London, July 10 -- Following a slow day of cricket by the current England team's standards on day one of the third Test at Lord's against India, batter Ollie Pope said that the pitch was "placid" after lunch and their opponents held their lengths well.

At the end of the day's play following the third session, England was 251/4, with Root (99*) and skipper Stokes (39*) unbeaten. After a balanced first session, which saw Nitish Kumar Reddy strike twice, England largely dominated the next two with more traditional Test cricket as compared to their attacking 'Bazball' cricket, despite strikes from Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah. With a run-rate of 3,02, it was a pretty slow day of cricket according to Stokes-McCullum regime's standards....