London, Aug 1: Zak Crawley’s 52 not out has propelled England to reach 109/1 in 16 overs trail India by 115 runs at lunch on day two of fifth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at The Oval on Friday.

Resuming from 204/6, India’s innings ended within 30 minutes and 34 deliveries of the morning session’s start. Atkinson took three of the final four wickets to finish with 5-33 from 21.4 overs, including eight maidens. Josh Tongue took one more scalp to end up with 3-57, as India lost their last four wickets for just 20 runs.

In reply, England put on an entertaining 92-run opening stand off only 12.4 overs – with Ben Duckett hitting 43 off 38 balls. Crawley at his rollicking best, especially when playing effortless drives, to hit 12 boundaries and be unbeaten on 52 off 43 balls – his 19th Test fifty. Giving him company is skipper Ollie Pope, who’s unbeaten on 12 off 16 deliveries.

It was unsurprising to see Duckett and Crawley be quick out of the blocks, and be severe on deliveries which were wide, irrespective of them being full or short. Crawley was magnificent in slashing, punching and flicking Mohammed Siraj for three fours, before Duckett ramped Akash Deep for six, just after surviving an lbw review.

With Siraj Akash and Prasidh Krishna unable to nail their lines and lengths, Crawley and Duckett merrily hit them for boundaries. The possibility of England ending their session wicketless came to a halt in the 13th over when Duckett once again tried to reverse scoop off Akash, but this time, he gloved it behind to wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel.

Crawley brought up his third fifty plus score of the series off 42 balls by dabbing Akash past gully for four, before Pope middled two drives off Prasidh for boundaries to end a super dominating session in England’s favour.

In the morning, the session began with Karun Nair and Washington Sundar taking a boundary each off Tongue. But Tongue bounced back to deliver the first breakthrough for England when he got a ball to jag back in and beat Nair’s inside edge to trap the batter plumb lbw for 57, with the right-handed batter also burning a review.

In the next over, Washington was dismissed for 26 after he pulled a short delivery from Atkinson to deep square leg. Atkinson got his fourth wicket when his fuller delivery crashed into Mohammed Siraj's off stump to castle him through the gate.

Two balls later, Atkinson completed a richly-deserving five-for by forcing Prasidh Krishna to nick an out-swinger behind to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith. Atkinson’s haul of 5-33 was all more significant after Chris Woakes’s left shoulder injury sustained while fielding on day one’s play meant he won’t be taking any further part in the match. Duckett and Crawley then ensured that advantage is firmly with England, with the latter looking to capitalise in post-lunch session.

Brief Scores: India 224 in 69.4 overs (Karun Nair 57, B Sai Sudharsan 38; Gus Atkinson 5-33, Josh Tongue 3-57) lead England 109/1 in 16 overs (Zak Crawley 52 not out, Ben Duckett 43; Akash Deep 1-46) by 115 runs

--IANS

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