'Series not dead and buried' : Dominic Cork warns after England's series-leveling win in Leeds
Former England seamer Dominic Cork has shared his thoughts on the Three Lions' victory against India on day four at Headingley. England levelled the five-match series by sealing a win by an innings and 76 runs. Seamer Ollie Robinson earned the man of the match award with a fifer in the second innings.
India seemed set to stage a comeback after England bowled them out for 78 and going ahead by 354 runs at the end of the first innings. Though the tourists trailed by only 140 with eight wickets in hand on day four, things changed quickly. India lost their remaining wickets for 63 runs to concede the game.
Speaking on air after the game, Dominic Cork hailed England for maintaining the pressure consistently without leaking runs. The cricketer-turned-commentator opined that the conditions hugely helped the hosts in building pressure and taking wickets.
"Test cricket is hard enough when you are trying to get a total but when the opposition are not giving away easy runs... I think it was the pressure, the conditions helped England in the morning, they swung the ball put India under pressure took the wickets.,"
Cork was also delighted to see England's batting line-up shaping up well sans Joe Root. However, Cork warned as the series remains alive and it could go either way.
And if you look at the way England batted, this is the first time the top-4 have got fifties since 2013. So that shows the improvement in England's top-4 and also Joe Root is in the form of his life, put that all together and I think ultimately England outplayed India. But this series is not dead and buried. We go to The Oval, flatter pitch, 2 matches to go... I don't think anybody can predict the results,"
The lengths of the Indian bowlers were not the same as their English counterparts: Dominic Cork
Dominic Cork felt England bowlers had full knowledge of the conditions and knew how to create wicket-taking angles and bowl the right lengths.
"England bowlers know these conditions, know this ground and understand that 4th-5th stump line that makes batsmen play at times. They also bowl slightly wide of the crease and create an angle. They make it look like you have got to play at the balls and they were also a little bit fuller,"
In contrast, he thought the Indian bowlers weren't on point. Cork further pointed to Indian skipper Virat Kohli's words about the England bowlers not allowing any easy runs.
"The Indian bowlers, their lengths were not the same as their English counterparts. England constantly swung the ball... Virat Kohli said at the presentation that England bowlers didn't let them off the hook at any stage, they put them under pressure and didn't allow easy runs,"
The two sides will meet at the Oval on the 2nd of September. India have only won twice at the venue, the last of which came in 1971. Hence, the hosts hold the upper hand going into the game.