England cricket team

[TightEnd]

Brendan stayed far to attacking for to long early on and before you know it England are back to at least par and probably on top

Nice jig of the batting order from strauss  to

completely disagree. another wicket at 30-4 was the plan, and McCullum had to keep attacking. they were a sliver away from getting root lbw before lunch on the review which was just umpires call and then they have a chance to roll us over...

once the track flattened out, it being dry underneath, the chance was lost..hence need to keep attacking for the first two hours

the Ali at 8 was Farbrace/Cook. Strauss has spent the afternoon on a train to leeds to speak to gillespie. his role is not hands on running the team

[horseplayer]

If is a big word in sport

they didn't was good to hear 3 separate pundits on tms mention similar. Attacking captains never questioned it seems

Stokes just confirmed he was told he would bat 6 yesterday by strauss btw

[TightEnd]

If is a big word in sport

they didn't was good to hear 3 separate pundits on tms mention similar. Attacking captains never questioned it seems

they are all results orientated

mccullum is lauded for being different and attacking when it works, criticised when runs are given away.

i cannot listen to tms because of tufnell. horrible horrible "analyst" who the bbc seems to think the cricketing public wants to hear from

 

[nellberg]

If is a big word in sport

they didn't was good to hear 3 separate pundits on tms mention similar. Attacking captains never questioned it seems

they are all results orientated

mccullum is lauded for being different and attacking when it works, criticised when runs are given away.

i cannot listen to tms because of tufnell. horrible horrible "analyst" who the bbc seems to think the cricketing public wants to hear from

 

I felt Bmc let us off the hook a bit. I agree at 30-4 you stay attacking to break the game open, but you need a plan B and to be able to throttle back when the batsman start to get on top.  113-4 off 26 overs at lunch showed to me he might have got the balance wrong.

Clarke as often lauded for being innovative and attacking, but you'll see most matches watson will bowl a miserly spell of 5 overs whilst the main men rest, he'll "sit in" for that period of time then attack again when harris and johnson are back on. Nothing wrong with that, just playing the game situation, not letting the other team have a sniff. When Root and Stokes were going they'd relinquished the control they'd earned with the new ball.

I'm a fan of negative, "grind them down" cricket though in general, so obviously biased towards that, but i like a captain who can switch gears with his tactics depending on the situation and momentum shifts in the game

[TightEnd]

another old fashioned fan! nothing better than 6 hours of 2 runs an over :-)

113-4 off 26..different story if the extra catcher makes it 113-5 at lunch. the alternative is 80-4 and saving some runs but in the context of the game the possibility of the extra wicket is more important than the 30 runs

of course by mid afternoon Stokes in particular meant the pendulum had swung, really good counter attacking innings but i am quite a fan of a captain not putting the sweeper on the boundary etc...higher variance than many captaincy approaches though, certainly

i felt he underbowled anderson too, who is a partnership breaker.

Anyway, there's still plenty in the wicket with the new ball and Anderson should have a lot of fun sometime tomorrow

[nellberg]

corey might be short of a gallop coming back from injury. he could be their stock bowler / golden arm depending on situation, give the openers a rest, normally bowls more than he did today. does look a new ball pitch, would like to see the back of williamson early, think he is excellent. if it flattens out and they have a platform their middle order will certainty get the game moving along!

[horseplayer]

Captains innings. ..

[horseplayer]

Great stuff this

[horseplayer]

Bm done the same this session

Stokes played superb but rather than even try to tie him up has served him bouncers for 30 minutes

[tikay]

Loved the Root salute, wonderful.

[TightEnd]

Great stuff from Stokes

Cook shouldn't be underplayed either. don't like his captaincy much but remains a very gritty test opening bat with what will end up being an all time good test record in terms of runs scored/centuries

[nellberg]

from what i saw inbetween hiding behind the sofa (last day of the prem was nervy for us toon fans) Bmac was again a bit too aggressive? Stokes is the kind of guy you want in a scrap like, which is why he is a must for the ashes despite his poor bowling returns, but Cook is the glue today, stokes can't play with that freedom without the solidity of cook. on the flip side of the Bmac aggression coin, as Ian smith was saying, if he fancies chasing down whatever we leave them, the whole team will go for it with complete conviction, so tomorrow could be a real classic day of cricket with momentum going from side to side ... intriguingly poised

[tikay]

from what i saw inbetween hiding behind the sofa (last day of the prem was nervy for us toon fans) Bmac was again a bit too aggressive? Stokes is the kind of guy you want in a scrap like, which is why he is a must for the ashes despite his poor bowling returns, but Cook is the glue today, stokes can't play with that freedom without the solidity of cook. on the flip side of the Bmac aggression coin, as Ian smith was saying, if he fancies chasing down whatever we leave them, the whole team will go for it with complete conviction, so tomorrow could be a real classic day of cricket with momentum going from side to side ... intriguingly poised

It's already been a great Test. It may yet get even better.

[Tal]

It's like watching that DeGale fight last night. Neither really good enough, full of weaknesses and unsophisticated at times, but entertaining because of it and the odd flash of brilliance and favouring attack over defence makes it enthralling.

I do worry about what lies ahead, mind.

[horseplayer]

It's like watching that DeGale fight last night. Neither really good enough, full of weaknesses and unsophisticated at times, but entertaining because of it and the odd flash of brilliance and favouring attack over defence makes it enthralling.

I do worry about what lies ahead, mind.

Very harsh that

Been a really good test been moments of poor bowling but also some very good spells. The spell the New Zealand quicks bowled first up this morning was top class and only Cook digging in and Root riding his luck a tad stopped it being all over very early.

Would have seriously troubled any top order for that 90 minutes this morning.

I really do not see the Ashes being as one sided as so many think. It is not easy to win test matches away for any side and we have real depth to our batting line up. Bowling is an obvious concern but we should make enough runs to be competitive.

Clarke has lost seven of his last ten away tests as Captain as well.