A magnificent day's cricket wasted on empty seats

SAM MORSHEAD AT EDGBASTON: On occasions like this, England should not be playing to matinee crowds. This was big, bold box-office fare and it deserved a big, bold box-office sell-out

Edgbaston (second day of five): England 287 & 9-1, India 274 - England lead by 22 runs with nine second-innings wickets remaining

At the end of a captivating day at Edgbaston, for all the drama and the intrigue and the downright brilliance on show, there remained a nagging feeling that not enough people saw it.

As first Sam Curran and then Ben Stokes tore into the Indian top order like hungry hyenas might a lonely antelope, the famously boisterous Hollies Stand lacked its customary volume. When Virat Kohli responded with a stunning century that somehow hauled his side very close to parity, the cheers seemed to echo.

Opposite, the West Stand was bare in patches, while the temporary seating to the left of the scoreboard sat deserted. It will be opened up on Friday when demand appears to be substantially higher. Whether Edgbaston had become ridden with empty seats as a result of apathy, scheduling, excess or any other mitigating factor doesn’t really matter. What matters is the seats were unfilled, on a day which absolutely demanded that this famous stadium to be at its fullest, loudest best.

It was not eerie, nor low-key, let’s not make that mistake. There were still plenty of punters queueing tidily for toilets, £5 pints and fish and chips priced dearly enough to make you wonder if they came line-caught and hand-cut by Rick Stein himself. The audience in situ was plenty big enough to make most Test-playing nations green with envy and Warwickshire know how to hold an event.

But on occasions like this, England and their guests should not be playing to matinee crowds. This was big, bold box-office fare and it deserved a big, bold box-office sell-out.

^{Virat Kohli made a phenomenal ton for India}

The fact that there were gaping holes during two of the more remarkable bowling spells you are likely to witness from Englishmen in Tests, and one of the most extraordinary one-man batting displays on these shores, should make the ECB come across in something of a hot flush.

There were rows upon rows unoccupied, and that is no exaggeration, as Curran skidded his way to three wickets in eight deliveries and Stokes discovered a method of moving the ball at angles usually reserved for crazy golf. At one point, India’s prolific top order were made to look like corrugated-iron figurines on an arcade shooting gallery. There for the taking, waiting to fall.

And by the time the evening sun swept across the outfield and Kohli completed a magnificently defiant century - the 22nd of his Test career - still there was space for 5,000 more inside the ground. That is not just a crying shame, it is a screaming disaster.

England, thoroughly effective with the swinging ball, were not at their very best - catches went down, reviews were either feebly spurned or unwisely declined - but they were certainly at their most entertaining.

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Sparked by Curran, the scrappy Surrey 20-year-old with a skiddy, whirlwind action, the hosts refused to buckle under the pressure of an Indian opening partnership that meandered to 50 in 13 overs.

Murali Vijay was sent on his way, lbw on review to an inducker, KL Rahul had his off stump knocked over second ball and Shikhar Dhawan flicked a tame catch to Dawid Malan at second slip.

Suddenly, India were 59 for three and teetering.

That stunning two-over burst from Curran proved just to be the warm-up act for Stokes’ main event, however.

The Durham allrounder, harnessing all the brutal elegance of genuine fast and furious swing, had the ball whooping around corners like Lewis Hamilton at his mate’s go-karting stag do.

^{Sam Curran was in the wickets for England}

This was wonderful theatre. An hour of captivating drama. The passage of play that causes conflict in the crowd when someone tries to answer nature’s call before the end of an over. The sort of afternoon at the cricket where the entire crowd appears to breathe in and out at the same time; a colonial animal taking long, expectant inhalations and releasing collective gasps.

Stokes achieved one such gasp with one of his tamer deliveries, a wideish, short-ish popper which Ajinkya Rahane really ought to have avoided like a seafood sandwich in the reduced aisle.

Come to think of it, however, Rahane's innings was mildly fishy and by this point he had been woven a web for his own demise by Stokes. It came as little surprise that he nicked off, although the nature of the edge - a leave-come-waft well away from his body, was still surprisingly poor.

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Stokes was in the mood. Thundering up to the crease, he had the ball a-whooping and a-hollering. Dinesh Karthik found the noise far too much to deal with and drove down the wrong line, turning to see his middle stump out of the ground.

Stokes thought he had another when Hardik Pandya was trapped in front, only for DRS to show there was in fact too much swing. Not out. Rare respite for the tourists.

At the other end, Jimmy Anderson continued to plough on manfully without reward. Desperate to continue his one-man assault on Kohli that began in 2014, England’s all-time record wicket-taker took 15 of the first 16 overs to be bowled from the Birmingham End. Edges from the Indian skipper fell short of Keaton Jennings and Dawid Malan in the slips, and Jos Buttler at gully - Buttler ended up in hospital for an X-ray on a finger as a result, before Malan dropped a routine chance with the India captain on 21.

^{Ben Stokes was in good form with the ball}

Anderson did eventually get his wickets, knocking over Ravi Ashwin with a peach of a ball that held its line and then having Mohammed Shami held by Malan, but it seemed scant reward for a hugely disciplined day of seam bowling.

Kohli, meanwhile, hung around, picking off runs through a vacant third man for what felt like an eternity, marshalling the tail towards a total with which India remain very much in the hunt. Of course, hung around is underplaying it only slightly, like saying Michael Johnson did laps of the track or Michael Phelps didn’t sink, but such is the class of the man that being brilliant and hanging around have become one and the same.

He was dropped a second time on 51, again by Malan though this one a substantially trickier chance diving to his right off Stokes, but never looked fazed. The field spread, he kept his cool, until the point at which he cut to the point boundary to go to three figures.

No mic-drop this time, just a kiss of his wedding ring and a whole-body yell.

His manipulation of England’s better bowlers, and his own side’s poorer batsmen, was a thing of marvel.

In the overs after Ravi Ashwin was dismissed, and India reduced to 179 for six, he barely let his partners face a ball. Between them, Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav were exposed to 37 balls out of 25-and-a-half overs.

Kohli faced the rest, and still scored at a rate that prevented the innings from becoming stagnant. Had it been most other players worldwide, it would have been very close to their finest knock.

Eventually, he went for 149, one of two wickets for Adil Rashid, but by now India were only 13 behind.

By the time stumps came, with Cook removed by an Ashwin ripper almost identical to that which dismissed the England opener in the first innings, the visitors - though behind on the scoreboard - were on top.

Compulsive viewing. If only there were more viewers to be compelled.