The former England captain Michael Vaughan said he was “staggered” that Ben Stokes chose to bowl first after winning the toss on the opening day of the Test series against India. The tourists proceeded to plunder 359 runs for the loss of three wickets on a flat pitch with Yashasvi Jaiswal and the new captain, Shubman Gill, both scoring centuries.
The last six Tests played at Headingley had all ended in victory for the side that bowled first, and Vaughan, a former Yorkshire batter, accused England of making their decision based on the history books rather than the conditions on the day. “I am an old-school traditionalist here at Leeds that when the sun is shining, with dry weather, you bat,” said the 50-year-old Vaughan, who played 51 first-class matches at Headingley including four as England captain.
“I was staggered when he said he was going to bowl. Traditions are out the window. You have to pick your decisions on that moment, and not things that you did here years ago.“
Tim Southee, the former New Zealand seamer working as England’s bowling consultant, said they had been swayed by the green tinge to the surface on Thursday, before it received its final trim overnight. “With the colour of the wicket yesterday and a little bit of moisture left in it, there was going to be a little bit in it this morning. That was the thinking behind the decision,” he said.
“I think there was a little bit of assistance there [in the first hour], but for the rest of the day it was a pretty good surface, which is encouraging for our guys when we get an opportunity to bat. I guess when you win the toss and bowl you expect to make early inroads, but they negotiated that first hour or so pretty well. We’ve got a new ball still, so hopefully tomorrow morning we can make the most of that and make some early inroads.”
England’s decision at the toss may have been intended to expose the relative inexperience in these conditions of India’s top order: of the five players to bat on Friday Jaiswal was playing his first Test in this country, Gill his fourth, and Sai Sudharsan – who got a four-ball duck – was making his Test debut.
“Credit to the Indian batsmen – Jaiswal and Gill played a couple of great hands there,” Southee said. “They’ve not played a lot of cricket but they’re certainly talented cricketers.”