Zak Crawley insisted there was never any doubt “phenomenal” Joe Root would return to form for England following his unbeaten century against India.
Root came into the fourth Test having not reached 30 in the series while a couple of uncharacteristic dismissals recently led to scrutiny on whether he should tailor his methods to fit the ‘Bazball’ philosophy.
The argument has been Root does not need to alter his approach and he put his lean patch behind him with a more traditional Test innings to amass 106 not out as England went to stumps on 302 for seven.
The 33-year-old rescued England after they had slipped to 112 for five in a helter-skelter opening session on a cracked Ranchi pitch and Crawley believes the Yorkshireman is the only batter who could have dug the tourists out of the fire.
“He’s probably the only bloke in our team who could have done that knock, he’s that good and he’s stepped up when we needed him to,” Crawley said.
“He’s a phenomenal player. We fully expected him to get a good score at some point in this series. He was due, he’s the best player we’ve ever had and he played phenomenally.
“We’re so happy for him and we never doubted him. If anything we know that when he’s got a couple of low scores he’s even more likely to get the big one, and we expected that from him.
“He deserves everything he gets, he works so hard at his game and he always comes good.”
Root’s 31st Test hundred – brought up off 219 balls, the slowest century by any England batter under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum – was marked in understated fashion as he kissed the badge on his helmet and raised his bat to team-mates who were celebrating enthusiastically on the dressing-room balcony.
There was no sign of the reverse ramp he had gotten out to in Rajkot, which proved a sliding doors moment in England’s heavy defeat as they went 2-1 down in the five-match series, while conventional and reverse sweeps were rare occurrences.
Root was unbreachable in defence, judicious off front and back foot and unfurled his customary late cuts and leg glances behind square, while there was also the odd cover drive.
Crawley, though, insisted a surface offering early movement and uneven bounce throughout dictated Root’s more classical innings, rather than widespread criticism he has faced in the last few days.
“If the pitch had been truer, I reckon he would have still played those shots,” Crawley said.
“It might have just been the variable bounce which stopped him sweeping and paddling, it wasn’t really the pitch for that kind of thing; it was too inconsistent.
“In Dharamshala (which will host the fifth Test), it’s a flatter wicket, I’d fully expect him to reverse ramp one. That’s just Joe. He’s very present when he bats and doesn’t overthink too much.”
England went at 4.63 an over in the morning thanks to counter-attacking knocks from Crawley, who made a run-a-ball 42, and Jonny Bairstow’s 38 off 35 deliveries.
But the tricky surface, rather than a brain fade, was largely responsible for England’s precarious position at lunch, with Crawley bowled twice by Akash Deep, the first off a no-ball, as the India debutant bagged a three-wicket haul.
While the odd one still kept low, batting conditions improved upon the resumption as Root and Ben Foakes (47) combined to put on 113 to stabilise the tourists.
Crawley hopes England’s seamers can make similar inroads with the new ball but anticipates spin to dominate for the remainder of the match.
“I got out still fairly early but it looked like it wasn’t bouncing anywhere near as much or as quickly as earlier on against seam,” Crawley added.
“It got harder against the spin, it will continue to break up. It might be a new-ball wicket, hopefully it is when we bowl but the I think the spin’s only going to get harder.”
England and Australia series drawn as third T20I washed out
England's T20I series with Australia ended in a draw after Sunday's scheduled third match at Old Trafford was washed out.
Australia won the first T20I comfortably in Southampton on Wednesday, only for the hosts to level things up with a three-wicket triumph in Cardiff on Friday.
However, there was to be no decider on Sunday as heavy rain continued throughout the day in Manchester, with the match abandoned following an afternoon pitch inspection.
Both teams' attention will now switch to the first of their five ODI meetings, which is scheduled for Trent Bridge on Thursday.
England captain Jos Buttler will again be absent for the ODIs, having failed to recover from a right calf injury.
Harry Brook will lead the team in his absence, just 18 months on from his first England appearance in the format.
After the match at Trent Bridge, the teams will face off at Headingley, Durham, Lord's and Bristol, with the final encounter taking place on September 29.
de Kock plunders 115 as Royals defeat Amazon Warriors to go top of CPL standings
Quinton de Kock pummelled Guyana Amazon Warriors with a brilliant century as Barbados Royals recorded a 32-run victory at Kensington Oval on Saturday to move to the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League's (CPL) top spot.
After the Warriors elected to bowl, de Kock dominated the Royals' total of 205-6 and batted almost through the innings to compile an outstanding 115 off 68 balls.
Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj claimed three wickets as the Warriors finished well short on 173-5 to slump to their first loss of the season.
After a heartbreaking two-wicket defeat to Trinbago Knight Riders the night earlier, the Royals rejigged their batting order with Kadeem Alleyne replacing Rahkeem Cornwall.
Alleyne enjoyed the promotion and monstered a couple of massive sixes, including off Moeen Ali who made his CPL debut. But his whirlwind 22 off nine balls ended in the third over when he holed out to quick Dwaine Pretorius.
After a cautious start, de Kock took over with a calculated assault on Shamar Joseph in the seventh over. But Joseph, desperate to rediscover his best form, hit back after striking de Kock on the body in a painful blow.
The South African shook off the discomfort and rolled to his half-century off 34 balls. He particularly enjoyed hitting straight down the ground, highlighted by smacking a slower delivery back over the head of left-arm seamer Raymon Reifer.
Wickets fell around de Kock, who appeared to be batting on a different surface as he reached his century off 60 balls. He joined Evin Lewis as the only batters to hit a ton so far in this season's CPL.
De Kock hit a couple of more sixes before falling with three balls left in the innings. After struggling with the ball at the death against the Knight Riders, a determined Jason Holder smashed three sixes in a row in the penultimate over off seamer Keemo Paul.
Holder's mood continued to brighten after he claimed Warriors opener Azam Khan with his first delivery in the second over. The Warriors' chase stuttered when a frustrated Tim Robinson was stumped after being deceived by a flighted delivery from Maharaj.
Shimron Heytmeyer started with consecutive sixes off Maharaj and then smashed another one into the crowd on the resumption from a one-hour rain delay.
But Maharaj exacted revenge by enticing a false shot from Hetmyer in the ninth over as the Warriors' chase fell away despite cameos from Moeen, Paul and captain Shai Hope.
The Royals moved to 4-1 and replaced the Warriors (3-1) at the top of the table.
Hosein shines with bat and ball to lead TKR to last-ball win over Barbados Royals
Terrance Hinds smashed a six off the penultimate delivery as Trinbago Knight Riders ended Barbados Royals’ unbeaten record in the 2024 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) after a nerve-jangling two-wicket victory at Kensington Oval on Friday.
Chasing 157, the Knight Riders needed 11 runs off the final over and appeared headed for defeat when Akeal Hosein fell off the third delivery with six runs still required.
But Jason Holder bowled a waist high full toss and on the subsequent delivery Hinds whacked a six down the ground off the free hit. The Knight Riders now move alongside the Royals with a 3-1 record.
The Royals had struggled to handle Knight Riders’ spinners and managed to post 156/7 thanks to an unbeaten 59 from 38 balls from skipper Rovman Powell.
The Knight Riders, last year’s finalists, elected to field and looked to continue their dominance over the Royals having beaten them twice last season.
The Royals made a disastrous start when opener Rahkeem Cornwall made his third straight duck after falling off the second delivery of the innings. Hosein struck again just two balls later when he trapped Alick Athanaze for a duck.
Quinton de Kock and Rivaldo Clarke consolidated before the South African was knocked over by a perfect wrong’un from Waqar Salamkheil to halt the Royals, who soon lost Holder for a duck.
The Royals struggled for boundaries in the middle overs before David Miller collared Hosein with a massive six over extra cover in the 13th over. Miller’s cameo ended at the hands of Salamkheil, who finished with a superb 3/13.
Powell had little of the strike before taking over with a slew of sixes, including off seamer Jayden Seales in the last over to reach his half-century in style.
The Knight Riders, who had strategised chasing amid dewy conditions, similarly had a poor start when Sunil Narine holed out to spinner Maheesh Theekshana on the first ball.
Opener Jason Roy started with a couple of glorious drives before being bamboozled by Theekshana to leave the contest delicately poised. After a brief rain delay, Shaqkere Parris was dropped on nine by Holder off Theekshana as Nicholas Pooran took control to steady the Knight Riders.
But his breezy 23-ball 35 ended with a spectacular double act in the deep when Powell caught the ball before flicking it to Holder just before he went over the boundary.
Parris had support from Keacy Carty as the Knight Riders appeared well on track needing 51 off 36 balls. The reintroduction of Theekshana in the 15th over did the trick as he lured Parris into a false shot triggering a collapse from the Knight Riders.
It set up a grandstand finish until Hinds’ late heroics stunned the local fans.
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