And people thought the world cup final was good . . .
And people thought the world cup final was good . . .
That’s one of the best innings I’ve ever seen. Ducking amazing
As if we've fucking won that.
I cant cope with this. Ben Stokes is taking years off my life this summer.
What a fucking hero
That tension and drama and everything was too much. Unbelievable
The balls on the man. Wonderful.
I feel like I did after England finally won a penalty shootout. It doesn't feel real. I know we've only tied the series and now Smith will come back and grind us into dust but fucking hell.
High stakes sport is just the best thing.
I didn't believe until he started slogging for boundaries at will. What an innings that was.
Ben Stokes you beautiful bastard. Day 2 tickets at OT can’t wait now.
Yeah, probably still need to win the series for this one to rate above Edgbaston '05 or (presumably) Headingly '81.
There's a fair chance with the borked review, the borked run out, and then the lbw denied this may have collectively wrecked their minds though.
In isolation one of the great test days/sessions/innings.
There’s too much to look back on and remember right now but omg that review from Paine... only pitching five miles outside leg mate
The cricket reddit is in meltdown over that LBW.
COME ON YOU AUSSIE CUNTS, GIVE ME YOUR SWEET TEARS.
Jimmy is clearly spaffing one out over Stokes or Leach.
Tbf I'm more impressed with Leach, surviving 60 balls like that to give Stokes the time he needed.
Is Cricket weird now?
Fuck me some of those shots.
It’s almost like he knew it last night. Just blocking, making sure he is there to write the script. Hero.
I proper celebrated that Hahahaha. Mon the English cricket
Want to go out tonight and spark out homophobes outside a dodgy nightclub in tribute
That switch hit/reverse sweep out the footmarks off Lyon my word
fucking shout out to Australia's LBW review.
my god, that's the BEST few hours of sport i've ever witnessed. in the world cup final i probably felt more sad for NZ than happy for england, in this i would have cried if we didn't manage it once it got down to single figures. my bloody god. incredible incredible incredible. tipsily boring my mum explaining the referral system and jack leach's first class batting average. LAAAAAAAAAAAADS!
That one, and the yorker/full toss from Pattinson that disappeared into the crowd were beyond belief.
As was the fact he couldn't get a single off 4 Nathan Lyon balls to tie the scores.
Also, 9th wicket partnership surpassing the entire first innings effort.
/
Ben Stokes after the fall of 9th wicket
6, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 6, 0, 0, 0, 6, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 6, 2, 1, 4, 6, 6, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 4, 4, 1, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0, 0, 4
Scored 74 runs off last 42 balls (7 sixes)
dots
I don't want to get dramatic here but I'll happily let Ben Stokes come over and fuck my wife.
Only problem is he'll be smashing her for hours all over the place.
That scorecard looks so ridiculous.
Big bad Bob saying it eclipses ‘81. It sort of does surely? Who knows.
The Edgbaston parallels were unavoidable. To the point where I was convinced we’d fall agonisingly short even after that switch hit I was sure it was nailed on and written in the stars.
I thought it was an understandable decision by Wilson. In real time there was a very short space between the ball pitching and it hitting the pad, and on the angle I don't think you give that out. Hawkeye attributed some kind of weird inswing to it after impact as well which I'm not sure was quite right.
Less understandable was Paine's decision to review the one that pitched a foot outside leg. You have to think far more clearly than that at this level, I'm afraid.
I know next to nothing about cricket but I've seen on Twitter that some bookies have already paid out for Ben Stokes being the Sports Personality of the Year, Gary Lineker tweeting "arise Sir Ben Stokes," and my betting group chat wanking over it being the best bit of cricket they've ever seen and Ben Stokes is omg better than Ian Botham fap fap fap.
Is this the same Ben Stokes that battered a man while drunk and was in court for it about a year ago? And Gary Lineker wants to give him a knighthood? I know he was "cleared" but we've all seen the video.
I'm a twit
"Leave it, Stokes." should be the name of his first autobiography.
That's the best thing I've ever followed on live text. Just pure magic from Stokes. I can't wait to watch the highlights.
Knighthoods for people in their twenties are silly, but who gives a fuck about the court case - he was cleared, and as far as anyone is aware he was basically defending a gay couple who had been homophobically abused/threatened with a bottle. Took it too far which was daft, but nobody's perfect.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...-to-face-trial
Anyway, my hot take is that it wasn't even the best unbeaten hundred to win by 1 wicket in Test cricket this year.
Because of the angle my initial thought was it was going down legside but I'm no expert for these things.
What probably doesn't help Wilson is just that it's about the 900th thing he's done wrong this series.
But as you say, the review before that was a waste and total desperation.
Ouch!
Fingers crossed Smith can pick up where he left off and carry the team to a series win.
Listening back to the final hour from TMS: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07lmfpy
Glenn McGrath was absolutely seething throughout, poor guy (smirk). Aggers can be a bit precious but he is the gold standard broadcaster, phenomenal description.
The crying over Wilson is delicious.
We're now at the stage where Aussies are saying 'BUT MATE HE SHOULD HAVE GIVEN IT OUT BECAUSE ENGLAND STILL HAD A REVIEW LEFT'
Yeah because that's definitely the basis on which umpires should make their decisions.
The Hawkeye replay of that looks all wrong to me:
If you look at the red line only (which is what umpire Wilson saw) you can see why he wouldn't necessarily give that out. He can see middle and off stumps, Stokes is a fair way down and it doesn't look to have turned square. I would have given it not out.
Last edited by Jimmy Floyd; 26-08-2019 at 08:05 AM.
In real time, with Stokes falling away on the shot it looks very much like it might be going down. You only really see the point of impact/line of the ball properly when you freeze it/slow it down loads. I'm pretty sure it must have been in the umpire's head that he didn't want to give one and have it be "umpire's call" and out on that basis, so it was going to have to be stone dead to be given.
My favourite imagine from this is quite possibly Leach gently and carefully cleaning his glasses between balls, about to casually defend possibly the best bowler in the world.
He's got himself free glasses for life from Specsavers too.
Heh. Along similar lines I liked on TMS when Cook said "That was the innings of a lifetime, and Ben Stokes has had two of them in six weeks."