- Play at the Ageas Bowl starts after rain delay in morning
- Australia get green light for limited-overs tour of England
- And feel free to email Tim or tweet @TimdeLisle
78th over: Pakistan 192-8 (Rizwan 40, Abbas 0) Rizwan is having fun now, cutting a ball from Curran that is barely short for four, then playing a cute ramp over the slips for four more. He made his Test debut, Wasim Akram points out, as a batsman.
Meanwhile Rob Wilson has written an essay. “I think this is a good moment to sing the praises of cricketing rain. Cricket rain is not like other rain. Unless inveterate liars or mountebanks, we all have to admit that some of our happiest afternoons have been brought to us by cricketing rain (which somehow seems more hopeless and permanent in the afternoons). It taught us patience as children, the futility of all human desire as teenagers.
77th over: Pakistan 183-8 (Rizwan 31, Abbas 0) The old ball is swinging so much that there’s a case for not taking the new one right away. Woakes, tired of beating the bat, slips in a rare yorker, which Rizwan does well to spot. Rizwan shovels for two and pulls for a single, leaving Abbas to face one ball, an inswinger that he inside-edges safely enough.
76th over: Pakistan 180-8 (Rizwan 28, Abbas 0) Curran to Abbas: one 80mph bowler to another. Curran thinks he’s got him with an inswinger that thuds into the pad, but there was an inside edge, and England review in vain.
75th over: Pakistan 180-8 (Rizwan 28, Abbas 0) Rizwan, who had pushed to gully’s right, knew there wasn’t a run there. Now, joined by Mohammad Abbas, he changes gear, goes down the track and swipes Woakes through square leg for four. A bit more of that, please.
He’s gone now! The trouble with blocking all day long is that you don’t get much practice at running. Shaheen sets off for a mad run and, madder still, takes on Dom Sibley’s golden aim. It’s a direct hit, no replays required. And that’s the end of a 19-ball nothing.
74th over: Pakistan 176-7 (Rizwan 24, Shaheen 0) It was a lovely ball from Curran, full and juicy and curling away, bringing the stumps into play in Nasser-pleasing fashion.
A camera over Root’s shoulder, looking down through his legs, shows the ball touching the grass. And Shaheen is free to resume what could be one of the all-time epic ducks.
Shaheen finally nicks one, which goes straight to Root at first slip, so low that he can’t be sure he’s taken it cleanly. The umps confer and the soft signal is out.
73rd over: Pakistan 175-7 (Rizwan 23, Shaheen 0) Woakes replaces Anderson, by the same token. He beats Shaheen three times, by wide margins, and Nasser Hussain tells him off for not bringing the stumps into play.
72nd over: Pakistan 174-7 (Rizwan 22, Shaheen 0) Broad goes off, so he can come back with the new ball, and here is Sam Curran. Rizwan takes his single; Shaheen gathers four more dots.
“Since you mentioned the legendary Tower of Song by the genius L Cohen,” says Ian Batch, “I thought I’d amend the lyrics to another genius (slow day at work).
71st over: Pakistan 173-7 (Rizwan 21, Shaheen 0) After being together for two and a half overs, these batsmen are already set in their ways: Rizwan takes a single, then Shaheen collects some dots. He has 11 of them so far.
70th over: Pakistan 172-7 (Rizwan 20, Shaheen 0) Shaheen Afridi has begun with some sturdy blocks, but Rizwan may have to be the man to lift Pakistan over 200. Which might be a decent score on this classic greentop.
69th over: Pakistan 171-7 (Rizwan 19, Shaheen 0) Anderson has three for 47, his best figures of 2020. His strike rate this summer, which a few minutes ago was three times Broad’s, is now 76 balls per wicket, to his old mate’s 28.
Yasir, no sir, you can’t fiddle about in the channel against Anderson’s outswinger on a day as dank as this. A regulation nick, a simple catch for Jos Buttler and that is Jimmy’s 593rd Test wicket.
68th over: Pakistan 170-6 (Rizwan 18, Yasir 5) You’re not going to believe this, but there’s been a bad ball. Broad dishes up a floaty half-volley, like Andy Caddick on an off day, and Yasir is good enough to give it the smack to the cover boundary that it was asking for. Later in the over, reverting to form, Yasir executes a failed leave. Much like the country he finds himself in at the moment.
Ha, thanks Rob and afternoon everyone. The lyrics of Creep and a Tesco clubcard, eh. For me, it would have to be Tower Of Song and a My Waitrose card.
