his last ball and fires it into the pads from where it scuttles down for four leg-byes, taking the target below 50.

03:10 PM BST

OVER 58: IND 140/8 (Jadeja 41 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Jadeja flicks off his pads and calls two but Bumrah sends him back after the single, refusing to take on Pope’s throw. Bumrah could now face four Stokes’ bumpers.

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The first doesn’t get up and Bumrah easily has the time to step back and block. The next is into the ribs and Bumrah fends it down. The third is straighter and still patted down. He seems to have put the hook away after the previous over… but he does goe with a horizontal bat next up, rolling the wrists to knock it short of bat-pad. ‘The famous pull-shot defence,’ says Stuart Broad.

03:04 PM BST

OVER 57: IND 139/8 (Jadeja 40 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Apart from slip and mid-off the other seven fielders are scattered around the boundary. Turn now for Bashir and Jadeja pats a single off the third. Slip, leg slip and short leg for Bumrah. The turn isn’t sharp enough to disturb the right-hander who props forward to block out the rest of the over. His line could be a stump wider, I think.  

03:01 PM BST

OVER 56: IND 138/8 (Jadeja 39 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Stokes’ attempted bouncer doesn’t get up and Bumrah easily gets behind it to bunt it to mid-off. After a Bumrah forward defensive Stokes does to Bumrah what Bumrah does to Stokes, nipping one back into his nuts. On comes the physio to offer some relief.

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Fine leg goes out on the rope, up comes short leg. Out goes a fly slip. A chin symphony is coming.

Stokes gets his bumper up high and Bumrah takes on the hook but helicopters his bat beneath the flight path. Jadeja shakes his head at the non-strikers, and does the same again two balls later, lobbying without success for it to be called wide. Which it should have been.

Don’t worry. It will be alright for England supporters in the end. India’s No 11 can’t bat half as coolly as their No 10.

02:54 PM BST

OVER 55: IND 138/8 (Jadeja 39 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

The off-spinner has a slip and comes round the wicket to Jadeja. No turn as yet but Jadeja is happy just to dead bat them back but is then surprised by the quick slider that he inside-edges on to his back leg. He cuts the next ball but can’t beat the field and in comes the field for the sixth delivery. Jadeja can’t pierce cover with his drive and Bashir starts with a maiden.

Shoaib Bashir as I live and breathe! Didn’t think we’d see him in this innings, but he’s come on to bowl as things get very tense.

02:54 PM BST

OVER 55: IND 138/8 (Jadeja 39 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

The off-spinner has a slip and comes round the wicket to Jadeja. No turn as yet but Jadeja is happy just to dead bat them back but is then surprised by the quick slider that he inside-edges on to his back leg. He cuts the next ball but can’t beat the field and in comes the field for the sixth delivery. Jadeja can’t pierce cover with his drive and Bashir starts with a maiden.

Shoaib Bashir as I live and breathe! Didn’t think we’d see him in this innings, but he’s come on to bowl as things get very tense.

02:51 PM BST

OVER 54: IND 138/8 (Jadeja 39 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Interestingly Bashir is on the field now. Stokes resumes with three dot balls before Jadeja shuffles across to drive through cover for a single. Up come three slips and a leg slip for Bumrah who carries on in his own merry way, blocking with an angled bat, fully behind the ball.

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Bashir will replace Root, his left hand heavily bandaged.

02:45 PM BST

India make it through first half of the session unscathed

A gripping hour so far after lunch. There’s still 27 overs until the second new ball, which means India are in no rush. But even so, it feels like Ravindra Jadeja should be batting with slightly more intent – or Jaspri Bumrah is going to have to survive for 80 balls or so. So far, Bumrah has got through 29 unscathed, looking utterly determined not to make a mistake.

02:43 PM BST

OVER 53: IND 137/8 (Jadeja 38 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Mid-off is up but he has boundary riders covering all points off the offside from backward point to deep extra and the legside from long on to deep backward square. After Jadeja plays tip and run off, you’ve guessed it, ball four, he brings up a slip and short leg for Bumrah who smothers the turn with an angled bat and keeps Root at bay. One run at at time, as Lena Martell nearly sang.

