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Stokes is going to have save England with the bat now.

yuppie wrote:Stokes is going to have save England with the bat now.

Already had an edge fly past 3rd slip...

England will need a bit of luck here.

superb bowling from the gentle one

sussexpob wrote:
Stoneman is rubbish, isnt he...

good county pro.... nothing more

he had no business chasing a back of a length ball aimed down a 5th stump line. deserved to get out

Of FFS. A bowling day to be sure, but only England can bowl the opposition out for 120 in two sessions and still end up in a position where they might easily lose the game. Relying on the lower order to bail them out YET AGAIN.

Friday looks like a horrible day for batting according to the forecast, although the saving grace for England is that there may not be much play at all, so they hopefully can survive the day. It only needs one decent partnership for England to get a healthy lead, so not the end of the world yet, but days 3 and 4 look better for batting according to the weather, so England really need a good first innings lead to have much of a chance, I think.

Stokes now has more centuries and more 5 wicket hauls than Flintoff managed, and he's only 26 and four years into his career. He's also got a better career strike rate than Fred. Can't quite believe he averages 35 with both ball and bat. If only he could be more consistent. That said, maybe he is becoming so - since the start of 2016 he's averaged 45 with the bat with 4 hundreds and 6 fifties in 33 innings, and 27 with the ball with 49 wickets, 2 five wicket hauls at a strike rate of 52. That's pretty impressive on both fronts.

Roach gets his third wicket!

Odds of 12/1 about for Windies, at 60-5 this is pretty generous.

Interesting stat... this is Bairstows 18th test since his last 100.

get a feeling this will be the pattern for the day... players off

More of a problem for the bowlers or the batters?

Hope they don't get back on today, weather much better tomorrow, and with the sun out Stokes, Bairstow and Ali could easily put on 200 between them.

The top order is totally screwed. Instead of being used to sod all for 3 in recent years we should start getting used to bugger all for four with the Ashes looming.

What a dilemma for the selectors, Stoneman, Westley and Malan will get no runs in Oz and there's diddly waiting in the wings.

Imagine if all 3 start the first Ashes test, and Stokes gets injured.......

May as well not turn up in Brisbane.............

sussexpob wrote:Odds of 12/1 about for Windies, at 60-5 this is pretty generous.

This time I agree with you.

can't have been many overs bowled this morning