*Official* Pakistan tour of Ireland, England and Scotland 2018

[Kirkut]

Test cricket - you can always count on it to bite you back in the bum. You win 8 sessions and you'd think you have the match in the bag, lose one session and it's right open.

That's like life, isn't it?

 

[Kirkut]

Babar Azam should come back from injury in the 4th innings like Virat Kohli here for a heroic finish

Dishoom is still more tolerable than Victory, poor Harman Baweja:

 

[Black_Warrior]

That's like life, isn't it?

Yes and that's why Test cricket is life

 

[TheJediBrah]

Why does the most interesting session always seem to happen when you're asleep? Would have loved to watch Buttler show this kind of fight

 

[trundler]

Thank the gods, the weather seems fine at Lord's.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Egg on face for all ed smith and buttler haters, genius mastermind. Facepalm for Kennedy fella

Only if Wood takes a matchwinning 5fer

 

[marc71178]

Only if Wood takes a matchwinning 5fer

Which would negate the face palm for Kennedy but let's face it, Wood is never going to do that even if there's enough runs to play with.

 

[theegyptian]

Particularly glad Buttler and Bess did well. People writing off a selection after one innings (as lots of people did) are stupid- just as one good innings doesn't make a career.

Assuming England lose this game they are going to really have to look at the Bayliss/Fairbace/Root group. Results just aren't good enough over a long period.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Egg on face for all ed smith and buttler haters, genius mastermind. Facepalm for Kennedy fella

I wouldn't say I remember offering much of an opinion on Ed Smith (?), and ''Buttler hater''? Buttler is obviously extraordinarily talented in his format Twenty20. If he proves people wrong as a test seven there, red ball cricket, nobody is happier to put their hand up than me.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Only if Wood takes a matchwinning 5fer

Which would negate the face palm for Kennedy but let's face it, Wood is never going to do that even if there's enough runs to play with.

Pity he took a six-for the other week!

 

[Moonsorrow999]

Pity he took a six-for the other week!

Division 2 English cricket, test match cricket. Same thing right?

Also, this doesn't prove Buttler haters wrong, just like the 70 Cook made doesn't. Nobody ever questions Buttler's talent and if you do you are dumb. His issue is consistency, even in ODI cricket. Buttler haters proven wrong when he shows he can be consistently good at test level, one knock doesn't make a player. Look where Hameed is.

 

[YorksLanka]

Well played buttler and bess. I was advocating Ali over bess yesterday for his batting, so pleased to be so motivational for him?

 

[Father Time]

What I found very interesting was how Buttler used his feet. He walked down & across the wicket which negated the length & movement of the bowlers. He did something different. Might want to give a few lessons to No's 1-6 there! Particularly Cook, Stoneman, & Malan, who are totally glued to a point behind the crease. This was a big difference & to me rather than saying the pitch flattened out I would say Buttler flattened it out for himself. Very impressive innings for him & young Bess. I'm sure theres a few more young gems out there, so Ed Smith you now need to find a 2 & a 3.

 

[fredfertang]

What I found very interesting was how Buttler used his feet. He walked down & across the wicket which negated the length & movement of the bowlers. He did something different. Might want to give a few lessons to No's 1-6 there! Particularly Cook, Stoneman, & Malan, who are totally glued to a point behind the crease. This was a big difference & to me rather than saying the pitch flattened out I would say Buttler flattened it out for himself. Very impressive innings for him & young Bess. I'm sure theres a few more young gems out there, so Ed Smith you now need to find a 2 & a 3.

This is spot on - Buttler looked like a decent batsman yesterday, as opposed to just Jos Buttler putting together a good knock - heaven knows what we are going to do about the other batting slots though, although looking at Ramprakash Ed Smith could probably do worse than tell him to dig his whites out

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Great that Bess and Buttler restoring some pride. On the topic of Bess, it'll be interesting to see what he has to offer in terms of bowling

 

[fredfertang]

****

 

[wpdavid]

And that's that, even without needing the new ball. All over by lunch, surely.

 

[Adders]

**** sakes. I really should stop watching......they seem to go great when I'm not and **** when I am.

 

[wpdavid]

Assuming England lose this game they are going to really have to look at the Bayliss/Fairbace/Root group. Results just aren't good enough over a long period.

Bayliss' role with the test team is becoming untenable. Even allowing the crock of shite that is our domestic system, surely something better than this could be found. Root's a tricky one. His track record as captain is increasingly horrible and it doesn't seem to have done his batting any favours, but who else is there? Maybe there's a case for a Brearley-style non-playing captain given that he wouldn't be much worse as a player than some of the present incumbents. No idea who that person might be though.

 

[weldone]

While I don't doubt that Shadab has genuine batting ability, I think it is awfully unfair to compare his bowling to Steve Smith. Steve Smith was a batsman picked for his bowling due to selector desperation of finding the next SK Warne. Shadab has 50 FC wickets taken in just 10 games at less than 25. That is the stuff of a genuine bowler, who in the case of Shadab, brings useful batting into a nice allrounder package.

Interesting that you found the comparison of their bowling 'awfully unfair', but didn't mention anything about the comparison of their batting.