and Brendon McCullum were fervidly formulating yet another bold stratagem. Attack the rain. Run into the downpour. Certainly you could imagine Stokes himself itching to get out there and show the weather who was boss. Obviously you’ve got to respect precipitation’s record at this level. But like any meteorological phenomenon, put it under pressure and it cracks.
Finally, shortly before 6pm, the last of the rain clouds finally drifted off in the vague direction of Sutton Coldfield and under cautiously blue skies England’s first innings could finally resume. It was a weird and sobering hour, one that for all the home side’s bad intentions ended with an umbrella of close fielders stationed around the bat, with England counting down the minutes, with the Indians in the crowd making all the noise.
Here, perhaps, was the starkest illustration of the difference between attacking intent and winning intent, between a culture that has been superimposed and a culture that has been hardwired, between the team that England are now and the team they are trying to be. And as England’s top order again crumbled in the face of a relentless pace-bowling assault, it was a reminder too that no amount of motivational branding can overturn the simple advantage of better cricketers playing better cricket.
After all, India have been playing a positive brand of cricket for four years, not four weeks. There is a texture and a depth to them, a team that can accommodate both the dash of Shubman Gill and the circumspection of Cheteshwar Pujara, that can absorb the loss of a captain and vice-captain and not feel materially weakened. They can sit in and take the game deep, or they can take it away from you in a session. They can mesmerise an opponent with spin or blow them away with pace.
And really it was the basic stupidity that was the most notable feature here. England were stupid-good against New Zealand. So far in this Test they have been stupid-bad, and if you think one excuses the other then a cursory look at India’s record – 19 series wins out of 24, won all over the world – offers a handy point of contrast. In 30 Tests, plenty of opponents have tried to hit Bumrah for four runs an over. Excluding spells of under 10 overs, only one has managed it.
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