Cricket

Somerset players doing pretty well in the silly hundred thing too.

Agree about the rest. But Banton has had a torrid time in the Hundred (apart from 30-odd yesterday). Not sure keeping and batting 1 really suits him - not sure that'd suit anyone really.

Hameed at 3 probably as a third opener, as England guaranteed to be 10-1 after 5...

In my defence, when I typed it he had just whacked two sixes straight down the ground.

I don't think he is dealing particularly well the pressure of expectation placed on him.

India 300 for 2 by tea?

Is that still quite optimistic...?

Overestimated the run rate by quite a bit.

Will take that for a start

And another

Lovely - classic dismissal

Thought it wasn't going to carry for a sec

Ball is doing a bit here. Looks bad for our top order...

My hugely optimistic overnight prediction was England take a swift couple of wickets,
but the Indian tail hangs around a bit but can't score many,
and England take 7-40 in the first 80-odd minutes,
long enough for any cloud to disperse.
Root inevitably comes in to bat at 22-2 for a tricky half hour before lunch.

Jadeja is leaving it very well - could be ominous

Pant charging at Moeen first ball of his spell. Could be fun this...

Well, here we go...

Ishant is hooping it in. Lots of swing out there.

england batting for a draw aready

Small milestones:
Both openers into double figures,
25 run partnership,
50 run partnership.
I'm happy with this slow, Test progress.

The longer we continue for no loss and a run rate less then 2 the happier I am.

Batting without loss is a skill England have lost since the days of Trott at 3

Welcome back Hameed.😂

Root inevitably comes in to bat at 22-2 for a tricky half hour before lunch

One session and one run off but overall highly accurate. Here we go again.

Hah. Pathetic.

My worry as ever is that Sibley can hang around and not get out, but I think his mind is so scrambled now, he has no idea how to accelerate, I'm not talking about getting into fourth gear, just getting out of neutral and into 1st would be progress now.

India are clearly top of the world (along with NZ) in test cricket. They beat Australia away last winter. When they have any injuries the replacements don't weaken the side.

Compare and contrast to this England team.

Being beaten by them is not pathetic, we just don't have a top test team at the moment.

We'll do well not to lose this series 4-0. Weather will probably help us out.

The problem is my comment is not based upon advanced analytics or insight. English openers failing is as predictable as gravity.

I wonder what the average score is when root come in?

Best the in the world only scored 350, we should be able to get past 30-0.

Without openers you don't have a team, and we won't have them while the county championship is hung out to wither.

Somebody with better skills than me might be able to sort Root's innings on the advanced stats on Cricinfo.
Yep ECB all in for TheHundred.
4-day cricket becomes a fringe activity with the worst weather.

24 overs to be bowled.
Need Root & Burns to crack on at 4 runs per over to avoid the follow on this evening.