India leads England by 96 after Day 3 with Headingley test still finely poised

LEEDS, England (AP) — Harry Brook tipped his head back. He couldn't believe it.

On 99 he'd hooked Prasidh Krishna and thought it was a six for his hundred. He was out, instead. The ball was pouched on the fine leg boundary by Shardul Thakur.

England fans anticipating Brook's first Headingley test hundred were stunned, too, but stayed on their feet to applaud him off his home county ground.

Brook's innings of remarkable shots was the main thrust on Sunday in England reaching 465, only six runs short of matching India's first innings total, in an enthralling test series opener in Leeds.

Star bowler Jasprit Bumrah took 5-83, his 14th test five-for, and by stumps his India was 90-2 in the second innings and leading by 96 runs after three riveting days.

“The game is in the balance,” Bumrah told the BBC. “We have to bat well. The wicket is a little bit (two-)paced so it will be an interesting game to come.”

Ollie Pope's unbeaten 100 underpinned England's reply on Saturday but he added only six runs on Sunday before he tried to cut a nothing ball from Krishna.

Ben Stokes came in and Brook allowed the captain to settle by taking on India. Brook charged at Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj for boundaries, drove Krishna on the up, and even pulled off a Rishabh Pant-type falling ramp shot for four that Pant smiled at.

Brook had the most trouble with Ravindra Jadeja's spin. Jadeja was getting the ball to fizz so well that he got Brook's outside edge on 46 but Pant dropped a tough chance at the stumps.

Brook was soon celebrating his 20th fifty-plus score in his 26th test.

Stokes was at the crease for nearly an hour for 20.

Jamie Smith kicked on to 40 off 52 balls. Smith lasted until after lunch when he attempted a second six in the last over before the new ball became available. He fell into Krishna's short ball trap, caught deep by Jadeja who, just before he stepped over the boundary, relayed the ball to Sai Sudharsan.

When Brook was dropped on 82 by slip fielder Yashasvi Jaiswal off Bumrah, it was Jaiswal's second drop of a Bumrah delivery and India's fourth, its most in a test match in five years.

Bumrah took up his station on the boundary each time with a smile. “I like to enjoy my time on the field so I always smile,” he said. ”Nobody is dropping catches purposely and sometimes the cold makes it difficult to catch. I try not to let if affect me and move forwards quickly."

As unlucky as Brook was on 99 — after 11 boundaries and two sixes — he was lucky to have scored one run. Before he scored, he was caught in Saturday’s last over but Bumrah overstepped. Then he was dropped on 46 and 82.

“He was pretty gutted to get out,” Pope said. "It was an unbelievable knock. Even the pull shot he hit in the first over of the day, I was like, ‘Where did that come from?’ To be able to put a guy like Jasprit Bumrah off his pace a little bit with a shot like that early on shows the confidence he has.”

Brook was in control of partnerships of 51 with Stokes, 73 with Smith and 49 with Chris Woakes. When he was out at 398-7 England trailed by 73 runs and India would have expected to wrap up the tail with the new ball only five overs old.

But allrounder Woakes and No. 9 batter Brydon Carse smashed 55 runs off 44 balls. Woakes smoked consecutive sixes to pass 2,000 test runs and achieve his best test score in a year, 38.

India needed Bumrah's back-breaking fifth spell to mop up the tail.

Bumrah's 14th five-for in his 46th test put him in the company of Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham, Dale Steyn, Dennis Lillee and Waqar Younis, and his 12th five-for away from home tied Kapil Dev's India record.

Siraj and Krishna took the other five wickets but they and Thakur were expensive. England on Sunday scored at 4.9 an over.

When India started batting, conditions were turning. Gloom forced on the stadium lights and the wind picked up. Rain came as forecast.

After Jaiswal, the first-innings century-maker, was nipped out by Carse for 4, Lokesh Rahul and Sudharsan impressively handled the tricky conditions for more than 17 overs.

Sudharsan was dropped on 24 by Ben Duckett at backward point, but the damage was minimal as he reached 30 when Stokes got him for the second time in the match.

Rahul was a chanceless 47 not out with captain Shubman Gill beside him on 6.

“The way Rahul played tonight, getting him out tomorrow is going to be crucial,” Pope said. ”We back ourselves to chase a steady score."

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

England's Harry Brook plays a shot during day three of the first cricket test match between England and India at Headingley in Leeds, England, Sunday, June. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

India's Jasprit Bumrah reacts during day three of the first cricket test match between England and India at Headingley in Leeds, England, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

India's KL Rahul plays a shot during day three of the first cricket test match between England and India at Headingley in Leeds, England, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

England's Chris Woakes plays his shot during day three of the first cricket test match between England and India at Headingley in Leeds, England, Sunday, June. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

England's Harry Brook reacts after being caught during day three of the first cricket test match between England and India at Headingley in Leeds, England, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

England's captain Ben Stokes reacts after being caught during day three of the first cricket test match between England and India at Headingley in Leeds, England, Sunday, June. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

England's Harry Brook plays a shot day three of the first cricket test match between England and India at Headingley in Leeds, England, Sunday, June. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)