Smith and Brook tons lead England revival against India in second Test

AFP | London

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Jamie Smith and Harry Brook both scored commanding hundreds as England hit back against India in the second Test at Edgbaston yesterday.

England were in dire straits at 84-5 early in the third day after Mohammed Siraj had taken two wickets in consecutive balls, removing star batsman Joe Root and dismissing captain Ben Stokes for a golden duck.

Yet at tea they were 355-5, still 232 runs behind India’s first-innings 567 built on captain Shubman Gill’s superb 269.

But the follow-on was now all but out of the equation as India looked to level this series at 1-1 after losing last week’s first Test at Headingley by five wickets

Smith was a Test-best 157 not out and Brook unbeaten on 140, with their sixth-wicket partnership worth 271.

When Smith came in on a hat-trick, England were over 500 runs behind.

But the 24-year-old, staying true to his attacking instincts, survived Siraj’s hat-trick delivery with an off-drive for four after he was criticised for holing out in England’s first innings in Leeds.

It was the first boundary in a blistering 80-ball hundred that included 14 fours and three sixes as Smith joined a select group of batsmen to have made 100 runs before lunch in a session of Test cricket.

Smith’s second hundred in his 12 Tests equalled Brook’s 80-ball effort against Pakistan at Rawalpindi in 2022.

Only Gilbert Jessop, with a hundred off 76 balls against Australia at the Oval back in 1902 and Jonny Bairstow, with a 77-ball ton against New Zealand at Trent Bridge three years ago have scored faster Test centuries for England, in terms of balls faced.

England resumed on 77- 3, with the world’s two topranked Test batsmen in Root (18 not out) and Brook (30 not out) at the crease.