I’m delighted to announce that the England cricket team, as selected and coached by myself, have sealed a thrilling 3-1 Test series win at home to India. On the final day of the series, indeed the final session, the boys chased down 300 for the loss of just four wickets (One the nightwatchman) on a degrading fifth day pitch.
After losing Alastair Cook to the last ball of the fourth day, Haseeb Hameed dug deep for a series best of 48. Captain Joe Root (108 not out) led the charge with his fourth ton of the summer, having missed the first part of the campaign through injury. Newcomer Joe Clarke, who had ended a lean run with a knock of 58 in the first innings, finished 62 not out as the home fans went wild when victory was sealed.
Skipper Root finished the five-match series with a monumental aggregate of 845 runs. This included four centuries with a top score of 230! James Vince, who registered his maiden Test ton and then followed it up with another, was the next highest run scorer with 446, a little more than half Root’s accumulation.
Haseeb Hameed, who struggled with the bat but played his part in the fifth Test run chase, actually topped the bowling charts for the series with four victims at just 16.00 apiece. Lancashire’s Hameed had claimed two cheap wickets against Pakistan and his bowling exploits this summer could help save him his place in the team for the winter tours to Sri Lanka and West Indies. Somerset’s Jack Leach was the leading wicket-taker against India with 21 victims whilst fellow spinner Matthew Parkinson snapped up eleven victims in his debut series.
