And attempt to take the moral high ground.
They got the majority of their runs against the best the Poms had, surely they deserved to pick of the pie chuckers.
Stokes may be a good cricketer, but I don’t think he is much of a person.
I am nnot sure how many over were left when the two got their tons, but I hope they dragged it out so all the last 15 overs were bowled.
Apparently, they battled for another 20 minutes Brooks bowled 3 overs for 24 runs. The poms bowled 143 overs in the second innings and 114 in the first, Of the 259 overs they bowled 89 of those overs were bowled by Root, Brooks and Dawson. I’m sure the pommie bowlers will want to bat 1st in the 5th test
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Spicy end to the India v England test series coming up. It will be must watch TV from Thursday. Just to add to the tension, the Indian coach had an altercation with the groundsman at the Oval yesterday. There will be a real edge to this test I think which has increased the anticipation for the ashes series, apparently the first two days of the 1st test in Perth have been sold out already. The WACA CEO has said this will be the biggest cricket match ever in Perth
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Stokes has withdrawn due to a shoulder injury, Bumrah is managed, so theres two key players out. Both sides bowling attacks look a bit thin so if the pitch is good, it will probably be a very high scoring match which suits England given they are 2-1 up.
Of more concern to the Poms is the Stokes injury. Given that he was their best bowler by a mile in this series, they are saying it will be 10 weeks before he can bowl again. 10 weeks take us to Mid October which will be only a month before the start of the ashes so he wouldn’t want to have any setbacks in his recovery from their point of view
Some interesting information so far in relation to the England and India series
5,953 runs have been scored in the four Tests to date at an average of 47.62 per wicket, with the two teams having passed 300 in 12 of the 15 innings so far.
Of those 12 innings, seven scores have been posted above 400 and another beyond 500 before England’s 669 at Old Trafford, its fifth-highest Test score in history. Throughout the four Tests so far, the seamers have bowled 1105.2 overs. Back breaking? You bet.
and the 5th test is at Old Trafford where a country side made 800 last week. Poor pitches or poor balls?
I just this morning read an article on the Dukes balls.It appears not all are happy with them. Even the Poms or the retired experts say something is wrong with their production.
But the Poms wouldn’t really worry, Change the ball and bring out another box of brand new ones.
Can India snare the 3 wickets needed( that’s if Woakes can’t bat) to square the series… or will Eng score the remaing 30 odd to win 3-1?
The series certainly has been an entertaing one…full of Indian histrionics and English morality…Eng will probably win which won’t please the angry ant Sunny Gavaskar one bit
An extraordinary result and I think a 2-2 scoreline is fair for one of the great Test series in recent times.
England were hindered by the gallant Chris Woakes’ injury, as he’s a more-than-capable batsman.
However, full credit to India’s never-say-die spirit that saw them capture the home side’s last six wickets for just 35 runs.
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Missed him with his bowling as well.Been a few from different countries go in under injury. Lyon last series, I think, in England. Rick McCosker broken jaw.
Bob Taylor Pommie keeper. Can’t remember his injury.
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Test Cricket is the greatest game on the planet when played by two evenly matched sides who both refuse to give up. The best series in England since the iconic 2005 ashes. Even though England will be disappointed now, this pressure cricket will serve them well when they come to the Grounds of Australia more battle hardened.
Unbelieveable courage by Woakes to come out and bat. Atkinson did so well to keep him away from the strike. He was only one shot away from glory
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Fantastic Test match & series just played.
Interestingly listening to the likes of Stokes, McCullum, Brook etc all interviewed in the aftermath I reckon they have steeled themselves for the Ashes coming up this Summer!
Would of thought that was a given BH…Brooks will definitely bring some excitement to the Ashes…loves to play his shots…reckon Stokes will be out more then in for the 5 test match series…will be interesting how Archer and Wood will be played…Archer, Wood and Stokes have bodies akin to a violet crumble…all 3 will be used in short bursts…with Atkinson, Tongue and Carse called upon to do majority of the donkey work. Root filled his boots v India, be interested to see if he can repeat that, in what should be his last Oz Ashes series…I reckon he won’t…
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Freeze the major difference between England & Australia is they have us well and truly covered in the batting department.
Their top 7 is set in stone and all in great form-
Crawley
Duckett
Pope
Root
Brooks
Stokes
Smith
Compare that with our line up where only Smith, Head, Carey are certainties for the 1st Test.
In my lifetime I have never seen a worse Australian batting line up than the current!
Very sparse pickings. But I am not sure the Poms bowling brigade will cause many problems other than Wood. The rest are a bit pedestrian.
I see BJ has predicted that Lyon will miss the first two test. Take four quicks in.
Archer, Carse, Tongue & Atkinson certainly arent pedestrian!
Archer not bowling the same speed as before injury. Wood is their only genuine quick.
Green is a cert, as is Webster BH. Don’t doubt Eng top 7 run scoring ability…but that Indian bowling attack they have just faced, is no where near Aust bowling attack in quality, experience and most importantly durability. Eng top 7 won’t get any roads to fill their boots with as well…over 18 tons scored in that recent series…says it all TBH.
Eng will be reliant on Wood, Archer and Stokes bodies not resembling a violet crumble down under…hopefully Green can score some big tons this summer…and Smith too
If they haven’t done so already the call needs to go out to every curator in Australia for this summer putting in the following order
We want green tops with grass left on the wicket.
We want games where 300 in the first innings will be a winning score.
We want grass left on the wicket at all times.
We want hard fast and bouncy wickets that favour the ball nipping around.
Our bowlers are significantly better than the poms in my opinion, and wickets like that will have the potential for innings to end quickly if you play bazball, which will only make it harder for the English bowling attack.
I for one am looking forward to this summer and hoping ball dominates bat. How good would G McGraths record look if he was bowling in Australia the past couple of summers
You only have to look at Eng top 7, to see only Root and Stokes have the technique and temperament to tough it out on a bowlers deck…Pope maybe as well, but most of his big scores have been against lesser attacks…Duckett, Crawley, Brook and Smith are stand and deliver sorts…when on, they all can score quickly, when not on, they lack the technique and temperament to fight through it.
Read somewhere that Brooks is the new Labuschagne, gets dropped a lot early on, or out to no balls and has cashed in…Labuschagne in his early days was gifted a lot in terms of luck, enabling him to ave 60+…unfortunately for him, that is no longer the case…and his performances and average are a reflection of this.