England v Australia, 4th Test, Old Trafford, 19-23 July, 2023

Jesus, what a hiding!!

What a day for Pat. Out first ball then smoked all over the park by Creepy and had to watch the same thing happen to all his bowlers.

Very sad that we are now relying on the weather to save us, although if England get 250 in front by Lunch tomoz, Stokes may have a go at blast out a mentally shattered Aus.

Well done England.

Nath wrote:Australia are mentally and physically cooked

Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?

I was delighted Moeen scored a 50.

If the rest of his batting technique was as fine as his cover drive, he'd be near the top of the tree.

As it is, to serve the team unstintingly yet again - and do quite a lot more than use up a few overs of the new ball - does him immense credit.

There's no doubt this Bazball philosophy of playing positive cricket and not worrying about failure seems to be liberating for players like Crawley.

He has played with huge confidence from ball one of the series and it all came together for him last night.

Congrats to him, coach and captain for bringing this policy to life.

skully wrote:Jesus, what a hiding!!

What a day for Pat. Out first ball then smoked all over the park by Creepy and had to watch the same thing happen to all his bowlers.

Very sad that we are now relying on the weather to save us, although if England get 250 in front by Lunch tomoz, Stokes may have a go at blast out a mentally shattered Aus.

Well done England.

Would be a real shame if rain proves decisive, though would still give us a shot at saving the unbeaten home series run at the Oval, even if not claiming the Ashes.

Could be interruptions today and any play whatsoever looks unlikely tomorrow, with Sunday a lottery as well.

It seems McCullum took a couple of looks at him (Crawley) and concluded his attack is better than his defence.

Other coaches would have decided to give someone else a go. For good or ill, that's not Big Bren's style. "Hack-sen-chewate the positive", as Bing Crosby used to sing.

Whatever it is, it has better results than "taking the positives" with fear in everyone's eyes, England's typical approach for 17 years.

Recklessness should not be part of it, though.

More like Crawley's tale. Even if you lose in the end, not for want of trying (not flaying).

Yeah, and while some have disagreed, I’ve maintained that we needed a fresh approach to Test opening for quite a while. We’re not going to produce another Alastair Cook, and a traditional type of opener scratching around for an hour and a half for 20 (at best) just hands the momentum to the opposition. Crawley is infuriating at times, but with that knock he’s cemented his place for a fair while to come.

5 of England’s top six have at least matched Australia’s (joint) top score of 51.

Another 120 in the session!! Jesus H Crikey. I guess it was better than last night's 180+ in the session.

Watch Aus fall in a heap with in the 2nd innings.

skully wrote:Another 180!! Jesus H Crikey.

Watch Aus fall in a heap with in the 2nd innings.

bowl will hoop around all over the place guaranteed

Aye, Nath.

Oh well, we simply haven't been good enough in this one.

Up against it but weather may yet have a say. England certainly put the foot down with the bat but the strategy seemed a bit better during this morning's session.

Not sure why we’re going on here… given the series situation Stokes has to captain by the weather forecast on this occasion.

Maybe 9 wkts or 100 overs, whichever comes sooner.

Bringing the Aussies out to field for a couple of overs after lunch is no doubt intended as "mental disintegration" ...

Having said that, Warner or Khawaja to step up to the plate and be counted?

waiting for Bairstow 50?

Hazlewood coming from nowhere for his Michelle.

He has stuck to the task.

Well, Jimmy coming out. This won't take long. Sixer for Haze?

lardbucket wrote:waiting for Bairstow 50?

Who knows.

6 of the top 7 scoring a half would be some sort of record if it happened.

Hopefully Stokes is not trying to let JB get to 100.

Or maybe he's just trying to do something for Jim's confidence.

Bairstow has gone mad.

Jonny left with Red Balloons.

Jimmy has cost Bairstow his ton.