Cricket

Has Jofra changed his watch? It seems smaller but more gold than the one he usually wears

Bloody hell. Last two wickets fell in the time it took me to ride to work from Canonbury station. Wow. That’s a superb victory.

Great to see so many different players adding something . Openers in first innings, roots monster batting, Anderson, great catching and leach doing the business as the lead spinner.

Notable that all the Indian dismissals were caught or bowled.
No lbws must be pretty rare in an Indian Test Match?

England seem to be in a good place at the moment.

There’s competition for places and the management seems well set up with Silverwood, Collingwood, Thorpe, Kallis etc.

Six overseas test wins on the bounce is pretty special. The senior players are shouldering responsibility which gives time for some of the fresher batsmen and the two spinners to learn.

That might be England's finest all-round test performance in many years.

Genuine question - what does Rory Burns bring to the party?

Solid opener, deserves the chance after putting up the runs domestically. I mean, better than other car crash selections of recent years

I guess that is an interesting question come the third test, 4 into 3 for Sibley, Crawley, Burns and Lawrence?

I guess Lawrence has to do something to make himself undroppable in the next test to keep his place, not that Crawley was great against Sri Lanka.

A dreadful haircut.

C4 highlights:
Is there a better sight in cricket than a cartwheeling off stump?

fs india. what a shower

when's the next test then lads

He saved Buttler's blushes with the Nadeem catch.

He saved Buttler's blushes with the Nadeem catch.

True. That was a lovely moment.

Good teams make their own luck.
Score enough runs you can crowd the batsmen with close fielders,
and,
the half-chances go to hand.

Was listening in the car, on the way to the garage to get it fixed. Talksport went to a f*cking ad break for the final wicket. F*cksake.

is anyone going to apologise to joe root?

Aggressive run scoring versus new ball which a good contrast to Sibley

Sloppy pirate vibes // Rum

Great to have test matches back on terrestrial TV.

I was happy to believe in the process around the declaration. In the last few years there has been a few instances of a clamour for an earlier declaration followed by vindication of leaving it a little later.

There were lots of factors around declaring later on day 4- Making sure they had a harder ball for the end of day 4 and the start of day 5, ensuring the bowlers were properly rested and ready to go again. Part of it may also have been making sure the top order were trying to settle with the wicket at its worst. The earlier the declaration the better the wicket while their best batsmen are getting set.

Seeing Root chatting with Jimmy on the balcony was reassuring. They both seemed content with the plan.

Sloppy pirate vibes // Rum

That's the answer I was looking for.

Captain of England in "knows more about cricket than almost everybody else on the planet" shocker.

My usual route up to/from Cambridge takes me through the outfield of a cricket pitch.

https://goo.gl/maps/pWY2EHfSCBX1cJjE8

One of the most pleasing things over the past 12-18 months has been seeing Root seemingly grow/settle into the captaincy role. For a long time initially he was unconvincing. I think having Cook still in the team, and contending with the relationships Cook had with Fletcher, Broad, Anderson, Mo etc must have been really tricky, and clearly his age/temperament didn't seem an easy fit with the role. And it obviously impacted his batting. But, it now feels like his team, Stokes and Buttler are clearly his men, Jimmy and Broad seem to have got over the hump of that initial 'you're not going to play ever game' evolution and now give everything on the pitch and seem like exemplary elder statesmen off it. Probably the biggest change may well be Silverwood coming in, empowering Root, building a team around him (letting him play at 4 and have Buttler in the side, clearly both Root requests), employing a 'style' of test match cricket that means the team can build stronger positions and play to their middle order batting and seam bowling strengths and just empowering Root to run things his way. He speaks increasingly well, seems at ease with captaincy and his batting again, and most importantly looks like he's enjoying his cricket so much more! This might be a temporary situation but it's wonderful seeing him smile and laugh whilst fielding and his press work seems far more natural and relaxed.

Can you even imagine if he brings home an Indian series and away Ashes in the same year - becoming the countries' winningest captain in the process!!! [insert Broad Trent Bridge shock face]