Cricket

here for a good time but not a long time

England have not yet scored as many as Steve Smith will get on his own.

Can't wait for the overhaul.

you mean we might see some careers ended?

:)

marsh swinging out the english middle order....pray for Warner

Not by Lyon.

I was working in Elephant and Castle this afternoon, so I swung by the Oval. Managed to get a ticket to see a couple of hours' cricket (maybe).

Aside from playing for Winnington Park U16s and watching my dad in the Middlewich League, I've never seen live cricket before.

4-33 isn't bad though.

Nope, you’re right. He’s made me look a mug.

Nice to see root and Buttler score. Add a nice little headache for the pommy selectors

He didn’t say he’d do it

Good job! I have a ticket for tomorrow. Corporate wanker though.

True, at least he knew his own limitations. Any England test careers that end after this test are probably ones that shouldn’t have got started in the first place.

I had to sit through a group of banker bores behind me droning on about their triathlons, their £2k bikes with carbon wheels despite knowing "literally nothing about bikes" and their £1200 ceramic barbecues as penance for the free ticket. It was like being in the wrong bits of this forum.

It made me feel less about about the stewards accidentally waving us in before the over was up, and as a result blocking their view of Curran being caught. The Aussie among them said some sarcastic snarky shite and I knew it wouldn't be all good.

Great afternoon though - I might try and go back tomorrow!

This current team is basically a one-day side trying to play Test cricket, isn’t it? Really shows the lack of decent long-game players in this country.

There are plenty of decent red ball players, but our selector has an awful mindset. If you gave most people something like

Burns
Sibley
Denly
Root
Pope
Stokes
Foakes
Archer
Leach
Broad
Anderson

Then I'm sure most people would be happy, albeit that it's a long tail. That's the team we'll probably see over the winter, anyway. I suspect this innings from Buttler will keep him in the side and also taking the gloves back from Bairstow, although I've said it enough times that there's no better gloveman in the country right now than Foakes

Bin Denly

Pop Jos back in, because out of all the tonkers, bar Stokes, he has the technique and application, I also think he brings a lot in leadership terms from white ball

Then argue who keeps between Foakes and him

Then argue where Foakes bats as his average and attitude would certainly warrant 5/6 I reckon

But I agree that that team is a decent basis, just need some seamers in the wider squad to stay fit....

I don't see them binning Denly. Issue is they need a #3 batsman when the circuit is full of blokes who thrive at #4. I am tired of seeing either Vince or Ballance get recalled and do the same shit, and I don't see many players right now putting their hand up. With other players in the side I can't see any keeper batting higher than 7, and think Pope more than deserves a chance at 5 or 6.

My main issue with Buttler is similar to Root's; more than capable of getting the runs and it shows with 14 50s, but can't convert for the life of him (1 ton in 62 innings is naff). Appreciate he has to bat with the tail a lot of the time, but he just seems to find it hard constructing an innings when they're really up against it

I dont disagree about Buttler's conversion rate, its a fair point, but I think he needs to accept that he will bat with the tail and if he keeps getting 50's down there, Or even quick 20's/30's I'd be happy. If England were ever in a situation where you had a session to pile some runs on before a declaration, he offers a relaible explosive option as well.

Again, fair point about Pope, so with Denly gone you put him at 5, Buttler 6 & Foakes at 7 with the gloves?

Root needs to suck it up and bat at 3, he basically does anyway due to the fragility of the opening partnerships.

Archer at 8 gives me the fear though. With a decent batting line up it would be less of an issue mind. What has Foakes done to upset the selectors so much?

Whilst we wonder if Buttler can coax the England total beyond 300, and if exceptionally lucky, maybe 350, the only question today, after Broad dismisses Warner for not many, is whether Steve Smith scores a double- or triple-hundred?

While I would love a Buttler ton taking us to 350, I think we are likely to be bowling within half an hour. I'm going for a Smith failure (70 odd), but Labushagne big ton. Can't really believe that Warner will fail again - surely it can't last.

Bloody love Jack Leach

Seems the Buttler/Leach pairing have a morning scoring rate of 6 an over.
350 here we come!
(Normal caveats apply).

can broad survive 5 deliveries from cummins?

£2k is a cheap bike these days.

This is not an attempt to get in the ‘heard in the golf club’ thread btw.

Anyway - there goes Buttler and any hope of a respectable total on a ~400 pitch.