English cricket thread

The only things in England's favour are that rain is due, the pitch hasn't had 4 full days of play on it, and the head coach isn't there.
 
We all know they're going to bowl us out on the final day.

Thats the sprint!

Although I do fear you will be right a clatter of wickets in the morning session followed by the injured trio of stokes bairstow and buttler heriocly surving for a while taking us to the evening session only for the second new ball to clean us up.

Only the weather can save us.
 
Mad that Khawaja has only played 45 tests in an 11 year test career, Rory Burns has 31 tests for comparison. Averages 58 at home and 24 away, which is a pretty big disparity but I would have thought he’d have played more.
 
Cummins ignoring Marnus when he thinks there might have been a nick and just looking toward Smith and Warner. :lol:
 
Crawley moves to 50 at a fair lick. Quite a few classy shots.

Lyon on now which could be a pivotal moment if it starts to rag.
 
Hameed man...
Crawley good knock so far.
Just need a partnership to see us out. Here's hoping.
 
I like the look of Crawley. Selectors should back him. As for Malan, don't think he is a test batsmen. Poor poor shot that was.
 
I like the look of Crawley. Selectors should back him. As for Malan, don't think he is a test batsmen. Poor poor shot that was.
He's amazing when he comes off. Sadly his first class average of under 31 is shows how rarely he does.

EDIT - In tests he has played 28 innings before this one, with no not outs, and over a third of his runs came in one knock.
 
I like the look of Crawley. Selectors should back him. As for Malan, don't think he is a test batsmen. Poor poor shot that was.

Malan probably deserves a bit of slack. He's been on tour since September and away from his heavily pregnant wife. Fair play to him for the shift he put in at Adelaide and Melbourne.
 
He's amazing when he comes off. Sadly his first class average of under 31 is shows how rarely he does.

EDIT - In tests he has played 28 innings before this one, with no not outs, and over a third of his runs came in one knock.

Yes, one knock, but 260-odd against Pakistan puts you in esteemed company. There won't be many players who've scored 250 against them who have had poor careers. To me that's better than having 5 50s and 60s like a Mark Stoneman because it shows you he's capable of something significant.

His figures aren't anything to shout about but he's still only 23.

I'm not fully sold on him because we've had players in the past like Vince who have looked technically good, but for one reason or another they have not scored enough runs. In the case of Crawley, I've been disappointed in the past with his shot selection and attacking the wrong balls. I was impressed with him today, though. He played with authority and got a decent yorker.
 
Yes, one knock, but 260-odd against Pakistan puts you in esteemed company. There won't be many players who've scored 250 against them who have had poor careers. To me that's better than having 5 50s and 60s like a Mark Stoneman because it shows you he's capable of something significant.

His figures aren't anything to shout about but he's still only 23.

I'm not fully sold on him because we've had players in the past like Vince who have looked technically good, but for one reason or another they have not scored enough runs. In the case of Crawley, I've been disappointed in the past with his shot selection and attacking the wrong balls. I was impressed with him today, though. He played with authority and got a decent yorker.
I was curious and it is very true, I make it the fewest centuries from those on that list other than he is 8 and I think the lowest average is a tad over 40. I'd certainly take that right now.

Yeah, he was good today and it was a very good ball. Play another innings like that in the next match and I'll start hoping but at the moment it still seems believable we'll be waiting a long time before we see his next good effort.
 
Isa Guha with a legendary bit of commentary there.

Kid with a sign up saying, 'Patrick give us a hat trick'.

'He denied Jack Leach one of those.' :lol:
 
I was curious and it is very true, I make it the fewest centuries from those on that list other than he is 8 and I think the lowest average is a tad over 40. I'd certainly take that right now.

Yeah, he was good today and it was a very good ball. Play another innings like that in the next match and I'll start hoping but at the moment it still seems believable we'll be waiting a long time before we see his next good effort.

Yep, one swallow does not make a summer and all that. The jury's still out but the fact he has both a front foot and back foot game and punishes the bad ball stands in his favour. It will be interesting to see how he goes against the likes of Boult, Southee, Nortje and Rabada next summer.

We also need to figure out who to partner with, assuming he nails down the slot. Not even sure who should open next test, seeing that Hameed looks so badly out of nick. I would say stick with Hameed.
 
That is an incredible delivery and so unlike Cummins
 
Bairstow gone.

Boland on fire. Surely undroppable now.
 
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