40-4, what a mess again.
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40-4, what a mess again.
England have dragged themselves towards 250 which seemed unlikely at lunch.
Collapse from India from nowhere 195-8.
Missed the live action because of work but it feels nicely poised after day two.
No chance of a draw surely, so I would have to give the edge to India. Not so much because of the narrow first-innings lead though.
The Indian seamers have been growing stronger throughout this tour and England's top to middle order are not dealing with them.
England's seamers had to work harder and essentially, England's position is down to Moeen sparkling in amongst the Indian middle to lower order.
While he will have the chance to bowl at India again on a fourth innings pitch, the surface doesn't actually look too bad and it's difficult to imagine an Indian team dealing as poorly with decent, but not world-class spin as they did first time round.
Add to that Kohli may feel he has a point to prove.......
According to the commentators 4th innings scores at Soton are consistently low so England might still have a chance to sneak it.
England did well to push it on.
The issue for the selectors is that they have found themselves depending on Buttler and Curran for runs and the seamers are ageing and not producing the wickets. Big changes needed.
India need to close things off quickly tomorrow. It will be a tough ask after that to get the runs. But then they've got Kohli, let alone Punjara et al.
Funny series, England could quite easily seal it 3-1 but you've got to feel that India are on the ascendant and England are needing major surgery. This England side can win games at home but would be annihilated on tour in India or Australia.
Two openers, a resolution to three given that Root isn't willing to go there, some certainty about the keeping, replacement openers for Broad and Anderson and some sense of who they want as a spinner. That's all England need.
The expression '...delicately poised' must have been coined for Test match cricket. This is sumptious.
Ended up being a bit more comfortable for England than looked likely at tea.
Just watched the highlights, fine Test Match cricket.
Cook has announced his retirement after the final test. That leaves England struggling to find two opening batsman now. He’s not been in brilliant form lately, but it goes to show how much England are struggling for opening batsman that his place has never been under threat.
:agree:
Cook has had an outstanding career, and he deserves all the plaudits going.
England are a mess at opening bat. Jennings was likely to be dropped anyway which means they are scrambling to find two openers and a number three. I’m not convinced it’s Moeen.
Bairstow should bat at 3 and give up the gloves to Butler imo. That still leaves the problem of finding two opening batsmen. Obviously it’s made more complicated by the fact that they’ll be trying out different players in overseas tests. I think they’ll now be forced to stick with Jennings and one other new batsman.
I think one thing has become clear over the last few years is that being an opening batsman is the toughest job in cricket.
I disagree in that I think Root should take responsibility and bat at three, Bairstow goes at four.
Curran will move up the order, without a doubt.
Completely agree with you, opening bat is tough at this level. I don’t think Jennings will be kept, but we shall see,
Having listened to Root being interviewed I think he’s determined to bat at four, whether that means Bairstow moves to three I’m not sure as he also prefers to bat lower down the order. Root made a point of mentioning that Ali bats at three for his county, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him moved up.
England have collapsed from 133/1 to 181/7 they’ll be lucky to bat the day out.
I'm playing today for the first time in probably about 22 years. 150th anniversary of Clackmannan County Cricket Club, old boys v current 1st XI. I fancy our chances!
Cracking day so far. Great innings from Cook and Root. India now 2/3 Kohli out for a duck in their reply.
Just watched the highlights of the 4th days play, some days in sport are just special, Cook, Root, Anderson & Broad, just magic. Special word for umpire Dharmasena, he doesnae get much wrong.
Could India win this? It would one of the biggest run chases ever I would’ve thought.
Anderson takes the last wicket to win the match and break Glenn McGrath's record for most wickets taken by a fast bowler!