They'll give England a few overs to bat pre-lunch

Steve Smith really does look like a fish

"They'll give England a few overs to bat pre-lunch".

Yes, that's what I'd expect....

surely they should declare now

there we go...

Reckon so, Marsh hitting 2 sixes in a row

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Mark Wood comfortably most economical of our bowlers, Jimmy wasted on this road

comment by Idontlikemondays (U6377)
posted 1 minute ago
declaration, bet we are 3 down before lunch then
----------------------------------------------------------------------
with only 10 minutes to go i would hope you are wrong.

what an inept bowling display though, over 800 runs in this test for the aussies for 10 wickets taken.

Pretty appalling for Eng that Aus were able to declare in both innings

Doubt we'll see another flat track like this prepared

actually a good thing for the series overall though if this test makes us get rid of these stupid flat pitches. would be 1-1 with 3 test to go on hopefully good pitches where we can have some more entertaining games

1st Ball ?

comment by TheChameleonProject (U1847)
posted less than a minute ago
1st Ball ?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

easy

Yet again, the focus on Sky was on Lyth and Ballance

Not arguing that they don't deserve a bit of scrutiny, but how the hell does Bell escape criticism YET again x100

Steven McKee: England to win by 10 wickets before tea tomorrow. Cook 300* and Lyth 180* plus 29 extras.
-------------------------
Love the optimism

looks like we'll win this

Nice to hear Lyth getting for every run

comment by Chris HaaKsworth (U11574)
posted 1 minute ago
Yet again, the focus on Sky was on Lyth and Ballance

Not arguing that they don't deserve a bit of scrutiny, but how the hell does Bell escape criticism YET againx100
----------------------------------------------------------------------
it is a bit odd how the media works, the calls for cook to be sacked as captain/dropped were deafening at times, yet he has never had a year where his average was as poor as bell's is in 2015, who is at best gently said to be "under pressure".

though i used to wonder how, whilst cook faces flak from all sides, atherton, who was one of the very worst permanent captains we have ever had, could get caught cheating on camera, lead his team to defeat after defeat, and have a poor batting record himself -averaging below 30 in 5 of his 13 seasons - yet i don't remember any serious suggestions that he should go.

This isn't even the first time Bell's form has been poor enough to threaten the end of his England career - I found an article the other day from back in 2009, where Michael Vaughan was sayind Bell was facing the end of his career.

I just don't get it. Even at the bottom of his slump, Cook was nowhere near as terrible as Bell is at the moment. Five 1s in 10 innings is just abysmal, that's the sort of form that would get a Sunday cricketer dropped. He's at #4 in the order FFS, that's supposed to be the key batting position, and he's just been píss poor for years.

Question for you guys....

If we drop Bell after this test, do you:

(a) Bring back KP at #4

(b) Bring in Bairstow at either (4) or (5) - could move Root up

(c) Bring in Adil Rashid, move the batting order up 1 place. Moeen at (7) for instance.

1. Lyth
2. Cook
3. Ballance
4. Root
5. Stokes
6. Bairstow (wk)
7. Buttler
8. Moeen
9. Broad
10. Wood
11. Anderson

If we want to make only one change (i.e. drop Bell) then this is the team that keeps changes to a minimum

Have any team won a test match before without bowling the opposition out in either innings?
I know england beat Australia in 2001 4th test where they chased 315. Australia declared in the 2nd innings but were bowled out in the first innings.

(b) and (c) both work fine Forrr but KP is never gonna be brought back, that ship has well and truly sailed

Not saying I agee with it, but I think Bell gets less scrutiny because his past big scoes give him an escape route

Anyway if we make it past 50 without losing more than 2 wickets I'll consider that to be some form of improvement.

comment by Forrr - Suplex City (U18420)
posted 8 seconds ago
Question for you guys....

If we drop Bell after this test, do you:

(a) Bring back KP at #4

(b) Bring in Bairstow at either (4) or (5) - could move Root up

(c) Bring in Adil Rashid, move the batting order up 1 place. Moeen at (7) for instance.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
i think we can safely rule out a)!

i have not seen enough of bairstow this year to know whether he is simply making hay in a weak county championship or he has made huge technical improvements to his game and become truly top-class (as eg smith has done over the past few years).

i do think rashid has been pretty shamefully treated by england though, so his test debut is long overdue.