Woakes takes his chance to give England 2-0 lead over India

Aug 12, 2018

Chris Woakes crowned a starring performance by taking the final wicket as England beat India at Lord's in the second cricket test by an innings and 159 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series on Sunday

LONDON — After starring with the bat, Chris Woakes took his chance with the ball.

The allrounder and man of the match claimed the final wicket as England beat India at Lord's by an innings and 159 runs in the second test to take a 2-0 lead Sunday in the five-match series.

India was all out for 130 in its second innings, barely improving on 107 in the first. England had earlier declared on 396-7 — with Woakes 137 not out, his first test century — during the opening session of the fourth day.

"Coming back into the side — as someone that's always been a big part of the squad for a long period of time now — it's great to see him (Woakes) taste some rewards," England captain Joe Root said.

Woakes returned largely due to the absence of Ben Stokes, who is standing trial for affray at a court in Bristol.

Stokes and Sam Curran — the player preferred to Woakes for the first test at Edgbaston — both impressed as England won with a day to spare despite Thursday being completely washed out.

Having shared a match-turning partnership of 189 with Jonny Bairstow (93) on Saturday, Woakes added 17 to his overnight score before England declared with a lead of 289 when Sam Curran was out for 40.

James Anderson then took over with the ball.

After 5-20 in India's first innings, Anderson got 4-23 in the second. He became the first player to take 100 test wickets at Lord's by removing Murali Vijay for a duck for the second time in the match.

As well as reaching the Lord's milestone, the dismissal — Anderson's 96th against India — made him the highest wicket-taker in test matches between the two nations.

His 97th soon followed. Another in-swinger did for Lokesh Rahul (10), striking him on the pad for a clear leg before wicket and India was 17-2 at lunch, hoping for prolonged rain.

An inspired spell from Stuart Broad, during which he took four wickets in seven overs for just seven runs, put England on the brink of victory.

Broad had Ajinkya Rahane caught in the slips and then bowled Cheteshwar Pujara — who made a defiant 17 from 87 balls — with a wicked in-swinger.

With the tea interval looming, Broad got the key wicket of India captain Virat Kohli, who dropped down a place to No. 5 after not taking to the field due to a back strain as England batted in the first session.

Kohli appeared restricted in movement and was caught by Ollie Pope at short leg for 17.

But Kohli downplayed fears over his condition, saying he was "confident" he'd be ready to play when the series resumes at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Saturday.

The next ball Broad trapped Dinesh Karthik lbw for a golden duck, leaving India at 66-6 when rain forced an early tea an over later. Broad ended with figures of 4-44.

"I was gutted when that rain arrived," Broad said. "I was feeling in really good rhythm."

Hardik Pandya (26) and Ravichandran Ashwin (33 not out) showed defiance to put on India's highest partnership of the match — 55 runs for the seventh wicket — but Woakes again showed his value. He trapped Pandya leg before, and England quickly surged to victory.

"Even when the ball is doing a bit you have to pitch it in the right areas and the guys were relentless with the ball," Kohli said. "They made us work hard for runs and put a lot of pressure on us."

Anderson took his tally for the match to nine wickets by removing Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami for ducks, before Woakes fittingly finished the job with Ishant Sharma caught at leg slip to put the hosts in firm control of the series.

"Trying to get the ball out of Broad's and Jimmy's (Anderson's) hands when it's like that can be tricky," Woakes said. "But they're world class and they showed how good they can be this game."

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