West Ham Online

1st Test June 20-24 @ Headingley
England team : Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.

No Bethell & various fast bowlers .. Atkinson, Wood, Archer unavailable

India lose Kohli and Rohit Sharma to retirement after the debacle in Australia

I’m not a bird or born in Barnstaple 

Though we may both be celebrating next week when it’s 10 years since England won an Ashes series
10 years! 

"The ‘Australian bird’ is English. Born in Barnstaple"


Bit like you then?

I’d love to see Ricky Ponting as COACH of Australia
He has a young family & doesn’t want to commit to the year round travel
Happy raking in cash with short stints as an IPL coach & some commentary in Australia & England 
Heard today (on the AFL coverage of Adelaide v Hawthorn) that Stuart Broad will be on the commentary team for Australia tv for the Ashes

The ‘Australian bird’ is English. Born in Barnstaple

Absolutely no problem with Punter being there, exceptional cricketer and brilliant in the box.

What the merry fuck that Aussie bird is doing commentating in general, let alone somehow crowbaring her way into every England Test series, is a fucking disgrace.

She's unqualified, dull, has no rapport with any co com. She has no business being there whatsoever.

2 Aussies commentating on England vs India.

Bizarre.

Good recovery by India after England were 95 behind with 9 wickets in hand … 8 really as Woakes didn’t bat
England a bowler down & with a couple who haven’t played much cricket recently 
 

To be honest bowling first yesterday with the clouds & life in the pitch was the right decision this time
Not sure what that LUMP of a groundsman is playing at producing a surface with some life in it
Am sure the Kiwi Krew of McCullum , Stokes & Southee would have ordered something dead and indestructible 

Hark at Mike Brearley

Looking like winning the toss and yet again putting India into bat will backfire again. They never learn. 

Reckon that’s the end of Woakes Test career as he surely won’t be going to Australia 
England need Archer, Wood & probably Atkinson there with Stokes. Tongue is all over the place & J Overton isn’t even the best bowler in his family 
Spinner? Who knows … Bashir, Leach & Dawson are much of a muchness 
Id take the leg spinner Rehan Ahmed as a positive option & Root & Bethel can do a bit of the offspinning if needed

Strange day. The best bowling conditions of the series this up until tea and England were very ordinary with the ball. Tongue was all over the place though Atkinson did look like a proper bowler at times.

That injury to Woakes looked nasty. Don't think he'll be bowling again.

That's 33000/1 practically 

Good toss to win
Overcast & ball moving all over the place for the first time in the series
India have lost all 5 tosses and the last 15 in internationals 

Back on at 3pm
Forecast looking much better for Days 2-5

Atkinson looks the part but coming back from injury so should be managed carefully.

Woakes sending some good stuff down but fatigue makes him less metronomic than usual, and he's a dreadful record in Australia anyway.

I'm still yet to be convinced by Tongue, even excluding his brief bout of the yips this morning.

Joverton, pointless. Might as well have given Sam Cook or Josh Hull another chance to further develop.

I hope that they leave grass on the wicket or else I cannot see us getting 20 wicket.
Jacob Bethell as a test spinner? Really?!

I reckon no stokes makes India favourites 

Jofra Archer , Brydon C Arse & Liam Dawson all dropped
Atkinson , Tongue & Overton J included 
No spinner 
Expecting an absolute road … possibly 25 yards long … as England only need a draw to win the series

Stokes out of the fifth test against India.

All over
203 unbroken for the 5th wicket
Youd hope a 5th day wicket would have something for the spinners … Dawson 0/95 Root 0/68

India need to win at the Oval to retain the trophy
Odds on we will see a flat road

Lead of over 100 with 6 wickets in hand & only 12 overs left which would be 10 with the changeover
Jadeja over 100 so presume they will shake hands when Washington (99no) gets his hundred

Good fighting recovery from 0/2 on a dead Bazball pitch 
Not sure what else England could have done … 300 lead & plenty of time to bowl them out 

Well done India, nailed on draw after a disastrous start. Gill gas been superb from day 1, sets it all up for the Oval with the series still very much alive.

India fighting hard though in trouble again with Gill going on lunch
Will need to get in front & bat well past 5pm , probably 5.30 & hope for a bit of Manchester rain

After some quiet innings Gill back on track for the record runs in a 5 Test series … Bradman with 974 I believe 

Rahul gone, India 3 down and still 121 behind.

Very hard to predict this one, England slight favourites i reckon.