England v India, 1st Test, Edgbaston, 1-5 August, 2018

Cook again?

The old saw. Catches win matches.

How much longer are England going to think Cook is a slip fielder?

And the ATG fails again

Maybe we should start picking batsmen for their slip catching ability...

Missed opportunity to really take command of the game. My prediction of India getting 600 was miles off though, thankfully...

This could be his last series.

beamer wrote:Maybe we should start picking batsmen for their slip catching ability...

Missed opportunity to really take command of the game. My prediction of India getting 600 was miles off though, thankfully...

Great knock from e-coli has kept the Bannies in this. Good match thus far for Curran.

beamer wrote:Maybe we should start picking batsmen for their slip catching ability...

Missed opportunity to really take command of the game. My prediction of India getting 600 was miles off though, thankfully...

Or maybe just get him out of the slips. He's been shit there for years.

aye needs some sticky mints rubbed on to the hands, Yarpie style

So 1-set all going into the 3rd day. England's catching (espesh Malan & Chef) was abysmal. You just can't drop the best bat in the world 3 times. They could've rolled India for under 150 if they held some catches.

Still, well played E-Coli. A Pidge-esque effort by Yadav to add 57 with Kohli while making 1* himself. Costly for England.

And what about Cook the "unbowlable"? He gets his stumps rattled in most Tests these days.

the bucolic Bumble must finally stfu about Ashtray being crap outside the subi con. Twice Cook has been humiliated by Ashtray.

Maybe the Pomgolians need to finally jettison the Thug and Cook?

The Thug was outstanding with the ball last night. He was very threatening every over.

horace wrote:aye needs some sticky mints rubbed on to the hands, Yarpie style

Or maybe just some sandpaper

Nah... That's patented. How many times has Faff been done for cheating?

He's an idiot. How is the sandpapergate cover up going?

The players involved are probably doing it tough (quite rightly) and probably wondering why a couple of other current cricketers never did the same and why a few ex perps are making money writing about it.

So what happens if anyone's stupid enough to repeat the mistake?

skully wrote:So 1-set all going into the 3rd day. England's catching (espesh Malan & Chef) was abysmal. You just can't drop the best bat in the world 3 times. They could've rolled India for under 150 if they held some catches.

Still, well played E-Coli. A Pidge-esque effort by Yadav to add 57 with Kohli while making 1* himself. Costly for England.

And what about Cook the "unbowlable"? He gets his stumps rattled in most Tests these days.

Getting bowled a lot is usually a sign that a batsman is in terminal decline, the eyes and reactions aren‘t what they were. I remember it with late career Vaughan for example.

Cook’s been proving the doubters wrong for a long time though... so maybe there’s another 200 round the corner.

You got it right with eyes and reaction. If he's dropping catches and getting bowled a lot chances are They're both going.

TBF he has been dodgy in the slips for some years

The problem with Cook's fairly long term dodgy slips reliability is that he runs like a duck and throws like a girl, so can't be used in the outfield.

Well, you can hide him like you traditionally do a fast bowler, given most of our bowlers now are decent in the field. He’s always been a mediocre slip fielder, but we’ve been short of options there recently.

Will be tough to set them 200 and be in the game from here. Both sides will be wishing they had played the second spinner, is Moeen any worse a batsman than Malan? Root might be bowling a fair few overs himself.

How's the weather there?

Well it would seem the weather's not going to matter.

Are England trying to lose this?