Vaughan 'staggered' by England's bowl-first decision as India dominate at Headingley

England were left to rue their "staggering" decision to bowl first as India piled on 359 for 3 on the opening day at Headingley. The past six Leeds Tests have been won by the team bowling first, but former England captain Michael Vaughan said he was shocked to learn that Ben Stokes had chosen to field under clear skies on a dry, hard pitch.

Stokes said after winning the toss that his side would "look to use the early conditions", and England's bowling consultant Tim Southee said at the close that they had seen enough in the pitch - "a little bit of moisture" - to think that the new ball would move around. Instead, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill both hit fluent hundreds to put India in control.

England have pulled off fourth-innings run-chases against Australia (2019 and 2023) and New Zealand (2022) at Headingley in recent years, and were on the wrong end of one by West Indies in 2017. But Vaughan suggested that Stokes had paid insufficient attention to the conditions, with Leeds enjoying unusually warm weather so far this summer.

"I'm a bit of an old-school traditionalist here at Leeds that, when the sun shines, it's quite an easy decision, particularly with the build-up to the Test match and it being so dry and so nice," Vaughan said on the BBC's Test Match Special. "I was staggered… when I heard he was going to bowl first. I thought, traditions have gone out the window.

"I know England have won chasing here quite a number of times over the recent times, but you always have to pick your decisions on that moment: just because you've won a year ago, two years ago or three years ago, it can't really affect what the decision is today. And they've allowed India with a youngish batting line-up and a new captain to just go and play."

Vaughan said that he was particularly surprised, given the inexperience of England's attack, with two of their seamers - Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse - sharing only 10 caps between them. "You look at the suits of the England side and their strength, really, is in the batting," he added. "Ben just had a gut feeling, I guess, and in recent times it's worked."

Southee defended the decision, and gave credit to India's openers - Jaiswal and KL Rahul - for making conditions look easier than they were. "With the colour of the wicket yesterday and a little bit of moisture left in it, we thought there'd be a little bit left in it this morning," he said. "There was a little bit of assistance there, but for the rest of the day, it was a pretty good surface."