London [UK], July 13 : Following a fiery first session by India on day four at Lord's, former England batter Jonathan Trott said that the partnership between skipper Ben Stokes and Joe Root would be key during the remainder of the day and the dismissals came from "loose strokes", critising the team's strokeplay.
An intense performance from pace unit, particularly Mohammed Siraj helped India restrict England to 98/4 at the end of the first session on Day 4 of the third Test at Lord's on Sunday.
Following the end of the session on 'Match Centre Live', JioStar expert Trott, who played 52 Tests for England, scoring 3,835 runs with nine centuries averaging 44.08, said, "I am not sure England will fully know where they stand right now. They will want to see how the ball behaves from overs 30 to 50 how the pitch responds as the ball ages. The Root-Stokes partnership is key. But England will feel they let themselves down. On this pitch, you've got to tighten your scoring zones and be more watchful. Three of the dismissals came from loose strokes playing shots to balls that just were not there."
England started Day 4 on 2/0 with Zak Crawley (2) and Ben Duckett (0*) unbeaten on the crease. Mohammed Siraj gave the host an early blow as he removed Duckett for 12 in the 6th over, and Ollie Pope joined Crawley in the middle.
Just before drinks in the first session, Siraj grabbed his second wicket of the innings by removing Pope for just four. At drinks, England were 42/2 with Zak Crawley 17 (43) unbeaten on the crease.
Joe Root joined Crawley in the middle, and England crossed the 50-run mark in the 15th over after Root pushed the ball towards deep point for a single. Nitish Kumar Reddy removed Crawley for 22 runs off 49 balls, including four fours.
Crawley's drought for runs in the series continues. Harry Brook came to the crease after Crawley's wicket.
Brook took on Indian bowlers as he hurried on to 23 off just 17 balls. Akash Deep took his first wicket of the match as he cleaned up Brook for 23, and England skipper Ben Stokes joined Root in the middle.
Earlier in the match, Opener KL Rahul's ton and left-hand batter Ravindra Jadeja's 72 helped India to level the score at 387 on Saturday at Lord's, which was also set up by England in the first innings of the Test match.
England's skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat first. Batting first, the Three Lions scored 387 runs thanks to a century stand between Root (104) and Ollie Pope (44) and a counter-attacking 82-run stand between Brydon Carse and Jamie Smith, who both struck fifties down the order.
Brief Scores: England: 387 & 2/0 (Ben Duckett 0*, Zak Crawly 2*; Jasprit Bumrah 0/2) vs India: 387 (KL Rahul 100, Rishabh Pant 74; Chris Woakes 3/84). England 98/4 ( Harry Brook 23, Zak Crawley 22; Mohammed Siraj 2/11).
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