Excellent.
Excellent.
Love that. He could do with showing some of that incredible self control outside his off stump…
Waaaaay.
Nice one.Originally Posted by Ian
What was the gist of the Kohli quote, Jimmy? Was it going to totally disprove my point?
@Dquincy by chance I posted above this the other day.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...ore-thoughtful
It was 50 years ago that India won a historic Test at the Oval to seal their first series win on English soil. The hero then was the leg-spinner Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, who took six for 38 in the second innings, leaving India with a target of 173, which they chased down with four wickets to spare, thanks to a team batting effort in which no batsman reached a half century but everyone chipped in.
In the course of that Test match, Indian supporters borrowed Bella the elephant from Chessington Zoo and brought her to the Oval.
wat
That shot of the Vauxhall End gives me such childhood nostalgia for my dad taking me to watch Surrey at what was, then, a shithole of a ground. Nowadays you have that glorious stand with full on restaurant facilities, a roof terrace and so on, and about 10x the capacity.
But no loose elephants.
Pope and Woakes in.
Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.
I feel a bit for Curran. He's had an up and down series (second test was poor) but he never seems to get much of a run in the team.
At the moment he's just that sort of player, suits some conditions / availabilities but not others. I feel his career has been a bit stymied by playing loads of white ball, with its prosaic demands. I can't remember the last time he played a Championship game for Surrey. He's still absurdly young, mind, for the experience he has.
I can't get excited about this Overton/Robinson axis of racism, unfortunately. Is that my problem or theirs? I don't know. Woakes, though. Love Woakes.
Pope, yeah, hmm. I fear for him here. Love him, with all my heart, but fear for him.
I don't have an answer but I know what you mean.
Since when do you win the toss and bowl at the oval? Has anyone made the right decision on the toss so far in this series?
Winning the toss and bowling at the Oval? Might as well just get them all to swan dive off one of those stupid towers in Nine Elms.
Bowled beautifully since Woakes came into the attack.
First recorded lunch watchman in Test cricket?
I figured he’d come in and start playing shots but he’s been very sedate. So yeah, maybe? Strange one.
Yeah I was trying to figure that one out.
Maybe a left hander to neutralise the lavish away movement? I dunno. If you're jinks you have to be taking these situations on, surely.
Rishabh Pant really is braindead.
What the fuck are England doing with this Indian tail? Frustrating.
Great runout there but the catching has been woeful.
Not a ball call to bowl in the end.
In fairness there, we bowled line and length and Thakur got very lucky with some of those mishits.
It wasn't like Lords where we bowled utter tripe at the tailenders.
You've done it now.
All out for 120. Root 73*
Great start.
It is never a good call to bowl at the Oval. Ever.
I left and we were getting mullered by some bowler, came back to twentysomething-2.
England.
I'm sorry but nightwatchmen really have to stop. It's absolutely nonsensical and all it does is prove that batsmen are all cowards.
5 down... desperately need someone to be able to get them to 130.
Hameed's wicket yesterday was pretty ugly.
But yeah, it really does seem to all fail without Root. Maybe Bairsy will be inspired by disdain and smash some runs out.
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No need to ask who incredulously reviewed this.
With Tests (still) giving you 3 reviews an innings, he almost feels obliged to do so every time he's given out.
He reviewed it straight away as well!
Such a cracking test match on the cards here, so tight. These two + Woakes could be the difference - get a decent lead and can dictate terms to an extent.
I am literally only here to lol at Bairstow doing the same thing he does every time having checked the score on my phone.
Two good partnerships today though - I was thinking 50 would be a good lead but if they can stay in for an hour or so more, we might be able to get to 100.
Apologies for the inevitable collapse.
72 is enough to declare that love always triumphs over fear.
3.41pm Well, another fascinating session. It was mostly England until Moeen's late aberration
As is traditon. I love Mo but christ he is infuriating.
So annoying when it’s such a nothing shot - played some absolutely sumptuous strokes beforehand though.
Lead of 100 and we are in the box seat. Any less and I’m worried.
Woakes has batted on long enough for Bumrah to do a calf, now that's proper Test batting.
Anderson hopefully lolling over his grave.
Woakes at home is a cheat code. Richard Hadlee/Imran Khan eat your heart out
How about 99?
Honestly a lot better than I expected when Root fell. Those 99 should account for the runs the Indian tail gets when we get there.
Is this the first home Test with Butcher on the Sky team? He should get the permanent promotion, he's a don.
He's ace. Was always good on the neutered Verdict too. Get him in, get Dinesh back, bin off... I dunno, Nick Knight?
'Finely poised'.
Has there ever been a more certain portent of crushing defeat?
I wouldn't be against pensioning off Bumble, tbh, and revoking Shane Warne's UK entry visa.
Thereby leaving him stateless? Or does he have a Bangladeshi great great grandparent?
Burns ever catch any in the slips for Surrey @Jimmy?
I'm on a train from Waterloo to Kingston, saw some fella in Surrey training gear on the platform at New Malden who I think was Laurie Evans based on a quick look at photos of their squad. I'm not gonna look up whether or not he's playing a game right now cus I don't want to ruin the most exciting moment of my year.
It would have been him, he is from there. Probably back at his old club for the last day of the season.
And yes, Max, he does.
Great decision from Wharf on Jadeja, but the subsequent one on Rahane was dogshit. Those ones where batsmen shoulder arms outside off stump are out far, far less often than umpires think they are, it's always peeved me. I almost never give them out.
This test is just the absolute essence of “perfectly poised”. At so many points in the first 4 days you feel one side is on top and then the next session the balance tips the other way.
There's that word again.
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