COOK’S WOES: England’s captain is without a century in 14 months and his team has lost seven of its last nine Tests. Immediately after England’s collapse against India, Cook said this run of poor form has been his “darkest time” as an England cricketer. One glimmer of hope for the opening batsmen is that while he only made 10 and 22 in each of his innings at lord’s, his footwork was noticeably better.
lINEUP CHANGE: England made just one change to its 13-man squad for the third Test, with the uncapped Jos Buttler in for injured wicketkeeper Matt Prior. Prior announced after the loss to India he was taking an indefinite break from the game to regain his fitness after struggling with Achilles, thigh and hand injuries. This paved the way for Buttler, England’s one day keeper, to enter the Test team. Buttler, an aggressive batsman when not behind the stumps, says he will not be intimidated by making his debut for a team under intense pressure to end its winless streak.
KUMAR’S PlAY: Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been a revelation for India with both the bat and ball in the series. He managed figures of 5-82 on a lifeless Trent Bridge wicket, and followed it up with a career best 6-82 in England’s first innings at lord’s. With the bat, he has made 209 runs from ninth in the order, including three half centuries. He did not win man of the match in either Test, but has arguably been the player of the series so far.
VETERAN lEADERSHIP: After a 1-0 series defeat to Sri lanka in June and two underwhelming performances against India, England coach Peter Moores is also under scrutiny, just four months after taking the job for the second time. At lord’s, he said the form of his veteran players was a major concern. In addition to the struggles of Prior and Cook, Ian Bell only managed 42 runs overall against India and bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad couldn’t stop India from batting through day one at lord’s.
JADEJA VS ANDERSON
The acrimony between Ravindra Jadeja and James Anderson has made for a riveting duel on the pitch. In the second Test at lord’s, Anderson was caught out trying to reverse-sweep Jadeja in England’s first innings. Jadeja then blasted 68 from 57 balls in a game-changing knock in India’s second innings before running Anderson out with a direct hit to win the Test match. Anderson faces a hearing on August 1.