Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp laughed off goalkeeper Adrian's error in his side's 2-1 win over Southampton on Saturday, telling reporters the gaffe served as his Reds initiation.

With seven minutes remaining and his side up 2-0, the Spanish keeper botched a clearance attempt following a back-pass by kicking the ball directly at pressuring Saints striker Danny Ings who deflected the ball into the net.

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Liverpool, though, held on to win their second match from two on the young campaign and Klopp was in a playful mood about the incident afterward.

"Yes: 'You finally arrived, welcome!' [Alisson] did the same," Klopp said when asked what he told Adrian after the match. "Obviously it's a goalie thing at Liverpool, no problem with that as long as we win the games. All good."

Adrian took over as Liverpool's No. 1 last week after an injury to regular keeper Alisson, whose early days Anfield after signing with the club last summer were marked by unforced errors as well.

Before Alisson's arrival, Liverpool also endured high-profile gaffes from Loris Karius in their 2018 Champions League final loss to Real Madrid in Kiev.

In his defence, Adrian was not playing at 100% on Saturday. He is still recovering from an ankle injury suffered when a supporter slid into him during the celebrations following Liverpool's UEFA Super Cup victory over Chelsea on Wednesday.

"Adrian had a swollen ankle and we played too many balls back to him in that period," Klopp added. "I was happy with everything he did today, all the saves, all that stuff. The other players have to then feel more the responsibility for the build-up and cannot give all the balls back to him and hope the pain-killers still help or whatever.

"I don't think the goal was because of that, but a few other balls were. He is completely good with his feet. If you would have seen his ankle on Thursday after we left the plane then you would say even the pass before the [Southampton] goal was better than you would have expected! It is all fine."

Klopp added that Adrian nearly did not play in the match at St. Mary's.

"He had a clearing session this morning at 10 o'clock and then the message flew to my iPhone and said he is fine," Klopp said. "If the message would have been he is not then I would have had to make a decision [not to play him], but until then it was all good. We were waiting for that. He said at breakfast he would be fine, but we had to test it and that's what we did."

An own goal in the 82nd minute left the short-handed LA Galaxy with a 2-2 draw against the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night in Carson, California.

Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham sprinted out of his net in an attempt to thwart a long through ball for Sounders forward Jordan Morris. As Bingham had left the 18-yard box, he tried a sliding header to knock the ball away. Instead, the ball hit defender Jorgen Skjelvik in the face and bounced into the net from 25 yards out, giving Seattle the tying goal.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice for the Galaxy (13-11-2, 41 points), who played with 10 men after defender Daniel Steres was issued a red card in the sixth minute for hauling down Seattle's Raul Ruidiaz on a breakaway attempt near midfield.

The Sounders (11-8-7, 40 points), whose winless streak reached four matches, took the lead on Ruidiaz's goal in the 42nd minute off a pass from Harry Shipp. Morris made a strong run with the ball down the left wing before cutting toward the middle at the top of the 18-yard box. He lost his balance while trying to spin past a defender but Shipp hustled to the loose ball and fed Ruidiaz, whose shot from about 8 yards beat Bingham.

Ibrahimovic tied the score in the 44th minute off a cross from Sebastian Lletget. Despite Seattle's Kim Kee-hee being draped all over him, Ibrahimovic was able to rise over the defender and put a header over Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei.

The Galaxy was awarded the decisive penalty after Kim brought down Ibrahimovic in the box. Frei guessed right on the kick, but Ibrahimovic put too much power on it and blasted into the lower left corner of the net.

The goal was the 20th of the season for Ibrahimovic, tying him with Atlanta's Josef Martinez for second in the league to LAFC's Carlos Vela, who has 24.

Bingham made five saves, including a diving stop on Luis Silva in second-half stoppage time. Frei was credited with two saves.

Carlos Vela scored his league-leading 24th goal on a penalty kick in the 64th minute and visiting LAFC became the first team in the MLS to clinch a postseason berth with a 2-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.

