It's The Ashes (again)

[Pragmatist]

I really hope rain doesn't ruin what has been a fantastic Test, but sadly the forecast is not looking good. The irony is that I believe a draw is probably the fairest result. England have been superb at times, ditto Australia. England have been frustrating and 'poor' (I don't want to use poor as credit has to go to the opposition for making the other team look 'poor'.) at times, ditto Australia. It's ebbed and flowed to give us great theatre.

I obviously want England to win, but if it's going to be a draw then I want to see Australia battle and earn the draw, rather than be a washout. This Test deserves a better ending than that (I can only see a draw or England win, barring a collapse from us!), but knowing Stokes you can see a ballsy declaration that risks defeat in order to give him a chance of a win, so maybe, weather dependant. the draw is out of the question.

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That's an absolutely needless shot from Root. Ridiculous.

At least Pope got an absolute jaffa and couldn't do a lot against such a good ball. Root has just gifted his wicket away, when we needed him to be the core of our innings. This is where this mentality of gung ho really annoys me. It's brain dead cricket at times, I get that you need quick runs to get to a defendable total so you have time to bowl Australia out before rain ruins it, but you can score quick runs with sensible shots.

And it wasn’t as though Brook was struggling to keep the scoreboard ticking over.  Pointless from Root at this stage.

[SuperBob2002]

I really hope rain doesn't ruin what has been a fantastic Test, but sadly the forecast is not looking good. The irony is that I believe a draw is probably the fairest result. England have been superb at times, ditto Australia. England have been frustrating and 'poor' (I don't want to use poor as credit has to go to the opposition for making the other team look 'poor'.) at times, ditto Australia. It's ebbed and flowed to give us great theatre.

I obviously want England to win, but if it's going to be a draw then I want to see Australia battle and earn the draw, rather than be a washout. This Test deserves a better ending than that (I can only see a draw or England win, barring a collapse from us!), but knowing Stokes you can see a ballsy declaration that risks defeat in order to give him a chance of a win, so maybe, weather dependant. the draw is out of the question.

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That's an absolutely needless shot from Root. Ridiculous.

At least Pope got an absolute jaffa and couldn't do a lot against such a good ball. Root has just gifted his wicket away, when we needed him to be the core of our innings. This is where this mentality of gung ho really annoys me. It's brain dead cricket at times, I get that you need quick runs to get to a defendable total so you have time to bowl Australia out before rain ruins it, but you can score quick runs with sensible shots.

And it wasn’t as though Brook was struggling to keep the scoreboard ticking over.  Pointless from Root at this stage.

https://twitter.com/BBCSport/status/1670...VcwFg&s=19

This reaction sums up how I feel. I'm all for attacking and positive cricket. But let's not be stupid and reckless.

[Borin' Baggie]

They're trying to get to 250-300 for the middle of the second session so they can declare because tomorrow looks like a washout.

[Shabby Russian]

This is a 5 test series?

Why put yourself under needless pressure and lose this one.

If England make a declaration based on a weather forecast, they would be mad.

[Malcolm Tucker]

This is a 5 test series?

Why put yourself under needless pressure and lose this one.

If England make a declaration based on a weather forecast, they would be mad.

Agreed. 

Would be like sending the keeper up for a corner after a goalless first twenty minutes.

[SuperBob2002]

That reckless shot has done nothing but slow the run rate down.

Very attacking, ent it?

[Malcolm Tucker]

That reckless shot has done nothing but slow the run rate down.

Very attacking, ent it?

That’s the risk you take playing like this. There were a few mad looking shots earlier in the innings that yielded runs, so you have to take the rough with the smooth whilst it seems to be working.

[SuperBob2002]

This is a 5 test series?

Why put yourself under needless pressure and lose this one.

If England make a declaration based on a weather forecast, they would be mad.

100% this.

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Let's say Stokes and Brook put on a partnership that gets us somewhere around a 300 lead (they're capable), and they decide to declare at that point - If Australia chase that down they'd have won a test taking only 12 wickets. That can't have happened very often?

A lot of ifs and it's a little of a far fetched scenario, but not entirely an impossible situation, is it?

[wba13]

So the Aussies moaning that Robinson sledged Khawaja did you see their reaction when they thought stokes hadn’t hit the ball on review, clowns anyway the ball was hitting Stokes outside the line and missing the stumps. Crap review.
Same old Aussies.

[SuperBob2002]

In Joe Root's 240th Test innings, that was his 220th dismissal but the first time he's ever been stumped - from TMS.

He's not a bad player, despite my frustration at that shot (which is because, in part, at how good he is at playing spin).