England v Australia, 1st Test, Cardiff, 8-12 July, 2015

Ideally these two will add 70 runs before Stokes, Buttler and Ali come in and tee off, with Root calmly accumulating at the other end. That would be my afternoon sorted.

Hmm... hard to see Aust winning from here

Healy laying into Watson on commentary. Most on the mark comments he's ever made on air.

Played, Belly.

England perched high in the box seat.

Henry wrote:Played, Belly.

We all knew Bell would come good when it mattered, didn't we?

Belly bringing the hurt. It's 2013 all over again.

Steadied the ship - it was looking a bit dodgy with those two Yorkshire lumps that aren't Lil' Joseph at the crease.

I'm not having Ballance at three. Get him down the order or out of the team.

beamer wrote:

Henry wrote:Played, Belly.

We all knew Bell would come good when it mattered, didn't we?

That's what he's known for. In his mind, when he's flexing in the mirror until his wife comes in to burp him before bed.

If only they hadn't thrown Trott to the wolves as an opener over the winter...

Bell has had his luck, hopefully he cashes in on it. I guess he's been rewarded for his positivity, with shots that have narrowly evaded fielders often reaching the boundary. I guess those are the risks you take if you want to attack, and with England scoring at over 4 an over in both innings, and looking more positive with bat and ball than Australia, you can't really complain too much at this juncture. Ballance is the major concern, the runs he does score look ugly and unconvincing, and when he doesn't score, he can be made to look a bit mediocre.

Nope, 60 and out. An important 60, maybe, but a pretty ungainly and fortunate 60 that won't keep his detractors away for long.

Bell is a qunt - f*ck off Chiv, you piece of shit

Chivalry Augustus wrote:Nope, 60 and out. An important 60, maybe, but a pretty ungainly and fortunate 60 that won't keep his detractors away for long.

Three of the top four will still be under pressure at Lord's, despite all scoring more runs than the fourth one, i.e. Cook.

Stokes is plumb LBW......but the Aussies don't even appeal!

Henry wrote:Stokes is plumb LBW......but the Aussies don't even appeal!

Conspiracyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Henry wrote:Stokes is plumb LBW......but the Aussies don't even appeal!

Yeah.  WTF was that?!

Beautiful ball by Hazlewood... He's a real good 'un

Forecast for Sunday isn't good.

At what stage do England think about declaring? 400 ahead?

Henry wrote:Forecast for Sunday isn't good.

At what stage do England think about declaring? 400 ahead?

I think England have enough, but it's too risky to set too much by a weather forecast. I guess they'll look at batting for half an hour to an hour tomorrow. Being bowled out might aid our victory chances.

Two soft dismissals in this match for Buttler.

Henry wrote:Forecast for Sunday isn't good.

At what stage do England think about declaring? 400 ahead?

They might be a bit spooked by the Pak chase the other day.

Stupid batting, really.

Silly batting has let Australia back into this. They were on their knees. Looks like they'll be chasing something within the realms of chaseability

Pathetic batting.

"Both Australian openers have gone off the field"


Ummmm....How does that work?