Vela moved four ahead of Atlanta's Josef Martinez in the MLS scoring race when he lifted a high shot that hit the top of the net and went in as Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando moved to his left. Vela was awarded the shot after being taken down in the box by Real Salt Lake defender Aaron Herrera and the goal gave him a combined 39 goals and assists this season, setting a league record.

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Adama Diomande scored LAFC's other goal, getting his eighth of the season in the 82nd minute when he swept a right-footed shot over Rimando.

LAFC (18-3-4, 58 points) outshot RSL 17-9, won its fourth straight and moved 13 points ahead of the Philadelphia Union in the race for the Supporter's Shield, awarded to the MLS team with the most points. LAFC also clinched its second playoff appearance since entering the league as an expansion team last season when FC Dallas played to a 3-3 draw as the Montreal Impact earlier Saturday.

RSL (12-10-4, 40 points) played its second game under interim coach Freddy Juarez, who replaced Mike Petke. Petke was suspended three games for misconduct towards officials in a Leagues Cup match and when the ban ended, he was fired.

RSL saw a season-high six-game unbeaten streak stopped and fell into a tie for fourth place in the Western Conference with the Seattle Sounders, one point behind the LA Galaxy.

RSL nearly tied the game in the 70th minute but Albert Rusnak's left-footed shot from the center of the box sailed high.

Vela missed two chances to expand the lead as his shot from outside the box went wide in the 73rd minute and two minutes his right-footed shot was stopped by Rimando, who saved it in the top-right corner.

LAFC goalkeeper Tyler Miller made four saves and notched his eighth shutout of the season (18th of his MLS career, all with LAFC). He preserved the shutout with consecutive stops on Joao Plata in the 80th minute and Sebastian Saucedo a minute later right before Diomande struck.

Rimando finished with four saves.

MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester City were denied another late goal against Tottenham by the VAR as Pep Guardiola's side were held to a 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium. Gabriel Jesus thought he had scored a stoppage time winner but saw the goal chalked off after the video assistant spotted Aymeric Laporte's handball in the build-up.

It was a similar story in the Champions League tie between the two teams last season when Raheem Sterling's late clincher was also ruled out by the television ref. It was Sterling who put City ahead this time with a back post header that beat Hugo Lloris. Erik Lamela equalised before Sergio Aguero's clever finish put the hosts 2-1 up at half-time.

Substitute Lucas Moura scored a second Tottenham equaliser from Lamela's corner just after half time before the late drama denied City a winner and ended their run of 15 consecutive Premier League wins.

Positives

Kevin De Bruyne only made 11 Premier League starts last season and City were still able to hold off a Liverpool team who racked up more than 90 points. But if anyone needed proof that Guardiola's team are better with the Belgian in it, he delivered it here. You won't see a better cross that the one he planted on Sterling's head for the first goal. His assist for Aguero was also pinpoint -- whipping the ball into the near post from the right. He should have had a hat-trick of assists before half-time and the only thing missing after his drilled pass into the penalty area just before half time was Ilkay Gundogan's finish.

Negatives

Guardiola will be disappointed with Tottenham's goals, both of which came out of nothing. Lamela found himself in acres of space on the edge of the area to make it 1-1 and the second equaliser after half time came from a corner that should have been cleared. City defended well for the majority of the game but two lapses cost two goals and two points.

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Manager rating out of 10

Pep Guardiola, 6 -- There aren't many many managers who would make four changes after a 5-0 away win but Guardiola isn't most managers. Back came Gundogan, Aguero, Bernando Silva and Nicolas Otamendi while Jones Stones, a starter against West Ham, was left in the stands. It looked odd to replace Aguero with the score at 2-2 but the decision to throw on Jesus almost paid off when the Brazilian found the net in injury time only for the goal to be ruled out.

Player ratings (1-10; 10 = best, players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)

GK Ederson, 6 -- Hit one sublime pass the length of the pitch to Oleksandr Zinchenko. Might feel he could have done better with Lamela's goal.

