no way this will be a draw  ot will turn like fick on day 5   england win ,,, lay ythe draw

England definitely in the driving seat here, pretty poor bowling performance by India although they were a bit unlucky that the sun came out this afternoon to make conditions easier for batting.  Even though i think Zak should have been dropped i thought he might come good at OT as he has done before, backed him top scorer so bit miffed he got out when he did, had a bet on him to get 50 so no harm done. Glad to see him play so well just wish he'd do it more often !

The fact that the media darling Ben Stokes had not taken a "5 for" since 2017 came as a surprise even to me, given the hero worship the BBC bestow on him. In fact it was only the fifth time he had done so in tests, although he is a very decent bowler he's not not exactly Botham-esque in that respect. Beefy took 27 x 5 or more wicket hauls.

Talking of Mr Botham, i see he has launched a scathing attack on his old county Somerset for preparing a very dodgy wicket at Taunton for this weeks Championship match which lasted all of five sessions as 35 wickets fell. Before play began it seems you would have struggled to tell the wicket from the outfield as it was so green ! Somerset have form for this kind of thing and have had points deductions in the past. Hopefully this will be the case here, it's fine to prepare a wicket that might favour the home team but this wicket was unsuitable for a four day game. Of course the fact that so many teams these days try to emulate "bazball" will not have helped (400 runs were scored on day one, 22 wickets falling).

Hayden, what made me laugh was the Somerset coach Jason Kerr described it as "an incredible pitch" because 400 runs were scored on the first day.
He seemed to forget about the 22 wickets that fell !

Durham were 5-2 in their second innings after Day 1, Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan opened the bowling !!
Which should tell anybody exactly what the wicket was like. They took all 10 wickets between them in the end.

Yes Tilak Varma is a fantastic player both in the v and off the back foot, ideal for Test cricket. Sadly options are limited because of a talent pool of 1.4 billion people.

I think they have found a 3 in Sudharson although he has a technical issue on leg stump that needs to be resolved he looks like he ha# the temperament and ability. Shreyas Iyer is good too but has a vulnerability against extreme pace like most people so he would be targeted. If he worked on it he could also play 3.

India need a better seam bowling all rounder.. Both Reddy and Shardul are decent but just coming up short. reddy is also a very good batsman who has not performed this series. Varma at 5 would have worked for me. Pant 6, Jadeja at 7 then 3 seamers and Kukdeep.

I think if Shami was fit India could have played Kuldeep. I think not playing Kuldeep has been a big mistake for India. India need a third seamer of slightly higher kwality.

What is nuts is a 10 yo kid could leave home on his own to live his dream. What’s nut’s us a 14yo kid smashing an IPL hundred in 36 balls!

1.4 Billion people!

England could be leading by 200 with two days to go. India would need to bat at least 4 sessions to have a chance.

Let’s see how the pitch plays after an hour. I have already taken a Hail Mary on India, might increase that after drinks

happy so far with my back of england and lay of the draw.

eng cd get a really big score in first inns

Yes good stuff Dragon , as we knew though the England % has been compensated by the Indian drift so draw still not moved much so the target now is still the reason some took the draw as a trade by ensuring a two way result so batting an Indian win out of it and take it from there.

Just back from hospital appointment so not seen a delivery yet.

awful from brooks ,,,, shocking

Braindead Brooks

Hope you took another Indian Hail Mary WD , he who dares etc   

The pitch itself is still good. If it is ok when India bat the it might be England with the problem on Dunday although there might be light rain in the morning on both Saturday and Sunday

dont think brooks is the brightest chip on the block, gets himself out too often with crazy choices

Still young

True!

Halfway through the Test.

On this series and test cricket in general.

It slightly favours batters these days,making wickets bigger etc ,changing rules,is too much.

But a slight tweak to help bowlers,that wouldn’t in anyway affect the game.

New ball after 60 overs,would just edge a little help to the bowlers and create a little more interest.

Siraj and BUmrah look fecked

They should have let Ricky pointing run on the pitch to shake his hand.

Great achievement.

This pitch is looking pretty flat atm but there will be cloud tomorrow

Gill lookin* a little ou5 if his depth. Has not trued a spinner with a harder ball