Cook playing every minute of the test so far.
Cook playing every minute of the test so far.
Strike rate refusing to go below 50 as well. What a beast.
They better not declare tomorrow. Play for Cook and watch those records tumble. Nudge by nudge, nurdle by nurdle...
As much as it must have been excruciating as a match I kind of wish I'd been watching to see Cook play that one out.
He was out off a no ball was he? Fucking lol at that.
I had a bit of a lol reading about this chap:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanif_Mohammad
Getting run out on 499.
Alec Stewart scored the same amount of test runs, as his date of birth.
8463.
Mind blown.
What on earth is going on?
Rashid though
It's on.
England to lose, that is.
Mo and Buttler opening. Love it
SA vs. India being called "The Freedom Series" is all sorts of lol.
Sehwag retires. I'm posting this because I'd never heard this story before:
My favourite Virender Sehwag story – and gosh, aren’t there a lot? – is the one told by Jeremy Snape, the former Northamptonshire spin bowler, now a respected sports psychologist. Sehwag and Snape were batting together for Leicestershire on a baking hot day at Southgate. Abdul Razzaq was making the old ball reverse like a Frisbee. “We must lose this ball,” Sehwag told Snape at the end of one over. “I have a plan.”
The next delivery, Sehwag hit a six so big it sailed out of the ground, landing indeterminately in a church yard across the road. Vintage Sehwag: see ball, hit ball. Lose ball. Force umpires to choose replacement ball from box of spares. As Razzaq examined his new, inferior projectile, Sehwag confided to Snape: “We are all right for one hour.”
That's ace. Makes me think of the one I read about Viv Richards where a bowler decided to inform him after a few swings and misses that the ball is "red, round and weighs five ounces." Next ball Richards twats it into a nearby river and tells the bowler that seeing as he knows what it looks like he ought to go and fetch it.
Whoever that last commentator on TMS was has a seriously irritating voice.
Who (descriptively) was it?
I've got a new Rameez Raja drinking game. Whenever he says 'in a jiffy', I have to down a can of petrol.
The camera cuts to two men in the crowd with their eyes closed.
'Doesn't seem to be a snooze, they're seriously working up a solid sleeping pattern.'
Not Aggers, Blofeld or Smith and had a bit of an odd, nasal voice is about as well as I can describe him. Not anybody I've heard on TMS before so far as I'm aware.
Also, what exactly is meant by "mystery spin"? Does it just mean a spinner who can play a variety of types of delivery?
It'll be Charlie Dagnall I think. He used to be a right CHARACTER for Leicestershire about 10+ years ago.
Last over of an attritional day's play. 13 runs short of a hundred. Time to get safely through to stumps, right?
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Misbah climbing out his bunker to clout some maximums is one of the great sporting sights.
This was the classic against Monty Panesar. It's proper 'nobody expects the Spanish inquisition' stuff.
It means there's a mystery as to which way the ball will turn, something missing from, for example, Moeen Ali. Or any English spinner since the beginning of time.
You could bracket leggies in there as they tend to have googlies. Saqlain Mushtaq was originally in English said to bowl the 'mystery ball', being the first to do so, and we later retconned that to 'doosra', which means the second one.
That was pretty tongue in cheek but the only time I have heard him say it is when he was talking about Ajmal/Doosra's "We need a mystery spinner" when Ali was struggling a while back.
Good effort to dismiss them for 378 on what looks another flat pitch.
Another 18 hour knock please Alastair.
We're exceeding my expectations by quite a lot so far. Mainly in the batting, though, so let's hope that continues.
What a dickhead catch that was.
134 all out.
Yasir Shah looks good. Definitely can see him instigating a collapse at some point.
This is the key partnership. Two best players and two best temperaments
Really don't fancy a fourth innings chase of, say, 105 on a fifth day pitch against Yasir.
These two, though, are so fucking good.
Fuck.
All out for 145.
There is a slight hint of the tail starting now, but fuck it.
Thought that was out tbh. These two look uncomfortable against the leggie
Wahab is a warrior. Keeps running in and bowling quickly on these pitches. Trouble now
That familiar feeling of an England collapse. Comforting, in a way, isn't it?
Jesus, Buttler is having a mare. Give Bairstow the gloves and bring Taylor in I think. Or Hales and Ali down the order.
Wahab is an absolute beast. Still living that World Cup spell to Twatto.
I would make the Buttler change now, in spite of my inclination to pick the better keeper. Keep him fresh for one dayers and the T20 World Cup. It also gives Bairstow the security of a proper chance to prove himself with the bat. My first thought was get Hales in and send Moeen down to the middle order, ideally 6 with Stokes 7. Taylor will replace Ronald soon anyway at this rate.
https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CSFKzmBXAAATAEC.mp4
This man is the fucking world boss.
That is top drawer.
I have no way of knowing, but judging from him on and off field demeanour and my intuition I'm sure Younis is an absolute top geezer.
His test record is obviously great, but considering he's barely played a test at his proper home country it's even better
Younis has played 19 Tests in Pakistan. Misbah zero
Yep, not having Moeen in this position at all. I guess Hales is next then?
We've had a rash of all-time great batsmen come to the end of their careers over the past decade. I'm wondering where Younis Khan fits on that. He's been operating under the radar for so long, but he has a ton of runs at a very good average. Might not get the love he deserves.
He's a superb player. Always the second best player in the side though (until the last handful of years), overshadowed either by Inzamam or subsequently by Moyo, so possibly hasn't had the recognition.
Bhuvi Kumar has just had a very good look at Mick Lewis's record.
And they cut to Ravi Shastri's face in the stands
438 for 4. Hmm.
Well bowled, India.
The Indian fans were going mental for AB. Cunts.
Elsewhere, you'd like to think our middle order might actually seize this opportunity, but once Root's gone it's over.
What the hell are Stokes and Buttler going to do in a crisis?
I'd be tempted to go full mental for the next Test and put Ian Bell up to open, with Taylor at three, Moeen at six and Buttler in the shower.
Anyone see the SA India highlights?
du Plessis, by the end of his innings, couldn't move and was just swinging away like he was trying to get out
That actually sounds like a rather sensible setup, given the options available. Suits everyone but Bell, who will be happy to be in the lineup at all. And it could work - reminds me of when we put Langer at the top of the order, despite him never really batting there before. It was clear that he had the temperament for it, and there's a chance that Bell might too. Worth finding out, at least.
Stokes has come in and there have been five appeals from his first five balls. For fuck's sake.
Rashid (plus Wood and Broad) showing these cunts how to bat in this situation
Cue him getting stumped in a minute...