England lead India by 233 runs at end of day three of fourth Test – as it happened

It was worth rushing through that Ashwin because Shami’s done the trick, locating Rashid’s edge with a delivery that squared him up after pitching.

91st over: England 259-7 (Curran 36, Rashid 11) Ashwin does come on for a 60-second maiden at Rashid. The spinner gave him the full bag of tricks but his opposite number wasn’t intersted in any of it, leaning forward in defense throughout. One over left.

90th over: England 259-7 (Curran 36, Rashid 11) Two overs to stumps, unless they rush Ashwin through to make a third. We’ll see. For now, it is Shami again. Rashid is a fan of the pace on the ball, getting back in his crease to carve through the gap at backward point for his second boundary. He is playing this mini-session beautifully.

89th over: England 253-7 (Curran 35, Rashid 6) Ishant to Rashid again, the new batsman looking at ease before giving the strike back to Curran with a tickle to fine leg. The youngster defends with a straight blade then misses a ball down the legside that also beats the diving Pant, adding a bye to the extras column. England’s lead is 226.

“Every time Kohli seems to run out of ideas, on the field, he disappears into the pavilion and comes back to a change of fortune,” observes Ian Howard. “Is he being coached? The time in the pavilion does not seem to be long enough to relieve himself.”

88th over: England 251-7 (Curran 35, Rashid 5) Curran makes it boundaries in each of the last three overs, boldly cutting over the cordon to complete the first over of Shami’s new spell. The shot gets England to 250, which is some achivement given where they were when Root was run out halfway through the day.

87th over: England 245-7 (Curran 30, Rashid 4) A competent start for Rashid, getting right in behind Ishant’s offerings from the get-go before clipping through the legside to the rope with immaculate timing. A delightful way to get off the mark.

“Sympathies for Mr Pant,” emails George Humphreys after the Indian wicketkeeper’s chunder a little back. “The last time I played cricket was as a ringer for an after work 6-a-side league (I’m that good). The regular ‘keeper was missing having detached his Achilles’ tendon in the previous game. His brother took his place until he dislocated a finger three overs in and went to hospital. The replacement replacement was then standing up to the stumps (bold in the circumstances, right?) when the batsman was castled and our man got hit in the chin by a flying bail, splitting it open and sending him the way of his predecessors. To be honest, nobody really fancied keeping after that so we packed it in. Thanks for the splendid work.”

As any number of pros say when asked, there is nothing better in cricket than not actually playing cricket. Good decision. But, George, did he have a spew?

86th over: England 241-7 (Curran 30, Rashid 0) Once again, Curran is taking it to the Indian attack when batting with the bowlers. Given the chance to drive Bumrah he does so perfectly, down the ground for four. Next up, he’s in almost the identical posture but on this occasion placing through the covers for four more. Lovely stuff.

“Curran to bat at number 3, I say” writes Andrew Benton in response. “Worth a try? He’s got oodles of common sense with the bat, and plenty of well-managed confidence.”

Kim Thonger is also believing the hype: “I think the perfect moment for a declaration is immediately after Curran reaches his century, with a six, naturally.”

Make no mistake, if Shane Warne was on commentary right now he would be advocating that England have a couple of overs at them tonight.

Ishant replaces Ashwin and gets the breakthrough! It’s the big one too, Buttler caught on the front pad just below the knee-roll. DRS confirmed that it was darting back off the seam onto his woodwork. Fantastic piece of bowling to end a crucial innings and very handy partnership of 55 with Curran. England lead by 206.

85th over: England 233-7 (Curran 22)

84th over: England 228-6 (Buttler 66, Curran 20) Bumran takes the second new ball from the pavilion and sends down a maiden to Buttler, who is understandably watchful given what the Indian attack-leader did with it last week at Trent Bridge.

