Cricket

An even more bonkers 2nd innings from South Africa

Shame it only lasted a day and a half really … Newlands looks fantastic - the grass banks , the view of Table Mountain , the sunshine …
Jasprit Bumrah such a good bowler , bonkers action but some of those balls unplayable …. feel a bit sorry for South African test cricket fans - bit short changed !

Meanwhile, it must be utterly demoralising being a Pakistan fan. Bowl themselves into a great position against the Aussies by taking five wickets for not many, then bat themselves into oblivion. Who do they think they are? England?

Will be listening in tonight and willing them to bat on … and on … and on … really frustrate the Aussies and make a real game of it - would love them to take one win from the series …. but …. highly unrealistic

Just back from a net session with my daughter using the Rapidarm thrower she got for Christmas. Absolutely awesome, you can get some proper speed out of it. Mostly used tennis balls and incrediballs as I couldn't get any reliable accuracy with a hardball. The last thing she needs in a winter net session is wayward deliveries coming at her at ~120kph, they can wait for the warmer weather.

Good news for England’s bowlers but bad news for non English fans of cricket everywhere, the Pom selectors have realised that The Best Wicketkeeper in the History of the World(TM) is in fact not very good and Foakes is in for India.

Just as a word of warning, I'm buying a month's worth of TNT Sports so I can watch at least some of the India v England test series, so that's a guaranteed 3-0 scoreline by the time my subscription's up for renewal.

Time to painfully spend £30.99 for some 4am misery

The Stokes-McCullum partnership is testing the bounds of credibility with a 3 spinner+Wood bowling attack.
Even if Joe Root takes some wickets, (another 5-8 is unlikely), the Indian spinners will do better.

I am trying to talk myself into a 4am alarm clock. Possibly made more palatable by actually just sleeping on the sofa, so all I have to do is mash the remote and open one eye.

Is it really worth it?

Although, like @cmburns I need to justify my £30.99 investment.

Already have BT TNT Sport.
On call this week so I may be up at 4am anyway (pages at 3am, 4am, 5am and 6am this morning). Ugh.

I mean, I did buy an iPad late last year for stuff like this. Suppose some Premier League and Champions League football sweetens it slightly

I'm going to get it through Discovery+, so since I already have the basic package for the cycling, at least it's marginally cheaper than going via NowTV, etc.

It's not on NowTV. Only TNT, via Disco+ premium.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/jan/24/memories-of-2012-13-englands-most-impressive-away-series-this-century

Fucking TNT Sports, the worst name for a sports channel.

Plus, every fucking time I see it, my stupid brain goes 'Cause I'm TNT, I'm DY-NO-MITE!'

does channel 9 with VPN doesent work? asking for a friend

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/icc-world-test-championship-2023-2025-1345943/india-vs-england-1st-test-1389399/match-preview

Cant find a highlights programme on bbc.

Wtf

Imagine TNT might chuck highlights on their YouTube

Is the test on tms?
They're not advertising it on bbc5xtra.

Radio rights are with Talksport

Proper shit innit, TNT and TalkSport.

Meh.

Indeed a sad reflection on our access to supporting our national team.

Right, we're batting first.

Why am I doing this.