Drinks. 

02:39 PM BST

OVER 52: IND 136/8 (Jadeja 37 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Jadeja gets low to block three from Stokes then shuffles back to take a single off the fourth with a whip through midwicket. Stokes lines up Bumrah for leg-before and is the width of his inside edge away from trapping him this as he jams his bat down and nudges it through square leg.

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Here comes the man with the golden arm, old Frankie Machine himself, Joe Root.

02:34 PM BST

OVER 51: IND 135/8 (Jadeja 36 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

It’s ball four (not Jim Bouton’s) again for Jadeja, riding Carse’s bounce to fence a single down through third man. Bumrah blocks one then wants a single off the last he turns into the legside but is sent back.

Stokes grabs the ball. What can he do with a soft one?

02:30 PM BST

OVER 50: IND 134/8 (Jadeja 35 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Woakes almost entices the drag-on when Jadeja hangs his bat out but it hits the pitch and squirrels the other way, away to gully. He takes a single off the fourth ball, digging out the yorker to mid-off and Bumrah survives the last two, blocking the yorker after walking across his stumps and then playing a formal forward defensive.

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India send a message out to the middle. What could it say other than ‘Stay there’?

Stokes warming up. He’ll be replacing Woakes at the Nursery End next over, I’d think.

02:25 PM BST

OVER 49: IND 133/8 (Jadeja 34 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Jadeja leaves the first three on purpose and then can’t reach the fourth when trying to cut Carse. He opens the face to steer a single through point and give Bumrah one to face. It’s a yorker and the great exponent of that ball again proves himself adept at keeping them out. Physician heals himself.

02:20 PM BST

OVER 48: IND 132/8 (Jadeja 33 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Afters successfully overturning the umpire’s decision to fire him out leg-before, Jadeja skips down to Woakes and launches him deep into the long pasture at cow corner for six! ‘Oh, Ravi Jadeja!’ rings out. The umpire calls over but there have been only five balls and he has to call Woakes back. Jadeja flicks that final ball over midwicket for a single to take the strike.

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Carse will replace Archer.

02:16 PM BST

NOT OUT

Impact was outside off and he was playing a shot.

02:15 PM BST

India review

Jadeja lbw b Woakes  Nip-backer but did it hit him outside the line?

02:14 PM BST

OVER 47: IND 125/8 (Jadeja 26 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Archer crashes one into Jadeja’s back pad via the inside edge, killing his appeal halfway up his throat. He leaves a couple and turns down a single when he cuts then takes a single off the fifth, opening the face of a vertical bat to slice it down to third man. With one ball to face, Archer and Stokes set the trap for Bumrah on the legside boundary and a short leg but calls his bluff with a full one that Bumrah drives uppishly through gully and turns down the single.

02:08 PM BST

OVER 46: IND 124/8 (Jadeja 25 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Ravi Shastri, the former India all-rounder and coach, think Jadeja should be counter-attacking now that the ball has gone soft and the field is up instead of blocking and trying to farm the strike. After defending three Woakes’ slower ball slips out of his hand and loops outside off like a drunken wasp. Jadeja swats the full toss through point for a single.

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Woakes beats Bumrah with a big outswinger that he almost nicked and is then struck on the right thumb that sends the ball ricocheting into his chest with one that leaps up off a fairly good length.

02:03 PM BST

OVER 45: IND 123/8 (Jadeja 24 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Archer has a leg slip in for Bumrah and he does flick a ball just short of Crawley who has been posted there. More bounce required. The No 10 batsman then tries an extravagant outside-in shot to walk across his stumps and mow it over midwicket but the ball was past his bat long before his bat was through the perpendicular. Bumrah chisels out another yorker then blocks two more. India need 70 more runs.

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Stokes is limbering up.

