NPR

So, 170 run lead with 2 wickets in hand and the pitch proving a little difficult. This could be interesting tomorrow

That was a great day of test cricket. If there had been a crowd there it would have been an amazing atmosphere by the end of the day.

Enzedder wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2020 6:04 pm So, 170 run lead with 2 wickets in hand and the pitch proving a little difficult. This could be interesting tomorrow

Yeah. Proper test match and some good cricket. All results possible going into the fifth day.

The world may be up shit creek, but the comfort blanket of an English batting collapse swaddles one like an old friend.

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2020 10:30 pm The world may be up shit creek, but the comfort blanket of an English batting collapse swaddles one like an old friend.

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2020 10:30 pm The world may be up shit creek, but the comfort blanket of an English batting collapse swaddles one like an old friend.

Like death and taxes

Quick 45 run cameo from Jimmy, then Wood and Archer get their arses into gear followed by a fivefer from Dom Bess. On the other hand........

So 200 to win for the Windies. They must be slight favourites but will need to bat well.

Fellas?

A wicket?

Have you all drifted back to PR, or has ASMO now set up Not Not Planet Rugby?

Fellas?

Another wicket. Where's your enthusiasm?

11 for 2 with another retired hurt. Great stuff from Archer

I've been enjoying lurking on this thread this past week. Some pretty knowledgable chaps commenting. It's gone awfully quiet just as the match is getting really good.

Archer is bowling beautifully! Sacrificing a bit of speed for pin point accuracy and he's getting the reward. Had a good little cameo with the bat too

Ball seems to have suddenly stopped swinging?

Hope gone. 3 down, 27 runs on the board.

"Hope gone" would seem to sum it up for West Indies.

I'm guessing the English fans are watching this on a big screen down the pub. Must be a pretty great atmosphere. Or with Covid maybe not?

Lunch came at the right time for Windies, just as England had good momentum. These two have batted well since the restart. Too close to call right now.

FujiKiwi wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 12:27 pm I'm guessing the English fans are watching this on a big screen down the pub. Must be a pretty great atmosphere. Or with Covid maybe not?

English don’t really go to pub to watch cricket.

Lovely sunny day to be at home with a lazy glass, and sky on.

For us here, at the moment, it’s go to pubs for eating out really, and preferably in a pub garden.

Ymx wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 2:05 pm

FujiKiwi wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 12:27 pm I'm guessing the English fans are watching this on a big screen down the pub. Must be a pretty great atmosphere. Or with Covid maybe not?

English don’t really go to pub to watch cricket.

Lovely sunny day to be at home with a lazy glass, and sky on.

For us here, at the moment, it’s go to pubs for eating out really, and preferably in a pub garden.

It was just weird after all the traffic on this thread earlier in the test, today, with the match on a knife edge, the thread is a ghost town. I had enjoyed lurking and hearing the England lads discuss a bit of cricket.

120/4 now, the match tipping the Windies way?

just back from droping off my oldest granddaughter's birthady card.

139 -4 Windies just the favourite I think. Reckon a crowd would have given England an edge.

FujiKiwi wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 2:31 pm

Ymx wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 2:05 pm

FujiKiwi wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 12:27 pm I'm guessing the English fans are watching this on a big screen down the pub. Must be a pretty great atmosphere. Or with Covid maybe not?

English don’t really go to pub to watch cricket.

Lovely sunny day to be at home with a lazy glass, and sky on.

For us here, at the moment, it’s go to pubs for eating out really, and preferably in a pub garden.

It was just weird after all the traffic on this thread earlier in the test, today, with the match on a knife edge, the thread is a ghost town. I had enjoyed lurking and hearing the England lads discuss a bit of cricket.

120/4 now, the match tipping the Windies way?

I was busy dealing with the aftermath of discovering my garage had been broken into...

... and then spilled tea on my keyboard and essentially destroyed it

Blackwood has won this for the Windies; he’s played really well and bit by bit reversed the momentum.

no ball wicket

makes amends next ball

Then he nicks the next ball to the keeper

Good game that. Competitive.

A fair few mistakes by England there. Wrong call to bat first, wrong call to stick with Buttler, wrong call to drop Broad, wrong call to stick with Denly. Both batting innings showed England's real fragility. And the fielding sucked.

Well done Windies, looked the more confident and likely team to win throughout the match.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 5:28 pm A fair few mistakes by England there. Wrong call to bat first, wrong call to stick with Buttler, wrong call to drop Broad, wrong call to stick with Denly. Both batting innings showed England's real fragility. And the fielding sucked.

Well done Windies, looked the more confident and likely team to win throughout the match.

Yep - good test though, deservedly won by the WI. Pitch didn't really deteriorate much and didn't offer Bess much - thought he was very unlucky with his two good LBW shouts. We did have a few opportunities and failed to take them.

