Cricket

Reckon we could be looking to set Pakistan 350

343 in 4 sessions, game on!

77-2..Azhar ret with a finger injury. Pitch still a good batting track. 260 odd to win, not out of the question. Very unlikely. Brooks slapped it about earlier with Root getting 70 odd. And he's on bowling his right arm finger spin. Can bowl leg breaks as well but he's very wayward with that.

Could be a result. Might be worth getting up at 5 to watch it unfold.

80-2 close of play. 263 to win.

Draw off the table now really. This England team is nuts

Outrageous captaincy from Stokes yet again. Unbelievable.  1 wicket from an exceptional win.

Yes looking like an England win..9 down. Pope misses one, done well but shouldn't gone for that. Bout 40 mins or so till the ump starts looking at the light..if it gets that far.

Yeah getting a bit dicey. Mental they are going for drinks now.

Feel like this England team is trying to drag the test game kicking and screaming into long term relevancy

Batter runs off for a slash..nuther 6 overs of pace..then spin..

New ball time I'd say...

10 round the bat...Anderson steams in...good defensive batting. Stokes on...got to make him play..over.

New ball time I'd say...

Leach on..wigwam around the batter..good batting..quicker ball needed..over..

New ball taken...over..Robbo on..

Leach on..out..IBW..review was it going down...think so...

no..out...England win..

Boom

Couldn't see that result coming 24 hours ago....That wasn't a difficult target on that pitch, should have got the runs with relative ease. Fair play to Stokes.

Over 1700 runs and still a result. Great test match. Had to change the mind set of TC and Stokes has done that. No more dull draws. This is the pressure white ball cricket has put on the traditions of the game.

Couldn't see that result coming 24 hours ago....That wasn't a difficult target on that pitch, should have got the runs with relative ease. Fair play to Stokes.

The draw was a good call, but England bat and play to win. In days gone by England would've run up a 500 run lead before putting them in but TC is catching up with the trend towards much more entertaining play to win cricket.

The other aspect is that this was a pure batting pitch and generally pitches sometimes dictate. Low scoring TC with very tricky pitches is still on the cards but just good to see attacking test cricket.

I was brought up on TC back in the day and not losing was very often the motivation. Still room in the game for the traditions but it has to stay relevant.

The draw was a good call, but England bat and play to win. In days gone by England would've run up a 500 run lead before putting them in but TC is catching up with the trend towards much more entertaining play to win cricket.

Can't argue with that. Time is such an important element of TC, and the main reason I won't watch anything under 50 over innings.
Big modern bats in 20/20, or even worse The Hundred equates to slog cricket. I've always thought it's a bit like 2 football teams just taking penalties instead of playing a match. Five day tests that go all the way....Fantastic

Harry Brooks MOTM. Going to score very heavily in all forms of the game and to have such a talent who can play in all forms of the game at the top is brilliant. But as we know things can go wrong but he's one to watch.

Can't argue with that. Time is such an important element of TC, and the main reason I won't watch anything under 50 over innings.
Big modern bats in 20/20, or even worse The Hundred equates to slog cricket. I've always thought it's a bit like 2 football teams just taking penalties instead of playing a match. Five day tests that go all the way....Fantastic

Yeah I get a bit snobby over white ball cricket. But yes the 100 is fast food at it's worst. White ball cricket brings in the money and it's obviously here to stay but they have to be careful they don't reduce it to a glorified game of rounders.

Some win that.