83rd over: England 228-6 (Buttler 66, Curran 20) New ball! Taken… by Ashwin! Is Ishant broken? Buttler scores off the first ball from it, taking a single to the cover rope. Curran is watchful until he is given the chance to lash an overpitched delivery outside the off-stump through the field and to the boundary. Andrew Samson on TMS notes that in each of the six Test innings that Curran has played so far he has reached 20. Fantastic, isn’t he?

82nd over: England 223-6 (Buttler 65, Curran 16) Is Pandya doing something in this spell that I can’t see? Ishant hasn’t bowled this session, nor Shami. Instead, the all-rounder’s ninth over on the bounce brings runs from four of the six deliveries. They’re all in the smaller denominations but it highlights that this is drifting away from Kohli.

Our old OBO pal Vish is sitting beneath our press box in the sun with a couple of schoolmates on a busman’s. How’s he tracking at the end of a long day, do you think?

81st over: England 218-6 (Buttler 63, Curran 13) And… new ball not taken. Hmmmm. Sunny Gavaskar notes on radio the new rock risks of quicker runs. No doubt. But if they can’t finish England off tonight they’re in strife. Ashwin sends down another maiden to Curran, who looks as set as Buttler. Danger time for India again.

80th over: England 218-6 (Buttler 63, Curran 13) Shotttttt purr the purists as Buttler leans into a delightful off-drive off Pandya. The last ball of his eighth ineffective over keeps low, which will warm the heart of local fans who have now burst into a verse of Delilah with Billy the Trumpeter doing his thing. New ball due.

79th over: England 214-6 (Buttler 59, Curran 13) Ashwin to Curran in what will almost certainly be the final over of his long spell with the new ball due from his end the next time around. That may have informed the batsman’s defensive disposition here, taking no risks and patting away a maiden.

78th over: England 214-6 (Buttler 59, Curran 11) Pandya is allowing Buttler to dictate terms now, taking a couple of balls to get set before steering behind point for a two then going even finer to finish with a boundary to third man. A couple of singles in there too makes eight from the over. Sorry to keep banging on about it but Kohli has missed a trick here. The lead, all of a sudden, is 187.

77th over: England 206-6 (Buttler 52, Curran 12) Ouch! Some huge spin out of the rough from Ashwin over the wicket to Curran beats his edge and smashes into Pant’s face. He gets some attention from the medical staff which goes on for some minutes. Indeed, out come the ground staff too because he has thrown up on the field, so they need to cover it up in saw dust. I’ve never seen that before? Oh well, he’s all set now and we can play again.

Earlier, a dreadful full toss from the spinner was carted by Buttler through cover to bring up his half-century! 96 balls it took to raise his bat, reinforcing once more that he is a lot more than a white-ball basher. Indeed, his best hands this summer have been where he has needed to play this way. He looked ordinary for his first 30 minutes in the middle but is in control more by the over now.

76th over: England 201-6 (Buttler 47, Curran 12) There is the England 200, via a Sam Curran pull off Hardik early in his fresh over. Buttler drives another to cover to finish. There really is doing for the all-rounder so they have got to get one of their frontliners back on. Drinks in the final session taken with 18 overs remaining in he day.

Some stats here from the superstars at CricViz who give us the gift of numbers around this time every playing afternoon. Follow them here.

Difficult Areas
India’s seamers were bang on in their accuracy to Moeen Ali. Only 13% of deliveries would have hit the stumps, but as shown here, plenty more were right in just above off-stump.
White Ball Specialists Digging In
Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes have faced 539 deliveries batting together this series. The only partnership to have faced more is Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli, who’ve faced 565.

Weakness against straight balls
Eight of Bairstow’s last 18 dismissals against pace have been bowled (44%); average for all players against pace is 21%.

Playing it Late
77% of Joe Root’s runs today came behind square. He’s never made 48+ in a Test innings with a higher percentage through that zone.

Short of his Ground
Joe Root and Cheteshwar Pujara are the only two men to be run out twice in 2018 Tests.

