India pacer Mohammed Siraj struck twice in as many balls however Jamie Smith swung the momentum again in England’s favour with a counter-attacking hundred because the hosts raced to 249 for 5 at lunch on day three of the second Test in Birmingham on Friday (July 4, 2025).
Despite the swashbuckling effort from Smith (102 batting off 82 balls), England stay distant from India’s 587 all out.
Smith smashed a memorable hundred in lower than a session and Harry Brook (91 batting off 127) was on track to achieve three figures on the break.
Strikingly, England hammered 172 runs in 27 overs within the first two hours of play.
Resuming the day at 77 for 3, England misplaced half their aspect within the second over of the morning session when Siraj had Joe Root (22) and Ben Stokes (0) caught behind. Root’s was a gentle dismissal as he received faint tickle down the leg aspect whereas Stokes was stunned to get a sharply rising ball first up.
England have been diminished to 84 for 5 however Smith and Brook continued to assault and put stress again on the opposition.
Prasidh Krishna was introduced in to implement the brief ball plan with six fielders on the leg aspect however that failed as Smith received the higher of him within the twelfth over of the morning that yielded 23 runs. Four boundaries and a six over deep sq. leg got here in that eventful over.
India endured it with Krishna, whose following over went for 11. His figures after the session learn 8-0-61-0.
It is just not usually that Brook is outscored but it surely occurred on Friday as Smith relentlessly attacked the Indian bowlers.
Smith additionally didn’t enable spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Washginton Sundar get into any kind of rhythm. Sundar was pushed for back-to-back fours by Smith in his first two balls before the wicket-keeper batter collected a six and a 4 from Jadeja within the following over.
Smith received to his second Test hundred off 80, the third quickest by Englishman, with consecutive fours off Jadeja within the final over before lunch.
