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England insist work remains to be done in fifth Test
England batsman Gary Ballance has refused to write off India in the fifth Test at The Oval, even though the tourists are already staring at a significant first-innings deficit.
Half-centuries from Alastair Cook, Ballance and Joe Root lifted the hosts to 385 for seven and a lead of 237 after the second day’s play, with India now seemingly on the verge of a third straight loss and a 3-1 series defeat.
Yet Ballance, whose 64 was the sixth time in Tests this summer that he has gone past 50, is wary of counting out Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team.
“It’s Test cricket, it’s tough. You’re not going to win a Test in two days but we (want) another good day tomorrow, try and score as many as we can and then bowl well in the third innings,” he said.
“It’s been a great day. Yesterday (Friday) went well but we still had to bat well on a pitch that was doing a bit. It’s great that we’ve batted well, batted all day and given ourselves a good lead.”
Ballance, whose observation that there is still some seam movement in the pitch will be music to the ears of England’s pacemen ahead of India’s second innings, also paid tribute to Root. His Yorkshire team-mate steadied the ship after England had lost three wickets for 13 runs and will need another eight runs to bring up a fifth Test ton.
“We lost a few wickets and he decided to try and put the bowlers under pressure and he did that very well,” Ballance added.
“He scored quickly and he’s put us in a great position.”