DF Kyle Walker, 6 -- One burst past Davinson Sanchez created an early chance for Sterling. Out-jumped by Moura for Tottenham's second goal.

DF Oleksandr Zinchenko, 7 -- Didn't do much wrong at left-back. Covered a lot of ground and was left struggling with cramp by the end of the 90 minutes.

DF Aymeric Laporte, 6 -- Good on the ball but should have got out quicker to Lamela when the Argentinian equalised for Spurs from the edge of the box.

DF Nicolas Otamendi, 7 -- Left on the bench last week and didn't waste his chance against Tottenham. Helped keep Harry Kane quiet and the Spurs striker barely had a kick.

MF Rodri, 7 -- Careful and composed in front of the back four. Saw a stinging effort saved by Lloris before being sacrificed for David Silva as City chased a winner.

MF Ilkay Gundogan, 6 -- Brought back in at the expense of David Silva. Should have made it 3-1 before half-time when De Bruyne cut the ball back across the box.

MF Kevin De Bruyne, 8 -- Two beautiful crosses from the right created two goals in the first half. City's best player and looked dangerous anywhere near Tottenham's penalty area.

FW Bernando Silva, 7 -- Back in the team after his surprise omission against West Ham. Deserves a lot of credit for creating spaces on the right for De Bruyne to set up both of City's first half goals.

FW Raheem Sterling, 7 -- After scoring a hat-trick against West Ham, his stooping header at the back post put City a goal up.

FW Sergio Aguero, 7 -- The Argentinian had not scored in his previous seven league games against Tottenham but he ended the run with a clever near post finish from De Bruyne's cross.

Substitutes

FW Gabriel Jesus, 7 (for Sergio Aguero, 65) -- Looked bright before seeing VAR take away his would-be winning strike.

MF David Silva (for Rodri, 78) -- N/A

FW Riyad Mahrez (for Bernando Silva, 80) -- N/A

MANCHESTER, England -- Don't mention VAR at Manchester City.

Not only has it led to the Premier League champions being on the wrong end of a series of big decisions in recent months, usually against Tottenham, but it has also left us wondering whether Pep Guardiola and Sergio Aguero are back "on" again after their very public spat during Saturday's 2-2 draw against Spurs at the Etihad.

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More about Pep and Sergio later, because even their touchline row on 65 minutes became a thread in the VAR furore at the end of the game. But for the second time in four months, City saw a decisive stoppage-time goal against Spurs snatched away by VAR, leaving them with a 2-2 draw rather than a 3-2 victory.

They also had a claim for a penalty overlooked in the first half after Erik Lamela wrestled Rodri to the ground when, according to Guardiola, "the VAR was in a moment where they were taking a coffee."

Back in April, Raheem Sterling and everyone else inside the stadium thought he had made it 5-3 on the night in the Champions League quarterfinal, second-leg -- a goal which would have taken City into the semifinals -- only for VAR to rule it out after a lengthy, confusing wait for offside. Earlier in that game, VAR allowed Fernando Llorente's goal for Spurs to stand, despite it being bundled in off the Spaniard's arm.

Take note of that goal because it had a significant repercussion for City in this game, when VAR disallowed Gabriel Jesus's goal two minutes into stoppage time after a hand-ball earlier in the move by Aymeric Laporte.

The handball rule was changed in the summer, partly because of the impact of Llorente's goal in the Champions League, so that any handball, intentional or otherwise, in the build-up to a goal would lead to the goal being disallowed. (Leander Dendoncker had a goal ruled out for Wolves last week because of a handball earlier in the move by Willy Boly.)

So City have now suffered twice at the hands of VAR when it comes to handball but have been on both sides the coin, with one being allowed to stand when it ended up in the back of their net, but the other, scored by themselves, being chalked off.

