Cricket fred

[Banquo]

lol 40 off 4 overs. maaad

[Banquo]

fckit dckit

ball starting to swing. danger time.

[fivepointer]

Virtually perfect morning for England. 1 wicket down and a 100+ run lead.

[Puja]

Two quick wickets will always change the perspective, but we are in a very solid position. This is the best of Bazball - the high scoring rate is discombobulating the bowlers and making them chase us, which gives more bad balls to hit. There's probably as much life in the pitch as there was for Australia's second innings, but the difference is that they got 54-1 in their morning while we got 130-1 - same number of dangerous balls and strokes of luck, but we took advantage inbetween them. Australia felt like they lost their morning session while we very definitely won ours.

If we can see off the first 5 overs after lunch, get Crawley and Stokes back into the groove, then we can tuck in for the afternoon. Ideal would be to bat the day out, maybe even a little of Sunday morning, give our bowlers (and especially Moeen) the best chance to rest and recuperate, and then get the Aussies in to chase 400+ when there's cloud and frequent breaks for rain on Sunday and Monday.

The "If" at the start of that paragraph is the big bit though.

Puja

[Puja]

And, there it is. Crawley never looks the same player after an interruption and this was his vulnerable period.

Puja

[Banquo]

And, there it is. Crawley never looks the same player after an interruption and this was his vulnerable period.

Puja

still, he has had a good series.

Stokes goes.....doh. Bit daft.

[Puja]

And, there it is. Crawley never looks the same player after an interruption and this was his vulnerable period.

Puja

still, he has had a good series.

Oh, undoubtedly. Fine series and he's absolutely made me eat my words about him.

Puja

[Puja]

Bairstow out cheaply playing a loose shot.

Well, it's not happened yet, but it's absolutely going to happen, so I may as well beat the rush and get my comment in early.

Puja

[Banquo]

great ball to get Brook. makes stokes poor shot worse, sans Ali not ideal.

[Banquo]

sure aint dull

[Puja]

Reverse mockers working so far. Given every time I post on here about a batsman doing well, they get out before I finish typing, it's nice to know that it works the other way around as well.

Puja

[Puja]

It doesn't count cause it's not Bairstow getting out after I posted about him. Not my fault!

Puja

[Puja]

Interesting decision to bring Moeen in now. We're 322 up on Australia as things stand - even if we lost all 5 wickets for zero now, it'd still be a handy total to defend, and that's doing a disservice to Woakes, Wood, and Broad who can all hold a bat. You'd've thought we'd prefer to avoid Ali batting at all to preserve the chances of him being able to bowl?

OTOH, perhaps Moeen isn't going to be able to bowl this test, no matter how much rest he gets, and it's better (and kinder) to give him his last go in Test cricket to larrup the Aussies with the bat.

Puja

[Puja]

Stoke just planning on never declaring again after the obloquy from the first test, huh?

Don't see any point in risking Broad and Anderson for such little reward.

Puja

[Banquo]

Yjb should have hung around longer- great knock tho. Aussies have a sniff

[Banquo]

Over rate a disgrace tbh. Oz been negative all series in all honesty

Great day again. I don’t blame Stokes for not declaring- more rest the better for an aging attack.

[Puja]

Over rate a disgrace tbh. Oz been negative all series in all honesty

Great day again. I don’t blame Stokes for not declaring- more rest the better for an aging attack.

I'd agree on general principle, except that it's our aging attack who were out there getting peppered by short balls. Can't imagine that was especially restful.

Puja

[Puja]

Broad retiring from cricket! Bloody hell - I thought he was going to keep on going and try to overtake Jimmy's wicket total. Fair play to him - going out still at the top of the game, having dominated another Ashes series. If you were going to pick a high to go out on, this is a pretty good one.

Puja

[fivepointer]

Over rate a disgrace tbh. Oz been negative all series in all honesty

Great day again. I don’t blame Stokes for not declaring- more rest the better for an aging attack.

Why come off at 6.30 when there have only been 79 overs bowled and the light is perfectly playable? Cricket makes it self look ridiculous at times.

Great day. England not quite out of reach but it will take a special effort to overhaul them.

[Big D]

Broad retiring from cricket! Bloody hell - I thought he was going to keep on going and try to overtake Jimmy's wicket total. Fair play to him - going out still at the top of the game, having dominated another Ashes series. If you were going to pick a high to go out on, this is a pretty good one.

Puja

An all time English great. Could have played on but playing Sri Lanka and West Indies probably doesn't feel like the teams to go out against.

If Anderson announced his retirement he might have held off.

[Galfon]

Broad retiring from cricket! Bloody hell - I thought he was going to keep on going and try to overtake Jimmy's wicket total. Fair play to him - going out still at the top of the game, having dominated another Ashes series. If you were going to pick a high to go out on, this is a pretty good one.

Puja

Great talent - could have been even a greater great imo if he had some of Jimbo's self discipline, and suffered that bang in the face.He had real all-rounder credentials up to then.
His numbers don't lie - top drawer.
Maybe JA will follow now that announcing his 'no intent..' possibly drew a decision from SB ..
It sounds like he's timed it all perfectly - marching out together in the morning, then let rip like no other rip!

[Banquo]

fab bowler, great competitor.

[Banquo]

looking a bit easy for oz

[Banquo]

poor start- flat

[Banquo]

worried now