The summer of cricket 2020

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Stokes gone at last...and Roach gets one at last ! Bit fluky , reverse leg side edge but I think Kemar was entitled to dome good fortune...

Hell of an innings from Stokes

No century for a Pope , alas...

No doubt about that one. And not a no ball ! West Indies bowlers right on the money this morning and batting looks a lot trickier...

Didn't cost anything. That was a terribly uncomfortable 16 minutes for Pope.

Into the tail...?

Gabriel is bowling very well here. Get the feeling he could take a few quickly.

king_carlos wrote:Gabriel is bowling very well here. Get the feeling he could take a few quickly.

Yes he's bowling some excellent stuff this morning (apart from overstepping ) The fact that he (and Roach ) were pretty exhausted last night probably caused them to delay the new ball by a couple of overs. A night's sleep seems to have done wonders...

England bowlers wont mind getting n this early but west indies are getting back in it

200 for Roach ...first windian since Ambrose amazingly

Woakes not lasting long...

New ball doing the trick. The good thing is that it shows there is a bit of movement there for the bowlers - at least while it is shiny.

Add two wickets , eh ? 267/6...

Woakes goes too.

England would take 300 and getting a go at Windies early from here I'd presume.

Yeah, this is the problem with having Woakes as high as 7.

Time for Buttler to play his shots. Bess can hang around, but Anderson/Archer/Broad are a different matter. 400 isn't impossible from here, just unlikely. England would take 350 now.

Never mind! Sensational half-hour for the West Indies.

Gooseberry wrote:England bowlers wont mind getting n this early but west indies are getting back in it

200 for Roach ...first windian since Ambrose amazingly

Yes good bowling from Roach ; who was pretty unlucky earlier in this series. Not as quick as Gabriel but I think he threatens more often.

Although it is Gabriel who has now done for Buttler !

All happening ! 272/7 and the tail is well and truly engaged...

Duty281 wrote:Yeah, this is the problem with having Woakes as high as 7.

Time for Buttler to play his shots. Bess can hang around, but Anderson/Archer/Broad are a different matter. 400 isn't impossible from here, just unlikely. England would take 350 now.

Never mind! Sensational half-hour for the West Indies.

Forget about 400. 350 might be tough !

Might have to settle for 300

350, I'd take 300 from here! Think the Windies will do well to get 200 so not that worried, just a bit disappointing/predictable it's yets another collapse

Bess has ability with the bat and will always apply himself.

Archer and Broad have ability with the bat and will...

jesus england look like rabbits in headlights, nearly a run out from bess not paying attention!

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Yeah, this is the problem with having Woakes as high as 7.

Time for Buttler to play his shots. Bess can hang around, but Anderson/Archer/Broad are a different matter. 400 isn't impossible from here, just unlikely. England would take 350 now.

Never mind! Sensational half-hour for the West Indies.

Forget about 400.   350 might be tough !

Might have to settle for 300

True! Still, it's the best thing for England's chances of winning.

Different game this morning. If they'd had an extra seamer and hadn't been forced to have Cornwall trundle away half the afternoon yesterday to little purpose , while the main quick men lost their menace through overuse , England might have been all out well short of this...
Won't get many more anyway : Archer added to the bag. 4/22 today.

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Yeah, this is the problem with having Woakes as high as 7.

Time for Buttler to play his shots. Bess can hang around, but Anderson/Archer/Broad are a different matter. 400 isn't impossible from here, just unlikely. England would take 350 now.

Never mind! Sensational half-hour for the West Indies.

Forget about 400.   350 might be tough !

Might have to settle for 300

300 looks a long way off now

I'd take 281 from here! Bit of movement this morning, but utterly terrible batting from England.

Duty281 wrote:

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Yeah, this is the problem with having Woakes as high as 7.

Time for Buttler to play his shots. Bess can hang around, but Anderson/Archer/Broad are a different matter. 400 isn't impossible from here, just unlikely. England would take 350 now.

Never mind! Sensational half-hour for the West Indies.

Forget about 400.   350 might be tough !

Might have to settle for 300

True! Still, it's the best thing for England's chances of winning.

Indeed. I'm not really too bothered as I do fancy England's bowlers to do a job. But - although I said last night I wouldn't mind a few wickets tumbling this morning - I had in mind a few more runs

king_carlos wrote:If these two are there when (if...) England hit 300 then a big score will be possibly. With Woakes batting form of late we could see wickets tumble if the partnership is broken early.

I'm looking forward to this!

Prophetic

Stuart Broad is actually averaging 32.5 with the bat in test matches in 2020...admittedly, four not-outs in six innings might be contributing to that.

Hey goose : one question .

You suggested earlier today that West Indies might have run through England if not for some sloppy keeping ? Did I miss something ? Dowritch really battled but I dont recall him missing Pope or Buttler ?

Duty281 wrote:Stuart Broad is actually averaging 32.5 with the bat in test matches in 2020...admittedly, four not-outs in six innings might be contributing to that.

Not a lot between Broad , Archer and Anderson , to be honest. Not expecting any of them to make a score ; they can all hang around when they put their minds to it.

This late order helps make a reasonable case for favouring Bess over Leach...

300 up anyway

Hoping for a swashbuckling thirty from Broad...

And one also hopes the England bowlers have been noting where Roach and Gabriel have been pitching the ball this morning.

