India vs England: Matthew Potts continues to strike big in summer to remember by dismissing Virat Kohli – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

The opening day of the fifth Test between England and India didn’t quite turn out the way the hosts would’ve hoped, especially as they ended up conceding over 300 runs after having the visitors on the mat at 98/5 at one stage.

India posted 338/7 at stumps on Day 1 on the back of yet another game-changing century by Rishabh Pant (146) and an equally effective supporting act by Ravindra Jadeja (83 not out) at Edgbaston. Barring James Anderson, who made the most of the overcast conditions to skittle the Indian top-order, none of the other English bowlers were quite as penetrative.

For Matthew Potts, however, it continues to be a summer to remember as the young seamer accounted for yet another big scalp on the opening day of the COVID-delayed series finale.

While former skipper Virat Kohli was able to fend off a series of testing deliveries from veteran pacer James Anderson, a bowler with whom he’s had many a memorable battle in the past, he ended up chopping the ball onto his stumps off Pott’s bowling to depart for 11, extended his lean patch with the bat which has plagued him for quite some time now.

Kohli had earlier collected a couple of boundaries off the same bowler, the first one a bit streaky though as the inside edge missed the stumps. He later followed it up with a little tickle towards the fine leg region to collect his second boundary of the day, before getting an inside edge off an inswinger from Potts after a last-second decision to shoulder his arms.

Besides Kohli, the Durham pacer had dismissed New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson thrice in the recently-concluded Test series. Making his debut for the national side on the back of a productive county season, Potts made an instant impact in the opening Test at Lord’s with figures of 4/13 and 3/55.

Williamson, in fact, was Potts’ first international Test wicket as he ended up getting the Black Caps skipper and a member of the modern-day ‘Fab Four’ caught-behind for just 2 as the visitors crumbled to 12/4 in what was a whirlwind start to the series. He would fall for another low score at the ‘Home of Cricket’ in the second essay, nicking the ball to Jonny Bairstow in the slips.

Williamson was ruled out of the second Test after testing positive for COVID-19 on the eve of the game, with Tom Latham taking over leadership duty at Trent Bridge, before returning to action at Headingley. The New Zealand skipper was in better touch this time, getting off to promising starts though he was ultimately unable to convert them into the big scores. He fell to Pott’s bowling for a third time in the series, this time getting a faint nick to one moving away to get caught by Bairstow, this time acting as the keeper, falling just two short of what would’ve been his first fifty-plus score of the tour.

Potts finished as the leading wicket-taker among the English bowlers in his debut series with 14 wickets to his name, and the second-highest overall in the series after New Zealand left-arm quick Trent Boult (16), and in the process, ensured he would remain in skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum’s plans for the summer.

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