The summer of cricket 2020

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A very strong position for England with runs on the board and a series lead in hand.

Pakistan going to have to produce something special from here to rescue the series

That's 4 easy catches off Anderson over the last 3 session. His teammates in the nervous nineties as Jimmy tries to get to 600 this summer!

I love that Colly is 44 and still a good enough fielder to just chuck some spare whites on and jump into the field.

Does feel like the opportunities slipping here. Woakes making things happen but the wickets need to start falling soon. Should get easier for Paksitan as the ball ages.

king_carlos wrote:I love that Colly is 44 and still a good enough fielder to just chuck some spare whites on and jump into the field.

Hows his keeping?

Perfect first hour for Pakistan. Openers have seen off the new ball, the middle order will be coming out against a soft one, and England look very, very flat. Noticeable how tired Broad looked when he 'chased' a ball down to the boundary. Overall, England haven't been full enough or delivered the right lines with the ball (except maybe Woakes who's started well).

At least we've avoided the rain (for now!).

4th out of the last 48 innings a visiting side to England hasn't lost a wicket in the first 14 overs. Buttler was keeping for quite a few of those too

Without wishing to incite Soul : I have to wonder what it is about Jos Buttler that causes the commentary team to be so fawningly protective ? He drops a simple catch that almost any keeper would expect to swallow (and judging by his expression he felt that himself) and they spend the next half hour running slow motion shots and trying to suggest that the ball had done something remarkable that rendered the miss completely excusable ...

What a lot of rubbish. Saying "It was a dreadful miss : but the man had a great day yesterday so we won't shoot him for one error" - fair.
But trying to completely white it out is nonsense. And I bet it wouldn't be said of any other keeper.

Looks like rain any minute now.

alfie wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:Foakes watch. 50 not out.  No real significance as regards England but should keep Soul cheering his man.

Haha...  Maybe not immediate interest to England ; but Foakes really needed to get some runs after his pretty thin returns last season for Surrey. Will help his confidence - and a good effort coming off a prolonged period of nothing but nets

Foakes watch update. Last out for 118. His top score in a thin season last year was 69. Not going to get him back in the team yet but it'll keep him in the mix and Soul talking.

alfie wrote:Without wishing to incite Soul : I have to wonder what it is about Jos Buttler that causes the commentary team to be so fawningly protective ? He drops a simple catch that almost any keeper would expect to swallow (and judging by his expression he felt that himself) and they spend the next half hour running slow motion shots and trying to suggest that the ball had done something remarkable that rendered the miss completely excusable ...

What a lot of rubbish. Saying "It was a dreadful miss : but the man had a great day yesterday so we won't shoot him for one error" - fair.
But trying to completely white it out is nonsense. And I bet it wouldn't be said of any other keeper.

This has been my problem the whole time, there seems to be an unnecessary desire from the Sky team to defend him regardless of how he's performing and the bulk of that defence centres on his ODI performances. He's a good keeper there's no question about that but he's not a great keeper at all and pulling off the catch he did yesterday shows that, I judge a keeper on the simple chances and this summer he's dropped five in total which isn't good enough.

You look at the likes of Foakes or Rizwan (superb performances in what must have been alien conditions) and everything looks natural based on very good footwork. If you look at that catch yesterday, Buttler ended up having to take a blinder because his footwork isn't as soft as it should be, it's something you'll see with De Kock and Bairstow too. I've been a strong supporter of picking the best keeper since Jack Russell was messed around in the 90's and in that circumstance Stewart was pretty bloody good anyway.

And we're off.

(Please take lunch now, not at 14:00!)

Sounds a bit dodgy for Pope - same shoulder as last time, already saying he is unlikely to return this game, really hope for his sake it hasn’t gone again...

I can't much argue with Soul's assessment there. I have thought all along that Jos' main weakness is his relatively poor footwork (when keeping , not batting !). In an odd sort of way it sometimes serves to make his good catches look better as he has to compensate with his athleticism for not getting to the ball as easily as he might.
The fact that he can dive around rather well helps him to get by in a generally quite adequate manner standing back , but doesn't help so much up close which gives rise to a lot of concern about his work to spinners.
But as I have said before , his role as keeper is more down to the fact that England want him in the team and this is the most "convenient" spot. He's done OK except for a couple of recent matches ; but I don't see him as the long term best choice and would rather he played as a specialist batsman.

Don't see England moving him though , at least not yet.

Having seen recent sexy pictures of Foakes, I’d suggest we captain him and his long hair

Gooseberry wrote:Does feel like the opportunities slipping here. Woakes making things happen but the wickets need to start falling soon. Should get easier for Paksitan as the ball ages.

I fear you were on the money with this, Goose. When they went off the ball was still doing just enough for there to be the possibility of one wicket bringing a few. It has looked a slightly tired morning from England though and the game could drift once the ball softens.

