England v India: England player ratings for the first test

With the result ending drawn due to a monsoon-like downpour on Sunday, England and India both enter the second Test at Lords on Thursday looking to improve on their performances to take the lead in the five-match series.

Below is a player-by-player rating of the England team ahead of the remainder of the series (ratings out of 10);

Rory Burns (0 & 18) 4

Arriving into the series off the back of scoring 132 and 81 in his previous series against New Zealand two months ago, Burns has enough credit in the bank to retain his place in the side despite a low return of runs at Trent Bridge. After falling LBW to Jasprit Bumrah in the first over of the match, he was able in the second innings to dig in and begin to build on a start before getting caught behind.

Dom Sibley (18 & 28) 5

Forming comparisons to obdurate Test cricketers of yesteryear such as Chris Tavaré, Sibley more resembles a cricketer trying to survive than score runs. Having arrived in Test cricket following on from the hard-hitting and aggressive Jason Roy, the Warwickshire opener was seen as a breath of fresh air with his dogged defensive game. However, this steely mindset may have overtaken the need for runs.

Having fallen into a trap set by Kohli in his first innings, getting caught at Short Midwicket, in the second innings Sibley fell caught behind having battled for 133 deliveries. Having such a leg-sided dominance of the game, for the right-handed opener to survive in Test cricket, he will need to work on his ability to rotate the strike and strengthen his off-side options.

Zak Crawley (27 & 6) 4

The Kent batsman has struggled enormously since his masterful 267 against Pakistan in 2020. In his seven tests in the calendar year, he has scored 156 runs from 14 innings, averaging just 11.14. Having tried to overcome this and bat as fluently as possible in the first innings, Crawley managed to build a start before feathering behind and continuing his dismal run.

Having nicked off as well in the second innings, his spell in Root’s side may well be numbered for the immediate future- he has not been helped by the lack of Red-ball match practice afforded to the players, given the Hundred’s debut in the already-clustered cricketing calendar. With Ollie Pope set to return for the second test match, it may well be Crawley who steps aside.

Joe Root (64 & 109) 9

If it wasn’t for their Captain stepping up and leading from the front, England would have been dead-and-buried long before the rain eventually gave the umpires no option. Root battled hard in the first innings, before playing all around a straight delivery from Shardul Thakur and having to depart for a well-made 64 in the middle of a batting collapse.

Within this innings Root became England’s leading test run scorer and in the second innings produced a quite frankly superb batting display, bringing up his 21^st century and virtually carrying his teammates on his back. Having arrived at the crease at 46-2 with England trailing still by 49 runs, it was looking bleak for the hosts. Root, playing his 106^th test, drove, elegantly flicked, and rotated the strike with consummate ease, leading his men to bring up the 300.

There were a couple of wasted reviews by England in the field but nothing overly concerning for the first test of the series. As captain he rotated his bowlers well during the first innings and never allowed India to get away, except for bowling a different tactic at the visitors’ tail enders.

Jonny Bairstow (29 & 30) 6

Having been called upon in the eleventh hour following a niggle to Ollie Pope forcing his exclusion, Bairstow looked assured on his 75^th test appearance being falling tamely on the stroke of tea in the first innings to Mohammed Shami which sparked England’s which saw them lose six wickets for 22 runs.

In the second innings Bairstow again looked comfortable until getting caught by Ravindra Jadeja off Mohammed Siraj. Also responsible for the run out of Ajinkya Rahane in the first innings that helped to wrestle control back into the game from an English perspective, Bairstow more than played his part in the field.

Given the nature in which he was able to earn his runs, he will have reason to feel hard done by should it be himself who has to miss out when Ollie Pope returns from injury.

Dan Lawrence (0 & 25) 4

England’s newest addition to their Test batting line up performed well in tough circumstances over the winter but unfortunately did not have a test to remember. After getting caught behind without troubling the scorers, to then scoring 25 fluid runs, before falling LBW to Thakur.

Batting at six in the test side given the absence of Ben Stokes, after his decision to take an indefinite break to focus on his mental health, there will be pressure on Lawrence to deliver a bank of runs throughout the rest of the series if England are to win the remaining matches. The right-hander from Essex was even labelled “out of his depth” by former England captain Michael Vaughan.

Jos Buttler (0 & 17) 4

After receiving a floated half-volley with the first ball he faced, in any other format Buttler would have been off and underway, scoring from the off, but after declining to put away the rank delivery, he then played a tortured innings, facing 17 deliveries and not scoring, before half-heartedly playing at his 18^th and gave catching practice to Rishabh Pant as he walked off with his seventh test duck.

In the second innings the Lancashire wicketkeeper attempted to support his captain but could not produce an innings of real substance, falling another victim of Thakur who claimed four wickets in the match.

Sam Curran (27* & 32; 0-57) 8

Given the absence of Stokes, the predominant all-rounders role falls on to Curran and he was able to competently showcase his abilities with the bat firstly, shepherding the tail as best as he could, protecting Anderson from facing, before striking several lusty blows in the second innings to help England cross the 300 total.

With his bowling he was unrewarded in his 19 overs but bowled well despite this. In the field he made a couple of excellent dives to prevent extra runs being scored, and also in the first innings held the crucial catch of Rohit Sharma.

Ollie Robinson (0 & 15; 5-85 & 0-21) 8

Making his second test appearance after serving his ban following comments from 2012 came back to haunt the fast bowler, he bowled with control and got bounce out of the wicket, able to give his captain control offering a nagging line and length. Robinson collect his maiden Test five-for and these included the precious wickets of the destructive Rishabh Pant and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

Should he carry on playing how he did in the first test, he will be able to successfully claim a place on the plane to Australia for this winter’s Ashes tour. Described as a bowler similar to Josh Hazelwood, it will be interesting to see how far the 27-year-old can go in his career.

Stuart Broad (4 & 0; 0-70 & 1-18) 5

It wasn’t the finest of test matches Broad will have ever played, but he was able to assist his strike bowling partners with good control, even if a touch too short in his opening spell on Wednesday evening prior to stumps. With 524 test wickets to his name, it is hard to criticise the experienced seam bowler, but he may wish to bowl fractionally fuller throughout the rest of the series.

With this being said, he bowled an exceptional spell at the Indian openers in their second innings, coming away incredibly unluckily with only one wicket to his name, despite bowling five venomous overs.

James Anderson (1 & 0*; 4-54 & 0-12) 7

The wily seamer who spoke pre-match about how himself and his wife pulled over retirement-talk, to follow this up with reaffirming his desire to play at the highest level for more years to come. In the process of the match he surpassed Anil Kumble’s record, taking his tally of victims up to 621, sitting third in the all-time lists, behind only Shane Warne and Muttiah Murilitharan.

Bowling at the quickest he has in many years, reaching almost unheard-of speeds of 85-87mph frequently for someone of his age, he will remember his majestic delivery to dismiss Virat Kohli first delivery, in-swinging before seaming away and leaving one of the greatest batsmen to ever play the game staring in disbelief.

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