Another lousy pitch

A lot of English grounds these days produce pretty ordinary surfaces, especially in terms of pace and bounce...they always deny it's to do with the drainage...but.. it's to do with the drainage..(and weight of games)

We don't have rock hard sun baked surfaces in this weather (old Oz style most of which no longer exist there either with drop ins in vogue)  we have tired, dry squares exacerbated by ridiculous demands, especially at Lord's with the number of strips that have to be prepared, re-used, re-prepared etc ..

drainage has massively improved the amount of days played and shortened delays etc but alongside a heavy calendar has killed squares..

Doesn't look a bad wicket to me, Indian openers putting on 88 for the 1st wicket second time around. 200 in front now and counting.

England's batting performance was very poor, the seamers took most of the wickets so can't blame a turning pitch

If the wicket was looking dodgy on Day 1 why on earth did England not bat first having won the toss ?

The real problem is the lack of proper long form cricket that is played. Going straight in to a test match a couple of days after the T20 world cup is plain daft for a start.

Hampered by the scheduling no doubt YET AGAIN, having to fit in proper cricket around the abominable Hundred. How long can this state of affairs continue ?

So India set England a massive 457 to win , proving that this wicket whilst giving some help to the bowlers, is far from a minefield.

The England side seem shot, some poor dismissals again second time around , have they been watching the men play too much
59 for 5 at one stage but a partnership finally developing taking the score above three figures.