Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett put on an unbroken 117 to boost England’s hopes of reeling in 371 and drawing first blood in the Rothesay Test series at Headingley.
Josh Tongue vowed England would go all out for victory on the fifth day, which India’s KL Rahul predicted would be a “blockbuster”, but it was initially a slow burner on a murky morning in Leeds.
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However, England will be the happier of the two teams after a wicketless first session in which India struggled to create much, Duckett leading the way with 64 not out and Crawley unbeaten on 42.
They eschewed risk to add 96 to their total on Tuesday morning, largely off change bowlers Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur after a more watchful approach against Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
All eyes were on Bumrah in overcast and blustery conditions. In England’s first innings he was irresistible with the new ball and while Duckett carved him away early on, Bumrah followed up with a jaffa that angled away and whistled tantalisingly close to the left-hander’s edge.
Crawley and Duckett were able to negotiate Bumrah’s four-over burst without many more alarms. When Krishna came on, Duckett slashed over the slips but was then more authoritative on the drive and cut.
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Crawley took a more cautious approach but after punching Krishna through the covers a couple of times, he mistimed a pull shot which landed safely at deep midwicket.
Duckett went past his half-century before India, agitating for a ball change for much of the session, got their wish a quarter of an hour before the interval. The switch went without reward despite the returning Bumrah dropping a tough return catch to reprieve Crawley on 42 on the stroke of lunch.
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