The Cricket Thread

[Ciderhead]

Favourite stat: Cook's innings lasted longer than the entire 4th Ashes test at Trent Bridge

 

[Baz]

The guys on the Beeb have been having fun asking people what they've accomplished whilst Cook has been batting

 

[Super_horns]

Has Cook been injured for any prolonged period of time before? The bloke is just a machine, doesn't even look tired (touch wood)

I don't think he has ever been injured (mind you do openers get injured that much?)

Great knock - concentration is a major part of his game.

Maybe Rashid and Broad will try to whack a few runs quickly but clearly its going to be a draw.

 

[EricSabin]

It never even seems like he's a doubt for a game

 

[Baz]

Can we all do a rain dance so we don't have to endure another day of this?

 

[Super_horns]

Cook holds the record for the most sub-continent centenaries by a non-Asian player.

 

[Hooray]

The scary thing is, Cook probably has another good 6-7 years in him if he wants to carry on and smash allsorts of records.

Joe Root might be into his 30's before he gets the chance to take the captaincy

 

[Ciderhead]

The scary thing is, Cook probably has another good 6-7 years in him if he wants to carry on and smash allsorts of records.

Joe Root might be into his 30's before he gets the chance to take the captaincy

Yep, almost certainly going to break Tendulkar's record for youngest batsman to 10,000 runs. He's going to go down as a great

 

[Destruction]

What an utterly pointless match.

 

[Ciderhead]

One down...here we go, it's on!!

And another!

 

[Super_horns]

Jimmy certainly seems keen to give us a chance..

 

[Ciderhead]

What a stupid dismissal in the context of the game. They're wobbling here - break this next partnership early and we've got a chance

 

[Baz]

An unlikely chance but a chance nonetheless. Why has it taken until session 2 of day 5 for some excitement?

 

[Ciderhead]

We're gonna do this

 

[Baz]

Realistically we need to get the last two wickets within the next 5 overs otherwise it'll be a slogout to get the win. Exciting final day in a drab test match.

 

[Ciderhead]

All out! 99 to win from 19 overs, though realistically light may be a problem before then. Get Buttler out there from the off to smash it about.

This is why we shouldn't have 4 day tests

 

[JJH]

Unbelievable!!!!

 

[Baz]

99 needed in 19 overs? So about 5.2 an over. I'd open with Buttler instead of Ali in this chase, get 30 odd runs from the first 4 overs and it'll be easy from there. Stupidly unlikely win on the cards.

Oh for a bit of fun here's Cricinfo's take on it

Good grief, Pakistan have out-Pakistaned themselves! England need 99 to win - but will they have time to get there? There are 21 overs left to be bowled, minus a couple for the changeover, which would still leave a pretty simple chase... However, with the light probably set to last an hour, and ten minutes lost to the change of innings, they might only get 11-12. And Pakistan aren't going to be bowling them quickly, you can be absolutely certain.

10 an over going by the experts prediction, still doable right? All down to how slow Pakistan bowl then?

 

[JJH]

Buttler and Ali opening - this is going to be bloody interesting.

 

[Ciderhead]

Great stuff from Ali and especially Rashid at the end, outstanding. Just goes to show the difference when there's something in the pitch to work with.

But even then, it's hardly a rank turner all of a sudden, just a contest between bat and ball at last and Pakistan have absolutely crumbled. That run out of Hafeez really started it off, just downright lazy, and the two senior figures Younus and Misbah threw their wickets away with horrific shots. With their experience they had to be able see it out from there. Instead they've gifted us a chance from seemingly nowhere.

 

[Ciderhead]

Why waste time reviewing that?! Could've had another 10 runs in the time that took

 

[Baz]

Why waste time reviewing that?! Could've had another 10 runs in the time that took

Pakistan won't care, extra minutes taken to the time they got to save the game.

 

[Bobbin']

Still not a fan of Buttler, real chance to score runs this test and has failed once again and then wasted valuable time with that review.

 

[Baz]

Still not a fan of Buttler, real chance to score runs this test and has failed once again and then wasted valuable time with that review.

Then the alternative is Bairstow and he's not doing much better in the Test arena.

 

[Ciderhead]

Still not a fan of Buttler, real chance to score runs this test and has failed once again and then wasted valuable time with that review.

Pretty exceptional circumstances though. He only came in after Cook got out when he unselfishly did the job required by the team to hit it about a bit. And you can't judge him on this innings

 

[Bobbin']

Pretty exceptional circumstances though. He only came in after Cook got out when he unselfishly did the job required by the team to hit it about a bit. And you can't judge him on this innings

I'm judging him on his last 12 innings to be fair.

 

[Ciderhead]

3 down, when do we stop going if we lose a few more wickets?

 

[Baz]

3 down, when do we stop going if we lose a few more wickets?

Probably now to be honest as it's Cook, Bell & Bairstow, two out of the three aren't in the best of form so take the draw now I say.

 

[Ciderhead]

I'm judging him on his last 12 innings to be fair.

Fair. Think this game has to be taken as a special case though

 

[Ciderhead]

Probably now to be honest as it's Cook, Bell & Bairstow, two out of the three aren't in the best of form so take the draw now I say.

I'd say keep going at least for the next couple of wickets and if we aren't close by then put Cook in and settle for the draw