Cricket fred

[Banquo]

good step up from Broad and Woakes.

[Banquo]

reviews have been mad this innings!

[Banquo]

apparently only one correct umpire decision this innings!

[Galfon]

Good double act this ..( encore ).Hats off to Smiff, but he should have heeded our advice.

[Big D]

This has aged well.

Puja

Think Oz will be happy tbh; Stokes has been terrible. As Boycs says, going in with Jimmy looks like a bad risk to have taken if he can't bowl north of 15 overs.

And now he's gone off for a scan. It's a reasonable gamble to have made given his importance to the team, but with Ali and Stokes both looking toothless, it'll be a hard test.

Who was it who suggested dropping Burns and picking an extra bowler? We could use Curran right about now and he'd probably do better with the bat.

Puja

With Wood apparently gone for the summer, and Archer and Anderson injury risks I think is a big gamble. If he is out for 3 games/the series it is a massive blow.

[Banquo]

now 2

[Banquo]

Think Oz will be happy tbh; Stokes has been terrible. As Boycs says, going in with Jimmy looks like a bad risk to have taken if he can't bowl north of 15 overs.

And now he's gone off for a scan. It's a reasonable gamble to have made given his importance to the team, but with Ali and Stokes both looking toothless, it'll be a hard test.

Who was it who suggested dropping Burns and picking an extra bowler? We could use Curran right about now and he'd probably do better with the bat.

Puja

With Wood apparently gone for the summer, and Archer and Anderson injury risks I think is a big gamble. If he is out for 3 games/the series it is a massive blow.

Calfs are especially tricky. Ironically, its cos the others are injured that he got risked I suspect!

[Banquo]

Smith is very annoying

[Galfon]

200 up . 80 already for 9th wkt.
Eng. doing well heading to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory. Root will be a tad dischuffed.

[fivepointer]

Lack of 5th bowler telling. We did well to get them 120 for 8 but couldnt finish the job. Fair play to Smith. I dont much care for him and cannot enjoy his batting but he has played a terrific innings.

[Puja]

From 122-8 to where I'll be pleasantly surprised if we get them all out for under 300. Not so much taken our foot off their throat as we have helped them up, brushed them down, and then offered to shine their shoes while they rest them on our throats.

We have missed a 5th bowler and Smith has played a blinder, but this is very poor from England.

Puja

[Banquo]

Anderson decision bites us, poor from Stokes, poor from Root. Great innings from Smith, the fckr

[Galfon]

Another top effort from Broad ( fivefer..) - good job he turned up.Fantastic captain's effort from yer man - 5th ton in last 7 Ashes tests is wemarkable, especially conidering his recent journey.

[WaspInWales]

Tbf, Smith was immense! What an innings.

Stokes very sloppy at times and the Jimmy gamble didn't pay off.

As good as Broad was, we have kinda let the Aussies get away with one here. Exquisite from Smith but they've posted a score that they should not have been allowed to get close to.

[Banquo]

Tbf, Smith was immense! What an innings.

Stokes very sloppy at times and the Jimmy gamble didn't pay off.

As good as Broad was, we have kinda let the Aussies get away with one here. Exquisite from Smith but they've posted a score that they should not have been allowed to get close to.

we definitely let them get at least 120 runs more than they should- and its mostly the Anderson call, tired bowlers at the end and Stokes was pants.

[Digby]

Ball stopped doing much removing the threat of Woakes and Broad, no Anderson, Stokes isn't a containing bowler, and Moeen isn't much of a threat unless the batting side tries to take the proverbial. All that said I'd have taken the outcome of day 1 having lost the toss.

[Banquo]

Ball stopped doing much removing the threat of Woakes and Broad, no Anderson, Stokes isn't a containing bowler, and Moeen isn't much of a threat unless the batting side tries to take the proverbial. All that said I'd have taken the outcome of day 1 having lost the toss.

In the absence of the context of 120-8, of course. At that point, however, the ball was hooping, and Stokes bowled horribly badly. That then made Anderson's absence an even bigger problem. Then Root captained badly. Reality is, they got many more runs than they should from that position- Smith, Siddle and Lyons did a great job, but we helped them with a bad selection, bad bowling from Stokes and poor captaincy.

[Banquo]

I can't bear to watch this opening pair

[Banquo]

ferk

[Puja]

Whisper it quietly, but Burns is starting to look slightly more comfortable. He's ridden his luck a lot this innings, but he's now 40 and not looking like he's going to get out every other ball.

Speaking of luck, did anyone see the Root non-dismissal. Given out for a feathered caught behind, he reviews and it turns out the wooden noise wasn't the ball snicking the bat, but flicking off stump on the way through! The bail had a good solid wobble before staying in place. Very lucky boy.

Puja

[Digby]

Both have had big slices of luck, but it's been a good hard session from England, good to see

[Puja]

Managed to avoid the follow-on!

Root just been given out and overturned for the second time. The umpires are normally incredible in the quality of their decision-making and I'm usually left in awe as to how they can possibly get it right so often, but they've had an utter mare this test. Must be 10-12 incorrect decisions so far.

Puja

[Big D]

Burns doing well here.

[Banquo]

Key to this is scoring off Lyon- if he can be milked it gives Paine big problems as he can't just rotate the pace bowlers.

[Digby]

Key to this is scoring off Lyon- if he can be milked it gives Paine big problems as he can't just rotate the pace bowlers.

And they're doing it at 3 runs an over too which is spot on. I'm with Boycott on this, why hit the slow bowler out of the attack just so you get to face more pace bowling