Gill puts Test beyond Bazball's reach

ENGLAND'S Bazball cavaliers will today have to confront the prospect of the unthinkable — having to play for a draw.

- By Mike Walters

Because their pursuit of a world-record run chase at Edgbaston isn’t going to happen.

And if the fearless dashers become born-again converts to digging in for a draw overnight, they had better go about it with more care than their stumble into the Birmingham twilight.

Set a mammoth 608 in 108 overs to win the second Rothesay Test, they lost both openers and Joe Root before they had even made it out of the starting blocks.

Nominally, at 72-3 England need another 536 runs today, but even the Barmy Army trumpeter realised the Great Escape theme was too upbeat after a day of pure carnage.

To regain the Ashes in Australia this winter, England will need to dig in and chisel out a draw when the chips are down, but the penny hasn’t dropped yet.

Zak Crawley sliced the 10th ball of the innings carelessly to gully off Mohammed Siraj, Ben Duckett left the gate open and Akash Deep speared a telling blow past Root’s weary waft.

Of his 102 Test innings, Crawley has made 42 single-figure scores, including 10 ducks. Sorry, that’s just too many.