The summer of cricket 2020

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Great ton from Morgan. Came in at 44/3 - now victory looks assured for England after this partnership.

(Spoiler: It wasn't.)

At last...review system can be a bit ridiculous at times.

Lots of pressure on the openers

Has he hit this ? Broad thinks so , umpire thinks so...yeah , off the glove.

All out 326. Good , without being a rock crusher. Should set up a good match...as long as England don't have one of their batting meltdowns.

Funny old scorecard. Three bats did all the scoring and the rest did nothing.

Duty281 wrote:Might be a good pitch now, but I think we can all see the early signs of deterioration. If England are to win this, they'll have to make a proper 400+ score. Time for Root to rediscover his form.

326 all out. England would have been OK if offered that at the start of the day. Downright miserable if offered that at lunch.

If you believe their recorded ages they are younger than Anderson. Between them.

Gooseberry wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Might be a good pitch now, but I think we can all see the early signs of deterioration. If England are to win this, they'll have to make a proper 400+ score. Time for Root to rediscover his form.

326 all out. England would have been OK if offered that at the start of the day. Downright miserable if offered that at lunch.

If you believe their recorded ages they are younger than Anderson. Between them.

True, Shahid Afridi's year of birth was out by five years.

A nice balance of underage teenagers... and hair-dyed 40-somethings.

Gooseberry wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Might be a good pitch now, but I think we can all see the early signs of deterioration. If England are to win this, they'll have to make a proper 400+ score. Time for Root to rediscover his form.

326 all out. England would have been OK if offered that at the start of the day. Downright miserable if offered that at lunch.

If you believe their recorded ages they are younger than Anderson. Between them.

Naseem Shah is at least in his 20's, no chance is he 17.

Burns goes in the first over. Thought it was good live and a great review from Pakistan.

4/1.

here we go

No footwork there from Burns. Almost West Indian

Looked dead on first sight. Good review.

Need these two to get in , I think. That lengthy tail is a bit of a worry.

Another for Shaheen. Poor from Root, though it looked high to me on first viewing.

Might be an umpire's call...no, far too high.

And breathe, skipper.

root uses a review well..... for a change

Oh dear...Root gone now !

Ah ! Saved by height on review. Phew . Another good review.

This is nervy stuff...

Gulp, another close one.

Only two hours to bat through tonight! Shaheen's got the batters in knots at the moment.

Can't be any doubt with that one...don't know why on earth Sibley is reviewing.

12/2 and this is trouble.

Think Sibley is gone though...trying a review more in hopes.

Yeah he's dead.

Signs are this is going to be a shocker. Better hope Stokes gets fit so they can get back to a proper batting order soon.

thought the spinners would be the problem. might not even get a go at this rate

alfie wrote:Think Sibley is gone though...trying a review more in hopes.

Yeah he's dead.

Signs are this is going to be a shocker.  Better hope Stokes gets fit so they can get back to a proper batting order soon.

Two more wickets and Buttler comes out. Three more and it's Woakes. Yeah, it doesn't sound great!

these two definitely need to stick around if were going to be in this game. battling line up looks very weak

Excellent new ball bowling , must be said. But losing both openers like that is rather disappointing.

The general view of Burns and Sibley has been pretty bullish lately. And not unreasonably , as they've done pretty well. But I suspect this series is likely to provide them with a more severe test than they've yet faced : by the end of these three matches we might have a better idea of their prospects against the big guns of India and Australia.

Looks worse by the minute...Stokes cleaned up for a duck.

Will they avoid the follow on I wonder ?

Wow, that was a crackerjack delivery to remove England's best batter. Fantastic to watch.

Might not have called the game earlier - I'm definitely calling it now: Pakistan win by loads and loads.

326 is looking like a brilliant score now. plenty for the bowlers

Yep this is over. One of those shocking performances England throw in every now and then at home. So let's call them winning the second test nice and early

The balance of the side is looking worse by the minute and not sure what the solution is so hopefully Stokes is fit to bowl next week. Woakes and Bess need to stay in the side as does Broad so it comes down to a shoot out between Anderson and Archer, with Buttler in at 6 this match is over.

Soul Requiem wrote:The balance of the side is looking worse by the minute and not sure what the solution is so hopefully Stokes is fit to bowl next week. Woakes and Bess need to stay in the side as does Broad so it comes down to a shoot out between Anderson and Archer, with Buttler in at 6 this match is over.

Agreed. I'd probably add that even if Stokes can't bowl next week, England need to bite the bullet and get Crawley back in for one of the bowlers, because they can't carry on with Buttler at 6 and Woakes at 7.

We’re in a spot of bother here lads

Can safely say that the use of bess/root biwling in tandem is no longer an issue to focus on.

Looking at the Stokes wicket again, what on earth was he doing, an ultimately nothing ball that he managed to make into something.

Soul Requiem wrote:The balance of the side is looking worse by the minute and not sure what the solution is so hopefully Stokes is fit to bowl next week. Woakes and Bess need to stay in the side as does Broad so it comes down to a shoot out between Anderson and Archer, with Buttler in at 6 this match is over.

Its all very well attacking the ballance of the side but Crawley isn't exactly a world class batsman and what would they have doen with the bowling? Either another 10 overs of bess get creamed and no woakes ( hows that tail?) Or look like aboslute idiots not having a spinner on a pitch thats turning on day two had they batted second ( and not had bess' batting)
End of the day whoever you pick you need the specialists to do their job competently, and so far Englands top order haven't.
They did just spank the west indies with ease with this side, a side they lost to with a more batting focused team on test 1.

Will hold off picking the team for next week until this is finished , I think

But I am fairly sure they will have a full complement of batsmen : Stokes will surely be fit to bowl properly by then. He had better be !

