TOPIC:

A reasonable effort in the end from England, would have won a day earlier but for the keeper whom i have mentioned before. He still has not quite channelled Ames with gloves or the bat. Does anyone remember whether his one century was made from the top six and while he was keeper? I think Ames, Walcott and Sangakara of Ceylon may have made centuries from the top six while also keeping?

On a related note, in relation to Woakes, it demonstrates the difference of the quality of the Australian fast bowllers and pitch conditions in our country.

God knows why it took Azhar Ali so long to bring on the leggie Yasir Shah in Englands second innings AR.
I would have had him on after just a couple of overs each from the opening quickies as he was easily the most dangerous bowler on a dry, turning wicket took 4 for in each innings and we know the Poms are pretty clueless against quality leg spin bowling.
It ended up being a costly mistake by the Pakis as 277 wasnt quite enough runs for Yasir to work his magic on the Poms.

BH: good analysis mate: sometimes I think visiting captains to England forget that the ball does turn, particularly Manchester and the Oval. Happily, Australian selectors have not fallen for this on most of our tours; sometimes, our spinners have not been good enough, such as in 81, but they picked them. We would have won in 1981 had we had Shah Warne, or possibly even Bob Holland. Did Holland win a test match in 85?

Buttler's century was at number six but he did not keep.

Stokes may be out of the picture for a while as he has returned to NZ for family reasons. This may give Pakistan an opportunity to get back into the series as Stokes is crucial to Englands balance.

thanks, mikeh

Have they changed the 'bad light' rule from ' must be danger of physical injury'? If so, it was a bloody stupid idea.

That was a very frustrating Test in Southampton AR. Hardly any play over the 5 days due to rain and bloody bad light!

It was very frustrating indeed, bease; the poms always take the piddle out of llyodd for there being plenty of rain in Manchester, much harder to do after what happened at Southampton. I suppose the place did produce Matt le tessier, via the Channel isles, of course? What a good player that man was.

ArkRoyal wrote: It was very frustrating indeed, bease; the poms always take the piddle out of llyodd for there being plenty of rain in Manchester, much harder to do after what happened at Southampton. I suppose the place did produce Matt le tessier, via the Channel isles, of course? What a good player that man was.

Yes he was a great player for Southampton AR and a real fan favourite at "The Dell" that is now sadly defunct!

well done to Buttler on joining that select little group of wicket keeper batsmen
and to Crawley
did the English include Hammond's 336 against NZ?