England are winners at Edgbaston... but Test cricket is victorious

SAM MORSHEAD AT EDGBASTON: The spark was another snorting in-ducker from Ben Stokes which caught Virat Kohli wandering across his stumps. Aleem Dar’s finger was up in a flash, Stokes down on his knees, leading Edgbaston in a guttural roar

^{Ben Stokes celebrates the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli}

Edgbaston (fourth day of five): England 287 & 180 beat India 274 & 162 by 31 runs

Roll up, roll up… welcome to the greatest show on earth.

To be at Edgbaston this week was to be immersed in a cricketing carnival; an eye-popping jamboree of the good, not-so-good and oh-so-ugly of this fantastic sport. A feast for the senses, a tug-of-war for the emotions.

In the end, on a Saturday morning when 15,000 fans rocked up fully aware that they would have little more than 90 minutes’ entertainment, England won by 31 runs, with Ben Stokes their ringmaster.

But this was about more than the result - even if for England it means plenty after a recent dearth of form. This was about the spectacle of sport, and the unique capacity Test cricket has for storytelling. Captivating storytelling.

No other game is quite like it. There is so much going on all at once in this travelling circus of sights and sounds, even when the match appears to be at an impasse.

One minute you could lose yourself in the battle between Jimmy Anderson and the outside edge of Virat Kohli’s bat, the next engrossed by Sam Curran’s swaggering impetuosity.

^{Jimmy Anderson struck first on Saturday}

Wait, wait, look over there… Stokes is leading the Dukes ball in a performance of the hokey cokey.

Have you played the ‘will they catch it’ game with the two slip cordons? It’s just like tossing a coin.

Enthralling. Exciting. Extra special.

For cricket as a sport, and Test cricket as a format, it was a timely and considerable reminder of the dramatic potential within.

It was not always high-quality - individuals dazzled while their team-mates floundered - but it was relentlessly high-intensity and stratospherically high-entertainment.

You won’t see a much better whole-Test display with the bat than that of Kohli - who scored 46 per cent of his side’s runs in the match - yet the rest of India’s potent top five fizzed pathetically, like a week-old bottle of open pop sadly discarded at the back of the fridge.

You won’t see many cockier, classier second-Test appearances than that provided by Curran, yet England’s middle order bellyflopped twice in the match to leave the kid with the responsibility of wiping up the splashback.

Not that any of that took away from the spectacle. In fact, it added to it. Cricket, hey, bloody hell.

^{Stokes sends Edgbaston wild with two wickets in an over}

As if this quite exceptional Test hadn’t had its fill of sub-plots, up popped another one within the first 10 minutes of play on day four; Dawid Malan, in perhaps his final session as an England international, taking a terrific grab low in front of him at second slip to help Jimmy Anderson get rid of Dinesh Karthik.

Malan, instantly mobbed by his team-mates, has made as many catches as he has spilled at Edgbaston, and this one went a long way to his country securing a memorable victory, yet the ones he put down will be remembered much more keenly.

England still had much to do and, for a while, it seemed as though it was well beyond them as Hardik Pandya settled quickly at the crease with Kohli, unafraid to go after balls which warranted aggression, compact in defence.

With just 53 required, though, came the spark to light the English fuse, another snorting in-ducker from Stokes which caught Kohli wandering across his stumps.

Aleem Dar’s finger was up in a flash, Stokes down on his knees, the allrounder leading Edgbaston in a guttural roar.

Kohli reviewed, perhaps in desperate hope of an overstep or an inside edge which he never felt. He must have known he was gone. It took an age for the Indian captain to tear himself from the field, not that should be much of a surprise. Having spent so much time on the Edgbaston square this week, he could well regard it as a second home.

^{Adil Rashid pleads for an lbw decision}

Now there was belief steaming through the veins of the England players. Stokes pounded his way to the crease, Mohammed Shami leaned onto the back foot. Bad move. The ball leaped off the surface like a gymnast from a trampoline, high-fiving Shami’s outside edge as it somersaulted into Jonny Bairstow’s gloves.

The hush and then the carnage. Edgbaston was on its feet - bananas, lifeguards, Elvises and all; the pockets of Indian fans well and truly outsung.

At the end of the over, Stokes strode purposefully to collect his jumper from umpire Dar, in the same way a heavyweight champion might look for his mouthguard from his corner at the sound of the bell.

Ishant Sharma made 11 before falling victim, once again, to Adil Rashid. Trapped in front, only getting half a stride to the wrong’un, umpire Chris Gaffaney’s decision not to send the batsman on his way at first seemed quite perplexing, even more so when DRS showed the ball crashing into middle and leg.

Now it was down to the final pair. The field spread, urging Pandya to take a single, which he routinely declined, trying to spare Umesh Yadav from as much of the strike as possible.

But Stokes was not to be denied. In his final action for England before his trial, which begins on Monday, the allrounder caught the edge of Pandya’s bat. Cook swallowed the chance whole.

England winners.

Test cricket, victorious.