67th over: Pakistan 166-6 (Rizwan 18, Yasir 1) Rizwan, on the drive, is beaten by a sumptuous nipbacker from Anderson. An even better delivery roars past Yasir’s outside edge later in the over.
Right, that’s it from me. Tim de Lisle will be with you for the next few hours. The England bowlers often talk about finishing a spell strongly before they hand over to the new man. With that in mind, I’d like to apologise to Tim for giving him a Jos Buttler dropped catch at the start of his stint. Please email him about other topics as well, or tweet @TimdeLisle.
66th over: Pakistan 164-6 (Rizwan 17, Yasir 0) Rizwan is dropped by Buttler! It was a really difficult chance, diving high to his left when Rizwan gloved a pull down the leg side.
“According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term ‘batter’ has been in use since 1783,” says Phillip Mallett, “when it appeared in a poem called Surrey Triumphant by one J. Duncombe: ‘At last Sir Horace took the field, / A batter of great might...’ Immortal words, I’m sure you’ll agree.”
65th over: Pakistan 160-6 (Rizwan 14, Yasir 0) Anderson boings a grotesque lifter past Rizwan’s outside edge. It’s all fun and games for England at the moment, though it might not be when Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Abbas start bowling.
“How to make a proper brew,” says Lorraine Reese. “You’re welcome.”
64th over: Pakistan 158-6 (Rizwan 12, Yasir 0) That was terrific stuff from Broad in tremendous English batting conditions. With Babar gone, the house could fall down apace.
“Hi Rob”, writes Tom Paternoster-Howe, “the link you posted to the list of England Test cricketers serves to highlight James Anderson’s longevity to a quite remarkable degree. I hadn’t realised he’d been capped earlier than current chief national selector Ed Smith or former Director of Cricket Andrew Strauss. Is there any other Test player who started playing before any of the selectors who could select them?”
Stuart Broad takes the big wicket of Babar Azam. It was an excellent delivery: the line and length were immaculate, and it straightened just enough to square Babar up and shave the outside edge.
63rd over: Pakistan 158-5 (Babar 47, Rizwan 12) Anderson returns after lunch and starts with a rare no-ball, called by the third umpire. I just don’t know what’s going off up there.
62nd over: Pakistan 156-5 (Babar 46, Rizwan 12) Broad’s second ball after lunch is a beauty, fuller and snapping off the seam to beat Babar’s outside edge. Babar keeps the strike with a single off the last delivery.
“I don’t envy Alice her tea-making politics,” says Steve Tayler. “I hardly drink the stuff, so have no valid opinion. When I make tea for my wife, I put the milk straight in after the water. Sometimes this includes a trip to the fridge and back, and sometimes I’ve already done that. Then I fish the bag out, and that’s it. Caroline likes tea flavoured liquid I guess. My daughter Louise turns out to have been a builder in a previous existence, and insists on what seems like several minutes’ brewing. I understand there is a very helpful video on the subject, posted by an American woman.”
The players are back onthe field. The lights are on but it’s still dry, and that’s good enough.
“We ought not to worry too much about ‘batters’ sounding like a Yorkshire pudding or frying wrap,” says John Starbuck. “After all, a wicket-keeper could be someone who maintains church gates, a fielder could be someone with a scythe and a bowler could be one of Francis Drake’s pals (or a hard hat).”
So what’s a silly point?
Play will resume at 2.10pm, though I fully expect the apocalypse to begin at 2:09:59.
61st over: Pakistan 155-5 (Babar 45, Rizwan 12) Curran moves around the wicket for the last over before lunch. Babar moves across his stumps to work a pair of twos; I think only six of 45 runs have been scored on the off side. Pakistan won’t mind that if he continues to bat with such serenity and authority. He has been superb, Mohammad Rizwan excellent, and Pakistan have had the better of the morning session.
“Good morning Rob,” says Adam Roberts. “This 6.30 start (for me) is much more user-friendly! I see there is a Covid spike in Orkney - hope you’re keeping safe. Don’t you think that my hero Randall - as well as Rhodes - tends to have his batting underestimated because of his brilliance in the field and his eccentricities?”
60th over: Pakistan 149-5 (Babar 40, Rizwan 11) There should be time for two more overs before lunch. Broad bowls the first, and bends his back to ram in a short that Babar avoids. He’s a class act, this chap: in his last 20 Test innings he averages 71.
