Woakes injury clouds day as India become Tongue-tied

Tourists reach 204-6 on rain-affected first day of fifth Test as England fail to take advantage of friendly bowling conditions

- LAWRENCE OSTLERE AT THE OVAL

Josh Tongue’s first ball of this fifth Test at The Oval travelled so far down the offside, it was heading for Lord’s by the time it hit the boundary rope for five wides. A moment later, he sent the

ball off in the direction of Eden Gardens for five more. It was one of the worst overs you're likely to see in a Test match: India hit a solitary single and jumped from 18-1 to 30-1. Tongue was unplayable, just not in the way he might have imagined.

The morning's conditions had seemed like a bowler's paradise, on an unpredictable green pitch under skies so murky that groundstaff switched on the floodlights before midday. Shubman Gill lost India's 15th toss in a row in all formats – a feat with a probability of 1 in 32,768 - and England's stand-in captain Ollie Pope naturally elected to field.

But England failed to take full advantage, and Tongue was not the only one with a wayward radar. Gus Atkinson, Chris Woakes and Jamie Overton all delivered erratic spells, serving up 15 wides and 30 extras, a generous chunk of India's 204-6 at stumps.

Atkinson was certainly the pick of the bunch, trapping Yashasvi Jaiswal on his pads, as Pope broke his own unwanted streak of 14 failed DRS attempts and celebrated gleefully like the wicket was his own. Atkinson also pulled off the sharp run-out of captain Gill, who momentarily lost his senses running for a single that was never there, before later drawing an edge from Dhruv Jurel.