Slow Going
Ben Stokes has really fought for his runs this summer. Across the series, he’s played just 10% attacking shots, well down on his career average of 29%.

Seriously Slow Going
Ben Stokes scoring rate of 2.05rpo in this series is his lowest for any series since India last toured England in 2014.

Tricky Day for Ashwin
Why hasn’t Ashwin been effective so far? He’s found 4° of spin, the most of any Test innings on tour, but he’s been a touch unlucky. The 8% play-and-misses he’s drawn today is the most for any innings this series.

75th over: England 199-6 (Buttler 46, Curran 11) Ashwin racing through, which might have a bit to do with the fact that they need to bowl 20 overs in 80 minutes and can’t be messing around. It’s another over where runs are on offer, two for Curran through midwicket and one to Buttler in the same direction to keep the strike. Between times, out of the rough Curran is leaving a ball that comes off the wicketkeeper Pant’s pad and runs away for a couple of byes. That’ll sting a bit; the crowd love it.

“There has been some live cricket on television, just not England’s men,” emails John Starbuck. “Over the past few years we have seen the IPL on ITV4 and some of the women’s matches. Only this week the BBC Red Button channel screened Ireland v Afghanistan ODIs. It looks as if the Freeview channels are trying to re-learn how to do it but the problem is the amount of cash offered by Sky to the ECB, just like they were dazzled by a caseful of dollars delivered by helicopter. Once bitten, twice shy maybe, but also short-sighted and naive, not realising that glossing it as a chance to improve the game at grass-roots level simply doesn’t play.”

It wasn’t lost upon us yesterday that Tim Murtagh became the first England-born cricketer to appear on free-to-air telly for his country in the UK since 2005.

74th over: England 194-6 (Buttler 46, Curran 8) Hardik doing the unfashionable work before the second new ball arrives. I think that is a mistake. The moment Stokes fell, one of the main three seamers should have returned to maximise the pressure. Instead, Buttler is able to defend the slightly less potent option before picking the gap through midwicket for a couple when he misses his mark. Lead: 167.

73rd over: England 192-6 (Buttler 44, Curran 8) Ashwin does go again, continuing his long shift from from the broadcast end and there’s a run from the first ball again via Curran’s blade. Buttler might be satisfied shifting back a notch at this point with another punchy type riding shotgun but there is a reminder that we are getting deeper into this game when Ashwin rips one out of the rough at the right-hander, beating the edge.

72nd over: England 190-6 (Buttler 43, Curran 7) Pandya is full and Curran is willing, square driving like Allan Border through point for his first boundary. He follows it with a single, leaving Buttler to play the rest conservatively. That lead is 163 and will quickly build in excess of 200 if these two can remain together for an hour or so.

71st over: England 185-6 (Buttler 43, Curran 2) Four from the over, Buttler again taking a couple from the first ball of it to get England going in the right direction, both men then taking singles off their pads. I know he just took a wicket but it might be time to give Ashwin a blow to see whether Ishant can find a bit of that sweet reverse swing.

70th over: England 181-6 (Buttler 40, Curran 1) Pandya isn’t going to bother Buttler now, who plays him with easy and takes the single on offer to third man. The all-rounder bangs it in at Curran, who is happy enough defending off the back foot then ducking under a bumper. Good start from him.

“I don’t really know how angry/hungover I am,” emails Nigel Phillips. Strong start, let’s continue. “I was at the cricket yesterday, waiting for my mate outside the ground and all the old fat guys were passing tickets through the fences to their work colleagues/clients. Some drunk people were dressed up as stars and frightening children. I got out of my fancy dress and chatted to my mate all day about sttuff. Between us we have three children (12 to 26), none of whom has shown the slightest interest in cricket, despite their dads playing regularly.”

Oh. That’s not so good. “Who are the ECB responsible to? I could try and look it up, but can’t be bothered. In 2005 I was in New York and watched England win the Ashes. Since then I have seen no cricket on TV.”

