The Lord’s Cricket Ground, or just Lord’s, has been the stage of many a spectacular Indian show over the past 93 years. India performed their first Test right here, in 1932, and introduced their intention by way of their velocity retailers Amar Singh, Mohammad Nissar and Jahangir Khan, who took 14 of the 18 residence wickets to fall at the same time as Col. C.Ok. Nayudu’s males went down by 158 runs. The begin may not have been propitious, however India have had nice cause to mirror on their trysts with Lord’s with fondness.
Everywhere across the perimeter, one is consistently uncovered to the ‘Home of Cricket’ moniker. Lord’s is the headquarters of the England and Wales Cricket Board – the International Cricket Council additionally was once housed right here for 96 years, till 2005 – and prides itself on its strict adherence to custom, although in line with the calls for of the fashionable instances, it has allowed itself to be refurbished with out compromising on its old-world attraction.
It’s right here that England and India will renew battle in what should be a compelling third act of a five-part showdown. The honours are even – India responded to a five-wicket loss in Leeds with a commanding 336-run win in Birmingham – and subsequently, there’s the whole lot to play for. For all of the apprehensions {that a} younger Indian aspect below a first-time captain can be overrun by an skilled and settled residence crew, Shubman Gill’s outfit has acquitted itself creditably, outbatting the English at numerous levels and comprehensively outbowling them at Edgbaston even with out the rested genius of Jasprit Bumrah.
Around the closeness of the collection, there have been two main speaking factors — the character of the surfaces, and the standard of the Dukes balls. Neither of those matters is prone to fade into the background over the subsequent 5 days.
To nobody’s shock, the character of Test pitches in England have drastically modified within the final three years, for the reason that coming collectively of the administration group of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. When Stokes took over the captaincy from Joe Root, English Test cricket was at its lowest ebb — only one victory in 17 matches, culminating in a collection loss within the Caribbean. The aggressive Stokes and the equally optimistic McCullum made a spectacular shift from the normal, dumping an ultra-conservative method for a diametrically reverse standpoint steeped in positivity and supreme self-belief.
Like Eoin Morgan had handpicked gamers to trend a title-winning squad within the immediacy of England’s first-round elimination from the 2015 World Cup, Stokes and McCullum unearthed personnel that might match their template as an alternative of altering their blueprint to accommodate the present personnel. It appealed to everybody remotely related to English cricket – the followers, hitherto disillusioned, the directors, who had been delighted that the new-found method was bringing the followers again and sending the coffers hovering, and an excitable media that was surprisingly pliant when it got here to overlooking excesses.
LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 09: Ben Stokes of England carries a chair after a crew {photograph} was taken earlier than the third Rothesay Test match in opposition to India at Lord’s Cricket Ground on July 09, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images) | Photo Credit: Philip Brown
Flatter surfaces
One of the inevitable offshoots of the model of cricket labelled Bazball – McCullum goes by ‘Baz’ together with his friends – was a flattening out of the pitches. Surfaces as they as soon as existed in England wouldn’t facilitate plans that revolved round scoring at 4.5 runs an over and utilizing time and scoreboard strain to harry and hustle opponents. Where England was as soon as a take a look at of character and strategy of batters, it quickly turned a graveyard for bowlers. Even a virtuoso like James Anderson, Test cricket’s main non-spinner wicket-taker, was pushed to time period certainly one of such tracks – in Birmingham in 2023 – as his ‘kryptonite’ for the singular lack of even token help. For all of the speak of 20 wickets being important to successful a Test match, England’s success has stemmed from their batting muscle, which does make for thrilling motion.
At instances, England have seemed foolish and rigidly uncompromising, blissful to court docket defeat in pursuit of glory when prudence dictated holding their horses. There is a definite philosophy that frowns upon taking part in for attracts; one way or the other, even in Test cricket, England really feel it’s all proper to lose when virtually everybody else will set ego or no matter one desires to name it apart and knuckle right down to grind out a stalemate. Again, that tack hasn’t attracted an excessive amount of criticism.