"I thought we left that situation in Tottenham in the Champions League last season," Guardiola said. "But it is the same. The referee and VAR disallow it. It's the second time [it's happened] -- it's tough. It's honestly tough, but it's the way it is.

"The whistle inside matches now isn't quite clear, but they believe it's hands with [Fernando] Llorente in the Champions League and sometimes they don't."

In the crazy, confusing new world of VAR, all three crucial decisions that have gone against City have actually been correct under the rules of the game at the time. That didn't stop the home fans booing the officials off the pitch and chanting "VAR out!" as they trudged out of the ground.

One key issue is the time it takes to the reach the decisions and inform the players and fans: just like Sterling last season, Jesus was left to celebrate for a lengthy period before the big screens announced that the goal had been disallowed.

Another problem is the supposedly strict interpretation of the new handball rule, which allows for no contact with the arm whatsoever. Yet there have already been instances this season when similar incidents have gone unpunished, most notably one involving Andreas Christensen during Chelsea's Super Cup clash with Liverpool on Wednesday.

"There was no penalty when the ball hit Christensen's hand against Liverpool," Guardiola said. "It happened last week with Wolves and we also saw for Chelsea on Wednesday -- the keeper wasn't on his line -- Adrian in the penalty shoot-out, when he saved the penalty.

"They [VAR] have to fix it."

Mauricio Pochettino, having benefited once again from VAR at the Etihad, insisted that teams will have to brace themselves for being on both sides of the argument this season.

"It's unbelievable this stadium, with VAR," said Pochettino. "Especially for Tottenham, but we need to accept it. I was a little bit critical of VAR, but now we have to accept the rules. Now it benefits us, but no doubt it won't benefit us at other times. It's a rule we need to accept."

Yet Guardiola and City are finding VAR a tough innovation to love right now.

Before Jesus's goal was disallowed, the City manager and Aguero celebrated by hugging in the technical area, with both seeming to suggest that they overreacted in the 65th minute by arguing and finger-pointing after the forward had been substituted in favour of Jesus.

It was a heated disagreement and a clear display of dissent by Aguero towards Guardiola, but with Jesus appearing to score the winner, all was apparently forgiven. Yet with the goal ruled out, how does that leave Guardiola and his star forward?

"He [Aguero] believed that I was upset with him for the goal we conceded, from a corner," Guardiola said.

"It's just a fact that I wanted movement in that moment; he thought I was upset with him.

"I have been a player, I have been there. We talked after, we talked during the game. I like him a lot, he is a player who has feelings on the pitch, and that is what I want."

Guardiola and Aguero have patched it up, at least, but it will take a while longer for City to kiss and make up with VAR.

Test cricket is a shambles, and it is utterly compelling.

There is no way on earth that a match that has lost five sessions to rain and hadn't even reached the third innings until tea on the fourth day should be hurtling towards a position in which a positive result is now more likely than a draw.

But we've known all along that the sport moves to an alternative rhythm these days, and as a pulsating Saturday at Lord's concluded with England's most potent duo, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, overcoming their team's anxieties to keep their powder dry for a final push, it was clear that the pace of the format is now more thrash metal than the Green Sleeves of old.

"This is why we love Test cricket so much," said Justin Langer, Australia's head coach, at the close. "Who would have thought it? We're playing at Lord's, we've lost a couple of days to rain, and it's absolutely game on tomorrow."

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Where's your money now? Until Jofra Archer's extraordinary exploits, you'd have assumed that any fourth-innings target would have favoured the Aussies, simply because in Steven Smith they possess a batsman who can operate in a different dimension to his peers.

But now, all of a sudden, the parameters have shifted. Nobody in their right minds will expect England to still be batting by the end of this contest, which means Australia - with a battered and bruised Smith liable to be physically fit, if not quite in his pre-Archer mental zone - could be left with a tough dilemma in the denouement.

