Pope and Bairstow give England the edge and show why Test cricket is the best

HUW TURBERVILL AT THE KIA OVAL: Anybody doubting the brilliance of this entertainment should look at the highlights of the thrilling sixth-wicket stand of 89 as England took control of the fourth Test

Scorecard

The Kia Oval (second day of five): India 191 & 43-0, England 290 - India trail by 56 runs with 10 second-innings wickets remaining

How lucky are we? This Test series is deliciously poised, the autumnal weather is holding firm and I don’t know about you but the footy isn’t really registering with me at the moment.

Instead, we have England v India, at The Kia Oval, act four (of five) in another of Test cricket’s epic sagas (act eight of nine if you include the stormy subcontinental skirmish in the spring).

Anybody doubting the brilliance of this entertainment should look at the highlights of Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow’s thrilling sixth-wicket stand of 89. I was lucky enough to be sitting next to Scyld Berry, The Daily Telegraph doyen, and hearing him oohing and aahing indicates that a passage of play is indeed the real deal.

Of course, there are subplots and politics behind pulsating cricket. Pope narrowly edged out Dan Lawrence for the No.6 slot in the England team for this match, and it made sense on his home turf.

Both have been struggling in Tests. Lawrence made only 25 in his last three innings, inspiring Michael Vaughan to say he looked “out of his depth”, even though the knock before he made an unbeaten 81 against New Zealand at Edgbaston. He chose to play for Essex in the LV=Insurance County Championship this week against Glamorgan at Cardiff, making 34.

Pope on the other hand had not made a Test half-century in 15 innings. It is understood that he wanted to stay in the Test ‘bubble’ rather than play for Surrey against Durham at Chester-le-Street. In the end, the match was called off because of Covid.

It all boils down to the modern players’ preference for practice over playing. Would Pope have felt he was better prepared to face India’s tremendous seam attack of 85-mph bowlers by being in the nets under the expert eye of England's coaches, rather than facing Chris Rushworth and co?

England batting coach Graham Thorpe shone a light on this dialectic when talking about Joe Root’s return to form. “We noticed he was picking the bat up differently,” he told The Telegraph’s Nick Hoult after Root made five Championship appearances for Yorkshire at the start of the season.

“Sometimes when the lads go into county cricket, and I’m not knocking county cricket but this is the difference, the bowling is not as quick. You have to adjust for that and sometimes you slow your movements down but when you come back to international cricket you have to be sharper and quicker again.”

Whatever Pope’s thought processes, it certainly seemed to work as he made a wonderful return to form, with 81. His stand with Bairstow dug England out of a deep hole at 62 for 5, in pursuit of India’s 191.

Bairstow in particular started shakily: a shot a ball, schizoid strokeplay. He settled down, though, showing the classy player that he can be.

The duo signalled their intent at 78 for 5 in Shardul Thakur’s second over of the day. A glance to the boundary, four leg-byes, a clip through midwicket, then a full-blooded pull from Pope – 16 runs from four balls: rousing stuff. Thwacking Thakur – Test cricket infused with T20. “This is the best I’ve seen of Pope in a Test shirt,” said Vaughan, who has a Blairite love of soundbites. 

^{Bairstow found himself inadvertently caught up in the controversy of the day}

Mohammed Siraj then received a similar mauling off Bairstow from the final three balls of the next over: an edge, an extraordinary shovel through midwicket (a bit ‘Welsh Fire’ that one), then a crack past point. 

Suddenly India were on the back foot and the dynamic of the game had shifted.

When Bairstow produced a lovely on-drive, England had smashed 41 in four overs. They had seized the day.

Up until then, this Test had seen two vulnerable batting units being dissected by a pair of skilful attacks. 

Bairstow fell for 37, it is true. In 14 Test innings he has passed 25 on 10 occasions, but only once has he gone to a half-century. More cameos than Stan Lee. He is influencing games, however, and in conjunction with his fine catching on day one, he is having a good Test.

He had been rattled by Jarvo 69’s latest cameo, one that seemed to test the patience even of the crowd this time; then when out he argued with a steward – presumably about the movement behind the bowler’s arm. Finally, he sat down with a calming coffee. He shouldn’t be too hard on himself. He played his part in what could prove to be a crucial, Test-defining stand.