Former England cricketer David Lloyd said that he felt there would be a turning point in the fifth Test between England and India at Old Trafford. Cricket Land. The fifth and final Test of the series between the two teams was canceled on Friday due to fears of a rise in COVID-19 cases inside the Indian camp after assistant physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar tested positive for the virus on Wednesday.
“So, at 7 pm on Thursday when there was an announcement from the ECB that the game was underway, I told Mrs Lloyd: ‘There will still be a turning point.’ What convinced me so much? Well, when India didn’t come to practice earlier that day, he showed his hand. It told me: ‘We are not playing.’ If you don’t practice as a team the day before, you don’t play,” wrote Lloyd for the Daily Mail on Saturday.
Lloyd was suspected of not having the fifth Test after head coach Ravi Shastri tested positive for COVID-19 during the fourth Test at the Oval. “Rumors that the game will not take place have been doing the rounds since the end of the fourth Test and became more prevalent when India coach Ravi Shastri and members of the backroom staff tested positive for Covid. Should they have told someone that they intend to attend a book release in London? Should they have even considered moving in the first place?”
The cancellation of the Manchester Test may have deprived fans of the thrilling climax of the hard-hitting series, but Lloyd believes veteran pacer James Anderson has the opportunity to play his final Test at his home ground in England. The chance would have been missed.
“Maybe India refused to fulfill their commitment and play the final Test, denying Jimmy Anderson the final storm on a ground that had his name written on one end. But the damage goes deeper than that and makes Jimmy’s personal situation accidental. He might not make another England appearance at his home at Emirates Old Trafford, although if you know Jimmy, you’ll feel no fuss. Burnley boys – they don’t fuss.”
Anderson, 39, took 15 wickets behind Jasprit Bumrah (18 wickets) and Ollie Robinson (21 wickets) to take the most wickets in the series. “They’re tough guys from his neck of the woods and he wouldn’t want a fanfare. In fact, it tells you something about him that I wouldn’t have expected him to play in this game because he would have been in the Red Zone,” Lloyd he said.
“But he is a warrior and must have pushed himself once again, like he has the whole summer, bowling too many overs because England can’t bat. An almighty Schmozal – meaning he won’t be bowling any more this summer and won’t give thousands of spectators a chance to watch the series finale – is brewing here all week,” concluded Lloyd.
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