Batters these days aren’t challenged half as a lot as previously in England, when a mix of swinging balls and beneficiant lateral motion stored Nos. 3, 4 and 5 on the sting of their seats even earlier than the openers took guard. The flattening out of pitches has taken the dread — if that’s the proper phrase — of the brand new ball out of the equation, which is not any disrespect to the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ok.L. Rahul, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope.
England haven’t simply wanted good batting tracks to espouse their model, they’ve wanted these surfaces to stay good for batting at some point of the sport. Because they fancy searching down any goal within the fourth innings – and who’s to seek out fault, provided that their two highest profitable chases (378 and 371) have come within the final three years – they have an inclination to discipline first when commonsense would dictate batting. The ends have justified the means as a rule, together with in Leeds when 371 was reined in at a canter, however when there’s even a nominal spanner within the works, England’s administration group hasn’t been averse to talking its thoughts.
Making pitches to go well with the house crew isn’t a novelty. In some quarters, it’s referred to, not complimentarily, as ‘pitch-doctoring’. England’s religion in sustained batting beauties can be a type of pitch-doctoring, even when it doesn’t appeal to the identical censure as a floor in India which could assist the spinners from ball one and stay that approach at some point of the sport, nonetheless lengthy that could be, even when the flip is constant and the bounce true. But that’s a narrative for one more day.
The Birmingham floor, which deteriorated barely however not alarmingly, didn’t go down nicely with England. There has been a clamour for a ‘extra vigorous’ monitor at Lord’s, no matter that could be interpreted as. Lively as in additional tempo? More seam motion? Greater carry? Guess one has to attend and watch.
As a lot because the pitches, the balls getting used have come below critical flak. Almost everybody who has spoken to the media over the past three weeks has lamented the Dukes going mushy after 30 or 35 overs, and dropping form even earlier than that stage. Whether it’s simply due to the way in which the ball is being made, or whether or not it’s due to the flat, onerous surfaces on which the ball takes a good quantity of pounding when it’s bashed in, is open to query.
“In this collection, from what I’ve seen, the ball is getting deshaped an excessive amount of,” Rishabh Pant, India’s vice-captain whose ball-bashing might have one thing to do with the ball getting out of practice, agreed on Wednesday. “That has by no means occurred earlier. It’s undoubtedly irritating for the gamers as a result of each ball performs in a different way. When it turns into softer, generally it’s not doing an excessive amount of. But as quickly because the ball is modified, it begins to do sufficient. As a batsman, you’ve received a problem adjusting to it. But on the similar time, I really feel it’s not good for cricket anyway (the balls dropping form).”
As unacceptable because the ball going out of practice is the shortage of swing up entrance, which additional takes the bowlers out of the equation. India’s quicks have exploited the brand new balls higher; in Birmingham, they picked up wickets with the primary new ball in each innings and sparked a collapse of 5 for 20 within the first innings with the second new cherry, so possibly it’s a feather within the cap of the Indian batters that they haven’t misplaced wickets in a cluster to the brand new ball. But whereas there’s nonetheless a modicum of menace initially of an innings, that menace stage drops alarmingly when the ball ages and will get to the 35-over mark or so.
“We’re not the one (having points with the ball),” Stokes noticed. “Whenever we now have touring groups come right here, there is a matter across the balls going mushy, going fully out of practice. I don’t even assume that the rings that we use (used to see if the balls have gone out of practice) are the Dukes rings. It’s one thing that isn’t ultimate, however you’ve received to cope with it.”
Different international locations use completely different manufacturers of cricket balls. The Aussie-origin Kookaburra is the most well-liked, utilized in Test cricket in a number of elements of the world and for now having fun with unique monopoly in all white-ball internationals. In India, the popular red-ball weapon of destruction is the SG Test whereas right here in England, it has been the Dukes for a very long time. Perhaps the authorities will maintain the ball producers to better accountability, given how widespread the criticism of the balls getting used for this collection has been.
The one distinctive function of Lord’s is the two.5-metre slope that runs the breadth of the bottom. For batters and bowlers alike taking part in right here for the primary time, it may be an enormous battle, combating the slope. Balls that could be left alone on line wherever can simply have a ‘W’ written on them, whereas bowlers typically battle to bowl each with and in opposition to the slope. It may seem solely a tiny element, however what’s it they are saying about appearances being misleading?
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