Vic Marks
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

Stokes and Bairstow have played extremely well. The ball has done a little and if you get through five overs it seem like it is doing even less. England's long claw back into this game has made a terrific start.

Ravindra Jadeja will replace Mohammed Shami, and Bairstow cuts him nicely but he can't beat the lurking fielder at point. Jadeja mixes up his length quite nicely, keeping England to just one from the over.

Image source, AP

Andrew Samson
BBC Test Match Special statistician

England have scored 1,727 runs for the sixth wicket in 2016, the most they have managed for any wicket in a calendar year. Here's the top of the pile...

• 1,727 - 6th wicket, 2016
• 1,649 - 4th wicket, 2015
• 1,557 - 4th wicket, 2006
• 1,489 - 2nd wicket, 2010
• 1,476 - 3rd wicket, 2003

Image source, AP

If you're just waking up, you've missed the sight of Jonny Bairstow injuring himself walking out to bat. Bairstow, in the middle of his side stepping, tripped over his ankle. He's been patched up and, a shaky fifteen minutes aside, he looks okay. He and Ben Stokes, who has played really well this morning, have put on 78 runs for the sixth wicket.

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

I still think England are learning in Test cricket. With the all-rounders, then add Hameed to Cook and Root. If they could find a number four and a spinner, they would be a real team. They should be so well set-up to play in Australia.

Four for Bairstow, but it's not convincing as he goes back to Ashwin and ends up with an outside edge that flies wide of the solitary slip. It might be time for a change for India, or at the very least, a little word in Ashwin's ear. That's the first hour over and done with.

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

Stokes used to go hard at the ball - that was fine on Australian wickets. Now he plays with soft hands in defence, like Kane Williamson, almost with the bat angled towards the ground. It takes all the momentum out of the ball. If he ever gets a niggle and can't bowl, he has to stay in the side as a batsman.

Shami continues and Stokes keeps using his feet, nipping out of the crease and coming down the wicket, but he can't work it away for a run. Shami ends with a ball that moves across Stokes' body, and that'll be a maiden.

Is it The Oval that has a cat that wanders through the stands, or have I made that up?

Floaty from Ashwin and four for Stokes. That was lovely - Stokes came dancing down the wicket to give it a hearty thump through the off side. Ashwin's not got his line right this morning, but he spears the next few in to get Stokes driving again.

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

I like Virat Kohli as a captain. He looks like he's got a presence. I think he's a bit of fun, but he's also on to his players when they're not quite on it.

Every so often, Shami gets one to keep horribly low, and Bairstow's left jabbing his bat down at the last second. Sloppy work from Jadeja gifts England five overthrows, with a pointless throw that runs way clear of the stumps and down to the fine leg boundary. Virat Kohli looks at him and shrugs, in utter disdain.

Image source, AP

Ashwin continues and gets Bairstow groping forward to a straight one. It goes past Bairstow's bat, out of the keeper's gloves and away for a couple of byes. Ashwin looks thoroughly unimpressed by the whole situation. He rounds off the over with another near-miss as Bairstow shapes to cut a short ball and ends up swishing at fresh air.

Mohammed Shami, fresh from snapping Alastair Cook's off stump in half yesterday, is next to have a bowl. He's working up a decent pace, angling it back into both batsmen, but Bairstow meets each delivery with his bat. The pair trade a couple of singles to keep England moving forward.

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

The key is players getting in. These two have done the work, enough this morning to be used to the pitch. They have to make it count. It's so difficult for anyone starting their innings.

Ashwin keeps looping them up and Stokes keeps hammering them away. Bairstow doesn't get so lucky, beaten by a beauty as he presses forward. He looks to have recovered from that trip earlier, one I've replicated many, many times when trying to get about my business.

Image source, Reuters

YES! Can he bat seven?

Umesh is getting a bit of zip off those cracks in the pitch, but Bairstow isn't playing at that. He does have a nibble at a ball that jags in and moves past the outside edge. There's plenty of people in the stands trying to protect themselves from the sunshine. Not a problem we're facing at 4am in Manchester.