Cricket

Hameed is there to prop up one end, he can't really accelerate, will be out in short order if he tries. Root always scores pretty freely as do Pope and Bairstow.

And predictably................

Right. Let's have a go.

Well, that is game over

Indeed, with Bell Pope going cheaply we're stuffed.

Yep. Amazed to hear people slating hameed, he did a great job.
100% over now tho

Right. Let's dig in.

Nonsense, Root & Bairstow just have to channel this previous partnership.

Ha.

Where's Leach?

Collapse incomming

Was expecting to click and see Monty and Jimmy.

Root won't even have partners sticking around long enough to get a compensatory 50.

Right. Let's collapse and give up.

I had a very vague memory that Root & Bairstow had shared a monster stand.
Had to search for any details though.
Still plenty of time for Root & Anderson to see out the last 15 overs.

Fucksake. They were only 2 down just now. I went to take something back to a shop and England have thrown it away.

take something back to a shop

A tub of optimism, a drum of hope?

Why can’t we bat well under pressure?

All of the above + England's ability under pressure (it was a very small bag)

a drum of hope

actually... a very small tube

Sometimes with England it genuinely feels like the attitude is "We bat deep; so it's ok, someone else will do it"

Proper fucked now

Can't blame Root's batting. He's been a rock all series. The coaches need to take a long, hard look at themselves and the personnel. England have been papering over some gaping chasms for some time now.

India have their problems too though. The gap between these two is thin. It's almost a case of who has the key collapse each test. Some flaky stuff from both lineups.

I keep my hope and optimism in single serving sachets these days.

This is why we commit to Test Cricket.
All four outcomes were possible until 15 minutes into the penultimate session.

Roll on Old Trafford on Friday.

What's the forth possible outcome?