Right, that was good. Now for Crawley to break Lara's world record and we're sorted.
Right, that was good. Now for Crawley to break Lara's world record and we're sorted.
The Benjamin’s looking decent.
Foakes really is a handsome fella.
Hales is back.
Replacement for Bairstow. I suppose u-turning on Roy so soon wouldn't be a good look.
Elgar isn't afraid of talking some shit is he?
About Harry Brook: "welcome to the big leagues...we didn't have our fast bowlers when you got some runs before, lad"
I am quite optimistic about Brook.
A great information
It seems slightly odd to me that the toss has been done considering there was no play possible at all today. Probably be glorious sunny batting conditions tomorrow.
I don't know the international playing conditions, but if they at some point deemed it suitable for play then they could have tossed. If it was never suitable for play then it's a bit of a mystery.
They definitely intended to get going at one point during the afternoon before the rain came back. I wasn’t watching much so don’t know if they tossed up just before that or at 10:30.
The King ushering in a new age of sporting dominance.
:d
The naked boundary rope is lovely. Bring it back. Fuck Vitality and all who sail in them. Or Royal London, or whoever it is.
That was such a bad decision for someone who's (somehow) on the ICC Elite Panel. Real rank poor decision.
I also can't believe commentators keep saying the umpires can't tell when bowlers are going wide on the crease. Eyes tend to help.
What an absolute Bairstow of an LBW review from Crawley there.
On the day of Her Majesty too. Jimmy is going to be furious.
Today I learned what a 'Mankad' is and lol what a move. The women bealing over it as well.
It's one of those weird anomalies/unsolvable problems, because the laws are very clear on it, but it sends people into uncontrollable fits of moralistic rage whenever it happens. It happened in a league game I was doing this year (Indian bowler in a mainly white team) and I said to them if you're appealing for this it's going to be out, at which point the captain said 'That's not how we play the game' and withdrew the appeal, much to the bowler's chagrin.
It's one of the areas where I think English culture fails us, with phrases like 'not cricket' and the even worse 'spirit of cricket' making us sound like some nonsense 1920s public school nightmare.
I’ve seen someone get their teeth smashed in for upholding their appeal on one of these. The lad was a cunt so whatever. The aggressor was a nice lad by all accounts but he got banished for life obviously.
I myself have been done by one in the past. I was more than likely winning the game for us so naturally I seethed about spirit of the game etc.
In general I'm not against the action, especially when some batsmen are taking the piss, charging yards down the pitch at the point of delivery. The one yesterday does just smack of "We've run out of ideas, we need to win through any means possible". At the expected point of release, Dean is probably in the crease and beginning to walk with the delivery. But I expect nothing less from India. An insufferable group of players and an even worse fanbase.
It's difficult because there is a balance to be had between batsmen taking the piss [which they do] and 'spirit of the game'/not being a shithouse. Because it's a batsman's game the balance has tilted too far towards being able to take the piss and they're often yards out of the crease at the point of delivery, at the same time, I don't think the ball should really be considered live until it has left the bowler's hand. Maybe it should be like a running on the pitch thing where the umpire has the power to warn, and eventually remove a batsman for persistent/egregious infringements.
There are lots of alternatives, like penalty runs or whatever, but the MCC laws commitee have actually strengthened the law on it recently so they're obviously in no doubt.
Won’t be long before Rehan Ahmed plays for England
I didn't realise he could bat as well.
This is insane from England.
20 boundaries off the first 42 balls, 50 up inside 3 overs, 100 up inside 7. Mental.
Weirdly that game sorts all Pakistan's selection dilemmas but creates more for us.
Bumrah out of the tournament injured has cheered me up at least.
Really don’t know how we fit everyone in. Batting looks stacked - some very good players are going to miss out.
In great news for the neutral because it massively increases the chance they’ll flame out at the group stage, Bumrah is out of the T20 World Cup. I’m actually surprised it’s taken him this long to fuck his back with that bowling action.
They have Pakistan first up as always, if they lose that then it might be a long way back as they also have South Africa (at Perth!) and potentially West Indies to find a way past. I'm discounting Bangladesh who are garbage.
We are going to fuck it, both Aus and NZ in our group, probably Sri Lanka (the revenge of Chris Silverwood) and Zimbabwe/Scotland/Ireland all of whom are nailed on upsets.
Good lord.
That sound off the bat.
Why is the ground empty though?
This Stokes/Hales partnership packs a punch.
The depth of our batting options is mad. I'm sure an ignominious [and inexplicable] exit at the hands of New Zealand awaits. Genuine full-on miracle we won that 50 over final that time.
Test squad named for Pakistan with one specialist spinner in it. Also a return for Keaton Jennings, which I think is like our version of the Chinese Year of the Rat, but comes around slightly more often.
I can picture there being a lot of cocaine involved in the Bazball selection meetings.
He’s had a great year in the champ but you just know he isn’t good enough
Jennings is good against spin, so it makes sense to take him for sub-continental pitches.
But not to take anyone who can bowl it.
Jacks and Livingstone will fill that second spot no problem.
Jennings
ZAK CRAWLEY ALPHA MALE
Pope
Root
Brook
Stokes
Foakes
Wood/Robinson
Leach
Anderson
Are we playing Will Jacks at eight? What a time to be alive.
How has Crawley kept his place over Lees
Crawley and Jennings as an opening pair genuinely makes me want us to get splatted in every game. Repulsive stuff.
Och aye the noo.
Are these defeats for Windies/Sri Lanka going to be meaningful or are they still going to worm their way into the group stages proper?
And why is Ireland's game scheduled to start at 10.01 [our time]?