Harry Brook on Friday scored his ninth Test century on Day 3 of the second Test against India at Edgbaston. Brook got there in 137 balls as he and Jamie Smith powered a remarkable recovery for the hosts. The 26-year-old thus managed to avoid a repeat of the fate he had suffered in the first innings of the first Test at Headingley, when he was dismissed on 99 off 112 balls.
Brook was part of two recoveries for England in this innings. he had earlier ensured that England lost no more wickets at the end of Day 2, seeing them through to Stumps with Joe Root after they had lost Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley in the hour and a half that they had to spend with the bat after Shubman Gill and India made them field for nearly two full days.
Gill’s double century helped India set up a mammoth first innings total of 587. England started Day 2 with a score of 77/3 in 20 overs with Brook batting on 30. He then saw Root and Ben Stokes falling to Siraj off consecutive deliveries in just the second over of Day 3. However, then came a counter-attacking knock from Jamie Smith and Brook played the perfect second fiddle. The latter raised his century before Lunch in just 80 balls. Brook, meanwhile, got to his half-century in 73 balls.
England are leading the five-match series 1-0, having won the first Test at Headingley by five wickets despite being behind India for most of it. As they did in Leeds, England won the toss and chose to bowl first on a flat deck at Edgbaston. This time, however, India captain Shubman Gill ensured that they had a much more difficult task in their first innings by scoring a mammoth 269 in 387 balls. He shared a stand of 203 runs off 279 balls with Ravindra Jadeja (89 in 137) and 144 with Washington Sundar (42 off 103) and all of this allowed India to set up a mammoth total of 587. They then lost three wickets before Stumps on Day 2.