02:00 PM BST

OVER 44: IND 123/8 (Jadeja 24 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Jadeja walks down to Woakes and cloths a wipe across the line that lands short of Stokes running round from mid-on. He turns down the single. I suspect Siraj is not in the Fast Bowlers’ Union and may have to prepare for some chin music after Sunday morning’s send-off.  Woakes keeps attacking off-stump from round the wicket, trying to tempt Jadeja to do something risky again but he doesn’t and can’t get his timing ticking smoothly to drive through cover. Hence it ends up being a maiden and Archer will have Bumrah at the start of his 13th over.

01:55 PM BST

OVER 43: IND 123/8 (Jadeja 24 Bumrah 4) chasing 193

Archer surprises Jadeja with extra bounce as he essays a square cut, snapping his writs to make it rear up off a good length and over the bat. The left-hander steers a single through point and Bumrah takes on the challenge of a short ball by heaving it through midwicket for four. The normal response would be a bumper but the Fast Bowlers’ Union still two members and Archer opts instead for the yorker. Bumrah jams it out.

Incredible noise as Bumrah scores his first runs of the series, pulling Archer for four. India still need 70 to win, but their fans believe!

01:50 PM BST

OVER 42: IND 118/8 (Jadeja 23 Bumrah 0) chasing 193

Jadeja gives Bumrah the strike after two balls but didn’t mean to, instinctively running to mid-off while chastising himself for not drilling Woakes down the ground when he overpitched. Bumrah is taking a big stride but then pushing the bat out with his hands in front of his pads which is probably putting some light in Woakes’ eyes but so far he manages to connect with the full blade and each block is appreciated with cheers that make the rafters ring.

01:46 PM BST

OVER 41: IND 117/8 (Jadeja 22 Bumrah 0) chasing 193

Bumrah made his highest Test score, an unbeaten 34, on his last visit to Lord’s but Jadeja is not going to expose him to Archer too soon, turning down a single to third man off a cut and one off the legside nudge. Archer swings one across the left-hander’s bows and he tickles it fine for four then takes the single off the fourth.

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Archer tries the yorker, doesn’t lane it and Bumrah, in defensive mode, spoons it short of mid-on instead of panning it for four as it deserved. He Brigadier Blocks the last, full face of the bat. Bumrah is smiling, turning down the heat on the beef. And England have no interest in riling the champion bowler.

Having made three ducks in a row, Jasprit Bumrah is on an “Audi”: 0000. He’s yet to score a run in the series.

01:41 PM BST

OVER 40: IND 112/8 (Jadeja 17 Bumrah 0) chasing 193

Bumrah blocks his first two deliveries. Seems to be part of a plan to let Jadeja lead the way but he does have a fiddle at the last one, a tempter outside off, and curses himself for letting his hands override his mind.

Archer will come down the hill.

01:38 PM BST

Woakes has three balls left of his seventh over

And Bumrah is on strike.

01:04 PM BST

Lunch verdict

It is tense, very tense out there with Lord’s producing an atmosphere reminiscent of the World Cup final and the last Ashes Test. England are on the threshold, needing two wickets to go 2-1 up in the series after enjoying a terrific morning.

Woakes struck a vital blow on the stroke of lunch ending a stubborn stand between Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja, two doughty competitors who added 31 and held England up for nearly an hour.

Archer’s six-over dramatic spell and Stokes’ nine overs on the spin set England on their way with three wickets in 45 magical minutes.

It has been edgy stuff with plenty of needle out there with England finding their ruthless streak. A terrific Test is in England’s hands.

01:01 PM BST

LUNCH: IND 112/8

A fabulous morning for England. Two wickets for Archer, one apiece for Stokes and Woakes. England have built pressure from the first ball and India are left 81 runs from victory with two wickets left. Top wizardry from Woakes who has been written off during this Test more times than Mike Gatting’s had hot Lord’s lunches.

The Long Room greets England with a prolonged, guttural roar of appreciation.

12:57 PM BST

Wicket!

