I've just watched the highlights. What an utterly mental game. Looked like it was virtually dark for that super over too.
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Green top at Lord's and an all-seam attack with Tongue in for Ali. Interesting.
Not sure that really plays to our strengths. Hopefully Ollie Robinson is in full troll mode.
Are scotland qualified for the World Cup or do they have to go into another group table? Super Sixes or something
They go into the Super Six now, where they play the other 3 qualifiers from the other group. It also carries forward their two results against the qualifiers from their group (so it'd really help if they can chase this down against Sri Lanka today). Top two of the Super Six then qualify for the World Cup (and play a seemingly meaningless final).
If they win this game against Sri Lanka, which would be an outrageous upset if they can pull it off, I'd say they have an outside prayer of making the World Cup (a ridiculously high bar to qualify for a 10 team World Cup). If they lose it's pretty unlikely as they still have to play West Indies and Zimbo in the next round.
A more likely outcome is they won't chase these runs, and Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe will end up as the two qualifiers. Outside chance for Holland and a very outside chance for West Indies.
Christ. Yeah, not a chance they qualify then.
what a terrible fucking format, I've never seen a sport seemingly so desperate to shrink its reach
Blame the Indians.
The Just Stop Oil pricks are at the cricket now. YJB carted the fella off very tidily, hopefully his keeping benefits from that.
The thing that always strikes me about JSO (and many of their fellow travellers, small t obvs) is how joyless they are. It's a bit like all those urban lefty wankers during covid who were bang up for boarding us up inside forever.
I regret to inform you that literally everyone I know has sent me a Jonny Bairstow / carrying protestor off gag of some kind on Whatsapp. Non-cricket fans by far the worst offenders.
Meanwhile we've already shelled each opener once, it's just so sloppy from this side pretty much all the time.
Glad I’m not watching this - reeks of the bad old days. Put them in on a green pitch and fail to take advantage. Bowl to short and drop catches. Pain.
If we keep serving up these slow CEO shitheaps then our right arm medium pace battery is going to struggle. Tongue is tongueing them though.
You'd think if Stokes and McCullum are fixated on making Test cricket fun and watchable they wouldn't have ordered a load of roads the Aussies are quite happy on.
Both teams conspired to make the last one dramatic but it won't so fun and freewheeling when Smith and Labuschagne calmly knock out a 400 run partnership.
Amount of no-balls is ridiculous.
Yeah, it was the same in the first Test - Baz has obviously shifted back to the old ways of allowing quicks to practise off 19 yards. In the Bayliss era we went months at a time without bowling one (I think it was Woakes who set some kind of record).
Weather looks fine for the entire match so this is veering towards series fucked territory already. Can Bazball muster a 5 day draw?
Another one of my pet hate shit umpiring decisions there, giving it out just because the bloke padded up. Those are almost never out. Batters just don't get it wrong by the margin required.
We are going to get smashed, and it will be a soul-destroying defeat where there is never even a glimmer of hope. Behind by 250 in first innings and they grind us into the dirt.
Smith and Labuschagne 100 partnership, Joe Root bowling bouncers. Make the pain stop.
On the plus side, Liam Dawson scored a hundred and took 10 wickets in the Championship game just finished, so there's now no excuse for the stupid fucks not to bring him in for the next match (they still won't).
I've not seen any of it today [other than the score], was the bowling first logic down to the pitch/conditions or was it out of a desire to chase?
Green pitch, cloudy morning. The bits I have seen there has been sideways movement we’ve just bowled shit/dropped catches.
I reckon England are going to regret not taking advantage of getting Smith and Stupidname for about 30 across both innings in the first test. I'm not sure they'll be getting that again.
There's not much about the first test to not regret from an England perspective. Would be quite lol if the MAKE TESTS GREAT AGAIN agenda was entirely derailed by a series of terrible pitches.
Although I think this one will probably turn out to be fine.
A hammering.
Root turning it around corners. :D
The seethe from Vaughan and co somewhat softens the blow of this 'methodology' potentially foundering.
What do we need then? Roll them for sub-400 and then bazbat for 2 days? Piece of piss.
A massive Zak Crawley double ton followed by the Australian batting lineup killing themselves before the second innings.
Oddly I was confident about the bowling but they really need fast decks (and competent catchers) to get that zip to exaggerate the movement, on these slow ones we might as well pack up and go home.
I missed that Crawley had predicted a 150 run win in this test. Add this to him "well actually"-ing any critique in a Sky interview I saw to the pile of reasons he's an infuriating twat who needs hurled into the sea.
Well if he breaks the world Test batting record, at a run a ball, in this upcoming knock it will give us a shot at winning by an innings and 150.
I assume their plan is to have a lead and declare just after tea.
The ball has started to carry so I can't imagine Crawley will have any trouble.
What's that I hear? The sound of a dickhead who's been told it doesn't matter if he's any good or not chucking his wicket away again?
If one of my batters runs past one nonsensically he gets pumped into the 2nds.
4 of Lyon's 9 wickets in the series so far have been stumpings. Fuck me.
A Nathan Lyon injury would be a real shame. A real, real shame. A real, real, real, real shame. A real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real shame.
Bazball coming up Milhouse here.
Yeah, absolutely must cash in and get 600+ here. They don't even have a Roston Chase figure in their side as far as I can see, although wasn't Marnus bowling offies at Glamorgan earlier in the year? Fear of god into me if so.
Sorry. Any mention of Roston Chase automatically means England lose a wicket.
He bowls leggies I think. Travis Head has a filthy 4-40 in him I’m sure as we stroll down the track every ball.
For fucks sake Duckett.
The whole ethos is just absolutely committed to keeping the game interesting, even if that means losing pointless wickets when you look like you're getting on top.
They're absolutely brain dead here.
That's also touched the ground so shouldn't be out.
It's violently stupid. Their anchor bowler is fucked and off the field. Give them fuck all and grind them into the dust. But no, just hit it in the air.
Proper private school thinking. Smelling own farts.