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One of the many delights of leafy south Birmingham is when an international cricket team is in town and residents stumble across them training on the Colts Ground at Edgbaston. Folks could be heading for a stroll in Cannon Hill Park, or their weekly shop at Aldi, only to suddenly find themselves watching Jasprit Bumrah let fly.

Sadly, the fences were covered with tarpaulins after some hecklers over the weekend. There was a decent subplot playing out inside as India trained, too, over whether Bumrah will play the sold-out second Test that starts . Having bowled these past few days, the man himself offered a passing “hopefully”.

Things are not so straightforward here. The plan has long been that India’s spearhead plays three of the five Tests to manage his lower back, something reaffirmed by Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, after the loss at Headingley. Now trailing 1-0 in the series, and with Bumrah having had a week to recover from that match, one would think this is the time to play the second of those three cards.

Yet with the third Test starting a week on Thursday at Lord’s, the ground where every touring cricketer wants to play, it sounds like he may yet be held back.

Ryan ten Doeschate, India’s assistant coach, hinted as much, saying Bumrah was “ready to play”, before going on to add that, with possible rain in Birmingham at the weekend, and Edgbaston a typically flat surface, they are still to decide their configuration.

“We feel we can go 1-1 or keep the score at 1-0 without Jasprit,” said Ten Doeschate. “That is putting the eggs at the back [of the series]. But we are going to need him at some stage. You have to decide when to play your strongest suit. Whatever team we put out there, we can compete in this Test match.”

Thoughts go back to England’s disastrous Ashes tour in 2021-22, when they went 1-0 down and then immediately rested Mark Wood for the second Test in Adelaide. Wood took 17 wickets during that 4-0 defeat but 12 of them came after the urn was lost. Sometimes teams can overthink the future at the expense of the situation staring them in the face, even if England are wary of seeing this as an opportunity.

“The worry for us would be to focus too much on [Bumrah],” said Chris Woakes, who will lead the England bowlers on his home ground. “You have to look at their whole attack, and what they bring to the table, and how you can combat the skills they bring. India have got guys that can come in and cause us issues.”

Even with possible rain showers, India eyeing a draw against an England team that scores at 4.5 runs per over – something that in turn broadens the canvas for taking 20 wickets – is high risk.

Ten Doeschate also hinted at India playing two slow bowlers the options being an attacking wrist-spinner in Kuldeep Yadav or the off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar.

If the latter, it would probably be with half an eye on scoring the lower-order runs that were missing at Headingley – a potentially negative outlook when taking only 15 of the 20 English wickets was the bigger problem.

Better catching would help, with Monday’syesterday’s training session suggesting Yashasvi Jaiswal will be whipped out of the gully position after three costly drops in Leeds.

As well as scoring five centuries before their tail folded twice, those missed chances offer India hope of turning this series around.

They at least know the XI they will be up against, England confirming an unchanged team two days out from the toss and thus holding back the recalled Jofra Archer until Lord’s at the earliest.

“I’m sure he’s champing at the bit to get back out there and show people what he has already done in whites,” said Woakes. “We all know how good he can be, but he’s at an age [30] where his best is probably still ahead of him.”

Archer was not on the ground on Monday after a “family emergency” delayed his arrival, England then going on to confirm that none of the unused squad players will be parachuted into the current round of county matches anyway.

Given the slog the bowlers are enduring with the Kookaburra ball this week, Archer, Sam Cook and Jamie Overton may be thankful for the reprieve.

The only real difference for England this week is Moeen Ali among the backroom staff, having taken up the offer to further his coaching experience. It may not be Moeen’s only encounter with India this year, with South Africa understood to be interested in him joining their coaching staff for a Test tour there in November.

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — A French journalist has been sentenced to seven years in prison in Algeria over an interview with a soccer official accused of ties to a banned separatist movement, in a case rights groups say criminalizes routine reporting.

Christophe Gleizes, a 36-year-old freelance sportswriter, was arrested and placed under judicial supervision more than a year ago for entering Algeria without a proper visa, “glorifying terrorism,” and “possessing propaganda publications harmful to the national interest,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement on Sunday.

He was tried and convicted, although prosecutors have not publicly announced the charges and Algerian officials have not commented on the case.

However, authorities have in the past faced criticism from rights advocates who say Algeria uses anti-terrorism laws to target political speech.

Thibaut Bruttin, Reporters Without Borders director general, called authorities’ decision to hold Gleizes for 13 months before sentencing an example of “absurd judicial control” and called the seven-year sentence “nonsensical.” The press freedom group said Gleizes planned to appeal the sentences on Monday.

The charges against Gleizes, the group said, stemmed from contact he had with the head of a soccer club who was also a member of a political movement that Algeria designated as a terrorist group four years ago.

Gleizes, had contributed to the magazines So Foot and Society, had gone to Algeria last year to report on JS Kabylie, Algeria’s most historically dominant soccer team.

JS Kabylie and its successes are deeply enmeshed in the movement to win cultural recognition for Algeria’s Amazigh minority in the mountainous Kabylia region. The region has for decades been an epicenter of rebellion in Algeria. Authorities have in recent years clamped down on the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylia, a separatist group whose leader has been sentenced to death in absentia for “attacking national unity.”

The French journalist’s sentence comes as relations between France and Algeria reach new levels of hostility. The two countries are sparring over migration, extradition, trade and France’s change in position over the status of the disputed Western Sahara.

France’s Foreign Affairs Ministry called Gleizes’ sentence harsh, saying it planned to provide consular support and had applied to visit him in prison.

While the case was received with shock in France’s media, few in Algeria were aware of Gleizes’ detention before the sentence was announced.

“This is a murky affair,” said Karim Adli, a sports journalist based in the city of Tizi Ouzou.

LONDON — There were twists and turns. There were net cords and underarm serves. There was physical distress and an unfortunate charge straight into the net. And after 2 hours and 41 minutes, at the end of a wild three-set ride, there was only one winner: Madison Keys, who held off Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-5 to reach the Wimbledon second round.

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draw

It was the second time in a Grand Slam this year that the No. 6 seed had survived a stern examination from Ruse — and despite coming so close to defeat, the déjà vu could be positive for Keys. She trailed Ruse by a third-set break in the second round of the Australian Open in January, before escaping 7-6(1), 2-6, 7-5. Less than two weeks later, she had gone on to lift her first major trophy.

In the rematch, Ruse came out swinging as though she had unfinished business. The Romanian led throughout the first set, and despite Keys twice pegging her back from a break down, snatched it in a tiebreak. But Ruse began visibly ailing in the second set, calling for a medical timeout after the third game and collapsing to the ground in the ninth game.

The match only got wilder from there. Ruse battled on, levelling at 5-5 from 5-3 down despite her issues — only for Keys to close the set out anyway. In the decider, Keys had to navigate all manner of unexpected obstacles as she sought to protect another early lead. At 2-0, holding two points for a double break, Keys was denied by a Ruse underarm serve that caught the outer edge of the line. Serving for the match at 5-4, she was broken back as, chasing down a short Ruse ball, the American charged straight into the net.

In light of that, Keys’ resilience in shaking off the setbacks to make one last push for victory was remarkable — and the scream of relief she let out after Ruse ballooned a return long on match point was possibly the only predictable aspect of the match.

More to come…