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Sports Mole previews the second match of the Test series between England and India at Edgbaston, including predictions and team news.

Following an impressive victory at Headingley, England will be hoping to take a 2-0 lead in their ongoing series against India when they head to Edgbaston this week for the second Test.

There is a chance of rain before the 11:00 start on July 2, but improving conditions are expected to allow mostly uninterrupted play in Birmingham over the coming week.

Match preview

India would have been bitterly disappointed and perhaps somewhat bewildered by how they lost their opening match of the series at Headingley, having dominated proceedings for the majority of the five-day contest.Â

No team had ever lost a Test match after scoring five individual centuries, until Shubman Gill’s side did in Leeds, where tons from the captain, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, and a pair from the irrepressible Rishabh Pant proved futile.

A major contributing factor to the defeat was India dropping five catches during England’s first innings – the most the team has grassed in five years – including key misses that allowed Ollie Pope (from 60 to 106), Ben Duckett (15 to 62) and Harry Brook (58 to 99) to go on to post significant scores.

Another factor behind Indiaâ€s defeat was a batting collapse, as they lost seven wickets for 41 after Gill fell to Shoaib Bashir in the first inning, and that pattern was repeated in the second innings, when the side crumbled from 334/4 to 364 all out after Brydon Carse bowled KL Rahul.

Given the result in the first match, India now also face a conundrum around Jasprit Bumrahâ€s workload management, as the worldâ€s top-ranked fast bowler, who claimed five wickets in the first innings at Leeds, intends to play only three of the five Tests, which could leave the attack signifincantly less threatening in his absence in Birmingham.Â

Meanwhile, starting day five of the first Test at 21/0, England steadily got to 117/0 by lunch, maintaining a measured scoring rate of four runs per over while successfully negotiating their main threats, Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

Englandâ€s Bazball made its first true impression right here at Edgbaston in 2022 when the Three Lions chased down a record 378 against India, and now they return to the same venue to face the same opponents in the second Test of this year’s series.

While Jonny Bairstow was the embodiment of Bazball during its early days at the top of the order, that mantle now seems to belong to Duckett, whose brilliant 149 anchored Englandâ€s largely comfortable chase of 371 – their second-highest in Test history – against India at Headingley last week.

Indiaâ€s rising star, Jaiswal, is the only opener above Duckett in the latest ICC Test batting rankings, and there is certainly a solid case to be made that the English left-hander is currently among the best all-format batters in the game.

Englandâ€s record at Edgbaston will also add to their confidence of going 2-0 up in the series, as they have won 30 of the 56 Test matches played at the venue, while only losing 11 and playing out 15 draws.Â

Team News

Jofra Archer was recalled to the England squad for the second Test against India, but the Three Lions†speedster left the camp over the weekend to attend to a family emergency and has been ruled out for the Edgbaston clash.Â

Ben Stokes has opted to go with an unchanged lineup for this match, with the pace trio of Chris Woakes, â Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue retained, while Bashir will serve as the primary spin option.Â

As mentioned earlier, the main uncertainty heading into this match for India revolves around Bumrahâ€s availability and whether they possess the bowling strength to take 20 wickets in his absence.

In the event that the worldâ€s top fast bowler is unable to feature at Edgbaston, Arshdeep Singh is the most likely to be entrusted with the new ball alongside Siraj following another impressive performance at the Indian Premier League this year.Â

Pant will be hoping to accomplish a significant feat in this match, as his back-to-back centuries at Headingley saw him move to joint-third for the most tons by an Indian batter against England, now level on five with Virat Kohli, one behind former India skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and two off the legendary duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid on seven apiece.Â

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England squad: Ben Stokes (C), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes

India squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav

Series so far

Test 1 of 3: England won by five wickets

India – 471 & 364

England – 465 & 373/5

We say: England to win

While India’s top order batted extremely well in the first Test, they struggled to contain England with the ball in hand in the second innings, which allowed the home team to romp to victory fairly comfortably in the end.Â

Given that Bumrah is likely to be left out of this match as part of his workload management, India may struggle to make inroads against their opponentâ€s top order, and we feel that the Three Lions will take full advantage en route to a 2-0 series lead.Â

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Sports Mole previews the World Test Championship final clash between South Africa and Australia, including predictions and team news.

On Wednesday, our attention turns to the home of cricket, Lordâ€s, where the ICC World Test Championship final will get underway between South Africa and Australia.Â

The Proteas will be making their debut appearance in the WTC final after finishing third in the previous cycle, while the team from Down Under are the defending champions.Â

Match preview

South Africa booked their spot in this weekâ€s blockbuster final by finishing top of the World Test Championship standings, while riding the momentum of seven consecutive victories in the longest format of the game.Â

The Proteas got their WTC cycle off to a poor start, drawing at home to India and losing 2-0 to New Zealand, but they then rediscovered their rhythm, securing series victories over the West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.Â

Despite finishing top of the standings, though, South Africa enter the final as underdogs, with many arguing that they benefited from a favourable schedule, having avoided the likes of Australia and England en route to the Lordâ€s showpiece.Â

Temba Bavumaâ€s side took on Zimbabwe in preparation for this match, with Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, and the skipper himself all notching up half-centuries, while Kagiso Rabada looked in great shape, bowling with genuine pace and aggression.Â

For South Africa, the WTC final is about more than just winning the coveted Championship Mace or pocketing the whopping $3.6m in prize money – it is an opportunity to end their long-standing drought in menâ€s ICC events, as they have not tasted success since the ICC Knockout Trophy back in 1998.Â

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Meanwhile, the reigning WTC champions, Australia, arrive at the home of cricket to defend the title they won against India in 2023, and remain a formidable side with their core largely unchanged two years later.

