England v India 2025- Test Match Series

I would say Stokes probably will be facing a fitness race to be fit for Australia if he ends up having surgery on his shoulder. I would def take Archer to Australia as our spearhead bowler.

It's going to be tense finely balanced final test, and it could hinge on the toss.

^^ The tear is a Grade 3, which is the most severe, a complete separation. Saying all that the rehab is thought to be 10 weeks so plenty of time.

England v India 5th Test The Oval Day 1 Close
Toss - England elected to field
India 204-6 (64 overs) Sudharsan 38 Nair 5 no Gill 21 Atkinson 2-31 Tongue 2-47

India make 4 changes, Pant, Thakur, Bumrah & Kamboj are replaced by Durel, Nair, Akash & Krishna.

I'd be glad if England battered 1st for a change

^^ I'm never a big fan of putting the opposition into bat, but in this case it does look decent bowling conditions. The pitch is very green & has been under the covers as well as overcast sky.

I don't doubt for one minute we will see the sort of of the ball incidents that have occurred in this series.. It is time the umpires took a viewpoint and calm things down pretty quickly which Dickie Bird did pretty well.

It's always difficult going into a match with only 4 specialist bowlers.
And when Woakes was injured it made matters worse.

England need to finish off India quickly and then bat at least today, and preferably tomorrow to give sufficent recovery time for their 3 quick bowlers.

Regarding the injury to Woakes it seems so unfair that a sub can't be used. If he is unable to bowl as seems likely & also bat to his full potential it is a significant advantage to the opposition. Pant show bravery in the last Test when he batted with a broken foot, he may well have been called upon to do the same in the 2nd innings if the match had been closer. With an allrounder the impact is more magnified. These injuries can be proven & not faked. We already have concussion subs. One issue is finding an available like for like replacement. Hard enough for a home team, more so for a touring side. At least twice in recent time India have used the replacement to their advantage dependent on the requirement & the state of the game at the time as I remember it was in shorter format cricket. In a Test Match the right change could affect the match even more.
The term allrounder cover a wide range, generally a player has a stronger suite, Woakes is clearly a bowling allrounder but still averages 25 with the bat, an exact replacement would be almost impossible.

I know that Stokes himself isn't a believer in expanding injury replacements beyond concussion subs. But are there any other teams sports where subs aren't allowed for injuries, this has to be considered more seriously.

(31-07-2025 10:40 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  England v India 5th Test The Oval Day 2 Close
Toss - England elected to field
India 224 (69.4 overs) Nair 57 Sudharsan 38 Washington 26 Atkinson 5-33 Tongue 3-53
England 247 (51.2 overs) Crawley 64 Brook 53 Duckett 43 Root 29 Pope 22 Siraj 4-86 Krishna 4-62
India 75-2 (18 overs) Jaiswal 51 no
India lead by 52 runs