Cricket fred

[Banquo]

Denly will open, Roy at 4.
Manchester weather is Septembery at the moment, so both will need their best jumpers.

Feels a bit like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

Kinda, but at least they are their best red ball positions

[Puja]

Denly will open, Roy at 4.
Manchester weather is Septembery at the moment, so both will need their best jumpers.

Feels a bit like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

TBH, if Denly can get 25 and occupy the bowlers for 7-8 overs before getting out, as has been his wont at 4, that'd make him one of our more successful openers in recent times. And, while I'd've dropped Roy, I guess it is only fair to give him a go in his red ball position.

Puja

[Banquo]

Denly will open, Roy at 4.
Manchester weather is Septembery at the moment, so both will need their best jumpers.

Feels a bit like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

TBH, if Denly can get 25 and occupy the bowlers for 7-8 overs before getting out, as has been his wont at 4, that'd make him one of our more successful openers in recent times. And, while I'd've dropped Roy, I guess it is only fair to give him a go in his red ball position.

Puja

yep, be a world of difference if they can get 60 runs on the board, or even just last the first hour as Lord Boycott of Stonewall would have it

[Big D]

Denly will open, Roy at 4.
Manchester weather is Septembery at the moment, so both will need their best jumpers.

Feels a bit like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

TBH, if Denly can get 25 and occupy the bowlers for 7-8 overs before getting out, as has been his wont at 4, that'd make him one of our more successful openers in recent times. And, while I'd've dropped Roy, I guess it is only fair to give him a go in his red ball position.

Puja

There is an element of fairness in that, but at the same time it feels like England are putting off a change (whether that is Roy, Denly, Buttler, AN Other) that is inevitably going to need to happen.

They do need to be careful of what "success" is in each position is and not get carried away if someone does marginally better than they have done before.

[Banquo]

Feels a bit like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.

TBH, if Denly can get 25 and occupy the bowlers for 7-8 overs before getting out, as has been his wont at 4, that'd make him one of our more successful openers in recent times. And, while I'd've dropped Roy, I guess it is only fair to give him a go in his red ball position.

Puja

There is an element of fairness in that, but at the same time it feels like England are putting off a change (whether that is Roy, Denly, Buttler, AN Other) that is inevitably going to need to happen.

They do need to be careful of what "success" is in each position is and not get carried away if someone does marginally better than they have done before.

They are hardly spoiled for choices that they haven't already made ...also think they are worried about chucking say Sibley in and destroying him. Personally I think mettle has to be tested at some point though.

On another note, what a crying shame about Hameed- he really looked the part, lost place when breaking a finger, then what happened??
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49449547

[Big D]

TBH, if Denly can get 25 and occupy the bowlers for 7-8 overs before getting out, as has been his wont at 4, that'd make him one of our more successful openers in recent times. And, while I'd've dropped Roy, I guess it is only fair to give him a go in his red ball position.

Puja

There is an element of fairness in that, but at the same time it feels like England are putting off a change (whether that is Roy, Denly, Buttler, AN Other) that is inevitably going to need to happen.

They do need to be careful of what "success" is in each position is and not get carried away if someone does marginally better than they have done before.

They are hardly spoiled for choices that they haven't already made ...also think they are worried about chucking say Sibley in and destroying him. Personally I think mettle has to be tested at some point though.

On another note, what a crying shame about Hameed- he really looked the part, lost place when breaking a finger, then what happened??
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49449547

I wasn't necessarily talking about who the next guys in are or what they do, but Denly averaging 25 opening like he has at 4 isn't a "success" it is just better than some. Same as If Roy gets a 50 and a 30 for example.

[Stom]

TBH, if Denly can get 25 and occupy the bowlers for 7-8 overs before getting out, as has been his wont at 4, that'd make him one of our more successful openers in recent times. And, while I'd've dropped Roy, I guess it is only fair to give him a go in his red ball position.

Puja

There is an element of fairness in that, but at the same time it feels like England are putting off a change (whether that is Roy, Denly, Buttler, AN Other) that is inevitably going to need to happen.

