England v India, 5th Test (2021 series), Edgbaston, 1-5 July, 2022

So, India get a second chance after defaulting this last year. England need to win it for the series to end up Desmond.

Anderson’s fitness to be determined, while presumably the openers get one more chance before being replaced by Bairstow and Roy at the top of the order for Yarpland (only half joking, with that one…) Question mark at keeper, if Foakes is unavailable then it’s Billings, Buttler or maybe Jonny to fill in with the gloves. Otherwise presumably as few changes as possible. Another rollercoaster runfest instore?

All I can say is ....


C'mon England!!!

Yep, happy to support the Poms in this one.

Stokes said that if county players want to get selected "they have to play like us", which seems a
bit restrictive, but it does definitely rule out a return for hamid, sibley & burns and other snails.

the obvious batting addition to the test team if T20 is the way to go would be Livingston, but his
FC form in the last 2 years is dire [top score 20ish i think] and where would he fit in?

And India have several smashers in their team, like Sharma and Panda, so if Overton bowls endless
bouncers at them, the stands might become hazardous.

Openers may essentially become sacrificial lambs in this approach, which is something I’ve predicted before, where teams lead out with either virtual pinch-hitters or glorified nightwatchmen who have another role in the side as well.

Anyway, seems Rohit is likely to be ruled out and Bumrah will deputise as captain in that eventuality.

Jimmy plays, Overton dropped. Billings keeps as Foakes has not fully recovered from Covid.

On the subject of openers, there is talk of Buttler doing the job. I think that's fanciful given that there are two white ball world cups in the space of a year, with Buttler almost certainly being skipper.

If an alternative opener is needed,  I can see a few left-field options being considered like Jason Roy or Phil Salt.

yes buttler has just been confirmed as t20 cap. And they have a separate coach too, who was
the oz womans coach. I thought Mccullum would do both. Do other countries separate the roles
of test and t20 coach too? Is there going to be a 50 over coach as well? Its a bit of a surprise
to me, becos i had read on the net that Coliingwood was going to be appointed odi coach,
although he didnt do that well in the windies.

Given his tremendous form with the bat recently, and stokes saying you need to bat like us
if u wanna be in the team, i would have recalled Buttler as keeper for the india test, or
until foakes is well again. I dont believe Billings is any better a keeper than buttler.
But Billings it is. And Pope is going to wear a camera. Looking forward to Pope cam,
when sharma is batting.

Such is England's schedule, that McCullum would sometimes need to be in two places at the same time if he were to be white ball coach as well. Separating the responsibility seems logical.

Sharma out with covid too! Bumrah is captain.

Bet they're wishing they had played that last Test the last time when we had a decent shot.

Ar$eholes who're going to get ar$eholed by this England team.

Raining in Worcester and I'm about 20 miles south west of the Edgbaston ground - passing shower I think.

And they're off. Rainfall radar suggests a heavy shower. Early lunch on the cards.

Pant and Jadeja doing a good impression of mitchell & Blundel

Yeah, we always lose the plot at 5 down. Barmy Army trumpeter not playing the Bon Jovi loud enough?

Top knock from Pant. Forgot this was on.

Pant is so damaging when he gets going. India recovered well from 5 for just over a ton when I was watching. The sometimes maligned Jadeja has improved so much over the years as a test player.

Gawd, at 5-98 the Bannies were toast. But Pant & Jadeja had other ideas.

Can't accuse England of being smart. Broad concedes 35 runs in an over to Jasprit Bumrah.

This guy has a Test batting average of 6, what is our problem with him? Surely anyone with that record you just bowl full and straight to.

Broad now owns or shares the record for runs conceded in an over in two of the three international formats. Time for an ODI comeback?

tricycle wrote:

Can't accuse England of being smart. Broad concedes 35 runs in an over to Jasprit Bumrah.

Bumrah, of all people?????

skully wrote:

tricycle wrote:

Can't accuse England of being smart. Broad concedes 35 runs in an over to Jasprit Bumrah.

Bumrah, of all people?????

Well, included six extras… 4, 4+wd, 6+nb, 4, 4, 4, 6, 1. There were 16 off the over with only one legal delivery having been completed!

Crawley falls in traditional fashion again. Must be on borrowed time, but what are the alternatives?

The biggest puzzle of this new approach could be what to do about a top three. I think there’s a growing case for putting your best batsmen at numbers 4-8 in Test cricket. Accept that you’ll lose early wickets 9 times out of 10, and just try to take the shine off the new ball and maybe get a few quick runs while doing so.

A bit of old-school stuff with Leach coming in as Jon Snow… lasted five balls, and should have been only one.

Looks like Bairstokes or bust tomorrow for England. If India get the chance to enforce the follow-on, maybe they will consider the recent record of the home side batting last?

Yikes, major dramas for Blighty.