That's a tough one to take, but on balance it still feels like India were the better team in the series. A draw is probably a fair result.
All down to root Stupid as **** shot Also all down to root and brooks that it was even close as the bowling line up probably let India off the hook in both innings.
fairly certain we would have won if Woakes hadn't had his injury though god knows what Smith was doing
Maybe. They were fairly tired by the end of innings 2 but even innings 1 showed that with thst movement having archer would have probably skittles them for 150. England fell apart in the tail in both innings as well.
Maybe. You can get skittles either way. Root and brook gave us the chance but equally they could have adjusted as both just played shots they wouldn't have before their 100s. All root needed to do was stand and wait for the bad balls but the laws got to him imo.
England's question now is to pick the test side for Australia Crawley Duckett Root Brook Stokes They have to be the core Pope frankly should be under threat but will go. Smith for wicket keeper? Bashir for spin Archer for pace Atkinson for seam Carse? Wood?? The bowling is the issue. Stokes has to be thr other option not the main line. Two opening bowlers need to play all the tests. That's the issue
England's Ashes squad: Ben Stokes (captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (vice-captain), Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood The usual issues. Changing leadership. Unfit players being picked. Random back ups who come from nowhere.
Keep wood and Archer fit and we have a slim chance. If Cummings misses 2-3 games then we have a chance especially if he rushes back and isn’t fully fit.
Not heard anything. We never communicated all that much, it was mostly him threatening to come down here and drain the local pubs, and I'm a bit reluctant to use his number because I fear the worst, tbh. Maybe @luvgonzo knows more - they were in touch a bit more often, I think.
Problem is England will have to rotate their seamers throughout as can’t risk running them all ragged especially as they don’t get much rest during the game as England bat so aggressively that they’re back in the field after 80/90 overs rather than 120 etc