They do need to be careful of what "success" is in each position is and not get carried away if someone does marginally better than they have done before.

They are hardly spoiled for choices that they haven't already made ...also think they are worried about chucking say Sibley in and destroying him. Personally I think mettle has to be tested at some point though.

On another note, what a crying shame about Hameed- he really looked the part, lost place when breaking a finger, then what happened??
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49449547

Hameed... Tried to get into the white ball team...

Terrible advice. And it killed his game for a good 2 seasons.

Hopefully someone will pick him up and give him a chance as he's still got a great chance in the future.

[Digby]

Is Hameed the one who holds the bat so low it works well against spin and badly against pace?

[Galfon]

Eight consequetive Ashes 50's now for the SS.
170 - 3 after 44 ?,..this is the downside of Test cricket in terms of entertainment. OK for the connoisseur or the hospitality junkies, no worries mate.
Steady as she goes, Aus.

[Banquo]

Eight consequetive Ashes 50's now for the SS.
170 - 3 after 44 ?,..this is the downside of Test cricket in terms of entertainment. OK for the connoisseur or the hospitality junkies, no worries mate.
Steady as she goes, Aus.

Pretty healthy scoring rate, even in modern test terms.

[Galfon]

Yes that was a good rate considering, but was alluding to the overall output for a day's creekit.
Dropped a bit this morn ( no pun intended ), and yet another ton beckons for the wee maestro.

[Mellsblue]

Groundhog day.

[Banquo]

Never has so much been owed by so many to .......Smith

[Banquo]

Terrible since lunch, 40 runs, simple dropped catch and hero to zero Leach gets Smith, but with a no ball.

[Banquo]

after the last test I'm a bit hesitant to predict, but I think this last session has seen off any chance of winning this one. Terrible terrible session.

[Banquo]

side strain for Stokes. Not sure how it can go more tits up this session

[Mellsblue]

Can you prorogue a cricket match?

[fivepointer]

What happened to that momentum we gained from the Headingley test? We've looked a bit flat i reckon, with precious little energy. Shelling easy catches isnt helpful and Archer's less than sizzling form is a concern.
Weather will play a part over the next couple of days it seems.

[Galfon]

..Maybe because they knew thay had a chance with ykw out the team.
He's got his barney-rubble now and will be setting his sights on 240 - which will be his highest Test score.
With a Test average of over 60, he's defo in the all-time greats, on stats.
update..Oh dear, gone for 211 by our reserve spinner.
meantime, Starc - raving bonkers.

[Galfon]

Aus. should declare - can't see Eng. getting near this.

[Stom]

5 overs in and no wicket. That's a win!

[WaspInWales]

England lose a player cheaply according to BBC Sport.

I refuse to believe it.

[Banquo]

That's a truly terrible couple of sessions. Why on earth did Root keep himself on, as an aside.

[WaspInWales]

Smith gave his wicket away rather cheaply in the end...almost like he had enough by then. At least he did his team a favour by scoring 200 odd runs first!

Even after Headingley, it's nigh on impossible to get excited about the situation we're in.

Just how good is Smith though? Not one for the purists, but his ability to see the ball is something else.

Boycott was bemoaning not trying anything else on him, but what can you do when a player is capable of middling most things coming his way?

[WaspInWales]

What happened to that momentum we gained from the Headingley test? We've looked a bit flat i reckon, with precious little energy. Shelling easy catches isnt helpful and Archer's less than sizzling form is a concern.
Weather will play a part over the next couple of days it seems.

It's the Smith effect. Labuschagne and Paine managed to stay around for a bit, and credit to Starc and Extras for contributing. Had Smith managed par for the Aussies, we'd have nothing to worry about.

Lets face it, he is the difference between the teams.

By all means, if Stokes wants to deliver a double century, now would be a good time.

Now would be a good time for Root to shine too. Fair play he scored well in his second innings at Headingley, but can we do it again? I honestly can't see it.

We don't want the weather to decide this. We need to win it.