“On the subject of fielding at short leg,” begins Ian Copestake. “Isn’t ‘spending time under the helmet’ a public-school thing?”
59th over: Pakistan 148-5 (Babar 40, Rizwan 10) Curran is swinging the ball both ways, and I suspect batting is nowhere near as comfortable as Babar and Rizwan are making it look. Their judgement, in attack and especially defence, has been excellent. Babar plays a defensive stroke off Curran that bounces up in the vague direction of the stumps, prompting him to shuffle back and guard his furniture. In the end it was nowhere near.
“I’m also struggling with the batsmen/batters thing,” says Bob O’Hara. “Partly because ‘batters’ sounds a bit too Australian, but also because it makes them sound like a piece of haddock.”
58th over: Pakistan 147-5 (Babar 40, Rizwan 9) We still talk about the Fab Four of world cricket, even though Joe Root was asked to leave the group a couple of years ago. The ICC rankings have Babar at No6, though I think he’s closest to the Triffic Three of Smith, Kohli and Williamson. Marnus Labuschagne hasn’t done it for long enough yet.
57th over: Pakistan 147-5 (Babar 40, Rizwan 9) Rizwan misses an attempted hook at a leg-side bouncer from Curran. Not much is happening, which is good for Pakistan given the friendliness of the bowling conditions. If it stays like this, 200 wouldn’t be a terrible first-innings score.
“Whilst following the lack of play today over a leisurely breakfast, my boyfriend and I got into a heated conversation,” writes Alice from London. “I poured hot water over my tea bag and approximately three seconds later added milk. He told me I was ‘a waking nightmare’. I did wait a minute before removing the teabag. He waited a full two minutes before removing the teabag and then adding milk. We are now driving to Hastings to visit some antique shops. He won’t speak to me. He insists it isn’t about the tea. I hope it’s the lack of play.”
56th over: Pakistan 146-5 (Babar 39, Rizwan 9) Broad replaces Woakes and starts with a quiet over, just a single from it. Pakistan have batted with calm authority this morning, Babar in particular.
55th over: Pakistan 145-5 (Babar 38, Rizwan 9) Sam Curran replaces Jimmy Anderson. His first over includes some encouraging inswing to the right-handers; when that is happening, Curran becomes infinitely more dangerous.
“Has short leg always been the job given to the newest/youngest member of the team?” says Gary Bartley. “A role to endure until some other young buck comes along? If so, who are the England team’s most famous short leg graduates? I seem to remember Ian Bell short legging for a while before rising up the pecking order. And Pope will surely graduate too in time. But how many others have successfully passed through?”
54th over: Pakistan 144-5 (Babar 39, Rizwan 8)
53rd over: Pakistan 142-5 (Babar 38, Rizwan 7) A maiden from Anderson to Babar, who looks relatively comfortable out there. It feels like the kind of the pitch (or rather overhead conditions) on which you are never in, yet Babar has looked in control.
“I do find the inconsistency around Chris Woakes fascinating,” says Glyn. “If Root doesn’t bowl him, then it’s because he doesn’t rate him highly enough, so people say. Then when he does bowl him (like now), there’s criticism because Broad isn’t bowling. It does feel that Woakes and Root are a bit in a no-win situation here.”
52nd over: Pakistan 142-5 (Babar 38, Rizwan 7) Woakes goes wider on the crease to beat Rizwan with a snorting outswinger. Masterful stuff.
“Chris Drew’s email prompted me to look up stats for first class wickets,” says Tom Wein. “The numbers are ridiculous - as is the gap between older and modern cricketers. Wilfred Rhodes took 4,204 first class wickets. That’s three times as many as Warne (1319). The top five first class wicket takers all played their cricket before the second war. They’re also all English - presumably because no one else’s cricket was considered worth labelling as first class until 1947.”
51st over: Pakistan 142-5 (Babar 38, Rizwan 7) Anderson is a touch too straight to Babar, who flicks him through midwicket for four like it’s the easiest thing in the world. When he gets his line just right later in the over, the ball zips past Babar’s attempted back-foot drive.
“Many years ago I played a game for the Duke of Cambridge pub against the adjacent Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall near Twickenham rugby ground,” says Matt O’Driscoll, who can also provide the date, weather conditions and what was No1 in the pop charts if required. “The pub landlord, an Irishman named Pat Madden, came out to bat in his first ever game of cricket. He held the bat as I believe a hurley is always held by a right hander, with the left hand below the right. His first ball was a full toss and it disappeared for six over cow corner, after which I think he may have retired to finish his drink and/or prepare for opening time.”
