England vs India 5th Test live: scorecard, updates from day 1

Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager.

The last time Karun Nair played here was September 2023. He was playing for Northamptonshire against Surrey in the County Championship and Sudharsan was playing for Surrey.

I don’t want to jinx matters but the sun is out now. It’s almost glorious here in the People’s Republic of Kennington.

England are staying with an attacking field for Atkinson, who has bowled well today, if a little short sometimes, from the Pavilion End.

There’s a big leg-before shout as Sudharsan is struck on the front pad but the umpire thinks it is going down leg. It nipped sharply off the seam.

Play about to get under way

Play will restart at 4.45pm if there is no more rain. So in five minutes time. The stumps are in the ground and the players are on the balcony ready to come out.

Advertisement

These rain delays are so disruptive for the players, particularly the batsmen who have to resettle themselves. It’s almost like walking out on nought again to face your first ball. They will resume 85 for 3 and the ball, which was still doing plenty before that last rain break, is 29 overs old.

We can play till 7.30pm in theory.

Another angle of that Gill run out earlier:

GARETH COPLEY/GETTY

Umpires out inspecting pitch

The umpires have waddled out to the middle to have a look, they are doing that thing they do where they stamp their feet on the ground, look upwards, look back down again. No rain falling, covers are mostly off.

The bit the umpires worry about the most is the bowlers run ups, but they seem ok.

Covers coming off during tea break

Good news — the covers are being taken off. We’re in the official tea break now so they’ll do some mopping up and we might, just might, get a bit more play today.

Advertisement

Weather update

Tea will be taken at 4.10pm and then we’ll see what happens from there. We can play until 7.30 but it’s still raining quite heavily.

Gill’s streak ends

That’s the first time in this series Shubman Gill passed 20 without going on to make a hundred. Talk about throwing your wicket away…

BEN WHITLEY/PA

Rain stops play... again

Twenty extras so far by England, out of a total of 85. Some slightly wayward stuff — six wides and two no-balls.

The weather is so weird, it keeps brightening up, then going dark, then brightening up again. But it’s raining again, the brollies are up… they’re carrying on for now but I don’t think it will be for long.

And as expected, off they go again.

Advertisement

The covers are rushed on shortly after the dismissal of Gill PAUL CHILDS/REUTERS

WICKET!

Twenty minutes into the resumption and we have a wicket. And it’s the big one of Shubman Gill who goes for 21. The India captain is run out thanks to some incredible work by Gus Atkinson in his follow-through. Quite what Gill was doing though? There was no run there, and even without a little stumble I don’t think he would have got back.

X (Twitter) content blocked Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Enable cookies Allow cookies once

We are back under way

Big cheers as the cover comes off and the players are walking out. Jerusalem is being played (AGAIN).

India resume on 72 for 2, Atkinson to open the bowling.

It’s going to be one of those days

Guess what? The covers are back on and the umbrellas are up. Just drizzle for now, but enough to prevent play.

Forecast doesn’t look good...

X (Twitter) content blocked Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Enable cookies Allow cookies once

Revised session times

Second session: 3.00-5.05pm

Third session: 5.25-7.00pm

Advertisement

Play can continue until 7.30pm

Play scheduled to resume at 3.00pm

So we are set to resume at 3.00pm. It seems overly cautious by the umpires and/or groundstaff; it hasn’t rained for 90 minutes and the pitch has been ready as far as I can see for at least half an hour. Now they’ve decided we’ll wait another 25 minutes before there’s any play when it’s going to be raining again by about 3.30.

Cricket really does do its best to annoy the paying spectators sometimes…

The umpires and head groundsman inspect the pitch GRAHAM HUNT/SHUTTERSTOCK

Does the ball swing more at high tide?

Whilst we’re staring at an empty pitch, we’ve been discussing in the press box whether it is an old wives’ tale that on cricket grounds near the sea, the ball starts swinging more when the tide comes in. Is there any scientific basis for that theory? If anyone can shed any light on that in the comments below, we’d be most grateful.

The conversation came about because I was telling my colleagues that my granny used to tell me a lot of old nonsense, like that my hair would go curly if I ate my bread crusts and that if I went swimming straight after eating I would sink and drown.

Advertisement

Pitch looks good to go

Another inspection in eight minutes time, the mopping up is still going on but it looks pretty dry and good to go.

