Posted by Can Ben Stokes really carry on doing all of the things? No, apparently not. Is Jasprit Bumrah at risk of injury if he plays again? Yes, apparently he is. Is anyone on either side fit enough to bowl in the fifth Test? Um. Maybe. Sort of. Although the way it’s going, England might end up opening the bowling with Harry Brook’s right-arm full tosses.
It’s been a gruelling series to be a fast bowler. Five-match series have always been tough, but they’ve only become harder since back-to-back Tests became the convention. Three- and four-day finishes have masked the impact in recent years, but this summer we’ve had two evenly-matched teams routinely going toe-to-toe into day five. They haven’t even lost any overs to bad weather. (And hopefully the London weather won’t let us down during this final Test.)
Cricinfo’s Nagraj Gollapudi had a good stat this morning about the percentage of balls Bumrah bowled above 140km/h in the first innings of each Test. He started with 42.7 per cent at Headingley, dropped to 22.3 per cent at Lord’s and then managed only 0.5 per cent at Old Trafford.
Bumrah’s one of the lucky ones. He’s only had to bowl 119.4 overs. Mohammed Siraj has got through 139 and he’ll be invited to add to that in the fifth Test as well. Quick wickets will be paramount – chiefly from a self-preservation perspective.
Four England bowlers have shouldered a heavier workload than Siraj: Shoaib Bashir, who is out injured; Ben Stokes, who is out injured; Brydon Carse, who is out presumed injured (they’re sure to find something once they’ve persuaded him to sit down for five minutes); and poor, brutalised Chris Woakes, 167 overs deep and set to lead his colleagues over the top one more time at The Oval.
Those colleagues will not include Jofra Archer, who has recently gone from four overs a match to 44 overs a match and is feeling the effects. They will however include Gus Atkinson, who has eked his way through one Second XI game and Jamie Overton, who hasn’t played for England since May and who is therefore broadly intact.
India will pick Akash Deep, plus whatever combination of ineffective all-rounders and also-rans they feel makes more sense than Kuldeep Yadav this week.
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Bring back Dan Lawrence as a specialist bowler, I say.
In other news, Will the Manchester Super Giants be the New Originals? It’s certainly ripe for ‘long term health impacts of MSG’-type headlines.
I saw a stat that Bumrah only bowled 47 overs last IPL, pretty much the same as what he has bowled every match this series.
It’s a big week for Bumrah bowling stats. And not the usual kind you get from him.