I just hope we don't see Archer bowling an 8 over spell of banging the old ball halfway into the track with a leg slip in place but often in these situations that has been England's plan B.

It would be a perfect chance for Bess to prove a few people wrong with a key couple of wickets.

Few journos on twitter saying it is absolutely pelting it down at the Ageas now - looks like this might be a long delay...

https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1297867721452003328?s=21

Think you can get some early kip in tonight Alfie...

Foakes with a century in an innings where the next highest score was 30. Buttler will surely be in the side when/if England tour Sri Lanka but if Foakes can score a decent number of runs then the selectors may well consider Buttler as a specialist bat with Foakes keeping.

Should just shake hands on the draw now. Even if it dries up, the light will be an issue.

And the forecast for tomorrow is rubbish.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1297867721452003328?s=21

Think you can get some early kip in tonight Alfie...

Seems to have stopped now...might take a while to mop up but I'd hope we see some play eventually.

They'll need to get a bit more active when they do start though...it was all looking way too flat this morning for some reason.

Pitch inspection at 14:20. So I think the earliest possible restart time will be 15:00.

And of course there might be more rain on the way. I suppose the series is effectively safe so England won't mind too much with a draw, but they will lose out on some WTC points.

The game was safe anyway Duty so England will be very disappointed if it is rained off. Theres improved hope of play tomorrow afternoon./evening. That said its going to take another of those epic bowling spells we have seen England produce through the summer to prise out the 10 wickets in what at absolute best will be 60 overs between today and tomorrow. Really the new ball this morning was the key.

Big question now seems to be will Anderson ever get his 600th!

Further inspection at 15:00. Must have been a lot of rain!

Restart at 15:30, maybe?

Might be back on but not for long

Restart at 15:45.

Duty281 wrote:Restart at 15:45.

And then off again for tea in short order

Is there anything more frustrating than waiting around for inspections , mop ups , more inspections...knowing all the time that as soon as they actually get back on the rain will likely be back ?

And why the devil did they rule out the 10-30 am start last night because they thought it might rain early on ? Could have at least had another half hour of play this morning...and logically could still use overtime late today if the scheduled overs were not completed (and yes I know that is not allowed by the current rules : but why not ?)

I get that having players "on call" for such a long extended day is rough on them ; but surely it isn't happening every day and most teams would rather play than not ...just seems sensible to maximise the chance of getting a full day in whenever possible...

Ah, they've been sensible and taken tea now. So up to 3hrs and 45 minutes for the final session with an aim of 52 overs being bowled.

Of course, light will definitely curtail things early, and further rain might curtail things even earlier.

Anyway tea is taken so (as long as it doesn't rain again) they can play from 3.45 to round about midnight , isn't that right ?

Possible three and a quarter hours ? Would be nice...

Duty281 wrote:Ah, they've been sensible and taken tea now. So up to 3hrs and 45 minutes for the final session with an aim of 52 overs being bowled.

Of course, light will definitely curtail things early, and further rain might curtail things even earlier.

Wow... what got into them??? Some common sense to have tea early and have some more play if possible??? I'm confused

Nice to be watching cricket again...hats off to the ground staff for getting it fit for play anyway

But if we're to have any real excitement there needs to be a wicket or two soonish... Otherwise the fizz will go out of the bottle long before the (hopefully late) close .

Jimmy seems to be getting into his rhythm now so the next few overs might be interesting...

3.5 hours today, fair hope of the same tomorrow...could just be enough but they need to turn some of these fishes into wickets. Broads got some movement

Breakthrough for Broad. Something out of nothing.

Gooseberry wrote:3.5 hours today, fair hope of the same tomorrow...could just be enough but they need to turn some of these fishes into wickets. Broads got some movement

If they get that much play then there must be a fair chance of a result. If.

But they need a break ...and they be got one !

Broad has Shan ...lbw of course ...

Close but fair enough I think. Looked more "out" live than the drs says ; but out anyway.

A start...

Don't hold out much hope of a lot of play tomorrow. If the BBC are right, and the Met Office seem to agree, it'll be raining pretty consistently between 00:00-14:00 tomorrow, some of it quite heavy. After that deluge, it's going to be a good 2-3 hours minimum to get the pitch into a playable state.

Now : can one bring two ? Azhar...and Babar ...are the key wickets .they need. And Rizwan of course ...

Batting has looked a bit more difficult since the long break . But as we are in the 25th over the ball is not going to stay helpful for too much longer , so England need to press hard. Bit surprised to see Broad off straight after the wicket !

Time for Archer to produce something.

Think Broad was taken off due to weariness. Expect Bess to get quite a few overs tonight...and yep, here he is now. Plenty of footmarks to aim for.

Bess already.

No left handers to bowl at. Hope he can find something but I'm not expecting to see this pitch turn into a spitting cobra so he will need to do it himself.

Archer needs to make them play a lot more.

Duty281 wrote:Think Broad was taken off due to weariness. Expect Bess to get quite a few overs tonight...and yep, here he is now. Plenty of footmarks to aim for.

