Alex Lees, the opener for England, said that on Day 4 of the first Test against India at Edgbaston on July 4, he tried to attack Ravindra Jadeja. Lees led England’s run chase of 378 runs by getting 56 runs in 46 balls. He said he only tried to hit the ball where there were no fielders.
Lees hit Jadeja for a boundary by stepping down the track, and on the last ball of the over, he did a reverse sweep for another boundary. The southpaw got out with a score of one in the first inning. It took him 44 balls to get to fifty. He and Zak Crawley put on 107 runs together for the first wicket.
After the day’s game, he told Sky Sports that the left-handed batters in their camp had been told to attack Jadeja. So, the southpaw tried to get a maximum with the left-arm spinner.
He said: “I think the left-handed players on this team should try to hit the left-arm spinner. I really wanted to hit him for six with the first ball, but I yorked myself instead. This is no rocket science. I just tried to hit the ball where there weren’t any fielders.”
The 29-year-old left the field in a bad way because he got into a miscommunication with Joe Root. After a good start, England started to lose its way when Crawley and Ollie Pope both got out.
Alex Lees talks about the advice from McCullum and Stokes
The Yorkshire batsman said that Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum let him play aggressively, but his goal is to get big hundreds.
He said: “To be honest, I just wanted to try and hit it hard. The support I’ve gotten from Ben Stokes and Baz McCullum has made me more aggressive and changed the way I play. Still, the numbers aren’t where I want them to be. As the opening batter, it’s my job to get big scores, and that’s what I want to do.”
At the end of Day 5, England was 259-3 and needed 119 more runs to win. If they got those runs, it would be a record chase at the venue.
Jonny Bairstow, who scored a quick hundred in the first innings, is back in the game because he and Root added 150 runs without being out. Both of them have not lost their wickets, with scores of 72 and 76. If England wins, India won’t be able to win a series in England for the first time since 2007.