Reddy c Smith b Woakes 13 A Woakes Lord’s classic, the Wizard finds that old black magic, over the wicket, slants in, kisses the seam and takes the edge as it veered away. FOW 112/8

12:57 PM BST

OVER 39: IND 112/7 (Jadeja 17 Reddy 13) chasing 193

Nitish Kumar Reddy drives uppishly at Carse again and the ball lands short of a diving Pope at backward point. Stokes immediately brings him up into  a catching position. Reddy chisels out an 89mph inswinging yorker then survives a drag-on by the skin of his teeth as he opens the gate to drive and the ball skewers off the inside-edge of the toe, somehow misses off-stump after bouncing with a puff of dust and rattles down to fine leg for two.

The right-hander leg-glances a no-ball for a single and Cares records a dot with the extra ball but only while eating dirt after doing a Wood in his followthrough.

These two have put on 30 in 77 minutes, trying to build the foundations of victory.

On Saturday Brendon McCullum sent a message from the balcony telling Stokes to stop bowling because they need to protect him. He has now worked through 9.2 overs on the spin this morning and hit an immaculate line and length. It is hard to think of a bad ball. Superb stuff. Woakes has been warming up. Stokes for another crack after lunch if needed.

12:50 PM BST

OVER 38: IND 108/7 (Jadeja 17 Reddy 10) chasing 193

Woakes who, in the past, has bowled well over the wicket to left-handers in the old fashioned way, angling across and nibbling it back in, comes round the wicket to Jadeja. He hits a good length straight away, skirting 82mph, but finds no deviation and Jadeja gets his nose over forward defensives.

12:47 PM BST

OVER 37: IND 108/7 (Jadeja 17 Reddy 10) chasing 193

Jadeja whips the ball off his toes behind square leg, calls ‘two’ and then turns blind. Reddy comes two strides down before Jadeja sees the danger and sends him back and the right-hander has to dive to make his ground.

Time for Woakes to replace his captain after an old-school Stokes marathon spell.

12:43 PM BST

OVER 36: IND 107/7 (Jadeja 16 Reddy 10) chasing 193

Nitish Kumar Reddy leans into a drive when Stokes goes full and slices it through cover. Pope dives to his left but he would have had to be Crawley to have any chance of reaching it. The ball sails past for four, Brook, who burnt his IPL boat by pulling out in both 2024 and 2025 for different reasons, keeps sledging Reddy about the tournament. ‘This is not the IPL. This is not Sunrisers,’ he says. Not sure what point he’s trying to make. Loads of England players have been made into millionaires by the IPL. Would he say it to Jacob Bethell if playing for Yorkshire against Warwickshire?

Nobody at fault there when Ravi Jadeja bumped into Brydon Carse.

12:38 PM BST

OVER 35: IND 103/7 (Jadeja 16 Reddy 6) chasing 193

Jadeja cuts Carse to the backward point sweeper. Both of them are preoccupied with looking at the ball that Jadeja runs into Carse before he completes the first run then comes back for two. Then they come together to vent their anger with each other but it was just an accident and umpire Saikat and Stokes come between them.

Scyld’s wish is not Stokes’ command. He’s going to bowl another.

Nitish Reddy has done a good job in blocking out Ben Stokes. Surely Chris Woakes has to replace him at the Nursery End, then Stokes can have another spell after lunch.

12:33 PM BST

OVER 34: IND 101/7 (Jadeja 14 Reddy 6) chasing 193

Stokes gasps when he slides one on to middle and off with that chest-on action and Reddy manages to jam the bat down in time. He treats him to a bouncer that follows him, forcing him to risk ricking his neck as he jerks it out of danger. Reddy celebrates a chunky block with a shout of defiance when Stokes tried to gull him with another one that slants in, hoping the bouncer would have pushed him back. Stokes exchanges a few words with the batsman who shakes his head. Nothing too zesty there.

How long can Stokes keep going here? He’s into the 12th over of his spell, and this is his eighth full over of the morning. He’s been magnificent, but might have to take a spell shortly. 

12:26 PM BST

OVER 33: IND 101/7 (Jadeja 14 Reddy 6) chasing 193

Carse finds both outswing and ones that come down the slope to the right-handed Reddy who does try to drive the full outswingers but Archer athletically makes good stops, the second diving headlong parries the ball but saves three as they sprint a single. Jadeja lets the last two from round the wicket through to the keeper.

