"Stokesy's spell turned the game": Alex Lees credits bowlers for England's recovery

SAM MORSHEAD AT EDGBASTON: India had a lead of 285 with seven second-innings wickets of their own in hand on Monday morning, but Ben Stokes claimed four wickets as the tourists lost them all for 92 runs

Alex Lees put England's fifth-Test turnaround down to their bowling performance after another compelling day at Edgbaston.

Lees made 56 as England ended day four 259 for 3, just 119 runs short of what would be a record successful chase for the country in Tests.

Jonny Bairstow made another unbeaten half-century, and Joe Root was 76 not out at the close, but Lees pointed to the bowlers as the key in England pulling themselves back into the game.

India had a lead of 285 with seven second-innings wickets of their own in hand on Monday morning, but Ben Stokes claimed four as the tourists lost them all for 92 runs. 

"It's a good batting wicket. The thing that brought us back into the game was our bowling," Lees said.

^{Alex Lees made 56 for England on Monday [Getty Images]}

"Stokesy's spell turned the game on its head. That was the defining moment for me. We could easily have been chasing 450 or 500.

Lees took an aggressive approach into his work on day four, scoring his second Test fifty from just 44 balls and putting on 104 for the first wicket with Zak Crawley.

After the end of the day, he credited the general positive mindset instilled in this team by Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum for giving him the inspiration to take on the Indian attack.

"Everyone's pretty confident," he said. "We know we have to play positively to put the bowlers under pressure. The target's in the background, but not something we've necessarily spoken about."

The Durham batsman was well set on 56 when he was run out by Root, who called him through for a single to short fine leg which simply wasn't there.

Lees was not about to hold it against his colleague, however,

"He could lend me one of his Test hundreds," he joked. "He's got plenty of them.

"I saw him briefly. He was gutted. On a personal level, being run out in two innings is hard to take. The pleasing thing for me is we're in an amazing position as a team. 

^{Ben Stokes took four important wickets on day four [Geoff Paddick/AFP via Getty Images]}

"I've run out people and it's a horrible thing to do. But he [Root] is a top guy and hopefully he'll get the job done tomorrow."

Lees became the second England batsman in as many days to be on the end of some barbed comments from Virat Kohli while at the crease, following the former India captain's exchange with Bairstow on Sunday.

Like Bairstow, however, Lees downplayed the incident - which began at the crease and continued as the pair walked off for tea.

"He's obviously a very competitive person, and I'm quite headstrong also. That's what my wife says," Lees said. 

"It was just general cricket competitiveness. I wasn't going to back down. That's the edge that Test cricket has and needs. We need characters and emotion."

Related Topics

• England's master chasers on verge of record after superb display with bat and ball