Beefy's Corner - The Off-Topic Chat Thread

50 for Bairstow. Good innings. Lucky to get there but a crucial innings.

 

Finn would have been great on this wicket.

 

That's what I said earlier. Stupid from England.

 

Oooh Bairstow that was risky.

 

That and the fact I don't rate Bresnan.

 

There's someone called "Benali" on Pointless.

 

I think we have to wait until England bowl to judge the Bresnan decision. I can see the logic. Broad and Finn can both be inconsistent and leak runs while Bresnan gives Cook a relatively reliable option.

 

I think Finn has been poor and deserved to be right on the edge but would have given him the benefit of the doubt at this home ground where he has a good record. And if I were to drop him I would have selected Onions, I just don't feel Bresnan takes enough wickets to bowl as part of a four-man attack, it just heaps yet more pressure on Anderson. Having a long tail is a big advantage but with the top order we have with five world class cricketers in there as well as a couple of decent youngsters, we should be picking our four best wicket-taking bowlers. Bresnan is a decent reliable stump-to-stump kind of bowler but although he had a purple patch in 2011, in his last 8 matches I believe he has a bowling average of almost over 60, which is just dreadful.

I'm also just not sure with having both Broad and Finn in the same side, on their day and on the right pitch they can be hugely dangerous but on a pitch which doesn't provide them with much then we just have two bowlers who do not threaten the stumps enough. Whereas I feel bowlers like Anderson and Onions will more consistently test the batsman on most tracks (especially English ones), although obviously Jimmy more so.

Hopefully Bres will prove me wrong and skittle the Aussies later in the Test, but at the moment I am anxious that we will be relying on more Jimmy heroics.

 

Century for Bell that I said he'd get. Fantastic innings.

 

Great knock from Bell, now go on for a BIG hundred and bat the Aussies out of the game.

 

Bell does it again.

 

Vital knock from Bell. Player of the series so far.

 

Nah, has to be Jimmy for me.

 

Bell's gone.

 

BBC reporting breaking news that the Woolwich murderer has been attacked in Belmarsh prison by fellow inmates.

 

Good.

 

Bell helps us out again after the first 3 mess up again

 

Haha classic part-timer, bowls an absolutely filthy full-toss and then a beauty to take the edge, excellent knock from Bell but we still need to be getting 400 here.

 

Trott didn't mess up.

 

Maybe. We'll see how he goes here. Too early for me to be saying anything about player of the series really.