My dear old things, it's STW TMS!

Pray for rain…

Oh no, we don’t want the rain this time do we!! Hopefully we get some play Sunday.

another fabulous day for Ben and Baz and the boys.

I’m not usually one to take much interest in test series, but I have caught some of the batting from our lot over the last couple of days, and chuffing heck it’s been great to watch! 😁

looking at the met office forecast that’s end of play, continual heavy rain from 10 tonight to 7 o’clock Sunday evening

Just looked at the forecast @Klunk and wish i hadn’t!

A word for Woakes and Wood, who’ve both been terrific again.

It was supposed to piss it down all morning and half the afternoon and there was less than 20 mins of rain delay today. Keep the faith on the maritime climate. Me – after a day at OT today I’m racing Ard Rock tomorrow 😭

There’s nothing Stokes can’t do. Sorting the weather – simples!
England have been superb this test. Hopefully if it is rained off they’ll win next week and at least draw the series.

The only pleasure from a wash out tomorrow is that my brother won’t have a reason to avoid his nephew’s birthday party.

England have been superb this test. Hopefully if it is rained off they’ll win next week and at least draw the series

But Australia retain the Ashes as they are the current holders. So we don’t really draw unfortunately.

So we don’t really draw unfortunately.

It would be listed as a draw.

It really does make you think that the same attitude to declaring at Edgbaston as here might have made this a very different series.

Might not have, though, and being ‘on the back foot’, especially with the righteous anger that followed the stumping, has made it something quite special.

Would be a bit of a damp squib if this one’s drawn so it’s gone, but we all love a ‘moral’ victory, do we not?

It would be listed as a draw.

Yeah, that’s what I meant. At least then the Aussies wouldn’t win the series – they’ve not won a series here since 2001? And England will claim the moral high ground ashes 😀

We’ll have the high ground for sure. Unfortunately they will have the Ashes.

possible window for a 2-3 hrs play today between 12ish – 3ish

Interesting chat / articles overnight with JB. I was – still am – critical of his keeping. Even that brilliant catch didn’t look totally convincing, I can’t imagine Bob Taylor or Jack Russell in the same body shape, and his footwork has looked slow. There may be explanations given his ankle is now heavily plated and pinned, and for that I give due allowance, but it still doesn’t change my opinion that we should be playing our best keeper. Even if Foakes couldn’t have played JB’s innings yesterday.

There’s always if’s but might we eg: be 2:1 up and looking at a series winning lead IF some of the missed chances had been taken. Both the lost games were not lost by much.

His misses in match one cost us 78 runs (total scored by batters after being missed); only 4 in the second. Combined, all England’s misses have cost us 138 and 131 in those two games.

I guess the point is that decision – and the blame – is that of the selectors, if JB is keeping at the best of his ability. And I respect the selector’s as being able to play off the missed chances against what his batting brings.

Of course rain go away but great watching some of the highlights they’ve put on and watching Shane Warne wheeling away. Genius.

If there is no more rain play will begin at 14:45 BST!

Interesting chat / articles overnight with JB.

Watching the coverage yesterday I really enjoyed DKs comments re body positioning, foot movement, avoiding diving early etc. Really fascinating stuff. Wish I was a 100th the keeper any if the pros are 😂.

Reckon I could get used to keeping to consistent bowling, however, unlike the dolly mixtures I actually keep to. 😳

I missed that, what time was it on? DK?

Just been watching the run-in short highlights of the first three days and I’ve got the absolute chills! C’mon England

[edit – commentary just said something I’ve been thinking…. I wonder if Anderson will be selected for the Oval anyway, I’m not convinced this isn’t going to be his last home test. If so a few here would be fantastic]

I missed that, what time was it on? DK?

Was during play yesterday afternoon. Dinesh Karthik. He was specifically talking about leg side deliveries amongst other things.

Well done young Johnny! That’s the one we wanted too!

Game abandoned then?

Bummer!

Very confused at the inability of Wokes and McCullum to read a weather forecast. It was obvious on day one of this test that they’d only have three days. 🤷‍♂️

What are you suggesting they should have done instead dazh? I was surprised they put the Aussies in but as jonv pointed out, they needed to bowl them out twice, knowing in advance two days might be lost. I guess I thought they might have batted first, gone full bazball and try and score 400/500 odd in a day and get at them thereafter. Maybe they should have declared near the end of day 2 when the Aussies were ragged and tried to knock them over for 150/200 odd? Both long shots I think on a fairly docile pitch, to force a win in three days.