More early success from their battery of quicks, and better luck (particularly with lbws) from the ever-probing Nathan Lyon, and they could give themselves a couple of sessions in which to close out an Ashes-crushing 2-0 lead. But if England's middle order find anything resembling their gung-ho former selves (let's face it, dying wondering is hardly going to be their chosen tactic…) the door could yet be ajar to sneak an improbable series-squaring win.

"We probably went searching a little bit after getting off to a great start today," said Langer. "It's a tough wicket to bat on, which I don't mind, and it's going to be a great day's Test cricket tomorrow. I guess the only issue is that there's only one day left in it, so there's lots of scenarios that can play out here. But it's game on, I reckon."

Either way, it promises to be one of the most absorbing final days of Ashes cricket since the 2005 Ashes - that year's second Test also came down to a faintly memorable Sunday shoot-out - and then as now, there's an 18-year itch that is asking to be scratched, for incredibly it's been that long since Australia last won the Ashes on English soil, and no Ashes team since Don Bradman's in 1936-37 has ever come back from being 2-0 down.

"When I envisaged Test and Ashes cricket as a child, this is what I envisaged it being like today," said Chris Woakes, who finished the job that Archer had started by pinning Smith lbw for 92 shortly after the brave resumption of his innings.

"An intense game of Ashes cricket is quite draining but it's been an amazing game to be part of, and it's pretty much in the balance now. Of course I think we can win the game, but I think all three results are still possible to be honest."

But one thing is for sure. Australia's pack of quicks responded to Archer's usurping of their mantle with a furious, if subtly different, mode of attack, and reconfirmed the fact that they've still got the weapons to defend their hitherto dominant position.

Pat Cummins was supreme from the outset - just as he had been with the bat in the midst of the Archer onslaught - skilfully exposing everything we already knew about England's batting frailties to ensure that another fretful innings panned out in a near-identical fashion to the first: two early wickets in Jason Roy and the hapless Joe Root, two half-formed repair jobs from Joe Denly and Rory Burns, and two more against-type survival grinds from Stokes and Buttler, albeit with their places in the order rightfully switched this time round.

The fact that the damage was not more absolute by the close came down to a combination of Australia's fallibility in the field, with David Warner dropping two clear-cut chances, and their ongoing failure to gauge Lyon's angle into the left-handers, with Burns and Stokes both surviving leg-stump lbw appeals that would have been overturned on review.

"We missed a few in the first Test as well," said Langer. "Obviously the whole world's aware whenever it happens, so it's frustrating, there's no doubt about that. It can change the game, it can change a session, it can change a Test match, it can change a series, so we need to get better at it."

It promises, too, to be a vital day for Root's Test captaincy. A statistic doing the rounds before the match noted that, among men to have led England in 30 or more Tests, Root has the second-highest win percentage behind Mike Brearley. Unfortunately, he also has the second-lowest lose percentage behind David Gower - which is a testament to the ominous fact that his teams have managed just two draws out of 30.

And another stat that cannot be ignored is his flatlining career average. Never mind the subplot about his promotion to No.3, Root's returns have been nosediving since the end of the 2017-18 Ashes, to the extent that he is now averaging 32.82 from his last 18 Tests, having not strayed from a 50-plus average in the preceding four-year period.

On a day when Smith required the fast-bowling spell of the series to remind onlookers of his mortality, the stark reality of Root's first Test golden duck confirmed how far from those Fab Four standards he is now straying. Like Alastair Cook before him, he needs his team to rally round and ensure that the series doesn't end before he can make a telling impact.

Langer, however, believes his team is ready and waiting to take their chances on the final day, for he's under no illusion that plenty will be flying around.

"There's always going to be tension in Test cricket, and with tension comes mistakes. I'm sure there'll be six more opportunities tomorrow, and if that does happen, and we've got a chance to have a run-chase, we'll stay nice and calm, on a very fast outfield, with great value for your shots. And it's hopefully going to be a great run-chase if we can take those six wickets."

