England in Deep trouble on day two after Shubman Gill’s 269 piles on the pain
The last time a visiting skipper in England notched up a double century was Graeme Smith in 2003 and it led Nasser Hussain to fall on his sword mid-series.Smith – or “what’s-his-name” as Hussain called him beforehand – was a captain hunter on these shores, his South Africa team going on to account for Michael Vaughan in 2008 and then Andrew Strauss four years later.Ben Stokes at least knew Shubman Gill’s name before this series and, in fairness, the England captaincy is unlikely to change hands in the next week.Nevertheless, Gill inflicted one of the toughest days of Stokes’ three years in charge as his chanceless and downright merciless 269 from 387 balls drove India to a position of dominance.At stumps on the second evening, slow-cooked by India’s 587 all out from 151 gruelling overs, England had stumbled to 77 for three and the sleepy surface that served as the canvas for Gill’s artistry had fleetingly woken up.
This is hardly uncommon when a fresh attack has a mountain of runs on the board,But the sight of Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj reducing the hosts to 25 for three up top was still quite the jolt,Hard hands also played their part during a frenzied half hour as the lively Deep, in for the much-discussed Jasprit Bumrah, wiped out Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for a pair of ducks in two deliveries,Duckett pushed to third slip, where Gill held a sparkler, while Pope ambitiously tried to whip one off his legs and edged to a juggling KL Rahul at first,Once Zak Crawley sent another into the cordon with a wafted drive on 19, it left Harry Brook and Joe Root to see out proceedings and the pair just about survived to reach 30 and 18 not out respectively.
Although for Brook this involved escaping a reviewed lbw on one thanks to umpire’s call and somehow using his shoulder to prevent the penultimate ball of the day from Prasidh Krishna ballooning back on to his stumps,England’s top order needed to be more like Gill here,As Mark Butcher put it so neatly on air, perhaps the effortless charm by which he encouraged the ball to the rope 33 times should see him dubbed the Persuader,In an age of T20 hitters – Gill is no mug in that format, it should be said – the right-hander is all timing and grace; a back-foot game so wonderfully frictionless that MRF could probably be swapped for WD-40 on his bat stickers,Gill was still on a baby hundred first thing, 114 not out as the tourists resumed on 310 for five.
But by the time he walked off, accepting handshakes from his opponents and a standing ovation from a commendably engaged home crowd, he had turned it into a career-best daddy; the highest score by an India Test captain no less, surpassing the 221 that Sunil Gavaskar made in a famous near-miss at the Oval 46 years ago,In that respect Gill had delivered on what he called his “biggest learning” after the defeat at Headingley,While the tail came under fire for two crepe-paper collapses – India responded by bolstering the lower order here – Gill was most annoyed with himself for holing out during India’s sub-par first innings in Leeds when set on 147,Presented with another benign surface this week, the 25-year-old was not going to repeat the mistake,It no doubt helped that Stokes largely spared his seamers a flogging after an ominous morning in which India cruised to 419 for six.
Chris Woakes was sent off to graze after an early burst alongside his captain, while Brydon Carse was once again in discomfort.England believed Carse’s struggles with a toe that buckles upon landing to have been solved by new insoles but all the signs here pointed to a recurrence.Sign up to The SpinSubscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s actionafter newsletter promotionThe one frontline quick pushed through was Josh Tongue, who after a scattergun opening day picked up two wickets.There was a bit of heat before lunch, too, Ravindra Jadeja bounced out for 89 and thus 11 short of repeating the glorious Rajput sword dance that met his half century.Still, India’s No 7 had added 203 runs with Gill and showed his successor, Washington Sundar, that all Gill needed was support.
After staring down an early barrage from Tongue, Sundar did just that with a watchful 42 from 103 balls and as the afternoon wore on, another 145 runs were trowelled on to India’s pile.There was even the sight of Brook sending down five overs of his wrong-footed dobblers.And while these did produce an edge, England’s slips had long since scattered and all it meant was Gill bringing up his 250.The bulk of the work was performed by Shoaib Bashir and after 45 overs of graft, the off-spinner at least finished with three wickets to show for it.More ominous for England, given they will be batting last on this surface, was the beauty from Root that gripped and castled Sundar.
