Just 101 to avoid the follow on.
Just 101 to avoid the follow on.
110*(55) for captain Moeen to take Worcestershire to finals day
I am going again, I could not be happier. I think he is my favourite non-Surrey cricketer ever.
How often does Bairstow get bowled? Ridiculous. Bin him.
Well at least Davey Warner has had an absolute shocker of a series.
Having a little run through them is all well and good, but it probably just means we'll be batting sooner which isn't really ideal. Could do with keeping a lid on the run rate really.
Odds on somehow managing to lose 3-4 wickets before the end of the day?
Oh for fucks sake.
Shortening.
Gets Stokes in earlier so he can try and win it.
Whew.
Ooof this is end of days shit. Five changes and Root to resign before the fifth test.
No worries Jason. They've took 3 balls off the new ball for you.
Only one thing for it now.
Roll out the brand.
Warner to score a couple of home ground tons and celebrate with some jumping. He is the Bernard Foley of cricket.
Ricky Ponting absolutely wasted him on comms: 'There's the Australian brains trust, although I hesitate to say that as Dave Warner's in the picture.'
What was the third umpire playing at there?
It's all kicking off.
3rd umpire blind, people in the crowd pissing about behind the bowler. I'm really not a fan of the abuse of this "new ball" rule either.
Didn’t think we’d get this far. Surely not Leach cleaning his specs before facing the last over of the Test...
We'll get to down to the last hour with all 4 left and then collapse to lose it.
36 overs to go sounds like a lot considering Broad has been useless with the bat.
They've lasted two sessions more than I thought they would.
We've got to 20 to go.😎
15 overs left with Stuart "I am scared of the ball" Broad walking out to the crease.
We are not good enough shock. Did well to stay in the series that long.
Yeah, I think the last few games have 'answered the critics' to an extent as regards 'fight'. They've put in some quality backs to the wall performances. Unfortunately criticisms as to ability/suitability of the team remain.
The India series last year was a bit of a burglary in the final analysis, this would have been insane. Nearly made it as well. I suppose the only thing that sticks in the throat is that Australia are pretty hopeless beyond a couple of star turns. 120 odd for 8 on that first day of the series didn't feel like it would end like this.
With the series on the line still at the Oval I doubt there will be wholesale changes, but the batting order really needs some serious attention.
What we really need is Jimmy Anderson to be both fit and to reverse the ageing process.
Forgot that for all that the series (lol) is still on the line and there is obviously the nebulous PRIDE to play for there are also Test Championship points available.
Should try and get a few more on the board at home before we get molested by Rabada for a few weeks later in the year.
I had either missed or forgotten that Bayliss is away after the series.
Has there been any chat about who'll be replacing him?
From Cricinfo:
I mean, he's not wrong.That's, basically, the story of this England side. It's full of batsmen with big reputations and small averages
I thought that was bit of a fait accompli when he announced he was stepping away from Pakistan the other day/week/month, but maybe I was getting ahead of myself.
Pakistan fired him, for reasons known only to them, and have replaced him with Misbah-ul-Haq.
Curran and Woakes in for Roy and Overton. We will piss this one.
Denly out in the 9th over. And yet it is still the highest opening partnership of the series for either side.
Davey Warner averaging 9.87 is the real Ashes.
As a lifelong Oval-dweller, may I just say that bowling first in a Test match at this ground is absolutely mental.
It's quite incredible that he has managed to average single figures despite scoring 61 in one innings.
Yeah the repeat rinsing of Warner has been about the best thing to come out of it.
Paine will feel like a genius when we crumble to 187 all out.
I say this at 148/3 but this England team is utter shite. Really need several new names.
The pick your combined ashes XI thing on the bbc site is something else. It basically corners you into picking Joe Denly as one of the openers, so bad have all the others bar Burns been.
I like that our response to being uselss at batting is to essentially go with 2 specialist batsmen. Feels like those days of the ODI team being horrifically bad with a million all-rounders in it, and Ali Cook opening, natch.
It's mad isn't it. You can finagle it to have Root 3 and Marnus 5, but then you have the England top 3.
All the 'keepers are rank bad.
Here comes the tail.
Last edited by niko_cee; 12-09-2019 at 03:21 PM.
Root has got several absolute crackers this series, he has been remarkably unlucky.
Well, apart from being dropped 3 times in this innings. Getting bowled by a corker after that probably isn't 'unlucky' per se.
Admittedly not today. Just seems to always get that type of delivery from Cummins or Hazlewood where it nips away and clips the top of off.
I'm still fairly optimistic. We can get up to 400 on this pitch with a bit of application.
I'll take Warner for his catching, and Smith for his banter.