England's Summer of Cricket 2023, Featuring The Ashes

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50 up for Mo at an absolutely vital moment.   

A fortuitous way to get there with Cummins not picking it up. It frankly looked like he wasn't moving well chasing back for it either.

Starc back on which I think slows how key a period the Aussies know this is. He's looked their best bowler today.

Marnus even nodding to Marsh that he hit it. File that one away whenever broad not walking comes up

Last one before tea I think

I suppose at this point Australia are glad to have picked Green over Murphy...just like England were glad to pick Collingwood over Anderson in 2005.

I walked once when I first started playing but was told not to again, you get enough bad decisions going against you that you have to make the most of the ones that go your way.

Joel Wilson looking for divine help with that appeal, but he did get it right.

Forgot about tea. Will they be able to get back on with the light worsening?

Could this be another one ? No...missed the inside edge. Ah well ...can't win 'em all.

Made sure no more overs before tea.

Wonder how much more play we will see today ?

Well if you told England they'd have enough time today to remove Marnus they'd have probably taken it. Getting an entire session in, I think they'd have hoped for more though.

How much longer will rain and light hold out. These two don't look entirely comfortable and England would love to start with a new ball if there's play tomorrow

New ball not so far away ; and the spinners looking a bit dangerous now. Even half an hour after tea might be time to do some damage ?

Ideally get rid of Marsh tonight. And hope to get a decent block of time tomorrow to attack the later order. Daring to dream at least...

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

alfie wrote:I see the idiots on the BBC match cover are texting in with their stupid comments : calling the England bowlers "pathetic " and their cricket over the series "dull and lifeless "...honestly , I would have thought evolution would have seen that sort of moron bred out by now

Suppose some people just live to serve up vitriol...

You really think 606 is that different! Same thing happens on here, just put with a little more erudition.

Got to love middle class vitriol.

Here comes the rain and might be it for the day now

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

Back in the hands of the weather gods tomorrow. I suppose the light gods too, 9 over to the new ball and the seamers using it will probably be vital

GSC wrote:Here comes the rain and might be it for the day now

Probably will be with the light dying. Just got to hope for another 30 overs tomorrow and that the light is good enough for the seamers to bowl.

Bowling conditions weren't better yesterday at all, when England were batting the ball was doing nothing. The one chance they had of winning was batting once, those apparent spin overs which may prove vital tomorrow wouldn't have happened as Australia would have kept their quicks on.

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

My point is that predicting the future, and an alternative past, with such certainty is a fool's game. However, it must be nice to live in a world with such conviction.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

My point is that predicting the future, and an alternative past, with such certainty is a fool's game. However, it must be nice to live in a world with such conviction.

Duty is the Mike Brearley of armchair captains, Jules. You must have realised that by now.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

My point is that predicting the future, and an alternative past, with such certainty is a fool's game. However, it must be nice to live in a world with such conviction.

You've imagined any certainty or conviction. I just tell it as I see it.

Obviously not a perfect session for England with that partnership knocking 100 off the lead and eating up time. In a choice between that or no play I'd definitely take Marnus gone and being closer to the second new ball as a trade off for the 100 runs though.

Back to crossing fingers and hoping we get enough play for a result for now.

9 overs to the new ball and Green not looking too confident against spin. Another tonight would be terrific.

I see the Met Office have issued a weather warning for tomorrow, so things aren't exactly looking up.

Any chance of getting back on tonight , I wonder ? Light might be a problem even if the rain goes away.

Not sure whether to hold out hope for play tomorrow with all the forecasts I've looked at seeming pretty grim. But today was supposed to be a total wash out so I guess weather forecasting in Manchester tends to be rather less certain than death and taxes...

Well it's still raining and with play having to restart by 7, I think you can safely call it

OK "early" night for me then.

Cheers everyone ... hopefully back for some action tomorrow

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

My point is that predicting the future, and an alternative past, with such certainty is a fool's game. However, it must be nice to live in a world with such conviction.

You've imagined any certainty or conviction. I just tell it as I see it.

You saw 45 overs, and there have been 71 so I guess you saw it totally wrong.

Australia's day today I guess.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

My point is that predicting the future, and an alternative past, with such certainty is a fool's game. However, it must be nice to live in a world with such conviction.

