England v West Indies, 2nd Test, Headingley, 25-29 August, 2017

Well, Jimmy gets rid of New with the first ball of the day... the comeback starts here? Or will we still be waiting for the next wicket at tea?

Hat-trick ball! What have you got, Noddy...

fuqqit

Well; a bit of a recovery after the disastrous 0.2 - 0 - 0- 2 start, and WI finish up with a lead of 169. Not bad at all.

Aye. The England script of cleaning up the tail started as well as it possibly could have, but skipper Holder always puts value on his wicket.

If all the Ganjas had the captain's heart, they'd be a competitive bunch.

Good to see the Windies fight continuing.

That could be it for Westlife, nearly a shambolic run-out and then a few balls later nicks off to a wild drive. Head scrambled like the Arsenal defence on my other screen...

Minus 88 for 2. Odds against setting them any sort of target.

I thought Westley looked okay in his first test - but he was never comfortable today.
And now Stoneman goes.

Yeah, Westley seemed quite at ease in his first Test, without making a big score - it's been all downhill since though and I suspect they will replace him for the final match of the series.

Stoneman seemingly bowled by a noey that the third umpire failed to make the brave call on. Malan nicked one behind but no review, Root taking 20 balls to get off the mark (normally he has 15 on the board by that stage even if he seemingly hasn't played a shot). Can't see us setting them a meaningful target here.

Looking really in the balance now. Root's review paid off, was as instantaneous as if he'd got the thickest of edges, I think he knew the game was gone if he fell at that point.

2 for 3 in effect, in a one innings match, with lots of batting to come. Set them 150 and it's a contest. Significantly over 200 and the balance starts to tilt in our favour.

I thought it was significant that Root never looked "in". The pitch is doing enough even with the old ball.

Yeah, 150 lead might give us half a chance of a great escape. One partnership for either side will probably do it. An hour of Bairstow, Stokes or Ali perhaps...

Game is well set up. Hope for a thrilling Ganga win.

England's match to lose.

horace wrote:Game is well set up. Hope for a thrilling Ganga win.

When did Daren get a recall?

beamer wrote:

horace wrote:Game is well set up. Hope for a thrilling Ganga win.

When did Daren get a recall?

heheheh. Daren has been a critical element in every WI team for decades.

So Weasley failed again, ay. England's top order is as dodgy as Aus's.

Tight match.

taipan wrote:England's match to lose.

I'm inclined to agree. It's hard not to see one out of Stokes, Bairstow or Moeen getting a decent score even if Root goes for not many more. That means The Windies will be chasing at least 150 on a pitch which is not getting any better.

AC battling away, though it hasn't been pretty... Stokes looking much more fluent. WI bowling indisciplined and littered with no-balls and wides, so different to day 1.

Better effort but they just can't maintain any consistency.

:-(

Could have had another 10 runs if Dean Gaffney and co. had been calling all the no-balls...

50 for Stokes. He would still walk into this side even if he didn't bowl.

Nice tail wag by England. This will be a strength in the Ashes.

skully wrote:Nice tail wag by England. This will be a strength in the Ashes.

We'll certainly need it when we're 30-4 nearly every innings...

We Aussies can only hope that's the case, beams.