Shazball 2, Silverball 1, Bazball 1
277, 299, 296 and now 378. England have pulled off four remarkable chases in four successive Test matches, this time completing their highest successful chase in Test cricket, and they'll keep hold of the Pataudi Trophy after squaring this series 2-2. India, meanwhile, have set their highest fourth-innings target in a Test defeat.
Joe Root seals victory with a reverse-swept single into the covers, a symbolic moment if there ever was one. This has been an unusual summer of relatively flat pitches and an exceedingly flat batch of Dukes balls, but this England team has pulled off this sequence of audacious chases against two of the best fast-bowling attacks in the world - two attacks that came to England last year and went away with a 1-0 series win and a 2-1 series lead respectively. It's a remarkable achievement.
The long-term sustainability of Bazball across conditions remains to be seen, but now is a time to celebrate the effect that Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have had on this England team, and to celebrate the skills of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, the world's leading Test batter and a rejuvenated force who is finally fulfilling his potential in this format.
we'll have the full report for you very soon. Until then, enjoy our post-match show with Ashley Giles and Wasim Jaffer.
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Hundreds in both innings
He's had to bide his time in the 90s - he played out a maiden in Ravindra Jadeja's previous over - at a time when his partner has absolutely raced along, but Bairstow's now brought up his hundred with a hurried leg-side single off Jadeja. His last five Test innings: 136, 162, 71*, 106 and 100*.
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Reverse-scoop over the slips
Joe Root's played it already this summer, and this time, he plays it off Shardul Thakur and times it so well it sails all the way for six. A jaw-dropping shot, two balls after he'd jumped out of his crease and pumped him back over his head for four. England need just 36 now.
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Root <3 India
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Bumrah on the durability of the Dukes ball
Nagraj Gollapudi alerts me that Bumrah said this on the eve of the Test match:
“We are not very aware of what is the talk going around with the Dukes ball. We are trying to focus on what we have to do as a team. We don’t want to focus on things we cannot control: the quality of the ball or how the ball is behaving, that is outside of our control. So we don’t want focus too much about that and try to nag about it that the ball is well or not. Whatever is the job we are professionals and we have to take care of it and that is what we will do as a team – whatever scenario comes and we will try to tackle it however we should.”
I wonder what his thoughts on the topic will be, later today.
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Hundred for Root
There's that back-cut again, struck hard off Siraj, into the ground and bouncing over the gully/wide second slip fielder. It's Root's 28th Test hundred, and as in so many of the other ones, he's just flowed on and on, smoothly, with the bowling team having little idea of how to stop him from scoring.
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Desperately seeking Sarfraz
If you're an India fan, here's a scorecard to give you a little bit of hope. Australia collapsed from 305 for 3 to 310 all out in that match. Joe Root has just moved England to 305 for 3 with a neat back-cut off Bumrah.
Next ball, however, he clips Bumrah for another boundary, through midwicket, and moves to 98. He's overtaken Bairstow again, and the 200 partnership has also come up.
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Ball No. 4
It's getting a little ridiculous now.
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Bairstow into the 90s
Root got to fifty well before Bairstow did yesterday, but Bairstow's won the race to 90. He's played some terrific shots this morning, including, most recently, a straight-bat front-foot push off Bumrah that just sped away into the gap between midwicket and mid-on.
Partly because of the ball change and the overcast conditions, though, the ball has done a bit more this morning than it did last evening. Both Shami and Bumrah have beaten the edge today, and on one occasion Root inside-edged Bumrah narrowly past his stumps for four. But Bumrah and Shami have also struggled to control the movement, with Shami conceding eight byes already in the morning.
England are 298 for 3, and they need another 80 to win.
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Another ball change
A mere nine balls into day five, the replacement box comes rushing onto the field. We now have the third ball of this innings, and it's only just the 59th over. The first one did nothing even though it was a new ball, the second one did a bit early on and then went flat. How will the third one behave?
The first three deliveries are a mixed bag. A wide half-volley from Shami that Bairstow drives square for four, then a better ball that's still sent to the boundary by means of deft use of an open bat face, and the third is a beauty: on the fuller side of a length, bringing Bairstow forward to defend, and zipping past his outside edge. Late swing rather than seam, I would hazard.
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119 runs, seven wickets
England have chased down substantial targets in each of their last three Test matches. India have failed to defend not insubstantial targets in each of their last two away Tests. The Edgbaston Test match seems set to keep both these patterns going. England are 259 for 3 in a chase of 378. They've never chased anything of this magnitude before, and India have never failed to defend a target of this magnitude before. They've only once let an opposition chase down anything above 300, back during the Packer years, when nightwatchman Tony Mann scored 105 to help Australia get past 339 in Perth.
England need 119, with seven wickets in hand, against an India attack that has looked ragged and short of ideas in excellent batting conditions with a Dukes ball that's behaving in a completely docile manner. Everything seems set for Bazball to claim another rollicking fourth-innings win. But with a series win on the line, can India summon up one last burst of irresistible bowling magic? It's Root and Bairstow vs Bumrah and Shami, and it's only 15 minutes from resuming.
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