Saturday looks lost, Friday and Sunday are showery. Just need to go all out right now and declare at 320 if we have to. Have to take 20 wickets.
Saturday looks lost, Friday and Sunday are showery. Just need to go all out right now and declare at 320 if we have to. Have to take 20 wickets.
We scored 178 from 25 overs in the previous session. Do that again (as if it’s that easy) and we have over 400 by the end of the day. Make that a 100 run lead and get them back in for Jimmy under the clouds
The foot is down. Aussies will be in to bat tonight.
Sunday doesn't look as bad as first thought at the moment. I think we need to maintain the blitz and put them under SCOREBOARD pressure as much as anything. Or collapse in a heap/declare, either works if it's all about taking 20 wickets. Shame we're even having to think about it really as this should be an all time shellacking.
Problem is if the ball/pitch isn't doing much, which is as it seems now, we may may be better batting tonight out, slogging away in the morning and seeing what gives after lunch.
I agree. Build a decent lead now in the sun and give ourselves a shorter chase when the weather might be dodgy.
Crawley going there might be the cue to kick it up another gear. A shame he falls short of the double tonne, but also a shame we must now put up with him for 20 more tests.
Averaging 42 this year before this innings. Is he actually coming good?Originally Posted by Gray Fox
You have to hand it to the Bazball secretariat. They backed Crawley without condition through failure after failure because they said he would play a match-winning knock, and he's done it when it mattered most.
Is this the first time we're going into a second innings in the lead in this series?
Over rate remains at criminal levels too.
At this rate Jimmy will be hooping it around their ankles by Saturday.
Horrific ball to get Root there. Nothing he could do. Rules out declaring tonight or else you'd think they'd have done it there.
Im liking this variable bounce. Declare after an hour tomorrow morning, lead of 130?
Yeah, ball keeping low now and then, these are the best conditions to score runs in and probably will be for the rest of the match. Keep piling them on as quickly as possible and look to bowl in what will probably be more favourable conditions tomorrow/on Sunday. if three days are lost to rain the game was unwinnable anyway [and Manchester should be banned from holding a test match for many years].
Aussies doing all sorts to slow the over rate down now.
Was it Channel 4 pissing and moaning about being late for the news that led to fixed end of play times?
That and the beeb demanding a fixed 2.5 hour slot (creating the Hundred) have a lot to answer for.
I'd still come out now, but failing that, slog until it first rains and then declare.
Met office (is that the most reliable weather site?) suggests there might be a few hours so yeah, we need to pile it on and hope there's enough time with some sketchy conditions to let us get them out.
Raining already apparently, but hopefully it clears and we can get at least two sessions in.
If it's murky but they get out in the morning session it might be worth going for the kamikaze declaration.
We've got a weather radar at work. There's a huge downpour over Manchester now but it reckons that will have cleared by 11am and we're in for a relatively dry day after that. Tomorrow looks a complete washout.
I think it would be a mistake to bat too long. If you have a massive lead you put them in defensive block everything mode. Sure it's difficult but it makes all their decisions for them and they bat to number eight.
I'd want them going in thinking they have a chance of scoring 300+ and giving us a tough chase.
Aussie heads have well and truly gone here. If we manage the full comeback it will go down as one of history's greatest bottlejobs. The world's #1 has forgotten how to bowl.
Although this is a good Australian team, it's also a very soft Australian team (tracking the progression of their society generally) and I think more than a few weeks away from home, and this many Tests, is really hard for them to deal with.
Was hoping for some proper T20 stuff this morning. At this point, just put them in with 250 to chase.
I’ll be disappointed if we don’t see a quick fire 25 from Wood here
Very little to be gained by sending the batters back out now. Get the declaration in.
I don't really get this, but whatever. In Bazball we trust.
Trying to build Bairstow’s ego back up no doubt.
Can’t believe a draw is still over evens
Definitely shocked to wake up and see us still batting but at this point let them swing away and plan to not bat again.
Absolutely taking the piss out of them here.
Oh Jimmy
Bit gutting for Bairstow there. Still, all that batting has taken the game away from Australia. Seems to be some swing in the air but there's some great rough there for Moeen. Plenty of runs in hand.
I need 4 poles today please
Just phenomenal umpiring from England's Joel Wilson. Magnificent stuff.
Steve Smith a very lucky boy there.
I don't really think that catch is out but it probably gets claimed and given the other way around.
There's one angle that clearly shows it's an inch or two short of carrying.
Another one before stumps would be nice.
Absolutely despise watching Smith bat. Just hideous stuff.
Labuschagne is worse with all his time-wasting bullshit. I've put the golf on until word reaches me that one of them's gone.
Smudger gone. Change the channel.
I hope he changed the channel. Stupidname is the only one who looks competent right now.
That Australian field to Bairstow after lunch was a thing of beauty. The weather is their only hope now, probably for the series. Absolutely ruined mentally and they miss Lyon so much.
Talk of the 99 not outers, poor old Alex Tudor. Was that against South Africa as a night watchman and Graeme Thorpe came in and hit a sprightly 18 or something to seal a 7 wicket win? What a shit.
It was against New Zealand, just after we had crashed out of our home World Cup before the super sixes. We won that (the first) Test with the aforementioned Thorpe villainy. Second Test they absolutely thrashed us to level it up. Third test we conceded a first innings lead of 300 but were saved by the rain; final and deciding Test, we were skittled for 153 and 162 by Cairns and Nash to lose the series and descend to last place in the world rankings.
A truly great time to be an England fan. I think that was the last series before central contracts came in.
Can clearly see the farcical situation developing today where any breaks in the rain end up coinciding with lunch or tea being taken. Why are there specific windows for those (rather than just 2 hours after play commences etc)? That mass of rain is tantalisingly a bit more south than first forecast but still catching Manchester at its tip.
If you can squeeze a mini session in here somewhere that'd be grand. Conditions would be horrible to bat in and we've some fired up bowlers.
The times when they go "Ah the pitch is dry but we haven't had vittles yet" is always stupid and makes Test cricket seem like a joke format.
45 minute burst here at best? Unleash Wood.
Fizzling out a bit now. Umpires not allowing Wood really not helping.
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