England v India, 3rd Test, Headingley, 25-29 August, 2021

Wood ruled out. The Overton window has opened… or will Mahmood mk II get a shot?

To quote an old punchline:

"Guvv hum a chaince!"

If Colin Cowdrey could pad up again when his team needed him surely it is time I Ron Bell is tapped to come out of retirement.

Bannies are batting.

Looks the most pedestrian attack we’ve had in some time, Jimmy perhaps the quickest bowler in our line-up at somewhere approaching state pension age… the Headingley factor could make that irrelevant, but alternatively Root could be turning his arm over for 20 overs at 300-1 with nothing else to turn to.

That’ll do for a start… the oldest swinger in town gets rid of Fake Rahul for a Sibley…

What a start!

Pyjama follows. So much for 300-1, Jimmy could do this all on his own… can he catch Warne this series?

And Coley follows…

It’s like the last days of the West Indies about 20 years ago, with Root playing the part of Lara, and Jimmy covering the roles of both Ambrose and Walsh. And the rest being extras from a low-budget agency (well, we’re still missing the Shiv clone).

Kohli now averaging 32.80 from 14 Tests in England.

Tommy gets Jinky on the stroke of lunch to stall the Indian recovery.

Root straight off the field taking a blow to the thumb stopping one that didn’t carry to the slips. Looks like a concern for England. If he can’t bat then India will have enough if they make 200.

Great session for England.

I actually forgot this was on. MrK alerted me via a WhatsApp post regarding the quality of Jimmeh's spell. He wasn't wrong.

Turned over (was finishing a Netflix horror movie with the partner) to see Jimmeh get E-Coli. Abundant replays of his earlier wickets satisfied my hunger.

Lazy poke by Rahane on the final ball before Lunch really nailed the session for England.

Get rid of another 2 and this could be anything for the home team.

Nohit's dodgy pull shot gets him again. This time off Overton. 6- 67.

Overton gets Shami 1st ball. On a hattrick.

7-67.

India "doing an England"

Oooh. Straight but Instant kept it out.

Great over.

Looks plumb.

Out. 8-67!!!

Now Curran gets Bum. But reviewed.

Looks plumb.

Out!! 9-67.

Ickle Sam on a hattrick.

Shows what crap Eng bowled at Lords to Sham & Bum

Ooh, close. But Siraj keeps it out.

Root reviews anyway.

Not out!!

All over. Overton gets Siraj. Bannies done for just 78!!.

Great team bowlung effort.

When they went six down I was going to say “we’re into the batsmen now”, but they subsided very quickly.

I wouldn’t want to have tickets to day 3 here… what’s the record for wickets in a day?