Joe Root’s side must win on another turner to draw the Test series and it is time for Stokes and Bairstow to step up
Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust: if Ashwin don’t get you, Axar must. The whole cycle of English cricket rolls – or lurches – from Ashes to Ashes. The management tend to forget about dust until suddenly there it is, blowing up in their faces.
The pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad was supposed to be a red-letter day for England’s seamers. “I can tell you,” said Ben Stokes beforehand, “Jimmy [Anderson], Jofra [Archer] and Stuart [Broad] have been licking their lips.” Afterwards, with one wicket between them, the only thing they were licking was their wounds.
