My dear old things, it's STW TMS!

It’s as brilliant as it is unbearable, but, please can we have Foakes in for the next one?

37 with 4 wickets :/

It’s alright, I placed a Judas bet at lunchtime to secure it.

2-1 with two to play.

Are you not entertained?

Mad rush from most of the press box to the toilets at drinks.

Can’t cope.

even TMS can’t cope

34 30 required

24 22 needed come on England!

Shit.

🫣

****!

Takes me back to 2005 but Warne was bowling and no-one had a clue how to play it.

what a dreadful shot! wtaf with so few needed 🙁

FFS just go for singles.

classic cover drive!

If Wood finishes this will he get the horse out?

Oh, and behind Smith that’s my second choice for shelling one. Very talented keeper, just don’t like him for some reason.

Are we entertained now?

have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crackin’ test match

watching fast bowlers taking a step to leg the just walloping a straight 90 mph ball to the boundary is just joyous 🙂

England clearly have some selection issues now.  jimmy Anderson playing at old Trafford is there room for him it could be his last chance to play at Trafford. and bairstow clearly is 10% off his game.

Batting line up can stay as is now.

# edit.  good win tbh and the bowling team definitely deserve it

can’t drop Woods and Woakes though you can Bairstow, though Id keep Ali if he’s fit to bowl though not batting at 3

the “1 dayer” approach, ignore convention everyone chips in

he made (Wood) the aussie top order look asleep 🙂 if England had held their catches this would have been over yesterday

Ali can bat all over and tbf has for most of his career. Wood at the oval will be epic he looks up for it but they cannot rest him with it being 2/1 he is frightening the Aussie tail.

Tough call on bairstow but he is definitely missing something and not just catching practice.

tough ?

bairstow should be toast but it’s england cricket clique, chums a go go

Thriller (from the Western Terrace 🤪).

Chuffed you were there to witness it. I was there on the last day in 2019 and was still shaking my head after the umpteenth pint in the pubs of Headingley.

so england are sticking with Billy “Bairstow” Bunter behind the stumps.

so england are sticking with Billy “Bairstow” Bunter behind the stumps.

It’s like watching me keep wicket, and I’m rubbish* 😳

(*disclaimer – I was a bowler as a younger person but very broken now, still pining for my wicket-taking days 😂)

Billy “Bairstow” Bunter

Aka ‘Cymbals’.

Or ‘Iron Mitts’.

🙄

The England women’s team currently making a bollocks of a run chase…

But got there in the end. 🙂

Decent start to the Women’s ODI – couple of wickets but Aus going at nearly 6 still.  Although level in the series this is a must win for England; with 2 to play the overall draw means Aus retain.

Also an interesting read in the Guardian…..takes a while to get to the point but what do we actually want from England?

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2023/jul/16/ben-stokess-wild-ride-ashes-captaincy-asks-what-do-you-really-want-from-us

Shout out to the cidermen for defending a modest total twice yesterday to lift the T20 blast cup after so many recent unsuccessful Finals days. Somerset, la la la!

T20 final was ok the weather definitely did not help. Deserved the win with some great bowling

Disastrous last over for the women.

Yeah – until then, it felt they’d restricted Aus. to a manageable total; Bell had no answer to Wareham’s use of the crease.

Gah. That last over cost them the game.

Ashes gone, but heck of a game. Easy to say that the 26 last over cost the game but the girls batting with NSB just failed to turn strike over effectively, too many dot balls in the last 5 overs and with just a few more balls – 2 or 3 even – they’d have got in.

[edit – Glenn 22 off 35 balls. She hit one 4 so if the others came in singles that would be 16 dot balls, more if there were some 2’s or 3’s. You don’t have to be boundary hitters but you have to be able to play tip and run]

Ashes gone, but heck of a game. Easy to say that the 26 last over cost the game but the girls batting with NSB just failed to turn strike over effectively, too many dot balls in the last 5 overs and with just a few more balls – 2 or 3 even – they’d have got in.

It was a record chase and they got very close, so I think criticism of that is very harsh. Ultimately they were trying to get 15 more runs than they should have.

They were (chasing 15 more) but they’d still have done it. And it’s not ‘blame’, it’s learning what to do better next time.