I never get these passages of play. The last hour has just been time donated back to England.
Root will score a hundred.
I never get these passages of play. The last hour has just been time donated back to England.
Root will score a hundred.
Hales really needs to add to the maiden hundred series/match tally.
Yeah, bring back Lyth. Or stick Compdog up to 'see off the new ball' with Chef before the rest can tee off with their aggressive brand of cricket. In that case bring back Buttler and go with 2 'keepers (one glove each).
The Hales dismissal here was the worst so far. I would rather have one aggressive opener and Compton at 3 personally. Maybe Hales is that man but stop fucking wafting like a girl.
These two are ridiculously good. Especially Root.
Rabada is immense. Best young quick for years.
Not the best from the wee man there. Bairstow needs to repay some of the dropped catch deficit he built up. Woakes to carry us through.
Nice one Johnny.
Back to his best.
We used to be so good in dead rubbers.
Aye, but only when we were the dead ones. We've always played them the right way from a position of dominance.
If we can just avoid the follow on this could turn into a classic. Get set something big and just fucking go for it. Maybe that'll set Hales on the right track.
Knowing South Africa we'll get set 564 in two and a half sessions or something.
Move your feet, Mo.
Newsflash: Woakes about to bat. Clear the bar.
So I'm keeping tabs in Cricinfo, and Rabada seems to be doing the business. Any of you watching? Beginner's luck, or special talent?
I'm watching. Rabada is god tier.
Woakes dropped on 1. You can't afford to give players like this a second chance.
Follow on: saved.
Toggle Spoiler
NZ look to be on the ropes here (according to Cricinfo anyway). When did Pakistan start taking cricket seriously again?
Pakistan are perfectly bonkers and if they do anything in the World T20 in India, well, what scenes.
Under 19 World Cup starts on Wednesday. India seem to have crowned themselves favourites, and they do have batting but as ever no bowling that I can see. Australia have pulled out due to security concerns, but everyone else is there.
England's first game is against Fiji, which is a lol fixture in itself but this is our best squad for ages and I think we could win it. These are some of the names.
Dan Lawrence, Essex opening batsman, glorious technique, could be one to look out for. Seems more from the Nasser Hussain school of Essex boy than the Alastair Cook school, which is kind of a nice change.
Max Holder, Middlesex top order player, not seen him but good rep despite being called Max.
Aneurin Donald, Glamorgan batsman with a pleasingly Welsh name, has already done well in county cricket.
Mason Crane, Hampshire leg spinner, a lot of hype about him in the summer. I've only seen him once, on TV, but I like him a lot. Not seen as good a teenage spinner in England for years, at any rate.
Sam Curran, Surrey left arm opening bowler and middle order batsman. I have gone on about him before and you'll have to filter this claim through both giddiness and Surrey bias, but having watched him in the flesh on four or five occasions last summer I just can't see how he won't become one of the all time greats. In England terms we're looking at a once in 50 years type player.
Brad Taylor, Hampshire, left arm tweak and captain, very handy.
Players from other countries to look out for:
Ishan Kishan of India, could be the best batsman at the tournament. Said to be an expansive sort.
Nazmul Hossain, Bangladesh batsman.
Sameen Gul, very young Pakistan seamer, although you never know in Pakistan where age is concerned.
Shimron Hetmyer, West Indies batsman, probably shit but someone has to be optimistic for WI, right?
Rivaldo Moonsamy, South African batsman, quality name, supposed to be quite good.
The associates might have the next Lara for all I know but obviously know nothing about them, and Australia could have a full team of McGraths but they're not playing so we shall never know. It's on Sky.
What sort of supervillain name is Mason Crane?
Anderson to run through them.
Sounds like an accountancy firm to me.
AB de Villiers suffering from a severe case of chat shit get banged.
Oh dear AB. Oh dear.
We probably need to roll them for under 150 to have a proper shot. I reckon Cricinfo needs ICC-like icons to show the state of the pitch and get our hopes us.
Chasing 350 in 4/5 sessions should make for a good game, but they'll probably go for the type of declaration Jimmy said unless we force their hand by taking wickets.
He is now 'on an Audi' as the saying goes. Don't tell him or he'll threaten to retire again.
I can't imagine anyone's reputation taking as big a battering in a single series as his has. Well, maybe Hansie Cronje.
James Taylor will catch a couple in his jap's eye and they'll collapse for 120.
A wise man once said "you have to be prepared to lose to win". Need to think about a declaration AB, it's gonna rain tomorrow.
Looks like I might have overestimated their boldness. 721 in 38 minutes would be a good chase.
Ben Stokes would genuinely have a go at that target.
Sure I just saw Gene Kelly skipping across the outfield lolling at AB.
He didn't really "say it", more like screamed like a girl and repeated himself over and over until everyone else told him to shut the fuck up.Originally Posted by Max Power
Hales 136 runs for the series at 17.00. That's fairly shit. I'm undecided as to whether he gets Sri Lanka.
Compton and Root to move up a spot and James Vince in.
Compton needs to fuck off as well.
Good review tbf
330 needed. Piece of piss as long as the weather holds out for us tomorrow.
These two bat until lunch, that's 240 needed, then Stokes goes on a rampage leaving Moeen to caress 75 in the final session.
Wrong thread.
So yeah, should be a piece of piss, as long as we avoid the inevitable opening over wicket (and pre-lunch collapse).
If Root glides one through to de Kock in the first half hour we should probably have him kidnapped for a bit, just as a friendly warning.
I wonder what the stats are on Root starting the next morning. Pretty sure they are not good.
Hopefully Taylor can get a confidence building innings.
He didn't even make it to the official start of play.
Classic stuff from Bairstow, nicking behind, trudges off, Rabada has a maiden ten-for, but oh no, it was a no ball. Bairstow comes back on, takes guard again, faces the next ball, nicks off again.
As if they didn't pick Rabada for the first Test.
Forgot this was on.
Woakes double ton.
The lack of effort at times like this is what will hold us back from being a properly good side. You can't just not care about the result of an international (see also: every England ODI ever).
Christ. Show some fight for fuck sake.
Wankers.
Well done England on making my desperately needed working day entertainment last a whopping seven minutes.
Did they 'England' that, or were they actually got out?
Rabada 13 wickets. Fucking hell.
Well, that escalated quickly.
South Africa Tour Stats
Moeen averaging more than Taylor, Cook and Hales is a bit of an eye opener.
Poor Woakesy. I'm pretty sure the two most laughable drops were both off him, once Amla and once de Kock.
How fucking good is Root.
I've thought before when we're gimping about during dead matches that this is why we don't smash teams and sweep a good series even when we're possibly good enough to do so. The best teams absolutely fucking hate losing and adore winning. England teams seem to get a bit miffed at losing and quite like winning.
Bob Willis on Stokes just then was golden.
And on Woakes. 'Get back to Birmingham for the rest of your career'.
I don't know that this is such a problem. Australia throughout the '90s was particularly famous for losing dead rubbers, and they went alright.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
