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I'm preprogrammed to assume that I wake and check the score to find we've lost 5 wickets so this is most welcome!
Indeed! ^^^^
Stokes gone now unfortunately
ROOT ROOT ROOT
Another double century, the man is on fire.
in a league of his own.....
Double centuries while captaining England men:
3: Joe Root
1: Hammond, Hutton, May, Dexter, Gower, Gooch, Cook
Root gone! Hopefully Buttler will smack it around a bit now. 🙂
"a perfectly normal finger" 😀
500 up
Archer out batting in a watch and his bowling sleeve, no interest in hanging around.
I've seen him play impressively brutal cameos in the IPL but he's never come off in tests yet I don't think.
doomed now! ending the day on quintuple nelson!
Archer out batting in a watch
Wasnt it Phil Edmonds who always bowled wearing a watch?
so did Gough, iirc.
Actually, that's something I've often thought. Bowling fast involves using your shoulder muscles to rotate your arm (I know there's also the coil and core / interstitials, etc. but shoulder is part of it)
Having a weight at the end of your arm means more effort for the same rotational speed, or alternatively, same effort (max for a quick most of the time) for less result.
Same why a 100m sprinter feels he'll be faster while transporting half a shelf of Gerald Ratner's finest down the track with him. Surely any weight saved would be sensible?
What a great day for England. The pitch is misbehaving already. Kohli burnt a couple of silly reviews today, which nearly cost him.
Draw is the favourite now but England have a really good chance. If they can get a couple of early wickets and the pitch misbehaves that score starts to look a very long way away. India's batting lineup is impressive though.
In general batters lose games, bowlers win them (which is what makes innings like Botham 81 or Stokes 19 so amazing)
With almost 600 on the board England should not lose this, but the bowlers have a heck of a load to do yet. Particularly, having made India's bowlers toil for 2 and a bit days to win this we might need to take 20 wickets in a follow on which would mean ours also have to spend best part of three days out there.
Couple of early ish wickets from Archers but it's still delicately balanced - Archer is looking fantastic but has already bowled eight overs. Anderson hasn't been quite as good but great to see him bowling to Kohli - two greats.
Kohli gone! Bess! Yassss
Edit: Rahane gone for 1! Incredible catch from Root
India are in trouble here
Want us to get Pant out, but also enjoying it while he's in.
Indeed. Good counter-attack from Pant but he plays risky shots fairly regularly. What a match so far.
And this is why TalkSPORT shouldn’t be allowed test cricket.
Tune in and it’s Goughy talking betting odds followed by adverts for a gambling company. Terrible radio.
I want Aggers and Tuffers.
Listen to the social on the BBC cricket website
Just have c4 sound on with the screen off/brightness down if you can't watch.
We need Pant out. When can they take the new ball?
Pant and Pujara gone, just need to finish off the tail.
Ashwin's no mug - bit to do yet.
Wasnt it Phil Edmonds who always bowled wearing a watch?
Only later in his career when he was trying to make a point about how well he was doing in The City. I can thoroughly recommend 'A lot of hard yakka' by Simon Hughes for Edmonds anecdotes.
Goughy
Well, he spent ten years doing a barely believable impersonation of an international opening bowler, so carrying on by impersonating a knowledgeable pundit seems a logical extension.
I'm still not a fan of Bess. He has a golden arm at the moment, but he bowls an awful lot of filth in there too. He may well get found out soon if one of the games becomes tight and he needs to take wickets and also keep it tight on a turning pitch.
Anyone watching? Root is 26 off 14! Very poor review by Lawrence just now though, 3 down.
England doing their very best to lose this.
How many can India chase on this pitch? You'd think 450 would be defendable but I'm not sure how much less than that I'd be comfortable with.
I reckon the Indians would have a go at 400 off 3.5 sessions. The pitch should favour us and I’d fancy us to get a wicket or 2 before COP this evening. But if they start tomorrow 65/0 then it’ll be a tasty final day.
They've got more than enough now, I think it's more about resting the bowlers as long as possible.
England doing their very best to lose this.
How so? Going into the second innsings with a 250ish first innings lead they just want to score as quickly as possible to make the target as awkward for India as possible, while leaving themselves enough time to take another 10 wickets.
get on with it or put them in.... time is always more important than runs in the final innings
this isn't one day cricket, if you have to you can bowl outside leg with a packed in -out legside field and squeeze the life out of the game.
How so? Going into the second innsings with a 250ish first innings lead they just want to score as quickly as possible to make the target as awkward for India as possible, while leaving themselves enough time to take another 10 wickets.
But England haven't done that. I posted just after Stokes was caught and it was starting to look like we'd be bowled out with a realistic target for Indians to chase. Although we've steadied the ship somewhat, we've done so without any aggression and instead dawdled our way towards a 400 lead. England have done this many times before as we seem more inclined to avoid losing the game instead of trying to win in.
Although I stll favour England for the win - just - I can see India getting a draw and taking a pscychological lead into the second test where they surely won't play as badly as they have here.
this is nuts
It appears Jack Leach is going for it. Not sure I saw him as he pinch hitter but there we go.
My suspicion is that this is the first test of the series and they're making sure they won't lose it rather than making sure they win it. It'll be a very conservative declaration.
letting Joffra get his 50 :/
Can’t figure this out. Why risk your bowlers out there for no real scoring necessity?
A quick ball onto an elbow or finger and you’re a bowler down when you need to take 10 wickets in little over a day. It’s odd.
didn't even get to declare!!!!
England have done this many times before as we seem more inclined to avoid losing the game instead of trying to win in.
I'm inclined to agree that we should have enough / can defend it if needed, however having done many hard yards already with bat and ball there's a mindset that says that you absolutely don't want to give a sniff of a victory to india; not only do you lose the game but the team and the bowlers in particular lose faith in the captain and coach for giving it away.
Especially in the first match of a series
I can't work out why they didn't just attack at the end, could have got to this score a few overs ago probably.
But then Root gets questioned all the time even though his record is pretty decent.
that turned!
But then Root gets questioned all the time even though his record is pretty decent.
I think his declarations have generally worked out, plus I note that former players seem to become rather braver from the safety of the commentary box.
Yep - Cook the renowned risky declarer, NOT!
My head says England will bowl them out, but I’m not sure...... Broad would be handy on an up&down day 5 pitch.
I think his declarations have generally worked out, plus I note that former players seem to become rather braver from the safety of the commentary box.
Indeed
https://twitter.com/AWSStats/status/1358757258209992704