So, Justin Langer, about that tactic of getting bowlers into their fourth spells, then… On the eve of his Test debut, in what had otherwise been another horizontally laidback press appearance, Jofra Archer had suddenly fired in a verbal bouncer that was every bit as out of the blue as the languidly launched missiles that exploded on the Lord's Test.

Responding to Langer's pre-match "curiosity" about how his body and mind would hold up in a format notorious for grinding down quick bowlers, Archer's answer dripped with red-ball nous and Test-match readiness, not to mention a confidence that no ordinary Test debutant could have summoned at such will.

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"I've played a lot more red-ball than I have white-ball. I do think it's my preferred format," he said. "I've bowled 50 overs in one game already for Sussex and I'm usually the one bowling the most overs anyway. I think Justin Langer has another thing coming."

And sure enough, Archer could hardly have predicted more accurately the day's astonishing scenes had his thoughts been recycled from one of his four-year-old Tweets.

Archer was already 25 overs into his work for the innings, and armed with a ragged old ball that was four overs from completing its 80-over lifespan, when we finally discovered what a silken, effortless, natural-born quick bowler can achieve when he decides the time is ripe to bend that back, and go from effortless to effort-full.

Comparisons are odious when the action is as raw and visceral as Archer made it. The historian David Frith, who witnessed Frank Tyson in his pomp in 1954-55 as well as every great West Indian fast bowler from Wes Hall to Ian Bishop, rightly pointed out that Archer is his own man, with his own methods, and moreover he was bowling within his own context.

The pitch, the conditions, the emotions, the opponents - all of these differ from one great spell to the next, meaning that Harold Larwood at Adelaide in 1932-33, or Jeff Thomson at Brisbane in 1974-75, or Allan Donald at Trent Bridge, or Michael Holding at The Oval, can only really stand as testament to their own brilliance, bullet-points in Test cricket's extraordinary history, or bullet-holes if you prefer.

But what we witnessed, in the context of the recent Ashes rivalry, was a passage of play as savage, compelling and potentially series-turning as that moment when Mitchell Johnson first slipped his handbrake at Brisbane in 2013-14. In a searing eight-over spell at the end of a 29-over innings, Archer reminded us that there's a world of difference between run-of-the-mill quick bowling and furious, rip-snortingly rapid head-hunting.

"I've got massive admiration for Jofra," said a mildly chastened Langer, who insisted that his point about Archer's stamina had been misconstrued. "He's an unbelievable athlete, an incredibly skillful bowler.

"To bowl 30 overs, it doesn't matter if you're Jofra Archer, or Pat Cummins, or Josh Hazlewood, or James Anderson, or [Kagiso] Rabada. It's hard work. And that was my point before the game. His endurance was outstanding today, his skill and his pace. What an athlete, what a great player to have to promote Test cricket."

"The catalyst for Archer's onslaught was his return to the Pavilion End, the traditional hunting ground of the senior strike bowler"

All throughout his maiden Test innings, Archer had been lurking in Australia's peripheral vision. Pacing, probing, sizing up the pitch, his opponents, and perhaps most of all, his command of a red Dukes ball, the like of which he has barely used in 11 months.

"I don't think Jofra bowled as quick as he can out there," said Stuart Broad at the close of day three.

I think it's fair to say we have seen him do so now...

The catalyst for his onslaught was his return to the Pavilion End, the traditional hunting ground of the senior strike bowler, with its slope back down into the right-hander designed to create doubt in that channel outside off, the very channel in which Steven Smith has been so imperious throughout this series.

Within six balls, Archer had breached Australia's first line of defence, as Tim Paine - watchful throughout his second-fiddle innings - was caught in two minds (and then at short leg) by the one that nipped back off the seam. And like every fast bowler that's ever been born, the thrill of a wicket was all that Archer needed to tip his game into overdrive.

In Archer's next full over with Smith in his sights, he began to purr through his gears - 93mph, 94mph, 94mph - as smooth through his acceleration as a Porsche on the Autobahn. And suddenly Smith found that his extra split-second was no longer there, that his peerless ability to sight the ball on the back foot and point to it mockingly as he left it on the front was redundant.