Starting to reach a tiny pinprick of frustration for the West Indies as England get up to 306.

Wouldn't have thought the greatest resistance from the English batters this morning would have been from these two.

Another boundary. Broad loves it short.

Holder not at his best in this game...

Unintelligent bowling to Broad. Hasn't he watched what his two fast men were doing ? Useful runs.

To be fair Broad is supposed to be terrified of short pitch bowling since he lost half his face but does seem he's gotten over that and found his batting confidence again in recent times

Looks like Broad got Duty's memo about the weather and getting on with it!

Don't know why they don't try a few yorkers on the stumps

400 might still be in the cards if the WI's don't get their act together to Broad

Very handy 50+ partnership. Broad with the firepower and Bess once more epitomising good sense riding shotgun.

Fifty for Broad in just 33 balls. The Broad of old. His first fifty since Melbourne 2017 and the joint third-fastest in England test history.

WI have lost their disclipline over the last few overs. The counter-attack has knocked them off kilter.

Fifty for Broad

Timely - and rapid. Really valuable innings : had a feeling he was on for a good one this morning ; and Holder seems to have lost the plot...

Ah of course, the plan was to lose those wickets so Stuart Broad could come in and show the form that has had him compared to Adam Gilchrist for a while. I honestly give up on this crazy game!

This has turned into a perfect morning for England. Plenty of wickets to get the game moving, and plenty of quick runs on the board to get firmly ahead.

You have to love test cricket sometimes... you can't script things like this. Broad the new Stokes!

Good combination here . Bess working it around , Broad out with the hammer...
350 up and the good work of Roach and Gabriel getting wasted as the back up bowling looks toothless. Selection of Cornwall looking sillier by the minute...are the reserve pace men really so bad ?

Poor ball to get out on, but a superb 62 from Broad. Well played. Has turned the score from a decent 300-something to a commanding 350+.

Duty281 wrote:This has turned into a perfect morning for England. Plenty of wickets to get the game moving, and plenty of quick runs on the board to get firmly ahead.

Pretty well what I wanted , actually. As Broad goes at last , caught in the deep for an excellent 62

Must confess I expected this scoreline to include a little less from S Broad and a bit more for the "proper batsmen "

Now all we need is some more dry weather and a few early West Indies wickets...

(Chase 2/30. Cornwall 0/82. Just saying )

Assuming Olly isn't here to say it for me ...

... the only disappointment for England is that lunch will be delayed for 30 minutes if necessary to get the last wicket meaning that the Windies openers will almost certainly get all of the lunch break to prepare for their dig.

Cornwall had a half-decent first spell yesterday, since then he's bowled very much like a club cricketer.

Would prefer Bess to just have a swing from here, rather than scratching around for 1-2 singles per over. Time could well be precious...as Anderson reverse sweeps for four!

Big difference that England have scored at a decent rate yesterday and now with Broad in a potentially shortened game

3 6 9

Damn you fine

111 added in that session. Think England will be very pleased with their overall total - Broad has certainly robbed the West Indies of any momentum.

Difficult to see the West Indies winning from this position. But if they bat responsibly enough, say 90 overs+, it should be good enough to secure the draw provided the rain comes down as expected on Monday. It's very tough to bat out there against the new ball, but after 15 or so overs it becomes significantly easier. If the West Indies are two down or fewer after 15 overs, they should be delighted.

Early England wobbles but all in all turned out nice again.

Anorak stat. Aided by three not outs, Dom Bess averages 83 with the bat in this series.

Duty281 wrote:Cornwall had a half-decent first spell yesterday, since then he's bowled very much like a club cricketer.

Would prefer Bess to just have a swing from here, rather than scratching around for 1-2 singles per over. Time could well be precious...as Anderson reverse sweeps for four!

Some might quite fancy facing him with a stick of rhubarb

Honestly can't see what he is supposed to add : Chase is no Warne , but he's an adequate change bowler. An extra pace man might have made a difference , no ?

Perhaps he is there to add a bit of body to the batting...

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:3 6 9

Damn you fine

Hi Dolph - maybe you could have been a bit more gracious but still decent of you to acknowledge.  I am sure it will be appreciated by our Norfolk correspondent upon his return.*

Importantly, we now get the advantage of playing 5 frontline bowlers having sacrificed a batter for the partially incapacitated Stokes. Aim now should be to dismiss the Windies for under 170 and have the option of enforcing the follow on. I would almost certainly enforce it but I'm getting too ahead of myself!

* Hopefully with a stumping to silence his critics of last week.

Getting well ahead there , guildford ! Not sure the follow on will be essential - or possible. Pitch is no demon ; even if Monday is a wipeout still a fair bit of time left in the game ...a lot could happen. I am wary of predicting given how these matches have all bobbled about - but I fancy England will be the happier team over luncheon.

I think it's a pretty good batting pitch. Won't do a lot after the new ball period, so England will have to work hard for their wickets.

There we go! Early breakthrough for Broad with said new ball. And he's got the better of the two openers, too.

Perfect start for England ! Broad removes the stubborn Brathwaite .

Having a good day ...

Alfie - it may be stretching but getting them all out for under 170 to give us the option of enforcing the follow on should still be the aim imo.
Particularly as it's set to bucket down for two and a half days over the next three according to some of you guys!
Good start anyway by Broad. 1/1 and Broad relaxed enough to not demand a review next ball!