The forecast is looking a bit bleak though, with some wet weather coming from the west. If it hits, we’ll know about it.

Pitch inspection set for 2.30pm

It’s stopped raining and quite bright now. The umpires came out for an inspection at 2.00 but have just pushed that back to 2.30. I imagine we will be back under way within the hour.

Look who’s here!

Our very own Simon Wilde is signing copies of his new book at The Oval today.

Chasing Jessop dives into the mystery behind Gilbert Jessop’s legendary 1902 Oval innings — the fastest England Test century — and investigates whether he was even quicker than the record books suggest…

‘A Day for Thorpey’ will honour former England batsman tomorrow

A sold-out 30,000-strong crowd will honour and celebrate the life of Graham Thorpe at The Oval tomorrow (Cameron Wilson writes).

On what would have been the left-hander’s 56th birthday, “A Day for Thorpey” will be held as England’s series-finale against India enters its second day.

Those watching — whether from the stands or on screens at home — will witness a sea of white headbands in the crowd, in memory of the former great’s on-field look. Thorpe, who died on August 4 last year, played 100 Tests for England. The sight of him removing his helmet to expose that famous headband when celebrating a century — something he did 16 times — became iconic.

Joe Root has already been seen warming up wearing the limited-edition headband. The former England captain paid tribute to Thorpe by dedicating his record-equalling 33rd Test hundred to the great man against Sri Lanka last August.

The headwear was lovingly designed by Thorpe’s widow, Amanda, and daughters Kitty and Emma, alongside the mental health charity Mind. It’s available on their website for £5 and the proceeds will go to a project called Thorpeys Bat and Chat, a 12-week programme using cricket and guided conversation to help people open up about their wellbeing.

Thorpe, with his trademark headband on, raises his bat in celebration of his century at The Kensington Oval against West Indies in 2004 GORDON BROOKS/AFP

Thorpe celebrates a series-winning Test match victory against Sri Lanka in 2001 after scoring a first-innings unbeaten century STU FORSTER/GETTY

A mural pays tribute to Thorpe outside The Oval JAY PATEL/SHUTTERSTOCK

Root wears the limited-edition headband before play this morning GARETH COPLEY/GETTY

Early lunch as heavens open

The sky above the Oval is looking really weird — on one side it’s blue sky, on the other black, looming clouds. One of the Indian travelling journalists asked me this morning: “how do you cope with not having any idea what the weather is going to be like from day to day?” It’s a fair question but I did say we’d have nothing to talk about if it weren’t for the weather.

And bang on cue, the heavens open and everyone is legging it off the pitch. It’s proper rain of the very wet variety and the groundstaff are absolutely pegging it to get the square covered.

X (Twitter) content blocked Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Enable cookies Allow cookies once

So we’ll have an early lunch. England will be pleased with the way things have gone this morning but Sudharsan and Gill have steadied the ship a little; a couple of sumptuous boundaries will have helped their confidence and they’ve moved to 72 for 2 after 23 overs.

Sell-out crowds expected every day

It’s sold out for all five days of this Test. They sold out days one to four months ago and then day five tickets flew out of the door once the first couple of Tests went to five days.

Overton into the attack

Jamie Overton is coming on to bowl from the Vauxhall End; his first ball in Test cricket for three years. He’s getting a bit of away swing to the right hander.

WICKET!

The change of ends works for Chris Woakes and KL Rahul has chopped on to his stumps. He was trying to cut a ball that wasn’t wide enough to be cut and he goes for 14 off 40; he’d battled hard but played the wrong shot there.

Good morning so far for England.

Out comes the India captain, who is comfortably the leading runscorer in the series with 722, over 200 runs ahead of the second-highest, Rahul.

X (Twitter) content blocked Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Enable cookies Allow cookies once

Nice new scoreboards at The Oval

Chris Woakes has had a heck of a workload this series so his opening spell was just four overs. They don’t want to totally break the 36-year-old. He has left the field temporarily.

Exciting geeky news at the Oval is there is a new look format to the scoreboards on the big screens. Black writing on white background and in a much clearer font that it used to be. It’s a massive bugbear of spectators that scoreboards in grounds can be less than helpful.

Tricky first over for Tongue

Tongue comes into the attack but has a shocking start with five wides coming from the over.

