Good morning from Old Trafford, where it’s a beautiful morning. A batting day! After the openers’ efforts yesterday, a long England batting lineup is queueing up to go a long way past India’s score of 358. India looked very ragged yesterday afternoon, but this game has not been put to bed quite yet.
By Michael Vaughan
I have felt for many years that Test cricket should introduce substitutes for injuries that are clear and obvious, like we have seen with Rishabh Pant in the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
It was great theatre watching Pant come out to bat with a broken foot on the second morning. It was unbelievable courage, and there was some amazing skill to scramble 17 runs from 28 balls. But he was not fit to bat, could not run, and could have made the injury so much worse.
I am always keen to move the game forward, and see how we can improve it. I was talking to some friends who are not really cricket fans but had heard about Pant’s situation on the second morning. They could not get their heads around the fact that he was allowed to have a replacement as wicketkeeper, but not to bat or bowl. It is all a bit odd, and inconsistent.
