SMITH -BROOK- SMILE : CRICKET HONOURS

BIRMINGHAM : Jamie Smith and Harry Brook both scored commanding hundreds as England hit back against India in the second Test at Edgbaston.

England were in dire straits at 84-5 early in the third day after Mohammed Siraj had taken two wickets in consecutive balls, removing star batsman Joe Root and dismissing Captain Ben Stokes for a Golden Duck.

YET at tea they were 355-5, still 232 runs behind India's first innings 567 built on captain Shubman Gill's superb 269.

BUT the follow-on was now all but out of the equation as India looked to level this series at 1-1 after losing last week's first Test at Headingley by five wickets.

Smith was Test best 157 not out and Brook unbeaten on 140, with their sixth wicket partnership worth  271.  

WHEN Smith came in on a hat-trick, England were over 500 runs behind.

But the 24-year-old, staying true to his attacking instincts, survived Siraj's hat-trick delivery with an off-drive for four after he was criticised for holing out in England's first innings at Leeds.

It was the first boundary in a blistering 80-ball hundred that included 14 fours and three sixes as Smith joined a select group of batsmen to have made 100 runs before lunch in a session of Test cricket.

The World Students Society thanks AFP.