No way England will survive 24 more overs.
1 Like
Think and hope that today might be the end for Sibley for the foreseeable future. Has shown on the odd occasion he has the temperament to stick around for long periods, but he just doesn’t ever seem to have any scoring options other than knocking a wayward ball into the leg side. It’s way too easy for bowling sides to get on top of him and ultimately that puts even more pressure on his batting partner.
Just had a look at the strike rates of England’s last good top 3 of Strauss, Cook and Trott. The latter two were around 47, Strauss just a lick under 49. Cook and Trott were pretty renowned for being defensive batsman, but they still found ways to keep the scoreboard ticking and could on occasion up the ante a bit if they needed to. Sibley currently strikes at 34 which puts into context just how limited his game is.
Another non contribution in a test match from Sam Curran.
Aside Root and Anderson, who is the third decent player in this England team???
The way that Sibley couldn’t even get in and behind a straight delivery is a massive problem, particularly for someone at the top of the order.
1 Like
Broad? Stokes?
1 Like
In this XI ?
Not world class but Ollie is a capable and decent bowler. Ali is good in patches. Buttler and Bairstow are good limited over cricketers. What they really missed are cricketers like Stokes and Woakes.
1 Like
Forget T20 and the rest of the pyjama stuff. This is real cricket. Nail biting.
3 Likes
England have plenty of capable test match level players. Unfortunately a lot of them (Stokes, Broad, Woakes, Archer) are currently unavailable. Wood and Robinson are both good bowlers. Buttler is more than capable enough but too often is having to bat earlier than he should because of a weak top order. Ali is a good all rounder but has been mismanaged so poorly in all three formats it’s hardly surprising he at times finds it hard to get any consistency in his game. Burns has shown glimpses and scored hundreds against quality bowling attacks, I’d persist with him for a bit longer but at some point he has to start showing more consistency as well.
Hopefully Hameed can prove to be a long term solution in the top 3. They need to find two other batsman from somewhere though. I like Abell at Somerset but not sure if it would be right to chuck him in at the top of the order.
3 Likes
How did he not give that out on first viewing?
Well that’s it then. Good effort from Buttler.
120 for 9 Buttler gone,8.4 overs left
The End 
Anderson stumped,Game over India win by 151 runs.
Impressive turnaround from India today. Fully deserved win, they’ve been far better in both matches so far.
Strauss and Atherton seem to think Sibley might be left out and Pope will come in. Not sure how you then figure out and order with that change given that Pope also needs to bat down the order.
3 Likes
Congratulations to India. Clearly the better team won. More big question marks for England.
Poor Joe Root!
Might have to have Bairstow open like he does in white ball cricket.
1 Like
Ben Foakes in for Jos Butler in the third test and Sibley out. Give Haseeb the opener slot and Pope in for Bairstow. Lawrence or Crawley at 5. Joe Root has to accept he’s at 3.
This one slipped under the radar.
Roach is the best thing that happened to Caribbean cricket since Walsh & Ambrose.
Well done India. England should be thoroughly ashamed. Some great bowling to get us out. Root’s captaincy was ridiculously conservative in the morning, maddening. Plenty of time to chase down a generous target, should have opened Bairstow and Butler and gone at them.
So Malan and Mahmood added to the squad, Crawley, Sibley and Leach dropped. Woakes still not fit unfortunately.
Don’t mind the Malan addition, he did pretty well in Australia last time around and it’s probably worth the punt to get him in now and give him some time in the side before that series in the winter. Not sure I’d want him batting at 3 but I don’t see what other options they have there.
Burns
Hameed
Malan
Root
Bairstow
Buttler
Ali
Overton/Curran
Robinson
Wood/Mahmood
Anderson
Presume they’ll have to check on Wood’s fitness and make a decision on wether to stick with him and the underperforming Curran. Slim chance maybe they’ll play Pope or Lawrence at 6 and only go in with 3 seamers.