International cricket thread

NZ having declared this morning….still all over SA… SA now 50/2 but from 22 overs. Pathetic display from the South Africans.

More tripe being served up by West Indies. Australia 51/0 off 4 overs. Warner, a slogger who can't hit the ball off the square away from home is hammering them, and West Indies are too rubbish to stop it

Bit harsh I think. Warner has always been a great white ball player. Lethal opening in the powerplay and with the ability to make big scores. He has done it for years home and away. Two one day world cups and a T20 one too. Consistent performer in the IPL as well.

Test match cricket it's more mixed. Still for what he was at the start, a T20 slogger with no first class pedigree, he had a great test career. A lot have been tried to do that Sehwag role and didn't last no time.

Leach gone from the tour.

Choking at all levels the Indians. 254 was a tough chase, but the coverage reminded me of Afghanistan v England at the world cup. Afghanistan made 284, and in the studio there were 3 people. Some sky dude, a whizzkid coach that had some title about finding South East Asians to play for England. He was on about positive role models and Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, but was a bollox talker. The 2 boys started a conversation about how many overs England would need to make the target. The 3rd man I the studio was Zac Crawley, and he was shouted down by these 2 clowns when he suggested it would be a good idea to bat for a bit and it was a tough chase. Diversity coach was very sure of himself for a bloke that was a token pundit. Everything he said was wrong, and he was a cocky idiot. When Australia scored 253 today, the pundits were all in agreement for an Indian victory. Sheep that followed each other, and were all wrong

A picturesque venue for a test but it’s a poor spectacle. NZ head and shoulders better than the South African B/C team…

SA 114/5. Scoring at 2.19 runs an over currently, 52 overs gone, block block block…leave leave leave… shot…block block block…leave leave leave…middle order players looking nervy as hell… the outside edges of all batsmen to the crease must have been beaten about 60 times so far in this innings..

No wonder the ground is empty. ALL on the South Africans…. and their first team test players stepping aside to give preference to the T20’s… poor…

2.46 the run rate. 👏🏼

a wag in the tail for sure but 242/9 no, 242 all out….

NZ will be happy enough as they’d have taken that before play on day 1 but will slightly regret not getting them out for cheaper.

New Zealand 211 all out. 145/3 and a collapse of 7/66. South Africa lead by 31

Not over, but if their batting side stands up, even 250 will be tough. Would be worried about them being blasted out for 100.

175/4 now. 206 in front. Recovery from 39/3

Bedingham 104* now out of 213-5. 244 is the lead, very handy one for South Africa

3.4 overs of not very good bowling and 22 runs conceded and Wood subsequently finds what’s been the solitary excellent delivery so far, picks up Jaiswal’s wicket…. Excellent delivery…

Rohit and Jadeja really steadied the ship after that disastrous start...100 partnership now, need to keep going.

Jadeja made a mess of getting to a hundred. Ran out the new man. He's 100* out of 315/5

At 33/3 England were in charge, big time, now rolls somewhat reversed.

Reasonable to surmise that the probability will be India from stumps at 326/5 will be posting a 400 plus first innings score or worse for English.

England need a really impressive first session with the ball to avoid that happening.

Unfortunately 3 of the 5 England bowlers are wicketless so far including Anderson. Not an ideal situation for the English side. 46 wicketless overs between the 3 of them.

wont be anyone in the India camp having a sleepless night, they’ll be comfortable having recovered superbly from that disastrous start having been 33/3…to 326/5…. That is some going….

Stokes and co. need a hell of a session with the ball but I know where my money is, not on England.

No adverse weather to save England, the opposite, they’ll be under the pump again tomorrow and for the rest of the test, temperature highs up in the mid 30’s every day. So the longer they are in the field….

let’s see if they can get a decent session in in the morning, they might have a sliver of hope if they can skittle India for 380 but in the same breath I’m going to be somewhat surprised if that happens.

Likelihood is their goose is cooked even at this early stage.

England will be rueing the two missed reviews, you don’t often see one in an innings but two… seems to be an emotive frenzy for any appeal with their captain the worst culprit.

Poor captaincy by Rohit, Duckett hitting to all parts giving England momentum yet Ashwin doesn’t bowl. Eventually brings on Ashwin and gets a wicket in his second over.

Ravi Ashwin has left the test. Family reasons… huge blow for India, huge boost for England….

losing runs and wickets with him being a quality all rounder.

in terms of batting its 11 vs 10, a huge boost for the English, can they take advantage ?

England 9 down, another 2 quick wickets. Bit of a collapse this from England 207/2 to 304/9. 126 behind. India back in control?

Keeping an eye on this one - Root shows why this silly bazball nonsense is nonsense in test cricket. Trying play T20 shots in a test innings with your team in a growing position of strength. Might work out once in every 5 or 6 matches, but that's poor odds.

Looks like India will have healthy 300+ lead by end of day. 22 yr old opener with a century. Even with 10 men, you'd think that Englands goose will be well and truly cooked.

How come Ben Duckett can score 153 on this wicket and not a single other England batsman can score a half century ? 5 of the 11 batsmen only on single figure scores. England probably at least 80 off being in a position to attain a result…if they had bowlers able to take wickets of course.

bowlers have no real impact, 3rd innings of the test and India set for a really substantial lead unless a miracle unfolds.

Anderson hit for three sixes in a row, not sure I've seen that before - England's most expensive bowler in this innings. India utterly dominant at the moment, lead almost 500. India should have long since declared, assume they're letting Jaiswal get 200? At least Ben Duckett will get his wish today, the more runs to chase the merrier apparently!!