And then, the first morale-denting strike. A vicious lifter into the forearm, as Smith curled into a defensive ball straight from the hand, unsettled by the line and no longer able to compute the length as the ball chased him like a rogue bludger before leaving him shaking his left arm in agony.

For a time it seemed he might have to retire there and then, his grip compromised, his invincible aura torn, but to his immense credit he popped a couple of pills, accepted some tight binding and took his guard once more. But it was clear that the passive aggression with which he had dominated England for three innings was not coming back - at least not here, not now. This was fight-or-flight mode, and again to his credit, Smith chose the former.

Consecutive bouncers, consecutive hooks - like KP against Lee at The Oval in 2005, but without the soaring upshot, as the first skimmed out of Jonny Bairstow's reach for four before the second plugged behind square for the single. And then, a scorcher, sizzling into the gloves at a scarcely believable 96.1mph … handbrake not so much slipped as torn clean out of its socket.

But the coup de grace was still to come. Another bouncer, another less-than-confident hook for four … and then the sucker punch. An exquisitely awful moment of pure sporting theatre, as Smith was slammed on the side of the neck by another ugly, incredible, spiteful snorter, and felled in the same instant.

The reaction around Lord's was stunned bewilderment … much like Archer's as well, who initially turned on his heel, his objective for the delivery achieved, before realising he needed to join the loose melee that had formed around the stricken Smith, who did at least - in removing his own helmet while spread-eagled on the deck - telegraph the fact that he had not been laid out cold.

An uncomfortable hush descended as the physios of both teams rushed out to attend to Smith, punctuated by a few boos from the witless few who still believe he deserves to be judged for his actions in Cape Town rather than his incredible feats both here and at Edgbaston.

And though he left the field without assistance, it was still a surprise to see him returning to the middle, to yawn into a succession of devil-may-care fours that inched him within touching distance of his third century in as many innings.

It wasn't the same batsman who had left the crease some 45 minutes earlier, however. For starters he ended up being pinned lbw, offering no shot as Chris Woakes curled one back into off stump - the holy grail dismissal that England had begun to believe was a myth in this series.

"It took a serious spell of fast bowling from Jofra to get Steve out of his bubble, because so far in the series he has been incredible," Woakes said. "I'm sure it was incredible to watch because it was incredible to be a part of it on the field and thankfully, having seen Steve on the balcony, it looks like he's okay which is obviously good news."

Smith's return to the middle, Langer joked, had come about because he had protested he wouldn't be able to get himself onto the honours board if he stayed sitting in the dressing-room. And though he failed in that objective, the drama had been so absolute that, for once in this series, his extraction from the crease counted for less than the fact that he had returned to it at all.

Indians 297 for 5 (Pujara 100 retired, Rohit 68, Carter 3-39) v West Indies A

The nearly eight-month-long break between India's previous Test in Sydney and now seemed to matter little to Cheteshwar Pujara as he struck a hundred for India in the tour match against West Indies A, ahead of their first World Test Championship game.

Pujara retired after completing his century, which came off 187 balls and included eight fours and a six. India finished the day on 297 for 5 with Rohit Sharma finding red-ball form. He contributed 68 in a 132-run fourth-wicket stand with Pujara, before falling to the offspin of Akim Frazer.

The pair steered the Indians out of choppy waters after they had been reduced to 53 for 3. Captain Ajinkya Rahane and opener Mayank Agarwal endured failures, falling to the medium pace of Jonathan Carter for scores of 1 and 12 respectively. Carter was the pick of the West Indies A bowlers, as he also accounted for the wicket of Rishabh Pant, who scored a 53-ball 33.

KL Rahul, meanwhile, squandered a start, falling for a 46-ball 36, which included five fours and a six. At stumps, Hanuma Vihari was unbeaten on a patient 101-ball 37, in the company of Ravindra Jadeja.