After a couple of balls, Tongue puts some sawdust down as he tries to manage his front foot slipping, but it doesn’t seem to help as another delivery swings away past leg slip for four.

Twelve from the over.

ASHLEY WESTERN/SHUTTERSTOCK

STU FORSTER/GETTY

County stalwart Dent retires

Away from the Test match, Gloucestershire have announced that county stalwart Chris Dent will retire with immediate effect after 16 years having played 356 matches for the county amassing over 15,000 runs across all formats.

The Oval’s swanky upgrades

Ben Stokes is here and will be throughout the Test. He very much enjoyed that review that Pope called correctly and was seen smiling and laughing in the dressing room.

As an aside, this is the first Test match being played with the new super-duper upgraded dressing rooms. The Oval have built new changing rooms so they can have separate ones for women’s matches and the players have got swanky new padded seats on a new balcony area.

Good start for Pope

Ollie Pope had never won a toss or had a successful review (in 14 attempts) as England captain until this morning. He has now managed both and we have only been playing for 20 minutes.

Pope celebrates his successful review to remove Jaiswal ALEX DAVIDSON/GETTY

WICKET!

Half a shout for leg-before against Jaiswal and Ollie Pope has been persuaded to review the not out decision. It’s jagged back in and hit Jaiswal on the back pad. No bat and it’s OUT.

Good review by the stand-in skipper and a lovely piece of bowling by Gus Atkinson; great seam presentation and it’s nipped in off the seam and beaten the Indian opener.

X (Twitter) content blocked Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Enable cookies Allow cookies once

Atkinson opens on home turf

We have had some early sawdust action with it being a bit damp under foot. It really did absolutely hammer it down last night.

Woakes has got some nice swing early on and just a couple off the first over.

It will be Gus Atkinson on his home ground from his preferred Pavilion End.

Woakes leads the England attack

Laura Wright has led the national anthems as usual, the ground has filled up and we’re going to get some cricket.

It will be Chris Woakes, who has bowled more overs in this series than in any other throughout his career, starting from the Vauxhall End.

Captains love bowler-friendly Oval

This is the 22nd first-class match (and fourth Test) at The Oval since May 2023. On every single one of those 22 occasions, the captain who has won the toss has chosen to bowl first.

Play looks set to get under way

The groundstaff have been very busy this morning. They have just whipped the covers off and they are rolling up the mat that was covering the pitch. There’s going to be action soon; the man who puts the microphone into the stumps has headed out to the middle and he only does that when the umpires are about to stick the stumps into the ground.

Toss time

The coin has gone up and Shubman Gill has lost it, again. India have lost the toss for the 15th international match in a row. The odds of that are 32,768/1 by the way…

Anyway, England are going to have a bowl which is not a surprise; there is grass on the pitch and it’s very overcast.

England win the toss for the fifth and final time in this series ALEX DAVIDSON/GETTY

“I think it was a no-brainer to bowl first with the conditions we have,” Pope told Sky Sports.

“We are 2-1 up but we will not be content with a 2-2.”

India’s team: as expected no Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna is their seam bowling attack.

The covers are out

Complete sell out at the Oval today, people are streaming in down the Harleyford Road.

But I am afraid to report that the covers are being dragged on to the square; the radar did say it would rain about 10.30.

Delayed toss I fear although that hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Good morning

A very good morning from the Oval. There were some seriously heavy downpours in the night, but at the moment it’s dry, although the forecast and the radar say it’s not going to stay that way for long. It looks like we will be in for a very disrupted day, but with a bit of luck, we should get some play

It’s a different looking England side with four changes. The captain Ben Stokes has a shoulder injury, so Ollie Pope takes the captaincy for this one. Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse have been rested, while Liam Dawson, the spinner who played his first Test in eight years at Old Trafford, has been left out.

Pope arrives at the Oval to captain England in Ben Stokes’s absence JAY PATEL/SPP/SHUTTERSTOCK

Josh Tongue comes back in for the first time since the second match of the series, while Gus Atkinson will make his first appearance since the Zimbabwe Test earlier this summer. Jamie Overton is playing for the first time since his only test in 2022 . Jacob Bethell comes to bat at number six in place of Stokes.

England lost their last Test here against Sri Lanka last summer when Pope was also in charge.

India haven’t confirmed their team and will do so at the toss.

Join me throughout the day for updates from on and off the pitch.

Click here to read article