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22nd over: Zimbabwe 89-2 (Curran 22, Williams 61) If Williams has a weakness, it’s the inside edge. He perished to one yesterday, playing on to Shoaib Bashir, and he almost dies the same death today as he gets away with a Harrow drive off Atkinson. But he bounces back with yet another classy drive, caressed past cover point’s left hand. He’s into the 60s already and now needs only 39 runs off 45 balls to pinch Bennett’s record.
Fifty to Sean Williams!
21st over: Zimbabwe 83-2 (Curran 22, Williams 55) Tongue continues and Williams, pushing his left foot back towards fine leg, plays another dreamy drive to reach 50 off only 42 balls. To celebrate, he immediately adds a crunching cut. Williams has been as good to watch as Brian Bennett was yesterday and may be eyeing his record for the fastest Test hundred by a Zimbabwean.
20th over: Zimbabwe 73-2 (Curran 21, Williams 46) It’s a double change as Cook hands over to Gus Atkinson. He runs in with the wind ruffling his shirt and quite a defensive field by Stokes’ standards – just two slips and a gully. That doesn’t stop Williams piercing the ring with another of his crisp drives.
19th over: Zimbabwe 68-2 (Curran 20, Williams 42) Stokes takes himself off and turns to Josh Tongue, whose extra pace proved too much for Craig Ervine last night. He persuades Williams to waft outside off with no foot movement. “I like him as a bowler,” says Stuart Broad. “Good pace … adaptability, he can bowl full or go short … he can take wickets in clumps.” Takes one to know one.
18th over: Zimbabwe 66-2 (Curran 19, Williams 41) Stokes has been insulted by his figures (4-0-23-0), Cook rather flattered by his (7-1-12-0 before this over). He gets some good shape now, jagging one ball away off the seam, forcing Williams to pull out of his stroke at the last second. But then Williams sees a fuller length and drives on the up, wide of mid-off. That’s his eighth four in only 33 balls faced.
17th over: Zimbabwe 61-2 (Curran 19, Williams 36) That four from Williams brought up the fifty partnership off only 8.1 overs. Stokes, bowling to Curran, pushes the plus in for four deliveries before going for an easy single, tucked off the pads, and then bowling a wide as he falls over in his delivery stride in the manner of Mark Wood. As with the damaged finger, Stokes seems to be OK.
16th over: Zimbabwe 58-2 (Curran 18, Williams 35) After conceding only five runs in six overs, Cook goes for a few as both batters make a bid to be in the next Zimbabwean coaching manual. Curran plays a studious on-drive for three; Williams puts it in the shade with a rippling off-drive for four.
15th over: Zimbabwe 51-2 (Curran 15, Williams 31) Stokes draws another thick edge out of Curran, but it doesn’t go to hand and it’s a no-ball anyway. After demonstrating an immaculate forward-defence, Curran plays an uncertain pull and comes close to spooning it to square leg. The camera shows a close-up of Curran smiling that may remind Tom van der Gucht of Curran’s younger brother, Sam.
14th over: Zimbabwe 47-2 (Curran 12, Williams 31) As if he’s read that last sentence, Curran suddenly goes down the track to Cook – although when he gets there, he decides that discretion is the better part of valour and plays a defensive shot.
“I like the look of Sam Cook,” says Tom van der Gucht, “quite literally as he has a similar appearance to one of my all-time favourite X-Factor contestants, Olly Murs, from the glory days of watching it whilst following Stuart Heritage’s Guardian live blog.” There speaks a true OBOer.
13th over: Zimbabwe 46-2 (Curran 11, Williams 31) Curran is dropped! By Stokes himself, getting his hands to a loose drive but unable to cling on. For a nasty moment it looks as if Stokes may have broken a finger, but he only winces for a moment.
When Curran nudges a single, Sean Williams smacks two fours – a cut and a pull. Stokes tries a yorker but Williams spots it and plays a dead bat. He has 31 off 21 balls, while his team-mates have 14 off 57 between them.
12th over: Zimbabwe 37-2 (Curran 10, Williams 23) At the other end it’s Sam Cook, England’s Steady Eddie. A caption reveals that his average speed in the match has been 78mph. He starts with a maiden, keeping Williams quiet.
11th over: Zimbabwe 37-2 (Curran 10, Williams 23) Stokes starts with a loosener on the pads and Sean Williams nudges it for a single. Then he slots straight into top gear, sending a spicy lifter through to Jamie Smith. The next ball takes a thick edge as Ben Curran plays a hurried shovel. It’s close enough to gully to have Stokes leaping in the air, but it goes away for four – Curran’s first boundary in the 39 balls he has faced in the match. When Stokes swings the ball back in, Curran picks up two off the other edge. They all count.
And Stokes decides that the bowling will be opened by … himself.
Ben Stokes leads England out as Jerusalem rings out around Trent Bridge. The stands look about half-full.
Breaking news: India have a new captain
India’s captain for the Test tour of England will be … Shubman Gill. The board must have been tempted to appoint the great Jasprit Bumrah, but they’ve decided to let him concentrate on knocking the stumps over.
Gill, who opens the batting, has strong credentials after leading Gujarat Titans to the top of this year’s IPL table (and averaging 50 himself). He has captained India five times in T20s but never in a Test. At 25 he is on the young side for a Test captain and his deputy will be Rishabh Pant, who’s 27, so this is a fresh start for India following the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
There are still a couple of veterans in the 18-man squad in Ravi Jadeja and KL Rahul. But Mohammed Shami has been left out as he makes his way back from injury, so English crowds will miss out on some sumptuous swing bowling.
Full squad: Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant (vice-capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Druv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
Preamble
Morning everyone and welcome to the third day of the men’s international summer. Is anybody old enough to remember when Test cricket was a slow process?
This match is moving fast even by modern standards. The first day was all about runs, as England piled up 498, including 200 after tea. The second day was all about wickets, 14 of them spread across three innings. Even Brian Bennett, who bagged the headlines with his fearless hundred, found time to get out twice.
The upshot is that Zimbabwe need another 270 runs to make England bat again. And England need another seven wickets to wrap up an innings victory. It could be all over by lunchtime, as long as the rain holds off.
Even in a Test mismatch there are plenty of sub-plots. Can Ben Curran, already the only member of his talented family with an international century, make one in a Test? Can Sam Cook use the cloud cover to show that medium-fast bowling still matters? Can Shoaib Bashir keep taking just enough Test wickets to stay in the team, or is he just keeping a place warm for Jacob Bethell? Can Sean Williams continue to rattle along at two runs a ball? We shall see.
Play starts at 11am BST, weather permitting.