He gets angier but you get the idea – Sky, etc. Free to air TV has got to be part of the solution, for sure, but to discuss the problem properly, Ashwin can’t be bowling as there is not enough time to do it justice. Let’s save it for a lunch break chat at some stage.

69th over: England 180-6 (Buttler 39, Curran 1) There is a big roar from the crowd for Sam Curran, the hero of the first innings. He’s busy to begin, charging through for a single when clipping his second ball to midwicket before Buttler takes a full ball down the ground for one. If there were two more wickets on the board you can easily imagine him walloping a delivery like that through our press box window, but not now. Part of his charm this summer is that he has been able to turn his game up or down depending on the circumstances of the innings.

And they get that wicket next ball, Ashwin finding Stokes’ edge, taken at slip! Flighted from over the wicket, the left-hander was late on the full delivery trying to smother the spin but there was just enough movement to sort him out. That’s a big moment.

68th over: England 178-5 (Stokes 30, Buttler 38) Shot. Pandya gives Buttler the chance to drive and he doesn’t need a second invitation, crunching through the covers for four. That gets the crowd going. It takes the England lead beyond 150 too. India are in need of a wicket rather urgently, aren’t they?

67th over: England 174-5 (Stokes 30, Buttler 34) Buttler isn’t concerned about the near-miss, defending well then taking a full toss along the carpet to midwicket for one. A second bad ball in a row, this time to Stokes, does get the treatment: cut through cover with a minimum of fuss to the rope. Both men are now into the 30s and the partnership is now in excess of 50. It took 126 balls but that matters little with so much time left in this match.

“I feel a tad sorry for Bairstow,” writes tom V d Gucht. “He’s spent his entire international career desperately working hard to improve his glovesmanship and batting to the point that he’s at least Buttler’s equal as a keeper and has been a much more succesful test batsman. Yet he always has the looming spectre of Buttler’s “potential” hanging over him, despite Baistow going beyond mere potential with genuine runs, and again looks set to lose what is rightfully his. Keeping wicket seems to give Bairstow a psychological confidence boost, a bit like Dumbo and the magic feather, and by taking that away from him he might lose his ability to fly… It’s not quite compromising a strength to hide a weakness, but we’re certainly compromising a strength for a bit of wishful thinking.”

Has Ashwin found Buttler’s edge? The decision on the field is not out. Now confirmed by the third umpire. NOT OUT! Just as importantly, India are out of reviews.

66th over: England 169-5 (Stokes 26, Buttler 33) Hardik Pandya! Welcome to the bowling crease for the first time this innings. To think he was the destroyer at Nottingham in England’s first dig, it says a bit about the strength of India’s pace attack and he’s just a part-time option. Can he break this stand? Not initially, Buttler picking up a couple through midwicket from his first ball then another past point from the second. Stokes loses concentration briefly, playing and missing, after a long shift in defence-only mode.

65th over: England 166-5 (Stokes 26, Buttler 30) There is a shout for a bat-pad catch first up but it is nowhere near Buttler’s inside edge. Ashwin tries to keep the pressure on by racing through the rest of the over inside a minute but Buttler then Stokes look to have his measure. For now, at least.

64th over: England 165-5 (Stokes 26, Buttler 29) Bumrah begins by beating Buttler’s edge with a lovely delivery but is punished through midwicket for veering too straight from the next – a rare boundary for the hosts. The same man tries to give him the treatment through the same region to finish but there is a fielder in place so he gets only one. The partnership has moved along to a very handy 43 with the lad 138. Such is the low-scoring nature of this match, if they can get that above 220 or so, they might be laughing around this time tomorrow.

63rd over: England 160-5 (Stokes 26, Buttler 24) Ashwin bowling on the line of Stokes’ body, tying to hit his middle stump after pitching outside leg, isn’t causing him any issues. When missing his length with the final delivery, the southpaw has the time to get back and pull a couple to the sweeper in the deep. Good batting.