26/3 is a horrible position to be in. But there is still plenty of batting to come even if some of it isn't in the best of form. Pakistan right on top now but one big partnership still gets England back in the game...unlikely as that may seem right now !

Not sure I quite share the fear of the Pakistan spin attack . Everyone goes on about spin at Old Trafford ; but in recent years it has generally been pace men who have done all the damage.

England have a mountain to climb. All they can do now is take it an over at a time...

yeah alfie I think they've been iver cautious with Stokes knowing he's going to have a busy year with t20 leagues and every international fixture he's available for but really should be fit to ballabce the side next test.

The fear of the pakistan spinners partly comes from englands awful record against any spinners first test of a series, and this wicket was giving bess a lot of turn today ...by day 5 their spinners should be performing magic on it.

On the plus side it doesn't look like england will need to worry about day 5 because Abbas exists.

Soul Requiem wrote:Looking at the Stokes wicket again, what on earth was he doing, an ultimately nothing ball that he managed to make into something.

Can't agree with that. Ball moved - late - perfect length to kiss top of off.  If that's a nothing ball to you , you must be a heck of a batsman

Gooseberry wrote:yeah alfie I think they've been iver cautious with Stokes knowing he's going to have a busy year with t20 leagues and every international fixture he's available for but really should be fit to ballabce the side next test.

The fear of the pakistan spinners partly comes from englands awful record against any spinners first test of a series, and this wicket was giving bess a lot of turn today ...by day 5 their spinners should be performing magic on it.

[b]On the plus side it doesn't look like england will need to worry about day 5 because Abbas exists. [b]

I guess that is called looking on the bright side

Was hoping, for England's sake, that Shaheen and Naseem would prove to be the weak links of this Pakistan attack. Errant bowlers who England could plunder for runs as they defended valiantly against Abbas and Yasir Shah. But, on the early evidence, that hope appears to be misguided.

England need these two to make it through to stumps unbeaten. Maybe the light will make it an early finish? Certainly a little dark out there.

alfie wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:Looking at the Stokes wicket again, what on earth was he doing, an ultimately nothing ball that he managed to make into something.

Can't agree with that. Ball moved - late - perfect length to kiss top of off.  If that's a nothing ball to you , you must be a heck of a batsman

He was two metres down the pitch and the bat ended up well in front of him, that has made the ball look better than it was.

Bet Collingwood watches Abbas' bowling and wonders what could have been. I guess Stokes' early mistake and the general struggles are partly down to his pace and style being so unusual for them to face. Sibley and Burns have played a lot more county cricket in recent times so less of an excuse but generally would be facing mid 80s pace at the start of an innings.

like goose my fear is necessarily the spinners themselves but more the english batters inability to deal with anything new

Goodness, Shah finding plenty of spin in the opening over. And a couple of right-handers to bowl at.

Duty281 wrote:Goodness, Shah finding plenty of spin in the opening over. And a couple of right-handers to bowl at.

chucked some pies down aswell though

Watching Pakistan here really makes me wonder what the heck happened in Australia. They have a bit of everything through the batting and bowling. Seems like the leadership has got them together as well, thinking back to the nightmare players they've had over the years really seems to be a massive step forward in professionalism with this generation. Focus on fitness paying dividends too.

Jesus Root. So about Buttler at 6.....

Think the young bowlers have come on a bit since the Australian tour. And these conditions perhaps suit them a little better. But essentially they've made a good score ...and England have just not coped with some good bowling today.
Root gone and things are looking even grimmer. Going to be a bit of pressure on Buttler after his horror days with the gloves...

Gooseberry wrote:Watching Pakistan here really makes me wonder what the heck happened in Australia. They have a bit of everything through the batting and bowling. Seems like the leadership has got them together as well, thinking back to the nightmare players they've had over the years really seems to be a massive step forward in professionalism with this generation. Focus on fitness paying dividends too.

we'll have to see after the whole series. england have been awful in this test so far and if buttler could have held one they could have still got pakistan for around the 240-260 mark. especially considering our spells after lunch. it could have been even less if we managed couple more decent spells

Think Butter will be quite chuffed about getting to start vs some spin. Worth an over or two from Shaheen here I think.

Have to love Ollie Pope ...seems to be batting on a different pitch from the rest of them.
Not that there is anything wrong with the pitch. Just poor footwork generally , against some excellent bowling.

Think Buttler will appreciate facing spin first up . Probably best he stays down that end for a while.

compelling and rich wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Goodness, Shah finding plenty of spin in the opening over. And a couple of right-handers to bowl at.

chucked some pies down aswell though

Yeah, he has served up some rubbish. But this is the toughest bowling discipline and he should improve as he finds his range.

That's what you get with Yasir. He is no Warne : dangerous , yes. But he can go for runs as well. Get on top of him and you can probably cash in...but at the moment they don't need to worry much about runs.

OK , survived to stumps ...well done chaps. Like the positive way Buttler has started ; and Pope continues to impress. 92/4 and a lot of work to do...

92/4 at stumps. First two hours for England were brilliant. The next five were baffling and bruising. But Pope continues to illustrate his great promise as a test match batsman.

Lots of work for England to do tomorrow.

Let’s hope Pope and Buttler do the business as they did in the last test...

Can talk about the balance of the side all we like, if the top four scores 26 runs between them in the first innings, not gonna win many test matches!

Quite Olly. Really pleased Pope managed to make close and is looking in good nick. It'll take a minor miracle for England to get a score good enough to keep them in with a realistic chance in the game. The way things moved on after lunch the draw is pretty unlikely.
Proper test match pitch, plenty in it for quicks medium pacers and spinners. England just being outplayed in every facet so far despite looking on top both mornings.