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WATCH - INDvENG 2nd Test: Chris Woakes 'didn’t know how to celebrate' his century at Lord's

Woakes, who recently became a father, was a delighted man at the end of day's play on Saturday.

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Chris Woakes struck a maiden Test century and Jonny Bairstow added 93 as England dominated the third day of the second Test at Lord's on Saturday, reaching 357-6 to open up a significant 250-run lead over India.

Arriving at the crease with England 131-5, Woakes -- back in the side as a replacement for Ben Stokes -- scored freely in a partnership of 189 with Bairstow, bringing up his century with a pull for three. Bairstow looked set to join him in getting his name on the Lords' honours board, but the Yorkshireman fell for 93, caught excellently by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik after he nicked a Hardik Pandya delivery.

Woakes, who ended the day unbeaten on 120, struck 18 boundaries at the home of cricket and was joined at the crease by effervescent youngster Sam Curran (22 not out) who again looked confident after impressing with both bat and ball in the opening Test at Edgbaston.

Woakes, who recently became a father, was a delighted man at the end of day's play. In an interview with ECB, the 29-year-old gave insight into what was going on in his head while he was at the crease.

"It's an amazing feeling. Didn't really expect to come to the ground today and score a hundred for England. Just wanted a build a partnership with Jonny (Bairstow), he played fantastically well. We just tried to fight and score as many runs as we could. And yes, I finally got up to three figures. Didn't really know how to celebrate. But it's an amazing feeling, pretty special," said Woakes.

 

The all-rounder had a clear plan as he walked out to the crease. "I just wanted to give myself a chance to get in. The wicket has been doing a little bit all game. It was a matter of getting through the first 25-30 balls, and trying to get used to the wicket and conditions. Thankfully managed to do that with Jonny. Unfortunately he couldn't get to three figures. But it's put us in a really strong position. So I'm obviously delighted with how we went about it.," he said.

Woakes, just like most other batsmen, was quite nervous as he headed towards his hundred. "It was nervy in the 90s. I went from 60 to 80 pretty quickly. All of a sudden I started thinking about it (century). Before then it hadn't really crossed my mind. Jonny calmed me down from the other end, which was good at that time. Once I got to the 90s, the rest was a bit of a blur. And the next thing I know, I was raising my bat," he said.

Watch the interview HERE

After rain washed out the first day's play and interrupted much of day two, bad light brought proceedings to a close with England in a commanding lead. Earlier England had stumbled to 89-4 in reply to India's first-innings 107, with the hosts' top order again failing to impress.

In the eighth over, Keaton Jennings missed a straight delivery by Mohammed Shami and was trapped lbw for 11. In the following over, Alastair Cook (21) was caught behind after he nicked a swinging delivery from Ishant Sharma which brought 20-year-old debutant Ollie Pope to the crease.

 

The right-hander played some positive strokes and scored quickly as he looked to rebuild alongside captain Joe Root, but as lunch approached he was trapped lbw by Pandya. Root was watchful for much of his innings until his dismissal by Shami lbw for 19 from 53 balls signalled the break.

Jos Buttler was the one wicket to fall in an afternoon session dominated by the hosts, trapped lbw for a breezy 24 by the impressive Shami who claimed three wickets. Thereafter Bairstow and Woakes dominated a dejected India attack with England scoring at almost four-and-a-half an over in a positive batting display. England lead the five-match series 1-0.

 

(Inputs from Reuters)

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