Careless Broad characterises England tail with little offered or delivered

The word at the end of day one, hard to quibble with in the circumstances, was that the second innings were where this match would be decided. But with 30% of England’s first-innings wickets still standing overnight, this left the remainder of their opening knock in a strange hinterland of presumed irrelevance. It stood overnight like the stump of an already-felled tree, its demise already mourned, nobody expecting it to do much growing. Those already looking beyond it presumably included most of those actually tasked with extending it, minds wandering to exertions still to come with ball rather than bat in hand.

There was a memorable moment in England’s last Test against New Zealand, at Edgbaston last summer, when their second innings stood at stumps at 122, six more than their total here, and with nine wickets down rather than seven. The fielders emerged the following morning and took their positions, the batters walked to the middle, the crowd settled and silenced. Olly Stone took his guard, Trent Boult took the ball, the ball took the edge, the keeper took the catch, and they all turned around and headed off again.

Minds drifted back to that moment as Boult took the ball again on the second morning at Lord’s, with Stuart Broad this time preparing to face him. What followed could hardly have been more different, Boult’s first delivery hopelessly misguided, bouncing sharply over the batter’s right shoulder and away for four byes. History had not been repeated, and perhaps here England’s tail could tell a different, more heroic story.

Broad tried his best to get out to each of the remaining balls he faced, of which there were only four. A couple of years ago he scored 62 off 45 against West Indies at Old Trafford and