*Official* Fifth Test (The Oval, London) 27-31 July

[social]

Australia’s biggest problem all series is that they can point to the scoreboard despite being absolutely dreadful tactically so they won’t change

 

[morgieb]

60/40 England IMO.

apart from a few early overs i actually think we’ve bowled well, certainly the best in a while. Poor catching has been dire though.

 

[Gob]

Brooks looked ****ing awful earlier. Should have been out 3 times

 

[CartyDurham]

Pretty even session that

hopefully the weather stays ok for the afternoon

 

[wpdavid]

Reckon that is just about our session, 1/3 of the way to a good score.

Evens for me. I'd have taken it when Root was dismissed.

 

[CartyDurham]

Brooks looked ****ing awful earlier. Should have been out 3 times

Sadly he isn’t . He may go on here and punish Australia

 

[Burgey]

Sadly he isn’t . He may go on here and punish Australia

Will be out within 15 minutes after lunch. He’s a hack

 

[slowfinger]

2 ploys against England left here if the ball stops moving (which it's looking like). Bowl short or bring Murphy on (spin to win). Short of that, England should be looking at 400 today

 

[danzydab]

Carey may have dropped the series.
Some exhilarating stuff from brook

 

[Gob]

Will be out within 15 minutes after lunch. He’s a hack

Looks absolutely hopeless when the ball move off the straight but always seems to have more luck than the others

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Is it just me or does it feel more like watching an ODI than a Test now. That session was really messy on all fronts. Even though the run rate was high so it should have been great to watch, there was some filthy slogging, scattergun bowling, easy singles with sweepers out from ball 1, dropped catches, and soft dismissals. So yeah I don't think the quality of cricket was good at all. Apart from a good Cummins spell, getting some great nip and lift in the channel at 90 mph.

 

[loterry1994]

That Brook drop is massive we know he’ll always score at a decent rate if stokes had come in he would of been blocking it till lunch

 

[Son Of Coco]

Just got home to find out we dropped 3 catches in the first session. Not ideal.

 

[danzydab]

can't wait to see brook make me laugh in india later this year

he is more sensible vs spin than seam. wont be going after every ball.
still not sure how he will go

 

[Gob]

Is it just me or does it feel more like watching an ODI than a Test now. That session was really messy on all fronts. Even though the run rate was high so it should have been great to watch, there was some filthy slogging, scattergun bowling, easy singles with sweepers out from ball 1, dropped catches, and soft dismissals. So yeah I don't think the quality of cricket was good at all. Apart from a good Cummins spell, getting some great nip and lift in the channel at 90 mph.

Yeah looks the same for me

If every other team starts to play like this and wickets get flatter to aid this, there will be nothing that separates Root from Crawley

I liked test cricket before it was saved

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Will be out within 15 minutes after lunch. He’s a hack

Yeah fair play to the lad backing himself and getting some scores. But jeez, it's maddening to watch as a lifelong Test purist.

 

[Gob]

he is more sensible vs spin than seam. wont be going after every ball.
still not sure how he will go

Jadeja will absolutely own him

 

[91Jmay]

Brook played some awesome shots that weren't slogs tbf.

 

[danzydab]

Jadeja will absolutely own him

surely the bcci is kind enough to roll out flat pitches for the bazballers

 

[Gob]

Moeen looked pretty good tbf. Looked like a proper batsman in defence