The New Cricket Thread

[Spy Bee]

24 minutes ago, Stickman said:

Butler goes cheaply again with a pathetic caught and bowled...Maybe it's time to say that Jos ain't cut out for this test cricket lark...

His average is only 2 less than Bairstow at 32... Foakes average is 40

[Stickman]

5 minutes ago, Spy Bee said:

His average is only 2 less than Bairstow at 32... Foakes average is 40

I'd have either of those two in ahead of Buttler anytime I know Bairstow is having a rough time but he'll come good again....Curran has just come in and hit a quickfire 24 including the biggest six of the innings so you have players who can take it to the opposition further down the order...I'd rather have a wicketkeeper who can actually hold up one end when needed to

[Spy Bee]

Currant is really raisin along here

[Spy Bee]

Oops!

[Stickman]

Great little innings that from Curran just what England needed after losing those two quick wickets...

 

Hopefully Pope kicks on to his century as he's looked understandably nervous this past hour

 

100 for Pope great stuff

[Mudface]

Hilarious- Wood's hammering the spinner for 6s, Pope's playing reverse sweeps behind him, Rabada finally gets Wood caught and Root declares, and it's a no ball so they carry on.

[Stickman]

Mark Wood 42 off 23 balls and 5 sixes.....

 

I was going to say if Mark Wood can bat like that then it could be hard to get SA out twice but cricket doesn't work like that especially when you've been out in the field for nearly two days

 

Great innings of 135 not out by Pope I do hope England don't start moving up the order just yet let him settle in to the side first before fucking him up

[The Woolster]

Why not let Broad go out and swing his arms for the last wicket and give Pope a chance to get to 150?

[sir roger]

1 minute ago, The Woolster said:

Why not let Broad go out and swing his arms for the last wicket and give Pope a chance to get to 150?

Surprised they never tried to get the 500 at least, although I think Pope will be happy enough avoiding taking a chance on dobbing his average with a hole-out.

 

At least we avoid a repeat of Stuart Broad mimicking the maid on Tom and Jerry to avoid a yorker crushing his toes.

[The Woolster]

That too, its another little psychological boost considering they hadn't managed to get to 400 for a while.

 

They added 30 odd off what, 3 or 4 overs between the no ball wicket and the actual wicket. Could have added another 20 odd to turn that screw more and give us a bit more flexibility if we get to a position to declare in the 2nd innings. And if the wicket falls straight away, it makes no difference

 

 

[Spy Bee]

2 wickets is pretty good going. Strange that it took so long for Wood to come on.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Despite a flat and slow wicket that was a great day of Test match cricket. Great knocks by Stokes and Pope, great to see Pope get his maiden century, he looks a class act. Good little knocks by both Curran and Wood to nudge the score close to 500, strange declaration. Buttler must be under pressure to start performing with the bat though, not like he's a great keeper. England could easily give the gloves to Pope and add another batsman for the final test, which is something worth thinking about. Nice for Bess to get a couple of wickets. With a bit of bad weather about I'd be surprised if we get a result from this match though. Mind you, this SA line up is full of young players and other players out of nick, so who knows. Things looking better on the batting front though, hopefully they can go on from here and also do it against better teams. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

10 minutes ago, Spy Bee said:

2 wickets is pretty good going. Strange that it took so long for Wood to come on.

 

Yeah, he looked fast when he came on. You could see the batsmen having new problems to deal with. 

[mgw100]

Rabada's ban is a joke. He'd just knocked back the off stump of the opposing captain and showed some emotion. It wasn't over the top. 

[Brownie]

32 minutes ago, mgw100 said:

Rabada's ban is a joke. He'd just knocked back the off stump of the opposing captain and showed some emotion. It wasn't over the top. 

I agree, absolute joke to get a demerit point for that.

 

Pope looks like a quality player, great to see.

[Jarvinja Ilnow]

25 minutes ago, mgw100 said:

Rabada's ban is a joke. He'd just knocked back the off stump of the opposing captain and showed some emotion. It wasn't over the top. 

His card was marked because of the other stuff he did against Australia and in the last test, where he didn't get a warning. Michael Holding put it in perspective, comparing it to points on a driving licence. I think if Rabada had been less of a twat previously then this incident wouldn't have been a demerit. 

 

Pope, Crawley and Sibley getting into the side is what a lot of us wanted to see last summer. Bit of a cliche but England seem energised, having the young lads, and it's great to see the enthusiasm and the lads obviously enjoying their cricket.

 

I hope Bairstow doesn't get selected, he's a moody bastard and nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. Ben Foakes will hopefully be the next one. He's in his mid 20s, so that's  good going forward. Just need to address the minor matter of replacing Anderson and Broad in the next couple of years.

[mgw100]

Just noticed Maharaj conceded 180 runs in the innings. That is a fuck of a lot. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Overcast conditions but it looks like they dropped a different wicket in overnight, ball doing much more this morning. Two early wickets and the Nightwatchman from last night is still at the crease. Bess with all 4 wickets so far. Elgar and Du Plessis the batsmen out. 

[Brownie]

5fer for Bess. Didn’t see that coming after watching him in the last game, he looked innocuous, hardly any threat.

 

Has bowled great in this innings.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Weather is going to fuck this test up by the looks of things. Mind you, SA could easily fail to reach the follow on total so you never know, probably only need another 5-6 sessions to bowl them out twice if the overcast conditions stay and the pitch deteriorates. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Got up 40 minutes later than planned and SA are following on having been bowled out this morning for 209. Nice to see us mop up the tail quickly for a change. It seems that everything has come together for this and the last test. 

[Dougie Do'ins]

15/0 and off for rain.

[Mudface]

Four wickets for one run in 28 balls earlier this morning, great stuff. Just hope the rain holds off enough to get a result. 

[sir roger]

restart at 12.10 assuming no further rain

[Dougie Do'ins]

SA are 44/3 and still 246 behind.