50th over: Pakistan 138-5 (Babar 34, Rizwan 7) Rizwan cuts Woakes towards third man for three. The ball is still doing a bit, and Woakes smiles when his last delivery swerves past Rizwan’s lunging drive.
“Regarding the batsmen-batters discussion: I’m fairly sure that ‘batters’ was the common term in the 18th century,” says D. A. Ibbotson. “Perhaps cricket is returning to its roots, time is a flat circle etc. etc.”
49th over: Pakistan 134-5 (Babar 33, Rizwan 4) A maiden from Anderson to Babar, who is beaten by the last two deliveries. The first was a loose cut stroke, the second a defensive push at a gorgeous outswinger.
“Hallo Rob,” says Peter Haining. “Before anyone asks…”
48th over: Pakistan 134-5 (Babar 33, Rizwan 4) Chris Woakes continues, which is a slight surprise given the existence of Stuart Broad. Babar takes him off middle stump for four, flicking wristily through square leg. Beautiful shot. Another clip off the pads later in the over brings three more.
47th over: Pakistan 127-5 (Babar 26, Rizwan 4) Jimmy Anderson is often unplayable in these conditions. Babar Azam does the sensible thing, taking a quick single to get down the other end, and Rizwan survives the remainder of the over.
46th over: Pakistan 126-5 (Babar 25, Rizwan 4) Mohammad Rizwan plays out the last two balls of the over.
The players are out on the field, and live sport is upon us. Chris Woakes has two balls remaining in his eigth over.
“Aah,” weeps Digvijay Yadav. “Steve Finn. Had everything going for him and after Edgbaston 2015 and that tour of South Africa mentioned, looked like he had all the issues (read run up) behind him. Then the next thing you know, he played his last Test for England aged 27.”
Before Jofra, I hadn’t seen an England bowler with as much potential – not even Steve Harmison. I suspect that ultimately Finn had too keen a mind for his own good. (This may also be Jos Buttler’s problem as a Test batsman.) There was a terrific chat with Finn during the lunch break of one of the South Africa Tests – he spoke about his career like he was his own biographer, with such insight and a complete lack of bitterness, frustration or self-pity.
ICYMI department
Related: Cricket Australia gets green light for limited-overs tour of England
“You do know that there are still some purists out there, short-form deniers, who only acknowledge Test match cricket as worthy of their time and of having value?” says Ian Copestake. “Twenty-what? OD-who? It’s five-dayers or nothing for this bunch. A pretty tight crew.”
Copestake, I’ve warned you before not to talk about this thing in public.
The batsman-wicketkeeper plot thickens
“In other news,” writes Ali Martin at the Ageas Bowl, “Jofra currently has the keeping gloves on (second day running).”
“There is another, very important, Jimmy stat looming on the horizon,” says Chris Drew. “A thousand wickets in first-class cricket. He’s currently on 967. Not many players in modern times will achieve that total.”
Especially if they are a seamer. I’m not sure who the last was, maybe Andy Caddick in 2005. A few spinners have achieved it since then.
Lunch is at 1.30pm and I don’t know what else to tell you.
Batter v batsman “Also,” says Graeme Thorn, “‘batter’ introduces some symmetry - the other playing roles on the field are fielder, (wicket)-keeper and bowler, you don’t say ‘bowlsman’, ‘wicket-keepsman’ or ‘fieldsman’ very often, if at all.”
That’s a good email. Good enough, in fact, that I’ll forgive all those double quote marks I had to edit.
“Good morning RA Smyth,” says James Debens. “Some cricketers are revealed to be mortals. I’d just watched Alan Igglesden bowl very well v Yorkshire (taking the wickets of Michael Vaughan and David Byas), only to watch in horror as he executed a 33-point turn in the car park of the Mote Park ground. Richie Richardson, in comparison, made an effortlessly smooth exit. Things were never the same for me after that summer of 1994, but at least I had Winnie by my side.
“PS Winnie being my Winfield jotter.”
“As a kid, I used to the hold the bat by swapping my top and bottom hand,” says Damian Clarke. “No one in the colts or school picked up on it until until I joined Maidenhead and Bray at the age of about ten. In an early nets assessment session, a certain Michael Parkinson came over and asked just what the hell did I think I was playing at, and made me change my method. I thought he was very rude, but it did seem to work better, so begrudging respect was due, I suppose.”