Stokes again for an eighth over straight.

There’s a sense that Ben Stokes wants to bowl until the very end here. Shades of Andrew Flintoff, his predecessor as a great England all-rounder, on this ground in the Ashes Test of 2009.

12:22 PM BST

OVER 32: IND 100/7 (Jadeja 14 Reddy 5) chasing 193

Nitish Kumar Reddy judiciously leaves one in the corridor, a replica of the one that lured him to go fishing in the previous over, and then resolutely defends three more with a full face. Stokes angles a quick one into the pads, hoping for a leg-before opportunity but Reddy jabs his bat down in the nick of time and the ball comes off teh inside edge to squirt to square leg for a single. India posting their 100 provokes a raucous, delighted cheer.

12:19 PM BST

OVER 31: IND 99/7 (Jadeja 14 Reddy 4) chasing 193

Jadeja, a tall man, gets up on his toes well and steers a cut off Carse low through gully for a single. Carse, who is not as full at the start of this spell as he was at the end of last night’s, serves one up on Reddy’s legs and he cuffs it for a single.

Carse makes one rear up off a length from round the wicket and Jadeja fends it down with his glove in front of first slip. The India fans are much louder than England’s, responding more to Stokes’ request to bring the noise than the Barmy Army.

Stokes will continue. What was that ‘groin strain’ all about?

12:13 PM BST

OVER 30: IND 97/7 (Jadeja 13 Reddy 3) chasing 193

Stokes will not yield and starts his sixth over off the reel. Jadeja pokes a good length ball out to point for a single. Harry Brook seems to be chirping about this not being the IPL. But to be fair to Reddy he is defending well, unfurling a sequence of model forward defensives to end the over which included a no-ball. That extra ball is wider and the right-hander does have a nibble at it and the England fielders ham up how close it was to emphasise how precarious India’s position is.

Carse will replace Archer.

It was what England were best at doing in the early years of Joe Root’s captaincy: defending a medium-to-low fourth innings target. This collective ability went out of the window when Ben Stokes took over and normally batted second, but England have turned the clock back so far in this game. Brilliant example of intensity and squeezing.

12:07 PM BST

OVER 29: IND 95/7 (Jadeja 12 Reddy 3) chasing 193

Archer pushes Jadeja back with one that spits up towards his ribs. Jadeja’s hands are quick enough to leave his ribs untickled, drop it into the offside and start to hare a single but seeing Stokes swoop he wisely goes back. The next ball is fuller. almost the perfect delivery to a left-hander, arcing in from round the wicket on to middle and off before snaking away, missing the edge and the off-stump by a gnat’s whisker.

Jadeja is channelling the apocryphal Hirst/Rhodes ‘we’ll get ’em in singles’ mantra but almost saws his partner off by taking on Woakes’ accuracy from midwicket but the shy flies pas the stumps.

Drinks.

Harry Brook and Ben Duckett have been vocal. “So many runs lads, can’t just be blocking this end,” says Duckett, as Reddy takes strike. Next ball, he mistimes a big drive. The niggle between the teams is extreme. England absolutely loved getting Washington out, after his comments last night.

12:01 PM BST

OVER 28: IND 94/7 (Jadeja 11 Reddy 3) chasing 193

Jadeja whisks Stokes for a single off his pads and Reddy defends four dot balls. Archer will have one more over and then it will be drinks.

11:56 AM BST

OVER 27: IND 93/7 (Jadeja 10 Reddy 3) chasing 193

Big appeal from Archer and the cordon when he skids one into Jadeja’s pads but Smith immediately indicated that it did too much. Archer backs it up with a brute of a bouncer that takes off, whooshes over Jadeja’s head and the Smith’s hands for five wides. Broad says he won’t mind that, it’s the equivalent of putting a bat up Jadeja’s nightgown.

Jadeja’s single pilfering with his uncanny speed keep India ticking along. But there’s still a hundred to get which is a high, high peak when in the foothills with no room for further error.

