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England pacer Brydon Carse has termed his side's 22-run win at the iconic Lord's as the best Test he has been part of. Ahead of the fourth Test of Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Old Trafford, Manchester, Carse recalled how the drama at the end of Day 3's play shifted the mood in England dressing room.
At the end of Day 3 of Lord's Test, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett did not want India to bowl more than one over. Crawley took his time, pulled off his stance, frustrating Jasprit Bumrah and Indian captain Shubman Gill. The young skipper was visibly frustrated and made a few remarks. When Crawley took off his gloves and signalled to the dressing room, there was a heated discussion between him and Gill as the latter made the 'impact player' signal.
"We had a conversation on the evening of day three, when the Indian side was getting stuck into our two batters," Carse told ESPNCricinfo ahead of fourth Test of the series. "That shifted the mentality and the mood of our whole group, that we were going to be right up for this and get stuck in.
"When you playing Test cricket, with the crowd and the pressure and the emotion, and how much everyone wanted to win that game, I think it's great. There's always obviously a line, and you don't want to cross that line. But when you're out on that field, and there's 10 other blokes all fighting your corner, it's pretty cool. And it's what the game needed at that time."
Carse on his bowling, luck not going his way
Carse was menacing towards the end of Day 4's play. He got the wickets of Karun Nair and captain Gill, making India send tailender Akash Deep as nightwatchman. Both Nair and Gill were dismissed lbw. On Day 5, despite Ravindra Jadeja and tailenders' ressistance, India lost the Test by 22 runs and England took a 1-0 lead in the series.
"To be able to pick up a couple of wickets in that spell and put the momentum back into our hands going into day five was incredibly satisfying. At times, over the course of the series so far, I feel like I've been bowling well and maybe haven't had as much luck as I would have liked, but that was certainly satisfying for me.
"It was not the typical style of cricket that we would like to play, and it took some adjustment, but it shows this side can move forward and adapt to certain situations.
"We spoke a lot at the start of the series about how to get to that next level, about being a dominant Test team and the best Test team in the world. And as this game panned out, we showed that it's not always going to be one-minded or a certain style of cricket. So, it was very satisfying as a group."
Manchester record favours England
The history favours England going into the fourth Test. India have not won a single Test at The Old Trafford, Manchester. England will look to continue their record, unlike Edgbaston, Birmingham and take an unassailable lead in the series.
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