I wish this was on YouTube.
“When did they all become batters?” says Anthony Farmer. “It’s not baseball.”
There’s this new thing in society called ‘women’, I don’t know whether you’ve heard of them. (For what it’s worth, I still use ‘batsmen’ most of the time in men’s games, but surely you can understand why many people say ‘batter’.)
“Steve Pye (11.07am) mentioned the Oval Test of 1995,” says Stephen Bickers. “Looking at the scoreboard, I see that three England players reached the 90s, but none of them made a century. Is that a record for players falling short in one Test match?”
Yep, though it’s shared with a few other teams, including West Indies in Trinidad in 1934-35 and Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in 2018-19.
“In James Taylor’s all too brief England career he was brilliant at short leg,” says Graham Pierce. “He pulled off an absolutely belting catch there to dismiss Hashim Amla from a proper shot. It was such a shame he lost the chance to cement a position in the team and set the standard for close in fielding like that.”
He really was terrific. That South Africa tour of 2015-16 was sadly a false dawn for a few players: Taylor, Nick Compton, Steve Finn (who bowled magnificently) and even Trevor Bayliss as a Test coach.
“It is possible for a right-hander to bat with his left hand below his right,” says Steve Hudson. “In the 1980s I played against a mid-Wales side that included a No 4 who did exactly that. He had played for the County side too, they said. It took some time to get used to the quirkiness of this. Anything (and I mean anything) pitched outside off stump was smashed along the carpet for four. After a while we realised that anything on leg stump left him completely strokeless. We stuck it there and he duly holed out.”
I’m trying to practise it now, admittedly with a coat hanger, and it just feels weird. I think I’ve put my back out, too, and I was only trying to steer it to third man for one.
“I cannot believe Blur v Oasis was 25 years ago!” says Julie Wilson. “The year I went to Glastonbury where Oasis were playing and the year I got married!”
Time flies when you’r- wait, hang on.
It has stopped raining and the clean-up operation is under way. There will be an inspection at 11.50am. In the meantime, I’m off to grab a coffee.
“Not a slip or short leg, and not England, but Jonty Rhodes was clearly picked for his fielding - certainly in ODIs,” says Zadok Prescott. “His batting average was fairly... average, about 35 - but he would regularly add 15-20 runs saved with ridiculous stops - and batsmen certainly grew less likely to sneak a single anywhere near his backward point region. On top of the fielding runs he contributed - he would regularly pick up one or two wickets a match that were not really meant to be out with any other mere mortal fielding at backward point, either caught or run out. I’ve never seen a more pro-active fielder, he seemed to anticipate shots in his area and start moving before the batsmen completed the stroke, enabling him to make an extra few metres to make a runs save, catch or run-out.”
I’m not sure I agree that he was clearly picked for his fielding, even though he was outrageously good. I think he falls into the same category as Derek Randall - that if a selection was 50/50, maybe 45/55, he would get the nod. You could argue that because his fielding was so good he was slightly underappreciated as a batsman, certainly during his peak years in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“Why do people think that one rare excellent innings by Buttler, after an embarrassingly bad time keeping wicket, makes it the right to cement his place as wicketkeeper?” says Richard Smith. “He leaks runs behind the stumps, when he is up to the wicket for a spinner the ball invariably bounces off of him and he has no idea of stumping! For me the wicketkeeper has the only truly specialist fielding position and should have the best available ‘keeper’ in place.”
Whether you like it or not – and I think I might just know the answer – the role nowadays is batsman/wicketkeeper, not the other way round. It’s not going to change, so we might as well accept it and all send hate mail to Adam Gilchrist for vandalising culture with his genius.
“It seems worth adding that England should never have the same wicketkeeper for all three formats,” says Tim Sanders. “This hasn’t been a problem so far because everyone got a rest in the spring, and then we had separate Test and ODI ‘bubbles’. But if the intention is to go back to how it was from 2014-2015, when Buttler kept wicket in Tests, ODIs and T20s, that would seem a mistake given the usual scheduling. I remember Buttler had to miss a few games with fatigue during that time. As a long-term admirer of Jonny, I feel a little sad to lean the opposite way to Vic Marks; and I am trying to be less curmudgeonly when Jos does well.”
