England collapse in the first Test against India.

England collapse in the first Test against India.

Oh dear! Just when we thought the English sporting season would end on a high, suddenly we came across a devastating Indian quickfire seaming bowling attack that made English cricket squirm with embarrassment. It is far from the end of the world and the footballers of England still performed creditably in the Russian World Cup. Perhaps for the first time though in this glorious summer, the cricketers of England still missed their cue on the first day of the first test against India.

On a beautifully hot day at Edgbaston, the good people of Warwickshire witnessed an England batting side who collapsed like the traditional deck of cards or pub set of dominoes. This is not the way things were supposed to work out for English sport. It may be the first day of a cricket first test and how we've feared that the very concept of a Test match would be jeopardised by some corrosive  outside force.

But on the first day of August, with not an intrusive cloud in the sky to upset anybody's after breakfast mood, Edgbaston positively gleamed and sparkled in the very early August sunshine. The huge, imposing acres of Warwickshire grass were still in evidence despite the recent heatwave and the crease naturally looked as grey as you would expect it to be.

England though, after the most positive start against the India, wilted alarmingly during the day and by the end of the day reminded you of those sagging petunias seen in many a suburban garden. Sometimes you begin to wonder whether English sport may have had too much of a good thing and cricket was probably the last thing on their minds. Football may have given us a healthy four course meal but cricket now seems like a heavy and indigestible dessert.

Still, the formalities were there to be carried out and you had to wonder if the cricketers of England may have temporarily taken their eye off the ball. When Alistair Cooke and Keaton Jennings came out to bat you rubbed your hands in anticipation in much the way that some of us looked forward to the opening partnership of a Dennis Amiss or John Edrich innings or indeed the highly industrious legend that is Geoff Boycott.

 Boycott it was who used to build and assemble an innings rather like a construction worker with a pile of bricks in his hands. Boycott remains one of our finest and patient of batsmen and who cares if he was still there when evening came and stumps were about to be pulled. Of course our Geoff was an accumulator rather than a speculator but there were times when this current generation looked to be in desperate need of a cool, calculating Boycott head. When Boycott chalked up centuries they were result of sweat, toil, hard graft, knowledge and experience.

Alistair Cooke came out to bat with  the air of  calm maturity and responsibility that we've come to expect from England opening batsmen. Cooke was utterly composed, unflustered by anything that might have been considered to be a major distraction and did everything the right way. He flicked the ball off the back foot quite majestically, before slashing cover drives purposefully to all four corners of Edgbaston. He began to look secure and set for the rest of the day, cutting the loose ball to exactly the right spots, generally giving off the air of technical mastery.

Then eventually Cooke, after settling in for the day's proceedings, failed to read the deceptively wicked spin and break back of Ravichandran Ashwin who managed to induce the loveliest of teasers that Cook simply couldn't handle. So far so moderately good. Early wickets taken in Test matches are standard practice in the modern game so England could have had little to overly trouble themselves. There was though an underlying tension and concern as the day progressed so that by tea England, though still sitting comfortably at 163-3, were nervously looking over their collective shoulders.

Now the air of superiority that England must have thought they'd have asserted vanished, crumbling away like the brickwork and masonry of an old building. It came crashing to the ground, toppling over like the most wind swept of birch trees, flopping and crumpling into the ground before blowing away amid darkening skies.

It was now that Joe Root, who was beginning to establish a handsome innings with Jonny Bairstow, threw caution to the wind. Of course Root is one of the most skilful and brilliantly assertive of English batsmen. And when he came in to bat for England, India must have thought they were about to face a long and punishing afternoon in the field. For a while it certainly looked that way and Root, the very model of controlled aggression and superbly adventurous batting,  reverted to type, flicking and pulling powerfully through the covers, dismissive and contemptuous of any the ball that had to be punished and then launching a series of flowing cover drives that clattered to the pavilion in no time at all.

Suddenly on 80 and a mere whisker away from a well deserved century Root was horribly run out for by fellow Yorkshireman Jonny Bairstow who went for another run when the need was never there. Root, who must have thought he'd taken out a leasehold on the Edgbaston batting strip had now gone. Bairstow crouched despairingly, shaking his apologetic head and wondering whether the ground would swallow him up.

Then Keaton Jennings who also looked as though the day had suited him perfectly was unfortunately out, accidentally tangling himself in knots and knocking back his wicket for 42. Bairstow had compiled a neat half century but England were beginning to look chronically vulnerable. Bairstow then dragged a ball back  softly clipping his own wicket perhaps submissively. Oh woe England 163-3 had now turned into a disastrous collapse. Dawid Malan couldn't quite find his bearings and lost his wicket reasonably cheaply.

By the time the Indian pace attack had broken the heart and soul of the English batting, most of the Edgbaston crowd were beginning to find comfort in an idyllic English summer. Jos Buttler only seemed to stick around for as long as he felt was necessary before heading back for the dressing room for a duck. When Ben Stokes was smartly caught and bowled by Ashwin again England had been well and truly hung out to dry.

And yet in a year of remarkable sporting surprises and novelties many of us may harbour just a modicum of optimism. Besides, who could have predicted that the England team, under the wonderfully respectable and gentlemanly Gareth Southgate would reach a World Cup semi final? The certainties and finalities of modern sport are no longer set in stone.

 Of course defeat can be the most painful and sobering of feelings and this first test against India may yet have a long way to go but English cricketers are a quietly optimistic lot and anything and everything may come up roses for them. A certain Geoff Boycott would have regarded as alien the very hint of defeat. This is one Test match which may well blossom and keep growing. You never know.