Cricket Quintet Fly The Vertu Flag In India
Five players from the counties supported by Vertu Motors have returned to the UK following the conclusion of England’s test series in India.
On the pitch it would prove to be a challenging series as India emerged from the five tests with a comfortable 4-1 win to strengthen its position at the head of the ICC World Test Championship.
With the bat, Nottinghamshire’s Ben Duckett would be the best performing of the Vertu-backed players in action, emerging from the series as the second highest-scoring England player.
Across the five matches, Duckett would manage 343 runs at an average of 34.3, with his highlight coming in the third Test in Rajkot. After the home side scored 445 in the first innings, Duckett produced a fine display to carry England to 319 in reply – scoring a masterful 153 from 151 balls, including a series high 23 fours.
That would prove to be the second highest score by an English player in the five Tests, and was Duckett’s second highest test score after the 182 he registered in a one-off match against Ireland last year.
Yorkshire would be represented by Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, with Root emerging from the series as third highest scoring English player – thanks in part to 122 not out during the fourth Test.
A 31st career Test century enabled the former England skipper to close in on Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Mahela Jayawardene on the list of all-time test run scorers, with Root (who currently sits tenth) now little more than 200 runs away from seventh-placed Lara.
Bairstow endured a difficult trip as he failed to pass 50 during his ten innings, but he would end the series with a milestone appearance in the fifth Test, where he became only the 17th person to play in 100 England Tests.
Somerset pair Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir would play their part with the ball, although in the case of Leach, it would be a short trip after he picked up an injury to his knee during the first test.
It meant he was limited to just 36 overs and two wickets before being forced to return home to continue his recovery, although that opened the door for Bashir to come in to the line-up after his surprise call-up to the squad.
Despite only featuring in three of the five tests, Bashir would take 17 wickets, which was second only to Tom Hartley - who bowled more than 80 additional overs - amongst the England players.
Bashir would also be the only England bowler to take five wickets in an innings on multiple occasions, with Ravi Ashwin – India’s leading wicket-taker in the series – being the only other player to achieve the feat.
England will return to Test action in the summer, with series scheduled against both the West Indies and Sri Lanka.