I think this extended break is a good thing for Bairstow, who for his last 18 months in the Test match was repeatedly running head-first into a brick wall and telling everyone he was fine, he didn’t feel a thing. I wish he would help himself, though – his latest plan to bat No3 and keep wicket for Yorkshire is entirely ludicrous. For such a no-nonsense cricketer, he doesn’t half make some senseless decisions. But when he does get back in the Test team, as I suspect he will at some stage before the Ashes, I’d expect his batting form to be a lot closer to his 2016-17 best.
“I am cheered that the world has come round to my way of thinking with your confirmation that 35 is the new 40,” says Ian Copestake. “I do however live in an even braver new world in which 51 is the new 35. Join us.”
“With regards to John Starbuck’s email, last year the Australians were swooning about Bancroft’s close catching to the point it made one think that’s the reason he played,” says Digvijay Yadav. “In fairness, he was brilliant there. And I see that you let Hameed’s mention slide without a comment. I am sure there is a player there and one that’ll make it.”
“Hi Rob,” says Steve Pye. “Staying on the nostalgic path that Gavin Monks strolled down, on this day in 1995 Mike Watkinson’s 82 not out helped England draw the fifth Test at Trent Bridge, and I dared to dream that England could beat the West Indies in a series. The pitch at the Oval didn’t really encourage a decisive result, though.”
I vividly remember driving home from work with my mum on the Friday afternoon of that Oval Test, listening to the radio as England posted an imposing 454, trying to get my head round the fact they were probably going to win a Test series against West Indies. Over the next 48 hours, West Indies scored the best part of 700. Is it any wonder I turned out like this?
Here’s Iain Mott on the subject of batting stances. “I’m sure there was a Pakistan batsman, maybe in the 1970s, who played with his LEFT hand BELOW his right. Can anyone remember this?”
It was Wasim Raja. And all the other left-handers. But this is crap banter and you should ignore me, as you clearly meant a right-hander. I can’t think of anyone - surely that would be impossible? Even Paul Collingwood would deem such a grip to be a bit over the top (hand).
“We’re all hoping and waiting for Jimmy to reach 600 Test wickets,” says Lorraine Reese, “but am I the only one thinking it would please the number geeks (of which I am one) if he got to 613?”
Ooh, good spot. If he finishes on 613 Test wickets it will be the second greatest stat involving an England cricketer.
“We really ought to be hearing that the England coaching staff are prioritising close catching training, including analyses of position, stance and reactivity,” says John Starbuck. “Catches have always gone down at times and doubtless more will do so, but giving yourself an extra edge by having tip-top slips and other really close fielders should be imperative. On which note, I saw Haseeb Hameed take a couple of snorters at very short square in Notts’s last match. Has anyone ever been sacked/brought in for their close catching alone?”
Alan Oakman wasn’t picked for his ability at short square leg during the 1956 Ashes – but it helped. Derek Randall might have edged a 50/50 selection because of his fielding, though I don’t know of any examples on record. And though close catching isn’t the reason for his immortality, it would be remiss to post this entry without using the words Gary and Pratt.
Twenty-five years ago today, two of Britain’s most popular pop groups released singles. Thanks to Gavin Monks for this particular nostalgic rush.
Jos v Jonny v Ben v Jos v Jonny
“Morning Rob,” says John. “Am I alone in thinking that despite his innings to help win the match last time out - for which Buttler DOES deserve to have kept his place - he had another really poor day behind the stumps yesterday? He was moving back when Burns shelled the slip catch and should have been in place to take that, plus he failed to stop two or three down the leg side. Maybe I’m being unfair, but I guess I’ve just run out of patience, and I would bet money that he will never get his batting average up to 40. He’s just not good enough.”
It’s grim down south, and I’d be surprised if we get any play before lunch.
Pre-match reading
Related: Cricket Australia gets green light for limited-overs tour of England
Related: Sam Curran happy to pick Anderson's brains to help take wickets for England
Related: Fawad Alam's Pakistan comeback was ugly but earned after decade of graft | Andy Bull
England don’t really draw Test matches any more: just five in the last 50 and two in the last 29, stats that deserves their own Cliff Richard song. But if they want to maintain a mood of result positivity over the next few days, they could face a race against time. Thunderstorms and bad light meant only 45.4 overs were possible on the first day at the Ageas Bowl, with Pakistan struggling to 126 for five against some challenging bowling. The forecast is equally moody for the rest of the match.
The good news is that, when the players are on the field, the game should rattle along at a decent pace. There was swing and seam for the England bowlers yesterday, so Mohammad Abbas in particular should enjoy himself when the time comes. Might be today, might be tomorrow; it’s beyond our control.
Continue reading...