I spent my time watching the WI game
..where also it started raining.
I thought with tail up , rain around Eng would need 80 over to roll over Aus.
BUT
AUS showed spine and bat down to No.10 raising hopes to see off if there is a curtailed day tomm
Internet shows between 97 and 90% precipitation chance just before start to in playing hours .
I picked Manus in tipping and crossed him out and and kicking myself
I wrote draw and changed it to win just as I typed
Next Game will be I bet a break for Starc and Cummins and Smith captaining.
Also Aus should take stock of whether they really want Cummins to continue as captain at all?
He is a good team man , gets them along together, but not the quickest in thinking on feet and more valuable as the lead strike bowler .
They have a host of choices open with Lyon, Manus,  Head, Khawaja and Smith all being viable options
Smith C and Manus VC would be my way to go

A few miles east of Trafford. Sky is getting lighter but spells of very light rain.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

My point is that predicting the future, and an alternative past, with such certainty is a fool's game. However, it must be nice to live in a world with such conviction.

You've imagined any certainty or conviction. I just tell it as I see it.

You saw 45 overs, and there have been 71 so I guess you saw it totally wrong.

No, if you actually read what I wrote - "Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front."

The about 45 overs to bowl Australia out was from yesterday's play (it was actually 41). If they couldn't manage to do that then England would have to rely on a dramatic change in what's forecast with the weather. We saw that dramatic change today: widely believed to be a washout, there were 30 overs of play.

Play called off, so hoping for another dramatic change tomorrow and the light to be good enough to get the seamers to bowl.

KP_fan wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

My point is that predicting the future, and an alternative past, with such certainty is a fool's game. However, it must be nice to live in a world with such conviction.

You throw around more predictions than I do KP_Fan, so you're showing a lack of self-awareness.

Duty281 wrote:

KP_fan wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

My point is that predicting the future, and an alternative past, with such certainty is a fool's game. However, it must be nice to live in a world with such conviction.

You throw around more predictions than I do KP_Fan, so you're showing a lack of self-awareness.

I think you should read something on  Deterministic vs Stochastic and maybe you'll figure you sound too deterministic.

BTW I like what you post
And it's also interesting to read how JuliusMarx has put his points
Haven't seen him before here

KP_fan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

KP_fan wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

My point is that predicting the future, and an alternative past, with such certainty is a fool's game. However, it must be nice to live in a world with such conviction.

You throw around more predictions than I do KP_Fan, so you're showing a lack of self-awareness.

I think you should read something on  Deterministic vs Stochastic and maybe you'll figure you sound too deterministic.

BTW I like what you post
And it's also interesting to read how JuliusMarx has put his points
Haven't seen him before here

I don't believe in free will, so I'm very deterministic.

From discussions with him elsewhere on here, Julius is generally hesitant to advance his own opinions on a matter, instead preferring to interrogate others or rely on the perceived wisdom of others. Maybe he'll be brave enough to put up his own viewpoints on here ahead of the 5th test, who knows?

Duty281 wrote:

KP_fan wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Colossal waste of time. Ended up delaying a declaration just to chase an individual accolade and didn't even get it.

Good innings from Bairstow, but Australia are finished in terms of bowling. Lyon's loss was monumental. Genuinely not sure what they're going to do for the 5th test.

Almost certainly a draw from here. England had one chance of victory, a very outside one admittedly, but they needed to declare overnight and try to spark a collapse, then chase down the rest tonight, possibly with the aid of the extra 30 minutes. Instead they've given themselves about 45 overs to bowl Australia out, and if they can't manage that then they're praying for a dramatic change in what's forecast on the weather front.

Think we've had 71 overs so far and we haven't managed to bowl them out. If we'd declared at your preferred time, Australia would be about 150 ahead by now, 5 wickets down and we'd be praying for the rain to continue to salvage a draw.

Bowling conditions were better yesterday, so it's not a like-for-like comparison. Plus, England if they had bowled from the off yesterday would have been able to utilise their seam/pace arsenal for the duration. A lot of these overs England have had to use 60+ average Moeen and a part-timer in Root, which wouldn't have been an occurrence yesterday.

Further, this outside shot of victory was predicated on the weather forecast being accurate. Also, I'm not sure why England would be trying to salvage a draw if Australia were 150 ahead and 5 down?

My point is that predicting the future, and an alternative past, with such certainty is a fool's game. However, it must be nice to live in a world with such conviction.

You throw around more predictions than I do KP_Fan, so you're showing a lack of self-awareness.

Those predictions are often of the past which cancel each other out and make KP Fan our top pundit.

KP_fan wrote:And it's also interesting to read how JuliusMarx has put his points
Haven't seen him before here

Where's the H gone?
Very rarely post on here, but have been watching cricket since the late 1970s. What I've learnt in those 45 years is that the people playing the game at the top level nearly always know more about playing the game at the top level than we do.

Duty281 wrote:I see the Met Office have issued a weather warning for tomorrow, so things aren't exactly looking up.

