Track still difficult Dixie but Windies done a great job today so far , took last 4 Australian wickets for 22 runs in 8 overs including Green first delivery of the day.

Windies only need 204 for the win with the draw out of the equation , odds reflecting the wicket discussion as asking 1.43 on the exchange for an Aussie win which normally would look short but Windies only hit 200 once in the series so far.

They look a determined outfit this test though so let's see what happens.

oh no  0-1

and another 0-2

OMG hope you took the 1.43 Hayden !

another gone

Are WI on for their record low score ?  47 to beat

What was that we were saying about the track     

I only backed at 1.41 to level up from a 1.14 lay earlier , would normally let that run longer but watched it all last night and batting under those lights is exponentially brutal , profit's profit i guess and i'm a trader so play the numbers.

Starc bowling figures  4-3-6-5 and a dropped catch as well   

Maybe Norman Gifford will get a recall, he's still only 85 !

James Bethall will replace Bashir and Atkinson in for Woakes Bethall been in nets last 3 tests coached for 2 to 3 hours daily on left arm spin They want him in team for Ashes now they have reason to leave out Bashir prob bat 8

I agree OTJ, i said after the test last week that Smith could move up to 3 and get rid of Zak and Pope.

All of the talk about Bethell worries me, he hasn't played much First Class cricket at all and only has 12 FC wickets at 70 apiece ! His batting is a bit better averaging 28, but hardly stellar.

Trevor jesty bowled 7 overs for 0 runs in jp league

Looked up Gifford and his best on espn was 8 overs 4 mdns 9runs 1wk.


https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/tournament/bowling-best-economy-rate-innings/john-player-league-1970-6810

..

Not to say he didn't do it, but
their records are pretty extensive.

I don't think you will find any other bowler matching Brian's record YHTL.

As a little lad i was amazed by the economy of Deadly Derek Underwood who i thought could not be bettered, then i read of Brian's 0-0 in 8 overs.
That was obviously right at the start of the JPL when scoring 140 to 160 was seen as a good score. How times change....

I believe Ben Foukes has told Brendan MacCullen and Ben Stokes to don't bother calling me he is not interested Surrey now his only concern

easy to say, but india would be 3-0 up this series, but for 2balls, gills stupidity 1 test trying to get 150 with a six. and rahuls run for his 100 , pivotal

I remember WD saying how he thought Stokes was one of England's greatest captains and I completely disagreed, however hands up , he was brilliant during this test and is definitely moving up the captains table

India could be 3-0 up or 3-0 down depending on stupidity / poor leadership o& both Stokes and Gill. Fortunate fir us to hav3 such an exciting series.

More later on this!

Stokes is a phenom..,,, imagine if he he the players Brearley did!

Keep reading it could be 3-0 India but reckon it could just as easy be 3-0 England after winning 3 tosses , there's been so many fine margin instances in the series so far that let's face it the series could be any score an agenda wants it to be and as far as the word " should " goes these panic freebie dismissals aren't totally unexpected in the modern game considering the panic that sets in during the Hundred , IPL and all the other competitions in which you have to use a different mindset , guess i'm just more forgiving with some of these giveaway wickets than some because i'm accepting the mitigation of playing the limited overs format for a huge % of a players career in these modern times.
Remember a Botham interview several years ago commenting on how the game has changed since he played and suggested that batsman could hit as many as 80 in the last 10 overs , get Pooran and Maxwell at the crease " these days " and you're looking at nearer double.

If you reflect back to the older days there were very few freebie dismissals even at test level as i can remember but then again the alternatives were a 55 over Benson & Hedges and a 60 overs Gillette cup with a difficult chase seen as 275-300 plus the 40 overs Sunday league records which are now virtually the highest totals for T20 as these days the improvisation of shots required is off the scale with the Dilshan scoop and such.

From what i remember of the Morgan era of captaincy the teams for the one day & test matches were isolated more than they are now but good luck in general asking players to choose between Test cricket vs an IPL auction.

Sorry for the ramble but i'm just more forgiving these days it seems for soft test dismissals and even the odd crazy run out but that said it's fairly obvious that Zak and Ollie are a mile away from finding the right balance/technique between the different formats so expecting a change/shuffle for Manchester.

Yes could be 3-0 England had they batted first all three times. Point is I dis ,DT them back in. Stokes with the value of hindsight said he would do the same thing* which is stupidity, moronic.

Gill tries to hit Bashir  for  6 to get to 150 in the first Test and gets caught. Innings collapses and England are not batted out of the Test like they should have been. I think Bashir gets Pant 3 times out of 4

Pant tries to get Rahul to 100 before lunch and the same thing happens.

Hinges of battle and small margins.

What I would say is great cricket or at least excitement. We all won handsomely too!

Next Test and you have to have England as favourites so again we shall have opportunity need to be prudent. I went quite heavy against England and reached a satisfactory exit point. Not sure I want to go against England just yet. I think Bumfah play, I think they need a number 3 or a new opener and Rahul to 3. They need Kuldeep too. I dont think he plays though.

Decision already made not to get involved pre-game here WD , let's see what treats in-play has in store   

Draw is noticeably shorter

I’ve said it before where there’s rain there’s clouds!

hunt - you are quite right, for some reason i had written down the series victory in 1977 as an away win, of course we were at home, d'oh !

WD - Old Trafford should be good for batting, but i think Zak would struggle to score runs on the M1 at the moment.
You seem to have an obsession with the 14 year old, something you want to tell us ?!

Liam Dawson is a slightly strange pick in as much as he was taking a lot more wickets last year than this. Leach i believe is centrally contracted but gets overlooked again, they certainly are wasting some money on these contracts, Archer earnt several million i believe during his enforced absence.

"An unhealthy obsession with a 14yo" - well you can take the boy out of Medway but....... !

Joking apart this lad does appear to be a remarkable talent, hopefully he won't self destruct like some before him. Privthi Shaw springs to mind, another prodigy who scored a remarkable 546 in an Indian schools tournament having just turned 14 in 2013 and then kept breaking records before scoring a ton on his test debut at the age of 18. Then things started going downhill, bit of a loss of form, falling in with the wrong crowd, doping ban, family issues etc. He played for Northants in the one day cup a couple of years back and hit an astonishing 244 in one game followed by another ton before suffering a knee injury. He's still only 25 so hopefully will have time to get back to his best.