Poor Stokes batting on one leg again is going to have to go out and bowl 20 overs in 40 degree heat later on, before probably being the only one who shows any resistance the day after.
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Temperature should be cooler rest of the week.
Let’s face it only two English players deserve any credit from this game
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England finally playing test cricket.
Much too late and now Stokes gone.
Stokes has killed himself then, seemingly unable to bowl. Poor old Jofra having to do it on his own now with mediocrity at the other end, Head won’t get an easier 100 than that.
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Have to wonder what has gone through the heads of the English brains trust. Jacks has conceded almost 200 runs at an economy of over 5 for just 3 wickets. And he’s still going. They have well and truly shat the bed on team selection.
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The selection, tactics and motivation have all been poor. This has to be the responsibility of the coach.
The fact is that England have a smaller pool of players to choose from and the standard is lower than in Australia, but there have been numerous mistakes made and often repeated by the coaching staff.
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Khawaja, 122 runs in the match.
Not bad for a ‘goner’.
Mind you, against this England “attack”…
He wacks it around sometimes in white ball cricket.
This is genuinely the reason he’s been picked to be England’s front line spinner.
No selection sums up this Stokes/Mccullum era better.
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This is true, although not actually anything new in English Test cricket. As soon as the batting fails they bring in someone who bowls or keeps a bit, to supposedly strengthen the order, at the expense of the true specialist.
Whether you rate him or not, Bashir has been promoted within the team for long enough, apparently trusted as the best option, but he’s been left out in the cold, even on a pitch he may have exploited better than Jacks.
Then there’s Foakes of course. A superior keeper to Smith, and some useful contributions with the tail before now, but apparently scores too slow, whereas Smith… well, I rest my case.
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Ugh
Why did I even bother with checking the score again.
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They made it into a 4th day at least. That’s progress.
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Archer has a 5-fer and a half century. Impressive! Stokes has 80-odd. Not bad.
The rest can fuck off.
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Apart from Stokes, Archer made more runs and faced more balls than anyone else in that most crucial innings…
Bowling coach Jeetan Patel said, “I still believe there’s an opportunity for us. It won’t be easy. We’re going to need something magical” and “I think it’s about time now we’re backed into a corner to throw some haymakers back… I thought some of the plans we chose today, the way we at times, was fantastic, but didn’t quite go our way. We’ve just got to hold the belief”
“But in these conditions, we’re horses for courses. With all four seamers firing and Jacks backing them up, I think that works very well. But it probably didn’t play out as well as I would have liked”
These guys are so deluded 
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Responded to the BBC Cricket post saying regardless of snicko 150/5 is a joke and got someone going well Carey got 30 extra.
End of the day this demonstrates it doesn’t much matter if your top order could put 200-250 on then you’d be ahead and then comes pressure but they’ve evidently had no ability to do that and will no doubt be skittled out for about 170.
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Yeah, they really talk like cult members. I’m at the stage where I can’t wait to see the back of it.
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Brook, you plonker!
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Root outside of his hundred is another who’s gifted his wicket away consistently with crap shots.
And there’s Brook again doing something mad and paying the price. The next England captain by the way, close to stumps playing a ridiculous shot like that.
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It’s over
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Now it’s over.
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