England v Pakistan, 4th Test, The Oval, 11-15 August, 2016

Are the Wackies on the boat already, or can they come back to square the series?? No changes for England, I suspect.

The last test was very competitive and the result only seemed like a foregone conclusion at tea on the last day. They are easily capable of getting a win at the Oval. Hopefully England win the toss and score 600 though.

I'd drop Vince, move Moeen to four, and bring in Rashid. We'd lose nothing in the batting or the pace bowling but we'd gain another spinner for what promises to be hot and dry conditions in London later this week.

Won't happen though obviously. They'll give Vince one more opportunity that he pisses away, then poor old Adil will be thrown to the lions against India.

Apparently, no-one is interested in this. The only problem is that the NRL match is between the two most despised teams in the competition & Finding Bigfoot doesn't start until 10.30. Is there anything worth watching at the moment?

Hales is a lucky boy, whisker away from off stump by Amir.

Really good conditions for bowling today, if the weather stays clear (which it is forecast to) from tomorrow onwards then batting today might cost England, Pakistan have started very well, feel like a wicket is around the corner.

Just to be clear I'm not saying batting first was the wrong decision, always bat first at the Oval, but I still worry about the bowling conditions for the rest of the test.

Strange that they couldn't blow up that one angle like the umpire asked. I can blow up an image from my computer so why can't the third umpire?

Anyway even with a blown up image it would be impossible to see from that angle if it carried. Hales had the best view and was adamant it hadn't carried but it's not like Pakistan are renowned for cheating so maybe it did carry...

Poms 3/73...gooo stannies!

Yeah, as I said after the first few overs, could see this happening today.

I've said it before, but Hales is a bit shit, no? Erm, and that goes double for Vince? Yeah?

Hales and Vince must keep finding pics of the selectors.

Hales, Vince, Ballance - meh

Well England probably just shaded the day but a very even contest again.

I say it's England's day but like I said at the beginning of the day, bowling conditions won't get better than they were today so Pakistan could post 500.

Congrats to Moeen on his ton.

God I love watching Moeen bat. So silky and elegant.

Hales, Vince, and Ballance all deserved to be dropped, imo. None of them look anything like convincing.

Nightwatchman Yasir being a bit obstinate this morning.

3/153. Match looks pretty close. The worry is the Stannies have to bat last.

With Pakistan you never know when will they actually fold like 2nd innings of previous match.
Wonderful tight series so far with the exception of 2nd match that definitely England dominated all the way.

It's one of the better contests these days. Even the series in the UAE was much tighter than what the series result finally read.

So YK finally came good. Well done him and Asad on their tons.

good day for stannies

Great Review from Cook

Crikey, YK has been slow in the morning session.