This pitch may be flat but that delivery, plus Deep’s burst with the new ball, means the hosts have a whole heap of work still to do.
First-time buyers turn from rural areas to Britain’s regional cities
With the rise of home working and surging house prices in many urban areas, one might have assumed that British cities had lost some of their appeal to homebuyers over the past decade, but it turns out the opposite is the case.An analysis of the first five months of this year shows the number of would-be first-time buyers in Great Britain looking to move to cities is up by 16% on average compared with the same period in 2015.The location to record the most significant jump in first-time buyer inquiries over that period is Dundee, Scotland’s fourth-largest city and, it is said, its sunniest.Some will be surprised to learn that homebuyers’ love affair with cities has intensified, bearing in mind that the pandemic apparently prompted many to think about a new life on the coast or in the countryside.The data was crunched by the property website Rightmove, which looked at Great Britain’s 50 largest cities, excluding London, and 50 of the most popular coastal areas
Crumbs! Biscuit museum’s Jaffa Cake display reignites old debate
It could be described as a storm in a teacup but the humble Jaffa Cake is once again at the centre of controversy after McVitie’s asked a biscuit museum to pull the snack from a display.The manufacturer took issue with the orangey treat being showcased in a museum devoted to biscuits because, for VAT purposes anyway, it is officially a cake. This fact was settled long ago in a legal battle with the taxman.The David and Goliath-style row – which some suggested had been orchestrated by McVitie’s to boost sales – has reignited the debate.Days after the biscuit museum in Bermondsey, south London, unveiled the display, McVitie’s sent it a cease-and-desist-style letter requesting “the immediate removal of Jaffa Cakes from your biscuit exhibit”
US adds 147,000 jobs in June, surpassing expectations amid Trump trade war
The US economy added 147,000 jobs in June, a sign of continuing strength in the labor market amid Donald Trump’s trade war.The number of jobs added surpassed expectations, as economists largely anticipated a drop in openings. Instead, 3,000 more jobs were added in June compared with May, according to new job figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The unemployment rate actually decreased to 4.1%, down from 4
Reeves’s fearsome challenge: to balance backbenchers and bond markets
It was Bill Clinton’s political adviser James Carville, way back in the 1990s, who said that in another life he would like to “come back as the bond market” – in preference to a president or a pope – because “you can intimidate everybody”.Even Donald Trump, that most wilful of politicians, has been forced to retreat in the face of bond market moves in recent months, ditching the most extreme of his “reciprocal” tariffs after US Treasury yields jumped.And despite the traditional status of US Treasuries (government bonds) as a safe haven for global investors, it is still not clear how well financial markets will be able to swallow the $3.3tn increase in debt coming down the tracks if Trump’s “big beautiful bill” is passed.So when investors dumped gilts (UK government bonds) on Wednesday, as Rachel Reeves wept in the Commons, it was an abrupt reminder that Labour backbenchers were not the only audience the government must placate
Pound and UK bonds recovering after Starmer backs Reeves; US economy adds 147,000 jobs in June – business live
The bond market is looking calmer this morning, as traders welcome Keir Starmer’s endorsement of Rachel Reeves.The prices on UK government debt are rising in early trading, which pulls down the yield (or interest rate) on the bonds.The yield on UK 30-year bonds has dipped by 0.8% in early trading, to 5.361%
UK government bond markets rally after Starmer backs Reeves
UK government bonds have rallied after Keir Starmer backed Rachel Reeves to remain as chancellor for “a very long time” despite lingering investor concerns over a multibillion-pound hole in Britain’s public finances.The yield – in effect the interest rate – on 10-year British government bonds, also known as gilts, fell on Thursday morning to trade close to 4.5%, reversing much of the rise on Wednesday sparked by feverish speculation over Reeves’s future.The pound rose against other leading currencies, while a closely watched business survey showed that Britain’s dominant service sector recorded its fastest rate of growth in 10 months.Some of the gains were later pegged back after the release of stronger-than-anticipated US job market figures, which fuelled a rise in US government borrowing costs as investors bet the Federal Reserve may delay cutting interest rates
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