Cricket fred

[Banquo]

We've been mostly poor the last 2 days. Very little application when its mattered.

miss Stokes for sure

[Banquo]

Pretty mediocre bowling again in very friendly conditions.

Anderson required!

Woakes has been puzzling and not great; Hull very raw and inconsistent; Stone and Atkinson a bit meh. Bashir took a great catch, but not put any pressure on

[Galfon]

No worries for SL so far - a chance for Bash. to put a marker down maybe.

[Banquo]

No worries for SL so far - a chance for Bash. to put a marker down maybe.

Very poor from England since day 2 tbh

[Puja]

Looking on the bright side, it's good for Test cricket as a whole for Sri Lanka to win a Test. If they just got clumped three times in a row, that'd be another nail in the coffin.

Puja

[Banquo]

Looking on the bright side, it's good for Test cricket as a whole for Sri Lanka to win a Test. If they just got clumped three times in a row, that'd be another nail in the coffin.

Puja

nah

opener nissanka xcellent, but field poor

[Galfon]

Tremendous application yet again by JR - now Eng. leading scorer, hungry as ever.A first innings lead and match saved should come with his double-ton tomorrow.

[fivepointer]

Very good response from England and JR imperious but crikey cricket is so dull when the bat dominates to this extent.

[Galfon]

Very good response from England and JR imperious but crikey cricket is so dull when the bat dominates to this extent.

The new defeat-limiting Multan pitch is getting a pasting by some..

Michael Vaughan likened the pitch to a "road," suggesting it offered nothing for the bowlers and heavily favoured the batsmen. "Looks like a road in Multan... Great toss to have won,"

Certainly doing the imsge of Test Creekit little favour.

[Galfon]

Fill yer' boots lads !...( 337 would put JR second to Sir Len in the individual score list, above Hammond & Gooch )

[Stom]

Great for Root...

But jeez guys, it's about balance. This is an awful deck.

[Banquo]

deck.

can only play the cards you are given

[Galfon]

There'll be more records than at the local vinyl shop at this rate,
Stattos will be sharpening their e-pens...extwoardinawy.

[Puja]

Incredible the effect that mentality and mindset has on performance. The Pakistan batters aren't awful players, and it's largely the same tarmac road that they scored 550 on, but they're 6 down simply because they've just had the better part of two days going being ground into the dirt. It's probably even worse because they would've come off the back of that first innings thinking they'd done a decent job and that they might even have a chance of enforcing a follow-on, only to have their spirits methodically crushed over 150 overs of England dominance.

Puja

[fivepointer]

That was quite simply an incredible win. Sure, the pitch was as flat as a pancake and this Pakistan side is on a terrible run in tests, but to play like that and win by an innings was a huge achievement after conceding 550 in the 1st innings.
Root and Brook were superb.

[Banquo]

oops....possibly getting rumbled here on a wicket bunsening on day 2

[Galfon]

How quick things can turn...

[Banquo]

How quick things can turn...

[Puja]

Jamie Smith drops a regulation catch with Salman Ali Agha on 4, and then Root drops him two balls later on 6 - he's now top-scorer with 46*.

Tempting to say "Foakes wouldn't've dropped that", especially given Smith didn't exactly do a great job with the tail when batting this morning which is what he was picked for, but I do understand what England are trying to do in the long-run with him and he is young with a lot of room to improve.

Still highly frustrating though.

Puja

[Banquo]

Game really lost in last half hour of day 2

[Banquo]

nearly a great knock from Smiff.....but really, just before tea....

sounds like a bunsen , so might not be a bad score

[Banquo]

looks like we've lost this game in the last 2 hours. Stokes unusually passive.

[Banquo]

Terrible last 2 sessions, can’t level at Bazball even, as it was the opposite. Passive in the field, lacking positivity with the bat. Root and Brook need to put together a big stand.

Pope under a lot of scrutiny now- he’s boom or bust it seems, and bust for a while now

[Big D]

Pope averaging 32 this calendar year (33.74 overall) with 3 tons/two 50's and 19/25 innings scoring less that 30.

Not good enough.

[fivepointer]

Conceded far too big a lead and losing 3 early wickets has surely doomed us.

Pope just doesnt look like he knows what hes doing against spin. They'e invested a lot of time in him and he really needs to repay that faith.