11:51 AM BST

OVER 26: IND 86/7 (Jadeja 10 Reddy 2) chasing 193

Stuart Broad says he has never heard so much chatter from an England side. No doubt they’re fired up. Jadeja works Stokes off his pads for a single, Reddy gets off the mark by galloping through for a tight single by pressing a drive out to point. After Jadeja slaps a single off the back foot, Stokes whistles one past Reddy’s off-stump. He meant to leave it and was proved right but, my, it was a close shave.

Cometh the hour, cometh Ben Stokes with the wicket of KL Rahul. But let us not forget that he turned the match England’s way when he ran out Rishabh Pant with that world-class run-out.

And another piece of fine captaincy by Stokes: to coax another quick spell, on day five, out of Jofra Archer when he looked out on his feet on the fourth evening.

11:44 AM BST

OVER 25: IND 82/7 (Jadeja 8 Reddy 0) chasing 193

Archer almost strangles Sundar with his 92mph leaper. It was Sundar who said last night that India would easily win this and Duckett greets him by shouting: “Let’s see how he copes under pressure, lads.”

After he dismisses Archer he welcomes Reddy with a brutal 92mph bouncer, a proper perfume ball that jags back in and makes him sniff the leather.

Last night, Washington Sundar confidently predicted that India would win just after lunch. After his dismissal, it’s a good game to win from here.

11:40 AM BST

Wicket!

Sundar c & b Archer 0 You have to say… that’s terrific. Archer has unsettled him with high pace and now finds a leading edge and dives to his right in his followthrough with unexpected acrobatic grace to cling on one-handed. FOW 82/7

11:38 AM BST

OVER 24: IND 81/6 (Jadeja 7 Sundar 0) chasing 193

Ben Sokes is really kicking up his heels as he bounds in. Jadeja lets one pass under his nose outside off then pushes forward to play tip and run into the offside for a single.

Stokes pushes Rahul back and then bags the key man, bamboozling him with angle, a real effort ball.

Before World War Two, when uncovered pitches were common, we saw far more flexible batting orders: Don Bradman once made 270 against England from No 7. Given the extreme conditions in this series – with considerable help for the bowlers in the first 30 overs, and then very little until the second new ball – there’s a case for teams to use similar tactics here. It would have been fascinating to see India holding Rishabh Pant back, perhaps prompting Washington Sundar instead. How glad England will be to see the back of Pant.

11:34 AM BST

Wicket!

Rahul lbw b Stokes 39 He didn’t hit the ball, his bat hit the pad before the ball hit the pad and he was trapped on the back foot. Three reds. Stokes’ nip-backer does the trick. FOW 81/6

11:34 AM BST

England review

Rahul lbw b Stokes Two sounds. Was it bat or pad first? Was it too high?

11:30 AM BST

OVER 23: IND 80/5 (Rahul 39 Jadeja 6) chasing 193

Jadeja uses those soft, soft hands to guide four down through the slips off the edge. He hadn’t intended to connect with that part of the bat but his loose grip and deft touch pardon all sins… for now. The ball before had been similar to the one that dismissed Pant, angling in and tailing away but Jadeja played it better, the ball after rears up from back of a length but Jadeja is quickly up on his toes to block it.

Pant was batting at about 30 percent capacity there. He is a bottom handed player and that injury clearly restricted him badly. The four down the ground off Archer, played with his top hand, showed how much pain he was in. You wonder if he will be fit for the 4th Test. India may have been better holding him back a bit this morning and sending out Jadeja.

11:25 AM BST

OVER 22: IND 75/5 (Rahul 39 Jadeja 1) chasing 193

Strangled appeal from the cordon when Stokes pins Jadeja with a scrambled seamed delivery that wa sheading down leg. They take the leg-bye. Brook is very much the team’s cheerleader, constantly encouraging his team-mates, addressing them as  ‘Boys’. Root is his 2 i/c.

Rahul opens the face while up en pointe to steer two down to third man.

