5th Test - Stokes out!

[Oldhasbeen]

I'm not surprised his shoulder has had enough after his recent heroics.
With Bethell at 6 offering left-arm spin, and the dodgy injury records of Overton, Atkinson & Tongue, I see the logic in keeping Woakes in the team instead of Dawson. Maybe 2 or 3 of the front-line seamers will get through the Test without breaking down.

[Oldhasbeen]

Oh dear. It looks like Woakes, who had bowled well with little luck, won't be playing any further part in this one.
Gus Atkinson was magnificent - speed, bounce, accuracy and skill. And a good run out.
Josh Tongue was infuriating, I can't recall a Test bowler bowling such a mix of fast, unplayable balls and utter tripe since the days of Mitchell Johnson. He certainly made our keeper earn his corn.
But what is Jamie Overton doing in the England team? He's not even a genuine fast bowler these days. His bro' - or Sam, or Matty Potts - would have been much better choices.

[JasonP]

Oh dear. It looks like Woakes, who had bowled well with little luck, won't be playing any further part in this one.
Gus Atkinson was magnificent - speed, bounce, accuracy and skill. And a good run out.
Josh Tongue was infuriating, I can't recall a Test bowler bowling such a mix of fast, unplayable balls and utter tripe since the days of Mitchell Johnson. He certainly made our keeper earn his corn.
But what is Jamie Overton doing in the England team? He's not even a genuine fast bowler these days. His bro' - or Sam, or Matty Potts - would have been much better choices.

It's absolutely ridiculous.  He's taken 2 first class wickets in the last two years.  Surrey alone have about 6 or 7 bowlers better than him.   Not picking a 5th bowler when you have that much depth in batting is pretty stupid as well.  Dawson could easily have played or Rehan Ahmed instead of Bethell and the batting would not have been weakened.  Bethell has 12 wickets at 70 in first class cricket and his bowling is a total irrelevance at Test Level.

[Oldhasbeen]

It's absolutely ridiculous.  He's taken 2 first class wickets in the last two years.  Surrey alone have about 6 or 7 bowlers better than him.   Not picking a 5th bowler when you have that much depth in batting is pretty stupid as well.  Dawson could easily have played or Rehan Ahmed instead of Bethell and the batting would not have been weakened. Bethell has 12 wickets at 70 in first class cricket and his bowling is a total irrelevance at Test Level.

I hadn't seen his bowling until yesterday - it looked like poop to me.
I confess I was unaware how poor his FC bowling record was.

[Oldhasbeen]

Super Gussie Atkinson! Hope no-one's gonna be calling him a "pie-chucker" now

But I'll be amazed if Crawley lasts an hour in these conditions. Squeaky bum time!

[bwildered]

 
 Fifth day final test.
 England need 35 runs
 India need 4 wickets
 Never get enough play due to rain - Draw
 Scores level - rare Tie .

 England win ?
 India win.    ?
 Draw.          ?
 Tie.             ?

Strange that the groundstaff could not get the covers off with 40 mins play still due .
Not strange that Oval is a sell out Monday .
 

[bwildered]

 The future is ?..

 Woakes comes into bat scores level , gets hit on head, so concussion sub Dawson wins test with six that Siraj stepping over boundary taking the catch .

 Scores level Tongue gets caught behind on no ball !

[dazedpenguin]

It's written in the stars that Woakes comes out to bat. Maybe it will end in a tie?

[dazedpenguin]

In the end 2-2 is a fair result, but wow what a finish. Superb bowling from Siraj.

Chris Woakes, what a player. Such guts to come out when he was clearly in a lot of pain. He has always given his all for England and this may have been his last test. A shame that Atkinson couldn't quite get it over the line, but had England taken 1 or 2 of their 7 dropped catches, they would have won.

England should learn from this. Bethell has hardly played this summer and was understandably out of sorts when he batted. He'll be fine, but he's gone backwards this summer and been messed around like Cook has. Staying around the squad does have its merits, but the ECB have to look at the schedule so that players in the squad but not in the team can play some First Class games.

[vim]

When Colin Cowdrey, came out to bat, in a sling. It was the last over, playing for a draw, and he was the non striker.

[nat]

In the end 2-2 is a fair result, but wow what a finish. Superb bowling from Siraj.

Chris Woakes, what a player. Such guts to come out when he was clearly in a lot of pain. He has always given his all for England and this may have been his last test. A shame that Atkinson couldn't quite get it over the line, but had England taken 1 or 2 of their 7 dropped catches, they would have won.

England should learn from this. Bethell has hardly played this summer and was understandably out of sorts when he batted. He'll be fine, but he's gone backwards this summer and been messed around like Cook has. Staying around the squad does have its merits, but the ECB have to look at the schedule so that players in the squad but not in the team can play some First Class games.

Fair result my ****. England threw it away and it's all on McCullum. Stupidity and arrogance to select Bethell and Overton. If my boy plays then England win the game and the series.

[bwildered]

 High octane stuff for the hour. Smith should have seen us home. Exceptional to give them a close game with that attack of Tongue and Overton, and Bethall who has not seen a red ball bowled in anger all summer.
Rather threw that game away, but it did make edge of the seats viewing.
 

[Cartero]

Bazball may create excitement but the undoubted spirit and aggression of this England team lacks the steeliness (think Steve Waugh?)  to get over the line in this kind of situation. Brilliant though Brook is, he threw his innings away getting out when he did and exposing Bethell, who I agree was messed about by the system. 

[vim]

The BBC is plugging a box set of 25 hours of the Test series.

To think, in the BBC book Armchair Cricket. In the chapter written by the TV Executive producer explaining how the coverage was filmed. We were informed, in 1975, only the highlights were kept. For the reasons of space in storing the videotapes.