Quick turnaround to the Old Trafford Test on Thursday - they'll probably rest one of the Quicks, despite OT being a better place to play them than the Ageas Bowl was. Either that or they'll have to rest Jimmy...........

Root in for Crawley - No doubt Buttler will, undeservedly, keep his place - should be Foakes but Buttler seems to be the blue eyed boy.

Hopefully we'll come back hard - but it'll be tough - WIndies have a well balanced side and bat deeper than us. I think the OT pitch will suit us better - The Ageas pitch was very much the sort of thing they play on in the WIndies.

Great to have live cricket to watch - even when we lose.

Yeah, a really good test match played to a high standard by both teams. England just didn't score enough runs to allow their spinner a long spell, although selecting an inexperienced offspinner against a team of righthanders was unlikely to win the game. Possibly a couple of overs of Denly might have caused an indiscretion from Blackwood.

I agree that Buttler should (but won't) give way to Foakes.

Denly to make way for Root in my book. Hard on any of the bowlers who have to make way for Broad, but I would prefer to see him in the side.

All in all a very enjoyable game.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 2:58 pm
I was busy dealing with the aftermath of discovering my garage had been broken into...

... and then spilled tea on my keyboard and essentially destroyed it

Those sound bad, particularly the first one. Hope nothing too serious. Jesus.

I had no idea cricket was back in the offing again. A very pleasant surprise, and a fun match for a neutral to watch, too.

FujiKiwi wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2020 5:22 am

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 2:58 pm
I was busy dealing with the aftermath of discovering my garage had been broken into...

... and then spilled tea on my keyboard and essentially destroyed it

Those sound bad, particularly the first one. Hope nothing too serious. Jesus.

I had no idea cricket was back in the offing again. A very pleasant surprise, and a fun match for a neutral to watch, too.

3 bikes nicked, so not great!

The Test ended up better than I expected, it's just frustrating watching England make the same mistakes over and over.

Good win, never easy to get 200 in any test batting last. Windies cricket on the up.

That’s a bummer JM - the bikes I mean.

Onto Old Trafford, presumably without Denley. I think Broad will be back - maybe one of the quicks (Wood most likely) won’t be ready to go again come Thursday. Otherwise I don’t envy Joe sorting that one out.

Well played WI. Great to see them playing well and showing us how to grind out results. Still, England should have taken their chances - we feel like a flakey side held together by a few strong plasters (Stokes, Anderson, Burns, Broad when he plays). There is talent there among the rest, but it comes through too inconsistently.

Very disappointed in Buttler. I was so excited when he finally took over from Bairstow as, with his serious studying of the game, I thought he'd make an ideal v/c (and possibly skipper if Root did not improve), plus his glovework was good (even if never as good as Foakes's) and batting had been solid. Unfortunately, his batting seems to have deserted him and he's putting down simple chances at key times. If he stays in, I hope he turns it around at OT. Otherwise, he's getting the same overbearance that Bairstow had and it's Foakes's turn to feel frustrated now.

While I would have played Broad for the conditions at the start of this test (QUERY - perhaps they made the decision early and then could not take those into account without appearing flip-floppy?), I hope they stick with Archer/Wood for OT which is supposed to suit them more. If not, they really look under the thumb from player-pressure. More importantly, it gives the Archer/Wood combo a chance to prove itself over more than one game after a lengthy lay-off.

Did Bess bowl well? The pundits seem to like him, but he didn't do much in the 4th innings.

Great to be in the house with TMS on in the background, almost made it feel like a normal summer day working from home. They've done a really good job of feeding the background murmur of a cricket crowd into the broadcast as well, it's at just the right level (but without the fucking barmyarmybarmarmybarmyarmybarmyarmy from about 3 o'clock onwards).

to Kiwias - I think most of us in England were outside enjoying the good weather yesterday, possibly playing cricket ourselves, rather than anywhere near a screen.

Could do with more cricket chat though on NPR. I think it's what got me in the habit of lurking on the old PR a LONG time ago; at the time, it was almost as good a commentary feed as cricinfo and the Guardian. We need more Old Fallopian, Karahi, Voltman and the many other (sensible) cricket aficionados.

Yeah, it was me, not Kiwias, although he’s an even bigger cricket fan than I am. It’s good to see some good cricket chat on NPR, anyway. Hopefully it’ll grow. Good to hear some of you boys got out in the sunshine and fresh air yourselves.

Apologies, from your Jap/Kiwi username I thought it was Kiwias's new one - my mistake! Are you based in Japan as well?

Hope other countries get back to playing test cricket too. Not as good as in front of crowds, obviously, but better than nothing.

Anyone seen Wiggum?