That's promising, a Met Office warning normally means the temperature will be high enough to melt an ice-cream and that we should all find shade.

Duty281 wrote:From discussions with him elsewhere on here, Julius is generally hesitant to advance his own opinions on a matter, instead preferring to interrogate others or rely on the perceived wisdom of others. Maybe he'll be brave enough to put up his own viewpoints on here ahead of the 5th test, who knows?

Having checked the weather forecast, I can confidently predict England will win the toss.

Edited to remove GSC's pet hate.

Repeating my earlier plea to avoid mass quote chains pls

Thank you :P

Anyhow, unless the weather gods are truly merciful, England are going to run out of time to get the last 5

Do find it somewhat hard to believe England have requested the pitches they've gotten at Edgbaston, Lords and now here.

GSC wrote:Anyhow, unless the weather gods are truly merciful, England are going to run out of time to get the last 5

Do find it somewhat hard to believe England have requested the pitches they've gotten at Edgbaston, Lords and now here.

All a key component of Bazball.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

KP_fan wrote:And it's also interesting to read how JuliusMarx has put his points
Haven't seen him before here

Where's the H gone?
Very rarely post on here, but have been watching cricket since the late 1970s. What I've learnt in those 45 years is that the people playing the game at the top level nearly always know morfe about playing the game at the top level than we do.

Then you are one from the era who might be able to confirm  if Ollie Robinson indeed has an action similar to Derek Pringle, only a bit faster

KP_fan wrote:

JuliusHMarx wrote:

KP_fan wrote:And it's also interesting to read how JuliusMarx has put his points
Haven't seen him before here

Where's the H gone?
Very rarely post on here, but have been watching cricket since the late 1970s. What I've learnt in those 45 years is that the people playing the game at the top level nearly always know morfe about playing the game at the top level than we do.

Then you are one from the era who might be able to confirm  if Ollie Robinson indeed has an action similar to Derek Pringle, only a bit faster

I'm from the era that is far enough back that I can't remember the era!
I do, however, remember the joke about Gladstone Small's problem being no neck and no balls.

GSC wrote:Anyhow, unless the weather gods are truly merciful, England are going to run out of time to get the last 5

Do find it somewhat hard to believe England have requested the pitches they've gotten at Edgbaston, Lords and now here.

The pitches stuff is really the element of “Bazball” I’m not on board with - I think they’ve duped themselves into thinking what they played on in Pakistan suits them best…when actually I think last summer they played on just good cricket wickets - which were good for batting but also offered some bounce and pace throughout. The Edgbaston pitch in particular was just cr@p

Also a word on the umpires - I legitimately wonder if top level umpires actually want to see the sport played sometimes. Soon as it gets a tad dark, light meters out. Soon as a little drizzle happens, it’s off the pitch. Not even an inkling of trying to get over rates up and a full days play in, like, ever. It’s pathetic

I legitimately wonder if the umpires in this test can see at all given some of the decisions

GSC wrote:I legitimately wonder if the umpires in this test can see at all given some of the decisions

It's at the forefront of mind but the Labuschagne decision is one of the worst i've seen in recent times. Marnus made no attempt to act as if he'd missed the ball it was that obvious he'd hit it.

GSC wrote:I legitimately wonder if the umpires in this test can see at all given some of the decisions

Joel Wilson should remove his sunglasses. It might aid his umpiring. It would definitely make him look less of a spanner.

Biggest frustration with the weather is that Old Trafford is set to be completely dry on Monday.

Says a lot for this series that even lengthy rain interruptions are gripping.

Yep, I've said before that it's very typical of this series that the first time one team gets way ahead in a Test the weather conspires to keep some tension.

5 wickets left, 60 runs behind, featherbed of a pitch. I'm thinking, "it's the hope that kills you".

Stupid sport.

So as expected they didn't get back on after tea... Need to take five on Sunday...that's if they can get on at all ! Marnus and Marsh may have done enough to save Australia today as there is still a bit of decent batting to come and surely time will be limited at best ?

New ball could of course do the trick for England - especially if they could somehow break this pair ahead of it - and Root probably was the most dangerous bowler on display Saturday so worth starting with him against Green in particular. Will keep hoping anyway...

Saw comments on BBC that England looked a bit flat ? Not sure that's accurate : perhaps they could have bustled along a bit more rather than taken so much time adjusting fields and talking tactics but it was all about finding a way through the M&M partnership. Once they did , everyone was up and about ; but unfortunately there wasn't much time or light left to press the case. Reckon if they can get on we will see plenty of urgent action to try and conclude the match . Think sometimes critics mistake their own mood as the weather dampens expectations for a lack of enthusiasm on the field.