11:20 AM BST

OVER 21: IND 72/5 (Rahul 37 Jadeja 1) chasing 193

After starting with one that zipped in from a good length to Rahul which was defended, Archer goes for the inswinging yorker and the opener steers it to point for a single.

Pant plays an extraordinary stroke, charging Archer and swinging hard through the line, hanging on halfway through the shot with only his top hand to swipe it for four down through mid-on. After that impish stroke, Pant turns respectable with a forward defensive but has no answer to a 89mph Jofra jaffa. Unplayable for Pant and unimprovable from Archer who also gives Pant a send-off a la Siraj.

Wow! Jofra justifies the decision to give him first dibs at the Pavilion End. You wonder when we will next see Pant, given he looked in a lot of pain during that innings.

Siraj was given a 15% fine by the match ref overnight for his send-off of Duckett. Jofra might get the same…

11:16 AM BST

Wicket!

Pant b Archer 9 Fantastic. Angling in from round the wicket, pitching and nipping away to knock off-stump out of the ground. An absolute peach. FOW 71/5

11:13 AM BST

OVER 20: IND 66/4 (Rahul 36 Pant 5) chasing 193

Stokes is bowling full to Rahul, looking for that ridge but pushing it six inches beyond and Rahul nails a cover drive. The fielder in the ring dives over it but there’s also a sweeper out who restricts the stroke to two.

Rahul rides the bounce when Stokes cranks the length back and flicks it through wide mid-on for a single.

Shoaib Bashir is not out on the ground (Sam Cook is), but he doesn’t need to be brought into the attack, because it’s an external blow. The sense, increasingly, is that this is down to the seamers.

11:08 AM BST

OVER 19: IND 63/4 (Rahul 33 Pant 5) chasing 193

Pant wrings his left hand after defending Archer’s first, very full ball on off and middle into the legside. The India fans cheer in high-pitched excitement, reflecting their youth, when Archer sprays the next one on to Pant’s pads and he tickles it one-handedly for four.

The next two deliveries are better, hitting a punishing length now and threatening Pant’s injured finger, jarring the bat hard. Pant chisels out a yorker, again taking his left hand off the bat as soon as he can and defends the last in similar fashion as Archer flirts with 90mph.

Stokes will continue.

11:03 AM BST

OVER 18: IND 59/4 (Rahul 33 Pant 1) chasing 193

Stokes comes round the wicket to Pant, bangs it in back of a length and Pant gets off the mark by closing the face on a back-foot defensive and cuffing it to Pope’s left. Two slips for Rahul and Stokes opts for length and beats him fishing outside off with one that keeps low on a fifth-stump line.

It’s Archer not Carse who will have first dibs on the Pavilion End surprisingly.

11:00 AM BST

Out come the players

WinViz has India as 55-45 favourites. Feels about right, but I quite fancy England. Rishabh Pant will start up for India, and so much hangs on him. Stokes and Carse for England, with Archer to follow at the Pavilion End?

10:59 AM BST

Who do you open with?

Stokes has two balls left of his fifth over from the Nursery End. While Brydon Carse will have first dibs from the Pavilion End, I think Stokes would be more minded to stay on for a bit and then give Jofra Archer a burst rather than yielding immediately. There was dome friction between the two yesterday over Archer bowling the right length to his field but Stuart Broad says the two are such firm friends it will have been patched up and Stokes will ask him “for the best five overs of your life” when he does bring him on.

10:32 AM BST

Brydon Carse speaks to Sky Sports

Over the course of the series there have been times I’ve felt in good rhythm and hitting good areas consistently. When I look back at last night [I was in good rhythm and] that was when it was swinging. The ball is only 20 overs old. We have a good hour of it still being hard this morning and hopefully we can get it swinging again.

I wa shaving a chat with Tim Southee late last night. I was trying to get it swinging but those two [the wickets of Nair and Gill] didn’t, they went down the slope. They were the variation. That’s what the slope offers.

It doesn’t matter which end I’m given, we’re aware this first hour is going to be important and everyone is going to give 100 per cent and leave nothing in the tank.

