6 hours ago
3
Seeing Ben Stokes celebrating with Josh Tongue, gesturing that his fast bowler was gobbling up rabbit pie, was an amusing aside during England's win over India in the first Test.
Mopping up the tail is a bit of an art and not always straightforward.
Believe me, this is from someone who had to bowl at and field while the West Indies' Tino Best compiled a Test-match 95 at Edgbaston in 2012.
Last week's Test at Headingley, as amazing as it was, was won by England and lost by India in two facets.
Firstly, India's catching was poor, as was their discipline of keeping their foot behind the line. The errors gave England reprieves worth 200 runs in the game.
Secondly, the India lower order offered no resistance at all.
The last four wickets put on 18 runs in the first innings and 29 in the second with Tongue picking up three of these in each innings.
Tongue's performance was eye catching.
To tailenders you want to be aggressive, intimidating and ruthless.
'Kill the tail' we used to say in team meetings and remind each other at the back of our marks in order to make sure the opposition tail didn't wag.
Using your short ball is imperative to unsettle the tailender but as soon as you realise the short ball has done its job of making sure the batter isn't interested in getting forward, you want to be back to a good length.
Tongue's awkward angle is immediately off-putting to a tailender. You think everything is going to hit you in the ribs.
In the second innings he bowled a triple wicket-maiden to take the seventh, eighth and ninth wickets of the innings. It was the perfect example of how to intimidate and then dismiss the tail.
A full away swinger was nicked to first slip by number eight Shardul Thakur. That was followed a heavy, awkward ball to Mohammad Siraj that left Siraj walking off wringing his hand in pain after gloving it behind to Jamie Smith.
Jasprit Bumrah's middle stump was flattened two balls later with him backing away and having a big swing at one - a shot that was almost certainly as a result of what Bumrah sat and watched while Siraj was batting.
It is horrible as a tailender sat there watching someone be aggressive to the tail.
Gone are the days of the bowlers union where you would not bang one in to your opposite number in the knowledge he would not bowl one to you.
Helmets, padding and the ability to practice better has made everyone fair game and you're acutely aware that you'll receive a bouncer when you walk out there, especially as you'll be tasked to do the same when you have the ball in your hand.
Your palms get sweaty, you need a nervous trip to the toilet every five minutes and you can't take your eyes off who the opposition captain is gesturing at to bowl next.
I made the mistake of bouncing Jofra Archer in a County Championship match in 2018, hitting him on the head.
As soon as it was my turn to bat, I knew who'd have the ball in his hand.
The index finger on my right hand is still swollen from where the first ball I faced from him squeezed in against my bat handle in front of my face. He got me out next ball for nought.
The psychological lift a wagging tail gives to a dressing room is also huge.
It lightens the mood, it gives players the confidence that the momentum in the game is in their favour and you can physically see the frustration in the opposition as they toy with how to extract the last few wickets.
The top order batters' minds are distracted from facing the opening overs of the following innings and if the tail really wags it can descend into chaos.
England were the sixth worst at removing the tail in the previous cycle of the World Test Championship. The opposition averaged 21.76 per wicket after the fall of the sixth wicket against England in that period.
Compare that to the best in the world at removing the tail, New Zealand, where the opposition averaged 15.48, and it feels like a significant swing in the game.
Cast your mind back to the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston in 2023 that Australia won by two wickets.
In a chase of 282, Scott Boland as nightwatchman scored 20 from 40 balls, Pat Cummins 44 not out from 73 and Nathan Lyon a 28-ball unbeaten 16.
More was made of the Stokes declaration on day one, but fundamentally, the inability to blow the tail away in the second innings was where the game was lost.
Killing the tail is going to be imperative to England's success not only in this series, but in this winter's Ashes too. Tongue has shown he has the skills. The likes of Carse, Archer or Gus Atkinson could do it too.
Gobbling up rabbit pie could be more important than anyone thinks.