62nd over: England 158-5 (Stokes 24, Buttler 24) Not a lot going on from Bumrah’s end, Buttler taking a quick single then Stokes grabbing one through midwicket to finish. They’re still a long way from the second new ball, making Ashwin’s overs all the more important.

61st over: England 156-5 (Stokes 23, Buttler 23) They continue to stay neck and neck on the scoreboard, Stokes taking one from Ashwin’s first ball to nudge ahead then Buttler drawing even from the next. The left-hander has to use his bat for the rest of the over, smothering the turn rather than taking it on.

“The experiment with using Bairstow as a specialist batsman seems to be going well,” emails Phil Keegan. As one of those who has argued quite a lot for YJB to go into the top four, I don’t want to talk about it. As Simon Hughes noted on twitter, there was more to the dismissal than simply copping a good’un first up from Shami.

60th over: England 154-5 (Stokes 22, Buttler 22) Bumrah to continue his spell from the pavilion end. He is spot on to begin – as always seems to be the case with this excellent young quick – finding Stokes’ edge. Just as it was in the previous over, it goes to ground and one run is taken. Buttler has settled after a skittish start before tea, leaving well now. What England would give for one of these two to be there at the close.

59th over: England 153-5 (Stokes 21, Buttler 22) Ashwin finding his range in the first over following the break, not threatening to begin but spinning into the outside edge of Stokes’ blade – albeit straight to ground and behind point for one – by the end.

And with that, nominations for your West Indian names are closed. Not because I don’t love them but because I feel this sponge has been squeezed fairly dry. Are you ready for a two and a half hour session? I am. Ben and Jos are. So is Virat and co. The players are back on the field. Ashwin has the ball in his hand. Stokes is on strike. PLAY!

Your West Indian names. Here we go…

John Woods also goes by Holland Truman.

Alan Synott (an Irish off-spinner, and a bloody good one) is Roscoff Ford. “Incidentally,” he adds. “There will be plenty of Irishmen who can use the name Rush Bush.

Tom Bassnidge reports to Bexhill Ford. “Just because you don’t seem to have had a correspondent born between August ‘74 and January ‘77 yet.”

Iain Ruck aka Chalong Nixon is a “talented all-rounder who threw it all away due to his playboy lifestyle now plying his tradr in the second tier T20 circuit.”

Martin Gamage notes that “courtesy of a sojourn in Belgium last week I find myself marking out my long run as Ostend Johnson who I think would be a burly fella in the Sylvester Clarke mould consistently getting it up around the batsmen’s lugholes.”

For similar reasons, Gregory Sporton is Arenzano Johnson.

Jonathan Shaw sends them down as Colombo Kennedy but wishes he was a few months older so he could be Like Ike.

“Why go to fictitious West Indians with presidential names when you have Nixon McLean (and his siblings Reagan, Kissinger and Golda)?” asks Adam Roberts, aka George Town Eisenower.

Bart O’Brien believes his alter ego Scheveningen Truman sounds “quite formidable.”

And to round us off, Phil Sawyer has a haiku about Lancs victory yesterday.

Lanky you beauties.
Still doomed to relegation,
but kings for a day.

58th over: England 152-5 (Stokes 20, Buttler 22) Bumrah returns for a one over burst before they devour an egg sandwich and a piece of cake. It is handled well by Jos, timing two to midwicket then leaving/defending the rest. That’s tea. A session where two wickets fell and 60 runs were made, giving the hosts a lead of 125. Neither dismissal reflects well upon those walking off, Bairstow bowled first ball through the gate by Shami then Root ran out for the second time in the series.

57th over: England 150-5 (Stokes 20, Buttler 20) Ashwin’s final over before the shorter interval and it goes close to locating a Buttler edge when trying to cut a ball that wasn’t quite there for it. It is followed by a pad-bad shout but there is no inside edge. A single to pushed midwicket, bringing up the England 150, means Buttler will again be on strike for the final set of the session.

