Cricket fred

[Puja]

246 off a nasty-sounding pitch in India - that's a pretty solid first innings total. Another vindication for Baz-ball - previous England teams would've scraped, defended, and would probably still have been out on Day 1, but for 104 instead.

Now to see if the bowlers can back it up.

Puja

[Banquo]

oops, maybe not quite as nasty as thought, plus we have debutant spinner getting seen off. This has happened before.....

[Puja]

Hell of a recovery from England today. I was not expecting to be leading by 126 runs with 4 wickets in hand at the start of the day! Pope has been immense.

First session tomorrow is going to be key though. I can easily see England losing the last four wickets for <10 runs, especially with the pitch misbehaving as it is and India's bowling being such high quality. However, if we can get the lead up to 200-odd, there's an opportunity. India still very heavy favourites, but this pitch is not going to be easy to bat on and 200 is at least a defensible target.

Puja

[Banquo]

Great knock from Pope, shame he didn’t get his 200. Had we added another 30/40 from 8 down I’d have us as favourites. Going to be a great session after tea

[Galfon]

Twists and turns - Test cricket delivers again, as does young Hartley - didn't know his dad was the hurdler, Bill..
( he was useful in 4 × 400's too).
Will be some result if they pull it off.

[p/d]

Mr Stokes!!! Let’s stand and applaud

[Galfon]

Looking good.
some stat. (beeb)
'.. India have never lost a home Test after taking a first-innings lead of more than 100 runs..'

That JR-Hartley combo. certainly helped Eng. go fishing for a win...

[Banquo]

great match so far

[p/d]

This is the real test now.

[Puja]

That is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. Stokes's teams never seem to know when they're beaten, regardless of history, form, or the match situation. The ability to not only select perfectly, but also to know how to show faith in someone and know that they're worth giving more chances, is incredible. I think everyone was saying that Hartley needed to be given the shepherd's crook in the first innings, that it wouldn't be good for him to be given so much rope to hang himself with, that Stokes was erring by going back to him again and again, and then 7 wickets in the second innings repays the faith.

Fascinating series from here on out.

Puja

[Galfon]

Marvellous to see Eng win in India - such a tough place to play - and Windies win another tight one in Oz on the same day;
Whether it's levelling up or down, still nice to see and good for the game.

[fivepointer]

A great test match match and a brilliant, thrilling England win.

Superb knock by Pope and a big hand for Hartley who grew into the game and came spectacularly good in the 4th innings.

[Banquo]

Bowlers eventually do the biz again. Root and YJB need to step up.

[p/d]

These 4 day tests are gems!!!

[Galfon]

Credit yet again to a Eng for turning a lost cause into something by doggedness and self-belief.
Would be extraordinary if they get anywhere close tomorrow but stranger things have happened.

[p/d]

Oh well.

Another innings where Root and Bairstow didn’t turn up

[Banquo]

Oh well.

Another innings where Root and Bairstow didn’t turn up

yep. Unfortunately the pair of them tend to have runs of poor form- Root obviously has a load of credit in the bank, but a bit frustrating.

Difference is that none of our batsmen have scored more than 76 (Crawley 76 and 73, only one to top 50) but the indians have a double and single century.

Hartley is a good un, battler.

[Galfon]

Sticking to the plan

[Banquo]

Sticking to the plan

Duckett saying f+ckit to Bumrah and Ashwin. Great knock.

[Big D]

Good knock by Duckett.

High praised for Foakes from Gilchrist:

[Banquo]

soft middle order again, Root and YJB very poor this series so far. YJB maybe needs pensioning out of test cricket.

[fivepointer]

Shocking day for England. Utterly brainless at times with a complete inability to play sensibly given the circumstances.

[Galfon]

Wasteful.

..& more sad news
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/68292770
so many true-greats passing on now it seems;
'Proctorshire' were formidable when he was firing - genuine all rounder too. RiP.

[Banquo]

Wasteful.

..& more sad news
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/68292770
so many true-greats passing on now it seems;
'Proctorshire' were formidable when he was firing - genuine all rounder too. RiP.

he was a great great player

[p/d]

This might be fun, if not short lived.