STEVIE B

Yep. Hoiking across the line to anything straight isn’t generally good. He isn’t turning it, just playing on England’s lack of patience & nous.

Bumrah & Siraj have been great, but on the whole India haven’t had to bowl well. Just persevere with bowling straight & England will lose patience very quickly.

We won’t make 220. Some really poor shots, Stokes included. I don’t get what some are trying to achieve.

Atherton was saying 240 an hour or so back. The new ball will be key, as we’ll only get to use 1 & we don’t have a match winning spinner.

It’s all on Stokes now. He’s due a special innings.

He is probably the only batter that reads a match situation. if England can bat until 5/5.30 they won’t be in a bad place. Root will know this. The rest seem to want to get a lead of 275 as fast as possible. Against this attack, on a day 4 pitch, almost impossible.

Root is the only batter who can build an innings regularly & bat for time. Most of the others have a carefree attitude & rarely read a match situation. They’re almost too arrogant to even think Root may have hit upon something !

Losing obviously doesn’t bother England. Another poor shot.

Root isn’t too shabby.

Maybe I’m being a bit dumb, but how are we linked with anyone, without a manager in place & Rudkin ‘involved' ?

Crawley never learns. The Ashes will probably see 3 very poor opening bats, Konstas, Khawaja & Crawley.

I wonder if he'd be better down the order, just to see. He plays to loose for my liking. It seems harder to get out of this England side than into it !

It's either feast or famine (more often the latter). Pope is similar too. I think Bethell has huge potential to bat anywhere really. I don't really follow county cricket closely, are there any potential openers on the horizon, or is it a case of going back to someone like Sibley etc ?

The Umpires must be stronger, they can't let drinks on, 10 mins before the actual drinks break.

It's gonna be great watching him & Wood on hard, bouncy tracks on Oz.........fingers crossed

England are obviously missing Anderson & Broad, which side wouldn't ? We are a side in transition. Archer coming back, Wood not ready just yet, so not all doom & gloom. On a side note, England wanted flat, lifeless wickets to help the 'Bazball' philosophy.

Never been to Cornwall. I'm fairly well travelled, just never been. Everyone tells me it's beautiful & l must make the effort. Maybe one day. Have a great holiday.

.......so have l.....and so has my wife.

I’m sure he has a point. I’ve noticed lots of commentators & media folk getting really annoyed at the constant breaks in play in this series alone. Something needs to change.

The thing is TV has its schedule. Love Island & My Perfect Wedding etc can’t wait ! Seriously though, why are we still starting at 11am ? Make it 10.15, l can’t see a reason not to. Cricket has moved on in so many ways, but not in the most basic one………..start & close of play times.

On the flip side, countries such as England & NZ tend to produce seamer friendly pitches, meaning the spinners aren’t used as often as in India or Pakistan. Without doing any research, is the over rate problem mainly an issue over here ? Either way, 90 overs should be achieved. We aren’t helped by constant drinks, batsmen changing gloves, balls being asked to be changed every few overs (this is a fairly new tactic, but still tedious) etc. Sangakkara said earlier re the over rate, he would rather see 80 overs of quality bowling, rather than an extra 10/12 overs of a part time pie chucker, rush through his overs, to meet the demands of 90…………l get both sides of the debate.

I don't think Woakes minds at all !

If England can get Archer & Wood to play 3 Tests each Down Under, it will be crucial. I doubt they’ll play in all 5, even if fully fit. The Aussies batting is looking a bit fragile too. However, their bowling attack is next level.

I reckon Bashir & Root will get through a fair few overs. The wicket is so dry & the forecast is for more sun.

Probably England's day, just. 1st session crucial tomorrow. If England can reach lunch on about 350 for 5/6 they have a solid base. New ball to contend with, with the wicket showing signs of variable bounce, wont be easy. Hopefully Bashir shows what he can do in the 4th innings for a change.