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After the Lionesses decided to stop kneeling, England’s players stood before the Euro 2025 semi-final against Italy started on Tuesday.

Before kick-off, the substitutes sat side by side to show their support for teammate Jess Carter, who has been the subject of racist abuse online since the tournament started.

Their Italian counterparts did not join them.

When questioned about whether Italy would gesture during the game, defender Cecilia Salvai responded that they were “open and willing to do anything necessary.”

In the 16th minute, sections of the Stade de Geneve crowd sang Carter’s song and applauded the defender, whose squad number is 16, in support of the defender.

After Carter revealed she had been racially abused on social media throughout the tournament, the England players announced on Sunday that they would no longer kneel before the start of matches.

Fare, the head of football’s global anti-discrimination body, questioned the decision.

The Lionesses used the anti-racism gesture, which Colin Kaepernick popularized in 2016, during Euro 2022 and the 2023 Women’s World Cup, but added in a statement that it is “clear we and football need to find another way to combat racism.”

England manager Sarina Wiegman said to BBC Sport’s Dan Roan on Monday, “It’s not enough. I’m taking the knee.” That has been done for some time. The impact is insufficient, and it is not as significant as we anticipate.

We felt like we needed to do something else, something different, because of this racism, so we aren’t kneeling.

Wiegman stated that Carter “wants to play and is available,” but Gotham FC defender Esme Morgan and captain Leah Williamson are the only substitutes.

Former England striker Ian Wright said before the game that while he would kneel if he were still playing, that the action was “personal,” and that the gesture was “always forced on people.”

Lord’s hasn’t treated his paws nicely.

Steve Smith mangled his pinky in the World Test Championship final before being forced to bat against India’s Rishabh Pant for the third test last week against England due to a fortuitous blow.

Smith and Pant performed worse than Shoaib Bashir. Due to Bashir’s left little finger being removed from the fourth Test at Old Trafford, which will begin on Wednesday, and the final match at The Oval the following week, Randra Jadeja’s belt back at the England off-spinner.

One wonders about the butterfly effect caused by Jadeja’s blade’s swish. England’s involvement with the Bashir project prevented them from altering their minds during either the Ashes series. They now have an unanticipated chance to see what they could have won.

It’s a sliding Daws moment, if you’ll pardon the pun.

For the first time in eight years, Liam Dawson joins the England Test team as the polar opposite of Bashir.

Ben Stokes chose Bashir after seeing a video of him on social media, and Dawson has always been the unpicked social media darling. Despite having a proven first-class record, Dawson was denied entry, and Bashir was chosen despite not having one.

Dawson lacks height, despite Bashir. Bashir is 21, Dawson 35. Dawson has left arm while Bashir has right. Dawson is an all-rounder despite Bashir being one-dimensional cricketer without being unkind. The Hampshire man outscores the India squad’s other players by more than one run.

Bashir has served as a test cricket player’s experiment with international cricket. 19 of his 34 first-class matches were Tests.

He does something. The youngest Test wickettaker in England has 50. Only Graeme Swann’s strike-rate surpasses that of all England spinners who have at least 50 wickets since World War Two in terms of total runs scored.

A step forward followed by a step back has frequently been used. Bashir tweaked some things because he had a challenging winter. In the one-off Test against Zimbabwe in May, he gotten closer to the stumps, improving his line. Following the match, there were nine wickets.

Is it a question of whether every wicket is equal? Six of Bashir’s victories came from deep catches, stumping, and being caught and bowled off a miscue. Before getting hurt, he had only just finished his best bowling performance at Lord’s, a dipper that drew the edge of KL Rahul. His final series ace was Mohammed Siraj, who scored the winning run of 22 runs in his most significant game of the series.

One of the reasons England favors Bashir is that he continues to play with moxie despite his injury. They value his intelligence and readiness to engage in combat. Dawson should provide more of the same for Stokes’ side.

Dawson, who admitted his international career was over in April, has made a comeback.

Before being called back to play in the T20s against West Indies in May, England ignored his excellent domestic performance for three years. Brendon McCullum’s initial examination of Dawson has led to a recall of the Test side, which is a testament to that. Rehan Ahmed has been injured, and Jack Leach’s international career is now over, despite the fact that there are two centrally contracted Test spinners on England’s books.

Since Dawson last played for England against South Africa in 2017, there have been 102 other men chosen to bowl for England. Dawson is likely to be dependable, despite Stokes’ claim that he anticipates him to be anxious.

He will typically get more drift through the air when he bowls his left-arms round the wicket, and he will target the stumps more than Bashir. Although Bashir’s short Test career has not yet accomplished that feat, it is still uncertain whether Dawson will lead England to victory on a worn final-day pitch.

England don’t have a tail, essentially because of Dawson’s position at number eight, which pushes Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, and Jofra Archer down to nine, 10 and 11, respectively.

Dawson won’t be irritated by the tetchiness that began at Lord’s and has since spread to Old Trafford because of his experience.

The summer’s plot of England’s mindset has developed into a fascinating subplot. Before the Zimbabwe Test, McCullum and Stokes asked for “humility,” and McCullum later said they were “too nice” before the third Test against India. Gilbert Enoka, a legendary All Blacks mental skills coach, appears in the background.

England will undoubtedly require the more difficult skills found at Lord’s this winter in Australia. Given Shubman Gill’s pre-game remarks about the “spirit of cricket,” Stokes said they would not look for confrontation on the field, though it might find them.

Gill is a young captain who is in charge of a refreshed team. He waited more than a week before being unfazed by the raucous Mancunians in Old Trafford, where he may now be reminded of them.

India still has to deal with injury problems, but England is settled. With the departures of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep, seamer Anshul Kamboj looks likely to make his Test debut.

Pant will keep wicket while Jasprit Bumrah will undoubtedly be unleashed once more to keep the series alive.

India will need to win at Old Trafford for the first time in the second Test in order to force a decider at The Oval, which they did at Edgbaston. A 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar’s maiden ton 35 years ago was the last Indian to reach the milestone.

England, on the other hand, has a strong record in this place, having lost once in 2001. After the rain at Old Trafford partially wiped out any hopes of an Ashes victory two years ago, there is still some work to do. The forecast appears good enough for the five days of the Test, despite the rains on Monday and Tuesday.

These teams take the lead in the most intriguing five-Test series in this country since the 2005 Ashes, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this week, with the release of the most recent chapter in the series.

Stokes and more Gill. More Archer, more Bumrah. More Harry Brook handstands and more Pant sommersaults. More time-wasting occurs with more ball changes. No Bashir, just Dawson, finally. more needles