Well on Thursday evening they took their foot off the gas for the last hour, then stayed in far too long on Friday. An extra 50 runs on Thursday and a lunchtime declaration could have given them the chance to bowl them out. In the end there just seemed to be a lack of urgency.

A sixth reserve day to catch up overs lost to weather like the world test champs should be the default planning for all tests. And early starts instead of late finished. And preemptive extra hours ahead of poor forecasts. Yes, weather plays a part in test results but I really think no results because of weather is a poor look for any sport.

They talked about it on R4 this morning. Just logistically it’s really hard to do – not just an extra hotel room, all the transport, the groundstaff being disrupted prepping pitches for future games, all the security and stewards and…… achievable for a one off game like the WTC final but not routinely.

There’s also the issue that although workload / overs bowled would be the same, recovery time particularly for the fast bowlers is key. They’ll be at it again on Thursday, if there had been an extra day allocated and that had been rain delayed for example Wood could have been tearing in at 6 o’clock tonight and losing a whole day of recovery.

What they definitely need to do is with the advent and improvement of lights to be less restrictive on playing hours, there are times where they could have played on to make up lost time. That’s not the same as a day night game – where the pink ball is needed (although saying that, the number of times the ball is changed nowadays they regularly don’t actually bowl 80 overs with the same one. And also saying that, as an entertainment then switching to a pink ball if later hours become needed isn’t that big an issue really is it? – becomes another part of the strategy and is less of a disruption than rain).

It’s also an issue how far you extend that. We didn’t lose a lot in D1-3 but knew it was potentially going to come in D4-5. Can you only make up lost time or can you pre-emptively make up time? What if the forecast’s wrong – and the people who pay for D4-5 then get a reduced day’s play as a result.

Counter to that – playing for a draw has always been part of the game and weather and bad light has always been part of clinging on…..

Not an easy solution, but would make a great evening in a pub unpicking!

oh dear a good start has gone a bit pear shaped 🙁

No backing down from England.  Bazball all the way!

Looks like Moeen has pulled something in the groinal region, which doesn’t bode well for his participation in the bowling attack.

oh dear in the shit again, thankful for dropped catches

Oh dear. Surprised to see Stokes out while playing a conservative shot! Usual from Bairstow. Just occasionally it would be nice to see them drop anchor for a session to consolidate a decent partnership.

Sadly, I think Anderson is pretty much done as a Test bowler now. Even when he beats the bat, the ball is dying in front of the keeper. The ‘zip’ seems to have gone. I don’t know if he’ll tour this winter – I think he has said he will, but that can always change. It will be weird if he retires at the end of an overseas tour.

I think he will call it a day at the end of this match, TBH.

They were talking about him last night on the R5 preview; most notably James Taylor and Paul Farbrace, both of whom have played / coached with him.

They reckon he’s really enjoying the game right now, being the bowler that holds an end tight and at the same time mentors the others from mid on, and just enjoying Bazball culture.

They also said he won’t retire at the end of the game. It’s not him. If he’s going to retire he’ll send McCullum and Stokes a letter two weeks next Wednesday and that’ll be it – no fuss, no fanfare.

In a way I think Anderson is not doing them any favours at this juncture. It feels like he’s putting them in the position of having to be the one to drop for good England’s greatest ever fast bowler. Sport is ruthless but there is still a lot of sentiment. He’s not the sort of personality that would want to be carried off the field on his team’s shoulders but I can’t believe he wants to end his career by just being dropped and that’s that. It’s not long before a non retired Anderson is going to be a thorny problem to grapple with.

So if the Aussies win this one and therefore the series 3-1, does bazball survive?

Bazball will survive one more series if Aus won 3-1.

Stokes’s knee is the biggest threat to it. His knee is ****ed, zero doubt. Surgery may sort it, but I doubt he will be the bowler he was. If he can’t bowl he is 70% the player, which weakens his position if he chooses to die on Bazball Hill, which I think he will.

Anderson will retire, as quietly as possible, in the weeks following this game. He has lost his zip, I am afraid. There is no way he will tour India to get smashed all over or end up bowling wide of off with the keeper up.

England are a team with way more questions than answers hanging over them right now.

super catch by Joe Root, bailing YJB out again…… 😉

What was Marnus chuntering about? 9 off 90 odd balls. That’ll bring the crowds in.

This made me laugh at the cpomparison

england 283 off 54 overs
Aus  90 off 44 overs

Just a slight difference in run rate