Harry Brook has warned India there will be no let up in the verbal barrage when the Test series resumes in Manchester on Thursday.
On-field relations between the teams soured when India captain Shubman Gill was at the centre of a foul-mouthed flashpoint during England’s 22-run win at Lord’s, finger-wagging and swearing at Zak Crawley for using delaying tactics on the third evening.
Ben Duckett, Crawley’s opening partner, also got caught up in the acrimonious exchange and it was decided back in the dressing room that evening that England would turn up the heat themselves in retaliation.
Yorkshire batter Brook said: ‘We just thought “we’re not standing for that”, as a group of 11 players. We had a conversation and said “it’s time to not be those nice guys that we have been before”.’
Ironically, England coach Brendon McCullum had warned his players they were at risk of being too nice following India’s resounding win at Edgbaston earlier this month.
The subject of on-field aggression was then brought up at the close of the fourth day at Lord’s by Brook, who said: ‘We were doing it within the spirit of the game. We weren’t going out there effing and jeffing at them, being nasty people. We were just going about it in the right manner.’
England batter Harry Brook has insisted there will be no stopping the war of words with India in the fourth Test
Things started when India captain Shubman Gill took exception to Zak Crawley’s delaying tactics on the third evening
Jofra Archer also enjoyed a battle with a number of the India batters – including Rishabh Pant
India are not about to back down either. ‘What a player needs is sledging. It can disrupt a batter’s concentration. If he’s too defensive, maybe talking to him makes him try something different,’ said fast bowler Mohammed Siraj.
It came on the day Gilbert Enoka, the man who created the ‘no d***heads’ policy for the All Blacks during a spell of more than 300 matches as their mental skills coach, addressed the squad on the outfield.
Enoka was drafted in by fellow New Zealander McCullum ahead of the Test win over Zimbabwe earlier this summer and has returned on a four-day consultancy after working with New South Wales’s rugby league team in their recent State of Origin success over Queensland.
England have made one change as they look to turn a 2-1 advantage into series victory at Emirates Old Trafford, with Hampshire’s Liam Dawson ending an eight-year absence by replacing broken finger victim Shoaib Bashir.
Gus Atkinson was declared fit following hamstring trouble, but lost out in selection to Chris Woakes, whose 35 Test wickets at 17.37 runs apiece in Manchester saw him retained for a fourth straight match.
Meanwhile, India’s attack spearhead Jasprit Bumrah appears set to play after going through his bowling drills two days out, having previously hinted he would only feature in three of the five matches.
