Bumble and the always bewildering Ramiz commentating on a falcon hunting grasshoppers there a great moment.
England are gonna save this
Bumble and the always bewildering Ramiz commentating on a falcon hunting grasshoppers there a great moment.
England are gonna save this
Some of these appeals are fucking laughable.
Pakistan putting up a 'fabulous show' apparently though.
Mon Jimmy, make the dickheads cry.
Six around the bat
Rashid needs to farm the strike, I don't have faith in Jimmy I'm afraid. Another Headingley vs Sri Lanka on the cards
Adil mate.
Jesus, bit of a brain fart there. Good effort though, the middle order can take notes
Can't really complain about the performance from those selected, especially the bowlers who gave it all they had. The batting is so dependent on Cook and Root though. It's summed up by Moeen's quote before the game stating his role in the side was to 'get us off to a good start with the bat and then bowl the opposition out'. We have three or four luxury players which heaps everything on those few key men.
And yet they spent most of their tour over here whingeing about 'doctored' pitches. The Fair Dinkum Cobber XI scored 503/1 on that with seamers not allowed to bowl and with Brendon McCullum toiled through 10 overs, etc etc. Aaron Finch loves to cash in on those games, doesn't he. I've got my eye on him.
I've been following the Shield games (complete with pink ball) and there has been some laughable stuff going on. The pink ball looks absolutely shite to me, and only stays pink for about ten minutes. Klinger still scored 200 for the sandgropers though. If they don't pick him for upcoming international series all the selectors should be sacked, he is so fucking good.
Victoria did the classic thing of declaring 100+ behind and then rattling the opposition out for 103. Aggressive brand of cricket mate.
That pitch wasn't doctored. It's just a woefully terrible pitch.
Nobody but Finch and Carters enjoyed that farce.
It was taking the modern trend of providing teams with the worst imaginable warm-up conditions to a new low though.
Meanwhile we've sacked Buttler off for a while (KP getting firmly behind him was probably the death knell) and brought in the perennially under-heighted Wee Jimmy Taylor. Prospect of fatlad Patel playing as well. Maybe we can win a toss, although I imagine this will be one of the worst pitches in the history of test cricket.
Samit
I read they might put Taylor in at 3 and drop Bell down to 5 where he averages loads. Would rather just say goodbye forever to dear Ronald but maybe we still need him I dunno
Ron late cutting us to glory after top order collapses in South Africa.
What are they going to do with the opening position in all this? Moeen can't be a serious candidate to do it down there, can he? Bairstow isn't a real 'keeper either, is he?
Ronald has one more career-saving hundred in him I reckon.
Who are they bringing Fat Sam in for, just the injured Wood? Love the fucking balance. RIP Barry Ballance.
I was going to say 'Get Hales in for Wood and send Ali back down.'
Then I started listing the bowlers and got worried. Maybe not.
Six bowlers (in this context where we need the two spinners) works well, it's just a question of how to stop us needing a partnership of 500 between Cook and Root to get into the game.
I thought Bairstow was going ok but he's now going down to 7, which does lengthen the lineup a fair bit. I'd go with the same thing in South Africa, move Moeen down to 5 and bring in an opener. There is one player they are missing a serious trick with which is James Vince, but oh well.
How long before they push Root back up to open do we reckon? It would be a bad idea but I can see it .
Is that six including Samit? Doing what I said above leaves us with Jimmy, Broad, Stokes, Moeen and Rashid
I think I would rather play Hales than Samit. We will get more from that.
I really can't see Samit playing. They'd have to leave out Stokes, who has been doing a handy job with the ball, or move him down to eight which would be ridiculous. The pitch will just be Misbah trollface flat so no point bothering with a third spinner wondering which pie to throw and which to eat. There are greengrocers in Lahore who bowl better spin with cauliflowers than Patel does.
I imagine they'll play Plunkett, or they should do anyway.
Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
without a doubt
Misbah 7* (34)
And so it begins. Anderson really is quite good though. I realised my opinion about leaving him out of this was a load of tripe when Michael Vaughan came out and said the same thing beforehand.
I tell you who is good: Patel.
I tell you what, Fat Sam fucking loved that.
Oh, Misbah. Never change, you absolute legend.
13 off 69, then cunts Adil Rashid's first ball for six.
The amount of spin we're getting is filling me with a deep sense of forboding.
Haven't been watching but
I dunno, the fact that he's ragging it two feet on day one suggests that the game is lost to me.
King Misbah taking 17 off one of his overs has slightly dampened the mood as well.
Misbah becomes more of a sporting legend every time he bats. It's quite amazing. He needs three more sixes to pass Tendulkar's total in Tests.
Pakistan will have a first innings lead of about 150 then.
https://vine.co/v/e3rPzWdxTqP
Man down as well. Can't see us getting up to 234.
'Keeper fucking loved it.
Wee Jimmy Taylor to top-score as they make us follow on.
Moeen with an 'I just don't know what he was thinking, Charles' shot and Bell nearly following him in.
Boys, we're a man down ffs. Just tough it out.
TMS this morning was 20 minutes of 'Moeen should be going at them, no point in hanging about, get a quick 40/50 etc' and then 15 minutes of 'reckless, too aggressive too soon, etc'. Top notch.
Someone on the BBC live text said that Moeen should be dropped for his shot because in a normal workplace you would receive at least a formal warning for what was the equivalent of 'swearing at a client'.
You'll all be loving in when he's lofting Dale Steyn for six over long on on his way to a 80 ball hundred at The Wanderers
I can smell a Ronald hundred here. It smells like bacon, and coffee, and foie gras.
Last 10 overs: 13/1
Outstanding headline this:
Uncapped Rabbi picked for Zimbabwe ODIs
http://www.espncricinfo.com/banglade...ry/935425.html
Islam Rabbi, heh.
Innings run rate about to drop below 2
This is what we live for
We're actually doing reasonably well, too.
40 and out for Ronald.
As if he's done all that grafting and then just strolled past one.
Taylor and Fat Sam to the rescue.
Taylor looks very organised. Mad how he hasn't played more for England in the past 3 years.
The guy's just superb. Him, Vince and Barry G should all be in this side ideally. One of them would probably have to open though.
It's genuinely got to the point where I can't remember if Barry Gallance is his actual name, or if it's the one we made up. Such a memorable figure.
I imagine this is deeply tedious for people watching, but this is great cricket for those of us at work and following via updates. The tension of waiting for the inevitable edged sweep is the only thing keeping me going.
I like it. It's a proper grind. There's a bit of turn, a hint of reverse swing and England are digging in.
Nice to see after the aggressive brand-off in the summer.
Antipodean sport at the moment is just an endless waterfall of testosterone. The Test series coming up will be a joke.
We'd probably have won this by now if Taylor was a foot taller.
It's important that we don't let his abilities as a cricketer overshadow his verticality.
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