*Official* Second Test (Lord's, London) 28 June–2 July

[Shri]

If you're not constantly reading the forum you won't get what I'm saying

not true

 

[chris.hinton]

No chance mate, we've named our squad and Foakes isn't in it

Yeah i just seen mate

 

[TheJediBrah]

If England really wanna commit to Bazball style batting, they have to understand they will need depth in the batting to pull it off. Woakes and Ali presumably for Anderson and Robinson could make it happen. But they have to ensure Moeen is actually fit to bowl a lot of overs. If not, bring in Woakes at least for Anderson and play Wood for Robinson. Tongue has actually stood up well in this game and shown a lot of courage. I would back him for the next test. And Broad can lead the attack and also bat 9. Wood is a pretty decent biffer as well, if I am not wrong.

Moeen is terrible against Australia, and as you say he's not match fit. He's definitely not the right option. Liam Dawson could fill a similar role though

But agree that #batdeep is always a good choice

 

[Socerer 01]

He has been smashing spinners in the IPL too mate. And Root is hardly a top class spinner. When you are in the mood to slog, its easy to line up blokes like Root. It was just an overconfident and lazy decision.

no he wasn’t, his strike rate is 44.9 against spinners and 185.8 against pacers for kkr. even in that 50 against mi he scored 12 from 11 balls against the spinners

still doesn’t excuse bowling Root that long mind you

 

[Prince EWS]

He has been smashing spinners in the IPL too mate. And Root is hardly a top class spinner. When you are in the mood to slog, its easy to line up blokes like Root. It was just an overconfident and lazy decision.

Thanks DK.

 

[Aidan11]

Rehan Ahmed and Matthew Potts released from the squad.

 

[grecian]

lol.. Pope has been worse. And leg side strangles are always unfortunate.

Actually both tests could have gone either way. This reminds me of the 2018 Ind-Eng series in England. A few small things and the other side could easily be 2-0 up. As long as they can play with the passion and spirit they showed today and add a modicum of sense to how they play, they should still be very competitive in this series and could even snag the next two games. Not the time for overreaction.

And if anything, Anderson and Robinson should be dropped for Woakes and Wood.

Pope has been worse in 2 Test matches, yeah leg-side strangles are unfortunate, wandering down the pitch aimlessly when well set is not.

In the end it's great for Zak that's he's batting better than his Test average so far except when you realise that both those averages are under 30 and not far off his first-class average.

Robinson has done alright, but yeah the bowlers need to be rotated, but it would be nice if bats maybe considered being dropped after being hideously poor for awhile.

 

[Shri]

green has played 23 tests wtf

 

[Spark]

green has played 23 tests wtf

This was definitely the worst of them. Just didn't look right mentally in the game.

 

[Cricket CoachDB]

Wet green wicket, bloody hell, really

Hey nice effort on the final day, but actually proved that not hooking everything short was the right tactic, as should have been blatantly obvious in our first dig.

Stokes and Mcullum shouldn't be under any threat, massive over-reaction by some, but if they don't modify things in certain ways, I will be amongst those that want them out. Oh and ****ing drop Crawley.

I think I told you I loved your avatar and asked if you were a Coventry fan years ago, but as it's been a while, I'll repeat the joy at seeing one of our finest ever players in a classic kit.

 

[Prince EWS]

This was definitely the worst of them. Just didn't look right mentally in the game.

It reminded me a lot of his first few Tests actually, his bowling especially.

In that first series at home against India he was rarely used with the ball and picked up 0/118 in four Tests. When he did bowl he was used as a short-bowling #enforcer because he was tall and quick, but that's never how he'd bowled at lower levels so he was useless at it.

At least in this Test they asked him to bowl like that because they asked everyone to bowl like that and not because tall=bouncers, but he's really just not good at that plan for him at all. He gets good lift off a full length and moves the ball - that's his thing. A bouncer every 2-3 overs to mess with the batsmen's footwork is something he can manage but he's really quite awful at getting the length right for a sustained short ball attack.

 

[Spark]

It reminded me a lot of his first few Tests actually, his bowling especially.

In that first series at home against India he was rarely used with the ball and picked up 0/118 in four Tests. When he did bowl he was used as a short-balling #enforcer because he was tall and quick, but that's never how he'd bowled at lower levels so he was useless at it.

At least in this Test they asked him to bowl like that because they asked everyone to bowl like that and not because tall=bouncers, but he's really just not good at that plan for him at all. He gets good lift off a full length and moves the ball - that's his thing. A bouncer every 2-3 overs to mess with the batsmen's footwork is something he can manage but he's really quite awful at getting the length right for a sustained short ball attack.

He also has very little control over his line too, that's why Stokes kept belting him for six - kept giving him room to free his arms. When we were all raving about his bowling 18 months ago it was by hitting a length hard outside and getting it to move away, not whatever that was.

 

[grecian]

I think I told you I loved your avatar and asked if you were a Coventry fan years ago, but as it's been a while, I'll repeat the joy at seeing one of our finest ever players in a classic kit.

Nah, I'm not a Cov fan, just a great retro pic of Psycho I saw on Twitter.

 

[Gob]

Lol at McCullum suggesting he won't have a drink with oppo

Can someone ring up Murali

 

[Prince EWS]

Lol at McCullum suggesting he won't have a drink with oppo

Can someone ring up Murali

And Mpofu. Especially Mpofu.

****, Blessing Mahwire too. Robbed of a ton.

 

[Gob]

And Mpofu. Especially Mpofu.

****, Blessing Mahwire too. Robbed of a ton.

Answer my question ****

 

[Gob]

I mentioned this in a post earlier but it went un noticed

What do you think about that bit where, soon after ball went past Bairstow, he looks back and gingerly marks the crease with his back foot. Does that mean he marked the crease? Couldn't be bothered to research it

this one

 

[Blenkinsop]

Does marking the crease mean anything in terms of whether you can be stumped or run out, or whether the ball is dead?

It's a bit like kids shouting "In!"

 

[loterry1994]

This bairstow wicket was the same at the Starc catch yesterday. Both were stupid in the moment to let it go to the third umpire. And turned out they both didn’t get the result they wanted

 

[Ashes81]

This bairstow wicket was the same at the Starc catch yesterday. Both were stupid in the moment to let it go to the third umpire. And turned out they both didn’t get the result they wanted

Both decisions were correct by the letter of the law. The discussion should be around whether the law is correct or not.