Led by Pat Cummins, the Aussies clinched an impressive 3-1 series victory over India in the Border-Gavaskar trophy earlier this year and were arguably the standout team of the 2023–2025 World Test Championship cycle.

The Baggy Greens won 13 of their 19 Tests during the WTC cycle and remained unbeaten in all six series during that period, during which they faced England, Pakistan, the West Indies, New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka.Â

However, after starting their preparations in Kent, reports in the lead-up to this match claimed that the Aussies suffered a blow in their training plans, as they were denied permission to train at Lordâ€s on Saturday but were allowed access to the ground on Sunday.Â

Australia dominate the head-to-head standings against the Proteas, winning 54 of the 101 matches between the sides, including two victories in the three games played at neutral venues.Â

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Team News

Shukri Conrad will have a few selection decisions to make in his bowling lineup for this match, but one player who is almost guaranteed to feature for the Proteas with the new ball is Kagiso Rabada.Â

The right-arm quick boasts the best bowling average at Lordâ€s among all fast bowlers set to feature in the WTC final, having claimed 13 wickets at 19.38 across two Tests at the venue, and with 47 wickets at an average of 19.97 from 10 Tests in the WTC cycle, he currently holds the ICCâ€s number two ranking in the format, edging out both Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

The imposing figure of left-armer Marco Jansen has broken into the top 10 of the Test bowling rankings in recent times and could pose a serious threat to Australia’s batters with his steep bounce and sharp pace with the new ball.Â

With David Warner now retired, Andrew McDonaldâ€s biggest decision in his batting lineup will be around whether to insert 19-year-old Sam Konstas or the experienced Marnus Labuschagne at the top of the order opposite Usman Khawaja.

Khawaja leads Australiaâ€s run-scoring in the 2023-2025 WTC cycle, amassing 1,422 runs across 19 Tests at an average of 41.82, highlighted by two centuries and six fifties, including a career-best 232 in the innings victory over Sri Lanka at Galle earlier this year.

Another big call will have to be made around who will complete the Aussies’ pace attack between Scott Boland and Hazlewood in support of skipper Cummins and Mitchell Starc.Â

Hazlewood is seen as the favourite to get the nod, having bagged 57 wickets in 13 Tests during the 2023-2025 cycle, while he also led the Royal Challengers Bangaloreâ€s bowling unit in their Indian Premier League triumph last month, notching up 22 wickets in 12 games.Â

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South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

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We say: Australia to win

While South Africa ended the 2023-2025 WTC cycle top of the standings, there were question marks around their campaign schedule, during which they sidestepped two of the ‘big three†en route to the final.Â

The last time the Proteas and the Aussies met in the longest format, the team from Down Under emerged victorious with a 2-0 series win, and we feel they will retain their WTC title at Lordâ€s this week.Â

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Athletes will have Olympic qualification in mind when they head to the Meeting Internacional Arona in Tenerife on 12-13 June.

The Canary Islands competition made its debut as part of the World Athletics Challenge – Combined Events in 2019 and this 10th edition also gives athletes the opportunity to achieve standards for the Games in Tokyo ahead of the qualification period for combined events ending on 29 June.

Nana Djimou and Zheng in heptathlon

Among those seeking the 6420-point heptathlon standard for Tokyo will be France’s Antoinette Nana Djimou and China’s Zheng Ninali.

Three-time Olympian Nana Djimou finished fourth at the London 2012 Olympics and also has three top eight places at the World Athletics Championships – in 2009, 2011 and 2013 – to her name. She will be looking to get close to her PB of 6576 points achieved at the 2012 Games to secure her spot at another global competition.

Competing as Nina Schultz, Zheng secured silver for Canada at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and now representing China will be looking to build on the 6153 PB score she set in Xi’an in April.

Joining them in Arona will be Switzerland’s 2019 European U23 champion Geraldine Ruckstuhl and Spain’s 2017 world U18 champion Maria Vicente, who scored 6304 points to win at the Multistars event in Lana in April, plus Britain’s Holly Mills, Switzerland’s Caroline Agnou and Austria’s Sarah Lagger.

Sintnicolaas seeks decathlon standard

The decathlon qualifying mark for Tokyo is 8350 points and among the athletes aiming for that will be two-time world fifth-placer Eelco Sintnicolaas of the Netherlands. Having originally planned to return to decathlon action in April, Sintnicolaas decided to push that back a couple of months and will now hope to rediscover the sort of form which saw him achieve his 8539-point Dutch record in Götzis in 2017.

Norway’s Martin Roe returns as the 2019 champion, his national record of 8228 points having been set in Florence in 2018, while the entry list also features Venezuela’s 2019 South American Championships winner Georni Jaramillo and Spain’s Jorge Urena, who won European indoor heptathlon gold in 2019 and silver earlier this year, plus Czech Republic’s Adam Helcelet and Japan’s Keisuke Ushiro.

The meeting will also feature U20 and U18 competition.

World Athletics

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