Most bowlers aren't too weary straight after they've taken a wicket

But yes that's the logic I guess.

The footmarks are in the wrong place for Bess. Absence of Sam Curran , alas...

Masood ended up with the lowest aggregate of runs in a series where a batsmen has batted at least five times with a score of over 150, feast or famine.

Archer's pace going up, but he's been incredibly ineffectual so far so it makes no odds.

One wicket in the opening hour and that came out of nothing. Don't think Pakistan will collapse like the West Indies, somehow...

Drinks. All going Pakistan's way so far. Draw is looking good as England just don't look particularly switched on at the moment.

Would have thought after the wicket there might have been a bit of pressure on the bats ...but Broad came straight off , Archer really hasn't threatened at all despite some good figures on the speed gun , and Bess just isn't a Swann...frankly it looks flat.

Maybe after a difficult season and a lot of weather interruptions they
are a bit resigned to it now ? Satisfied to take the series win and just go through the motions unless a real opportunity presents ? Not
deliberate , perhaps...but maybe understandable.

A wicket might spark them but I'm not sure where it's coming from.

Duty281 wrote:Archer's pace going up, but he's been incredibly ineffectual so far so it makes no odds.

Almost like he's more effective not being asked to bang it in short at 90mph in England, where bowling short isn't remotely as good as pitching it up despite the media (and seemingly England's) continued obsession with it. As we were discussing a few weeks back, as soon as England see someone with a modicum of pace, they seemingly have to become "the enforcer". Does my head in

Edit: While I do rag on his record a bit in England, this is probably also why Mark Wood struggles here. Certainly when he first came into the side here this was his "role"

Likely to see some more rain around 6ish.

Been brilliant to have test cricket back, and we've seen some good games and great finishes, but these last two have passed by with a whimper.

Olly depends on the pitch and circumstances. Anderson Broad and Woakes haven't been any more threatening and less so once the ball has softened. The previous game it was evident they lacked a bowler who can make something happen. Also worth remembeing Stokes salvaged the summer with an 11 over spell of body line that nearly wrecked him.

Feels like Archer gets critisized whatever he does. His pace has troubled Pakistan and its a surprise he hasn't got a wicket, although I am inclined to think he shouldve bowled at the wicket more often.

On the spinners Bess and Vidri are the only ones of the 7 ( leach, parkison, vidri, mo, rashid ) who have been near an england shirt recently to be playing any red ball this summer. That's a huge issue ahead of India whether you back Bess or not. Honourable mention for Mason crane whos taken a few wickets but it would be great if the ecb could get some of the england spinners who aren't involved in white ball games in the Ranji prior to the tests

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Archer's pace going up, but he's been incredibly ineffectual so far so it makes no odds.

Almost like he's more effective not being asked to bang it in short at 90mph in England, where bowling short isn't remotely as good as pitching it up despite the media (and seemingly England's) continued obsession with it. As we were discussing a few weeks back, as soon as England see someone with a modicum of pace, they seemingly have to become "the enforcer". Does my head in

Edit: While I do rag on his record a bit in England, this is probably also why Mark Wood struggles here. Certainly when he first came into the side here this was his "role"

But it isn't just the short stuff really , Olly. A lot of his quite rapid deliveries weren't particularly short but they were wide of the stumps and presented no threat. In truth in all the matches this season he's really only looked dangerous in a couple of brief spells and hasn't taken many wickets in any case.

The concern I have is that since his excellent first four games against Australia , Archer just hasn't produced. (He got a five in SA ; but they were mostly junk time wickets at huge cost ) and for all the talk about him providing an X factor we are yet to see it in practice.

This is not unreasonable as he's a young man still learning his trade at the top level and can't be expected to turn it on every time. But one of the big selling points that greeted his arrival was the thought that he would be able to make a huge difference in Australia because of his pace. Now the truth is most Australian pitches are pretty flat these days : so if he can't influence games on flat pitches in NZ or England - why should it be assumed he will magically do so in the next Ashes tour ?

It's still early for him , to be fair. Not going to dismiss his chances yet. But I think there is some cause for concern. The main limitation I see with his bowling is that he really doesn't have a delivery which moves away from the right hander ; and unless he develops one , that will tend to force him to look to the short ball more than we might want. Mind you bowling short at the Aussies worked quite well for Wagner so...

Its certainly the worry Alfie but England have to try something other than medium pace county bowlers out there. They do have a stable of these quicks now, Wood still exists and Stone is back bowling in the BWillis and taking wickets. Mahmood still exists, and as someone mentioned the other day so does Garton. You certainly don't see Australia picking too many Sam Currans in the victories theyve had at home.

We have seen that Archer can take wickets against Australia.

Oh reviewing his 600 (and 4th) if you include all the drops

Anderson owes that umpire a pint! At last

Another umpire's call goes Englands way