56th over: England 149-5 (Stokes 20, Buttler 19) Shami gets another go at Buttler, who he has been all over in his two overs since returning to the attack from the pavilion end. But Jos is in better shape this time around, leaving then pushing down to mid-on to pass the baton to Stokes. He is solid in defence for the rest, only drawn out of that posture when the bowler takes a ping at his stumps when collecting the ball in his follow through. No issues with that. These two have put on 27.

55th over: England 148-5 (Stokes 20, Buttler 18) Defending, defending, defending, defending. Stokes is showing Ashwin full respect, especially this close to the interval. When the quicker ball comes, Stokes is up to that two with a deft little sweep for two. Oh! Going again with the dart, he nearly gets under the left-hander’s bat.

This was the Root non-dive earlier, in case you missed it.

54th over: England 146-5 (Stokes 18, Buttler 18) Shami beats Buttler, rinse and repeat. To be fair, this was a good delivery that he couldn’t let go on line and length. He gets off strike from the penultimate ball of the testing over after letting a couple go, Stokes responding with a single of his own down to third man with nice, soft hands. The lead is 119 and we probably have three overs left until the tea break. Maybe four.

“I have no idea what is going on here today,” emails Mark Pentland from Australia. “I’m guessing my name is Burleigh Carter, but it’s a wild one, just like Stokes’s run. I’m following the action from my living room on the Gold Coast (it’s midnight, and my wife has given me a bye seeing as it’s father’s day here) via my mate Rog’s borrowed Foxtel account and your fine OBO, but could you please post the link for TMS overseas as I saw you do yesterday? Oh, and please explain the names, otherwise I might look silly. Yours, Burleigh. AKA Mark.”

Yep, happy to do that. Note that, as far as I am aware, it is the same link every day. Enjoy your footy-free weekend.

53rd over: England 144-5 (Stokes 17, Buttler 17) More runs off Ashwin here, Stokes taking one to mid-off then Buttler past point before the former leans back to pull a couple into the deep. “There is no question he is getting the ball to turn but perhaps a little too much,” observes Sunil Gavaskar on TMS, advocating that the spinner redirects over the wicket to Ben Stokes in future overs.

52nd over: England 140-5 (Stokes 14, Buttler 16) Shami to Buttler, defending then leaving then playing and missing! Again! He’s not been there long but he is willing to unfurl the arms and have a flay at every available opportunity. Later in the over, they exchange singles before the quick does find Buttler’s edge, albeit squirted out behind point to advance the score by a couple. Such a vital passage of play leading into tea.

51st over: England 136-5 (Stokes 13, Buttler 13) I’ve already been flooded with your West Indian fast bowler names but I might park that and return to it at the tea interval in 25 minutes from now as this cricket is quite stimulating. Ashwin again, bouncing away from us at the broadcast end. Stokes is in more control this time around, adding one to square leg. Buttler’s turn and he nearly spoons a catch back to the spinner! He is lucky there after misjudging the length. He then keeps the strike with another behind square.

50th over: England 134-5 (Stokes 12, Buttler 12) Shami is back on for Ishant, his previous spell bringing the wickets of Jennings and Bairstow either side of lunch – literally. He beats Buttler with a beauty, just missing his edge. But the in-form right-hander keeps his cool, clipping the next delivery through midwicket for a classy boundary. Sure enough, the Indian quick responds too, with another ball that hoops away past Buttler’s blade. Fantastic Test cricket. Andrew Samson on TMS tells us that the previous time (before today) England changed their top order batting line-up for reasons other than quick runs was the 2006 Boxing Day Test when Pietersen and Collingwood switched spots in the second innings.

49th over: England 130-5 (Stokes 12, Buttler 8) The new man Buttler takes one from the first ball to get off strike. It’s a probing over from Ashwin, bringing Stokes forward throughout then beating his edge. Hard graft out there at the moment.