Duquesne Whistle

Me too, I obviously didn't make that clear. He makes a lot of suggestions, so he occasionally gets it wrong, but he makes sense a lot when it comes to all aspects of cricket. He's also fair in his match and player assessments (most of the time*) * He does like to hold the occasional grudge.

Not sure of the extent of Root's injury, but he looks pretty fidgety. This wicket is made for Lyon now, the bounce he is getting must be a nightmare to play, it causes instant indecision in the batsman's mind. Warne has been interesting to listen to on commentary again. Suggesting earlier that umpires call should be taken out of the equation once a call is referred. Arguing that the same ball should never be able to be out and not out. Warne makes the odd suggestion that I don't agree with, but more often than not, his suggestions make perfect sense. He clearly thinks about the game non stop. I've stuck with the Aussie commentary since the start of the series rather than syncing TMS, I think they've actually been fairly reasonable. In years past, they would have hammered England non stop after this abysmal showing so far. We live in a much more enlightened world now, apparently.

Neser and Harris gone in consecutive overs. Nice start. Sensational catch by Buttler followed by... Smith dropped on zero by Buttler... Too much, too little, too late,.

Horrible is correct, my bt sport seems to be working perfectly.. Getting up at 4am to watch an Aussie procession is strictly my own doing though.

Whilst Liam is a bit of a tit, I have a bit of respect for Noel. Like him or not, he dragged himself up by his bootlaces and made the transition from roadie to rock star through sheer ambition, decent song writing and having a nose for an opportunity. A proper rags to riches, council estate boy made good story. I can remember seeing an interview with Noel once, where his songwriting was gently mocked and his reply was 'ok mate, show us one you've written'. Great answer, fair play. Hopefully, he has enough brass not to give the go ahead for an Oasis musical. Not sure how the audience would react to 2 hours of being sworn at in a Burnage twang anyway. (link didn't work for me, maybe the post about a musical was a pisstake anyway?)

Most teams don't follow on these days, why would you with two days of the test left? You don't need that long to bowl out a side where barely any batsmen averages 40. With a lead bordering on 300 already, I imagine Australia intend to bat solidly until lunchtime tomorrow, then have a little T20 fun with the tiring England bowlers in the late afternoon, thus adding humiliation of our bowlers to the time honoured tradition of humiliating our batsmen on Aussie soil. If any of our squad open a laptop in the next couple of weeks, all they'll read is the Aussie press mocking them and their own fans calling them useless. Not the best of preparation for the Boxing day test.. Australia were neutered by India in their own conditions, They aren't a particularly good side, they're just a much better side than England. They would have won last time across here, but for a Stokes innings of a lifetime, so the gulf shouldn't be that surprising. England simply don't have good enough batsmen (anywhere) or bowlers (in Aussie conditions) to do the same. Barring a miracle, this test and the series have gone already. If this series concludes in a now familiar scenario, England must start looking at people like Liam Livingstone and gambling that they may have more to offer than the current lot. There's a chance Livingstone could be another Andrew Symonds, but what do England have to lose in giving fresh players a try? Woakes (in away series), Burns and Buttler (in all test cricket) have to be jettisoned in the long term, regardless of what they do in the rest of this series. Others could be dropped, but finding one replacement batsman is difficult enough, so Malan needs to stay for the meanwhile. The importance in the likes of Archer and Stone is obvious to this England squad, but fast bowling is notoriously brutal on the body and I'm not sure either is cut out for long test careers, more's the pity.

0-0

Good news at last. Only a brace for Kane if it goes ahead then.

I guess Mahmood would offer something a little different. Mind you, we could have Trueman, Lillee, Barnes and Holding bowling for us and we'd struggle given we've dropped over a million catches.

That's been the problem on the last few Ashes tours. It's even more noticeable now that the triumphant 2010/11 squad had Tremlett to offer something different (steepling bounce). Unfortunately, the possible answers (Archer and Stone) are both injured, so samey bowling attack it is. Not sure Wood could do 5 tests in a row either, his injury record ain't great.

I'm sorry to inform you that you now sound like an England fan. Most of us have said what you've said there at some point.

Sounds like someone who would phone talksport to complain. 'On the line now, BT of Sky, who's called to complain about Sadio Mane's latest dive'.

Have Spurs switched to zonal marking at corners too then?

You can tell Stuart Broad is back. Early wicket....plus early review burned Hoping Robinson bowls well at first change, can't let Warner and Labuschagne get settled.

An old sea dog with one eye and one arm would probably improve our defending at corners right enough.

Lads, it's Spurs. Just play 9 men.

Perfectly summed up Sir.

I hope people don't start getting snippy about Randers before we play them. Many did that with Legia and they embarrassed us at their place. Hopefully Justin and Fofana will be firmly ensconced in the first team by February. With a full squad back, I'd really like us to have a good go at this competition. It's a kind looking draw for certain, but we have to win to make up for the catalogue of disasters that was the Europa League campaign. No slip ups please.

Noel will be right pissed off he's being slagged off on here while he sits in his lush pad counting his net worth of £70m.

He's hungry is Patson. Maybe keeping him in the wings will turn out to be a masterstroke by Rodgers, he looks so sharp and desperate to get on the ball. His enthusiasm is infectious too, just what the team needed.

This man looked dangerous throughout. What a relief, well done lads.

We'd be better with Delia.

Depends who you're seeing surely? The set list from the Bowie gig I saw was this, Space Oddity Changes TVC15 Rebel Rebel Golden Years Be My Wife Ashes to Ashes John, I'm only Dancing Queen Bitch Fashion Life On Mars Blue Jean Let's Dance Stay China Girl Ziggy Stardust Sound and Vision Station to Station Alabama Song Young Americans Panic in Detroit Suffragette City Fame Heroes Jean Genie Pretty Pink Rose Modern Love Rock n Roll Suicide. Try playing that lot in 60 minutes!

I thought you said you were going back to the coronavirus thread. I don't know how you survive with such a doom laden outlook Thing is, I agree with you for the most part. Still enjoyed the gigs though, I did say I was young and stupid at the time, don't hate me for it. Did I prefer Dylan, Bowie, Al Green and Steely Dan? Sure, but I've enjoyed most gigs I've gone to in one way or another. You should try it

Before I'd seen Oasis, I'd seen Gillan, Plant, Bowie, Daltrey, Phil Lynott, Steve Winwood, Tom Petty and Ronnie James Dio, among many others, hence my disappointment with Oasis live. That said, I loved the gigs. It's easy to forget what a crest of a wave they were on in 95, 96. They were on the front page of the newspapers every day. It was easy to get swept away with it at the time, there'd been such a dearth of decent music for years when they came along. Their snarling energy was the hook. Ok, they're limited and I put many, many bands and singers above them, but they have a place in music history for sure. As for stomaching such contempt, it's all part of Liam's act, he doesn't have the best voice and makes up for it with swaggering stupidity, there's nothing wrong with that, it's art, sort of