Pant, Jamie achieve all-time batting record in England amongst wicketkeeper-batters

Birmingham [UK], July 6 (ANI): Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant and his English counterpart Jamie Smith made history, as they together secured the highest aggregate by wicketkeeper-batters during a Test series in England.
The duo secured this record during the second Test at Birmingham.
While Rishabh scored just 25 in the first innings, contributing very little to India's first innings total of 587 runs, Jamie scored an unbeaten 184* in 207 balls in England's first innings, consisting of 21 fours and four sixes as a part of a 303-run stand with Harry Brook following an early collapse which left England at 89/5. Brook and Jamie made sure England reached 407 runs, trailing by 180 runs still. Jamie attained the highest individual score by an England wicketkeeper-batter in Tests, overtaking Alec Stewart's 173 back in 1997 against New Zealand.
In the second innings, Pant had an attacking 110-run fourth-wicket partnership with skipper Gill, scoring an entertaining 65 in 58 balls, with eight fours and three sixes. This knock had it all, be it bat slips, shots with him falling on the ground and some exhibition of brute strength. India declared at 427/6, extending their lead to 607 runs and setting 608 runs for England to win. During the run-chase, Smith proved to be the sole ray of hope for England, scoring 88 in 99 balls, with nine fours and four sixes.
So far, the wicketkeeping duo has scored a combined 698 runs in the series, surpassing the 674 runs scored by Alec Stewart (378) and Australia's Ian Healy (296) in the 1993 Ashes.
Jamie is the second-highest run-getter in the series, with 356 runs in two matches and four innings at an average of 178.00 and a strike rate of 86.19, with a century and fifty.
Pant is at third, with 342 runs in two matches and four innings at an average of 85.50 and a strike rate of 81.81, with two centuries (scores of 134 and 118 at Leeds) and a fifty.
Coming to the match, Deep continued his sensational form and struck twice in the first session of Day 5 as England powered to 153/6 at Lunch in the second test against India on Sunday, at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Washington Sundar struck right before lunch, he catches Ben Stokes plumb in front, and England were left six down. At the end of the first session, England reached 153/6 with Jamie Smith 32* unbeaten on the crease and 455 runs away from the victory.
England started Day 5 on 72/3 in 16 overs, 556 runs short of victory, with Harry Brook and Ollie Pope unbeaten on scores of 15(15) and 24(44). India needed to scythe seven scalps on the final day to restore parity at 1-1 in the five-match series.
Play started after nearly a two-hour rain delay on Day 5 of the second Test. Due to the delay, 80 overs will be bowled. Akash Deep was all over England like a rash in his opening spell of the first session as he worked his magic. He sent both overnight batters, Ollie Pope, 24 and Harry Brook, 23, to the hut.
The duo of England skipper Ben Stokes and Jamie Smith completed 50-run partnership for the 6th wicket in the 35th over after Stokes smashed a four off Siraj towards mid-wicket. Just before lunch, Washington Sundar removed England's skipper for 33 off 73 balls, including six fours.
England won the toss and opted to bowl. India posted 587 with Indian skipper Shubman Gill's historic double hundred. Mohammed Siraj grabbed six wickets as India bowled out England for 407 runs, taking a first-innings lead of 180 runs.
India finished second on 427, setting a massive target of 608 for England, with Indian skipper Shubman Gill making another hundred in the match.
Brief score: India: 587 (Shubman Gill 269, Ravindra Jadeja 89, Shoaib Bashir 3/167) against England: 407 (Jamie Smith 184*, Harry Brook 158; Mohammed Siraj 6/70/). India 427/6 d (Shubman Gill 161, Ravindra Jadeja 69*; 2/119) England 153/6 (Ben Stokes 33, Jamie Smith 32*; Akash Deep 4/58). (ANI)