By Brian Thomas
Day two at Kensington oval in London looked the best day in the summer we have had so far. 18 degrees Celsius in England is a luxury.
England resumed their overnight score on 53 for 3 wickets. The pitch looked a belter, the outfield very quick, scores predicted by pundits was 350, as batting would be relatively easy when the ball gets older.
In England seam up deliveries is a pre-requisite to get among the Wickets. However, Mohd Siraj and even Romesh Yadev were more scrambled than seam up in their delivery strides.
Craig Overton the night watchman, was sent back to the dressing room with England on 53 when he tried fiddle at Yadev scrambled, and a wide and short delivery that bounced a bit to be brilliantly caught by Virat Kholi at second slip.
Dawid Marlan the left-hander looked very composed, however, paid the price whilst extending his individual score from 26 overnight to 31, when yet again a scrambled seam delivery did the trick from Yadev who had him caught by Rohit Sharma at the slip cordon with England in trouble on 62 for 5 wickets.
With both overnight batsmen gone Oliver Pope and Johnny Bairstow came out with a sterling batting performance to take England to lunch on 139 for 5 wickets. An unbroken partnership was the feature of 79 runs with Pope unbeaten on 38 and Bairstow on 34
England made 86 runs in the first session, Yadev had 3 scalps whilst Bumrah 2 , however with the pitch easing out batting looked very easy.
England resumed their post lunch session on 139 for 5 Wickets, and went in for tea on 227 for 7 Wickets with 3 wickets in hand. Oliver Pope who was involved in a 89 run partnership with Johnny Bairstow for the 6th wicket remained unbeaten on 74 with Chris Woakes on 4.
The Ian Bell look a like Oliver Pope mended a fine partnership with Mohin Ali for the 7th wicket , the pair made 71 valuable runs on a easy paced pitch as predicted. Ali made a stylish 35 before he played his only rash stroke off Ravindru Jadeja and was caught at mid wicket by Rohit Sharma with India on 222 . The Indian seamers will regret not hitting the right areas by bowling on this pitch short of a length, instead the bowled a fuller length that gets you wickets in Headingly not here at the oval.
Pope enjoyed himself at deliveries bowled at his pads . England made 88 runs in this session, India will have new ball in 10 overs, hence its fair to presume the final session will be important to both teams in the context of this game.
India will be kicking themselves for letting Chis Woakes off the hook after dismissing Olli Pope for 81 with England on 250 runs at the fall of the 8th Wicket.
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