Joe Root bails England out with some old-school cricket ...Middle East

3rd Test, Day 1: England close on 251-4 (Root 99*) with India yet to bat

LORD’S — The moment that perfectly summed up the surreal opening to this third Test came when Ben Stokes was roundly booed for blocking out the penultimate ball of the day from Akash Deep to deny Joe Root the chance to score his 37th Test hundred before stumps.

Bazball isn’t dead, but it was certainly put in cold storage as the hosts crawled their way just past the 250-mark at the end of this first day against India at Lord’s.

A run rate hovering just above three an over and Root bailing out England on a day of traditional, attritional cricket. It was almost as if Bazball had never happened.

For anyone who had time travelled from early 2022, they would never have known there has been a revolution in England’s approach under head coach Brendon McCullum and Stokes over these past three years. It wasn’t so much Bazball with brains, more Bazball with brakes.

"What a player" "He's exceptional at adapting to conditions" DK and Stuart Broad on Joe Root being one run away from his 8th Test century at Lord's pic.twitter.com/9IR92VEM9U

This felt like the dog days of the Chris Silverwood regime, when an underperforming England were routinely rescued by Root’s brilliance with the bat. Back then the Yorkshireman was captain.

But a run of one win in 17 Tests saw him removed and replaced by Stokes in April 2022. Alongside McCullum, the pair have led a re-energised team to 24 wins in 38 matches playing in a manner that has thrilled, captivated and often frustrated fans.

Bazball’s stated aim at the start of all this was to hope that their buccaneering style could help save Test cricket.

But after last week’s 336-run walloping at Edgbaston that left this showpiece of the summer level at 1-1, England are just hoping right now to save their hopes in this series.

And it showed on a day where only Root looked truly comfortable batting on a slow-paced Lord’s surface that made extravagant stroke play extremely difficult.

A swarm of ladybirds stops play at Lord's! pic.twitter.com/49lKhYHXwn

Unlike Stokes, who has struggled with the bat since scoring his last Test century two years ago, the added responsibility of captaincy often inspired Root to even greater heights, with the 34-year-old scoring 14 centuries in 64 matches leading the team.

Five of those came against India, including three in the summer of 2021 when India left these shores 2-1 up having refused to play the fifth Test over apparent Covid concerns.

When they eventually returned to play that final match of the series the following year, Bazball had begun. And Root scored another brilliant hundred to help England chase down 371 at Edgbaston.

Remarkably, Root’s record has got even better since returning to the ranks. If he gets the one run he needs to reach three figures on the second morning here, it will be his 12th hundred under this Bazball regime.

It would also be his 37th Test century, taking him past Australia’s Steve Smith and into fifth on the all-time list.

This knock was certainly an old-school piece of Yorkshire grit and determination from Root. He came to the crease with England 44 for 2 at the end of the 14th over after Nitish Kumar Reddy had removed Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley in the space of four balls.

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With India’s bowlers finding plenty of shape with the new ball, it was a time for hunkering down as Ollie Pope at the other end wrestled with his technique and mindset during a tortured innings.

Root remained calmness personified, knowing if he played the percentages he would score runs. Even if they dried up for large parts of an afternoon session that saw England score just 70 runs.

Another two-wicket burst from India at the start of the evening session threatened to undo much of Root’s good work.

Yet a player who has nothing left to prove in the game remained steadfast during an unbroken 79-run fifth-wicket stand with Stokes that spanned the final 28 overs of the day.

The only real concern was Stokes going down with a groin injury just after the pair had taken their partnership past 50. If he cannot bowl in this match, then Root’s run will be even more valuable.

His 99 so far have come from 191 balls and there was no sign of the reverse ramp shot that has become his party piece during the Bazball years.

This was a day for Root, and England, to go back to basics. It wasn’t pretty, yet after the failure to bat out 80 overs on the final day at Edgbaston, this was all oddly reassuring. With the Ashes to come in Australia this winter, seeing England show some steel was a positive sign, even if the overall approach was negative.

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