I know l’m old school but really don’t like the numbers on the back of the shirts. It’s not a friggin football match!
Wow….. 20 overs bowled. England 97 for 2. Run rate at 4.8 an over. Go back 30 years and it would be half that. Can someone tell them it’s a test match!
Never seen the Aussies with 4 men on the boundary ropes after 10 overs lol. Very defensive from them, and have been scared out of their wits already, lovely. Having said that , what a great toss to win. The wicket looks like a road and we need to get 400 plus 1st innings. Hardly any movement at all, a little reverse swing could be on offer later on, but I think Moeen is gonna have a huge part to play if we are to take 20 wickets on this to win the match. Let's just keep them in the field for a while first though, loving it so far !
****. Massive appeal for caught behind against Crawley. Sounded like a noise as it went past the bat and gloves. First ball to really spit up and leave the batsman. Given not out, but they are reviewing it
Bollox ffs. Its caught the thumb of the glove. Last ball before lunch. Big wicket that right on lunch. 124-3
Aussies will be happy with that session now, to get the 3 wickets on that surface. We need to rebuild after lunch now and hopefully Root and Brook can put on a big partnership
Root and Brook fifty partnership smoothly and easily, couple of chances given but nothing bizarre, scoreboard ticking over consistently. Mark Taylor and Ricky Ponting very good on commentary. Just pointed out that Bazball exposes the weaker fielders because there are few places to hide (my interpretation). They’d be setting more aggressive fields by the sound of it. Hazelwood bowls the first maiden of the innings. Great stuff and I feel properly retired, test match on the telly, doors to the garden wide open, pondering whether the first drink of the day will be a chilled wine or a chilled beer. Odd dismissal for Brook. Please be slightly sensible Ben…..****ing hell two dot balls and Stokes tries and fails on the reverse sweep…engage brain matey.
He’d left two identical balls earlier in the over. Given the doubts about his bowling Stokes is at risk of becoming a motivational mascot rather than a proper contributor. At least with Bazball the result is unknown until the game is actually over.
Awful luck for Brooks, didn't have a clue where the ball had gone. Looked in great touch too. And then Stokes throws away his wicket again, ridiculous in this situation. Far too good a player to repeatedly keep doing this. Big big partnership this now for us, we're gonna struggle to get to 300 at this rate, yet alone 400 !
Need Root and Bairstow to settle things down a bit.... 4 an over is still OK.... In answer to Stan.... First drinks of the day were a couple of hours ago with lunch, a few plates of tapas and some rebes (squid) in a small market bar in Santander...... some chilled white rioja since you ask....