10:24 AM BST

Fractured fingers

There is pep in England’s step as they warm up this morning. They will probably have to do the job on the final day with minimal input from their spinner. Shoaib Bashir is out there, bowling with some strapping on his left hand. Maybe he will bowl a bit but he cannot be relied on, I wouldn’t think. Gus Atkinson is also out there warming up. I suspect he plays at Old Trafford.

Both teams have been nursing a hand injury. Rishabh Pant is due in to bat first thing. It’s all above board and in the regulations, but it doesn’t feel quite right that none of the Indian batsmen have had to deal with the fatigue associated with keeping for 170 overs across the match. Dhruv Jurel has been allowed to do it for Pant.

Interesting this one, isn’t it. There were a few critics calling Bashir soft for not being out there last nighty but it makes perfect sense given the playing regulations. With so few runs to play with they want a reliable fielder not a one-handed one and given he has an external injury they can bring him on to bowl whenever they like.

10:12 AM BST

Indian flavour

Morning from Lord’s where we will have a very different crowd to the usual MCC audience. Suspect a tense final day will feel like a home match for the away team given the number of India fans in St John’s Wood this morning. Tickets were priced at £25 for adults, £5 for kids and they sold out two days ago.

Last night I was leaning towards India win, this morning I fancy England and Brydon Carse from the Pavilion End. A lot riding on today for some individuals. Lose and England will surely have to make changes.

10:09 AM BST

Looking forward

England must drop Pope for Bethell to win Ashes

A prime feature of the past two Ashes series in Australia that England have won has been the consistency of the selection of their batsmen. Andrew Strauss kept his same top six in 2010-11. So did Mike Gatting in 1986-87, apart from the one Test when Ian Botham was injured.

Or put it another way: a sure sign that England are losing an Ashes series in Australia is when they chop and change their batting. Pace bowlers have to be rotated in a five-Test series. If batsmen are being rotated, it is a hallmark of weakness.

In this context the decision to drop Ollie Pope has to be taken before the fourth Test at Old Trafford against India. Pope, 27, has to be dropped because four of England’s top five batsmen – all except Joe Root – are too similar in age, too similar in background, too similar in experience and too similar in their approach.

10:00 AM BST

Sir Geoffrey Boycott’s briefing

09:55 AM BST

Preview: Breeding butterflies

Good morning and welcome to live coverage of day five of the third England vs India Test from Lord’s which is delightfully poised with the touring side needing 135 to win and the hosts requiring six wickets. Sunday provided compelling drama from the start with the ball flying and occasionally dying on a good length from the Nursery End, Mohammed Siraj scrambling brains and drawing false shots from the other followed by some brain-fade batting, defiant mini-stands until Washinton Sundar, who gives it a rip, used the siren song of his drift to lure Messrs Root, Smith and Stokes on to the rocks.

The punditry consensus during England’s innings was that they were about 90 short with only Stuart Broad exhibiting confidence in his former team-mate’s to get things down. It brought to mind Ian Botham’s quip on the Tuesday at Headingley in 1981 – and I know this Test is in no way comparable with ‘The Miracle’ – when asked about saying the previous evening “50 or 60 more and it could be interesting” and they had added only five more to set 130. “That made it even more interesting.”

Indeed it did. There’s nothing like chasing a low target on a precarious pitch to breed butterflies and have doubt nipping at the backside. Brydon Carse bowled beautifully last night to take two vital wickets, backing up Jofra Archer who went off the boil after unsettling Yashasvi Jaiswal and Chris Woakes who bowled one beauty and then induced a mistake from KL Rahul but failed to take a hard return catch. Ben Stokes knocking over the nightwatchman late makes England slight favourites but still have to get Rahul (369 runs @ 73.80  in the series to date), Rishabh Pant (416 @ 83.20) and Ravi Jadeja (266 @ 88.66) out before they can have a dart at the two relatively inexperienced all-rounders plus Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

It will be a full house and the England supporters roared Stokes’ side on last night in a fairly evenly split crowd but at Edgbaston the fifth-day crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Indian. It will be interesting to see which of the two sets was more organised and more optimistic in investing in day five tickets for today.