Cricket fred

[Banquo]

Break at the right time for England. Root-drift set in there and Curran and Woakes were dire.

[Banquo]

Quelle surprise, go back to bowling normally and hey presto.....

[Banquo]

This could get ugly.

[Digby]

Not sure how much cricket we can fit in now, do the teams conspire to even try and force a finish with back to back declarations, or do England just put their series lead in the back pocket? Interest of the game Vs interest of England

[Banquo]

Glad Crawley is looking to take his opportunity. Crawley, Root, Pope, Stokes, Buttler has a decent ring to it 3-7....just need the openers to stay in for a bit longer , Burns is having a rotten series so far.

[Banquo]

Pressure on Buttler yet again!

[Puja]

Pressure on Buttler yet again!

Appears to be doing pretty well with it - onto 24 at tea and not looking too troubled. His wicketkeeping's still not good enough, but he's justifying his position with his batting right now (although a quick loss of his wicket after the interval will change that opinion).

Puja

[Banquo]

Pressure on Buttler yet again!

Appears to be doing pretty well with it - onto 24 at tea and not looking too troubled. His wicketkeeping's still not good enough, but he's justifying his position with his batting right now (although a quick loss of his wicket after the interval will change that opinion).

Puja

I think his lack of keeping ability is a little overstated, he's as good as Bairstow (better standing back, not as good standing up). Not as good as Foakes. That said he shouldn't be at 6, but he's knuckling down. They certainly are investing a lot in him though!

Cracking ton from creepy.

[Puja]

Pressure on Buttler yet again!

Appears to be doing pretty well with it - onto 24 at tea and not looking too troubled. His wicketkeeping's still not good enough, but he's justifying his position with his batting right now (although a quick loss of his wicket after the interval will change that opinion).

Puja

I think his lack of keeping ability is a little overstated, he's as good as Bairstow (better standing back, not as good standing up). Not as good as Foakes. That said he shouldn't be at 6, but he's knuckling down. They certainly are investing a lot in him though!

Cracking ton from creepy.

He's had a fair old run of mistakes this series and comparing him to Bairstow's keeping is not a compliment! Still, he has shown great improvement in his keeping and his batting is back to being good enough to keep him in the team regardless of the occasional wobble. 50 up while I'm typing!

Crawley looks an absolute belter - he just has such good technique. I'd want to keep him at 3 for the moment rather than even discuss him opening - he just brings a lot of other players down to a more comfortable position (Root at 4, Pope at 5, Stokes at 6, Buttler at 7), and Burns will regather form sooner or later.

Puja

[Banquo]

Appears to be doing pretty well with it - onto 24 at tea and not looking too troubled. His wicketkeeping's still not good enough, but he's justifying his position with his batting right now (although a quick loss of his wicket after the interval will change that opinion).

Puja

I think his lack of keeping ability is a little overstated, he's as good as Bairstow (better standing back, not as good standing up). Not as good as Foakes. That said he shouldn't be at 6, but he's knuckling down. They certainly are investing a lot in him though!

Cracking ton from creepy.

He's had a fair old run of mistakes this series and comparing him to Bairstow's keeping is not a compliment! Still, he has shown great improvement in his keeping and his batting is back to being good enough to keep him in the team regardless of the occasional wobble. 50 up while I'm typing!

Crawley looks an absolute belter - he just has such good technique. I'd want to keep him at 3 for the moment rather than even discuss him opening - he just brings a lot of other players down to a more comfortable position (Root at 4, Pope at 5, Stokes at 6, Buttler at 7), and Burns will regather form sooner or later.

Puja

Definitely wouldn't move Crawley- has he opened much?

Buttler had precious few mistakes prior to this summer, and even then it was one very bad innings. His keeping standing up needs work, but unsure how he gets that tbh. I do agree that neither he nor Bairstow are top class keepers- and I'm from the generation when keepers were specialists and batting a bonus; but a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then . Given a more stable upper order, Buttler's batting could be able to rival Gilchrists imo, maybe not quite as world class.

[Digby]

Score looks decent if we don't lose late wickets, but yet again most of the batting lineup has failed.

And whilst Root got a good nut today he's gone from a batsman who doesn't convert 50s into 100s to a player who doesn't covert 20s into 50s

[Banquo]

Score looks decent if we don't lose late wickets, but yet again most of the batting lineup has failed.

And whilst Root got a good nut today he's gone from a batsman who doesn't convert 50s into 100s to a player who doesn't covert 20s into 50s

Yep- really only two have played well,but they have been brilliant. Both under some pressure, but a really very good partnership. Butler gave Crawley a lot of the strike early and rotated well- very good scoring rate.

But all of the others are a concern. Root particularly is so obviously a lesser batsman when captain.

[Digby]

The new ball hasn't done nowt. And with the pitch looking like it might get uneven in height we're in a great position

I know I'd said Pakistan were badly set up to defend in sensible fashion as a bowling unit, but they have been away from home in a lonely bubble for a long time now, this cannot be easy for them.

[Banquo]

I’d give a lot of credit to this pair- at 4 down, Pakistan’s strategy had gone well, despite Abbas having no luck. When the partnership got established, the lack of a real fifth bowler hurt. But these two have been brilliant.

Agree it’s very tough on Pakistan.

[Puja]

Superb effort from Crawley. Not content with just a maiden century, he's seen the day out and he's now just a Joe Denly innings away from a double hundred.

Puja

[Big D]

Very good from the pair of them.

Was encouraging seeing Sibley trying something a little different from his norm. Shows he is trying to develop.

[Galfon]

Excellent showing by the pair of them, and the series should be put to bed.Crawley showing real class and Buttler redemption continues- Eng have a good group of young players building their credentials. Just need to build consistency and not let games drift to be a competitive unit.( Bess needs more opportunities in the right circumstances ).India will be interesting.

[fivepointer]

Outstanding partnership. We rarely see one that goes beyond 200 so hats off to Crawley and Buttler who came together at a very sticky moment.
Crawley timed the ball beautifully and Buttler has turned a corner.

[Banquo]

why not lunch during delay?

[Banquo]

Biff time for Buttler surely?

[Banquo]

Great knock- and unselfish at the end. Really good from all the Pakistan team in congratulating him too.

[Digby]

I don't love that dismissal of Crawley. It feels a little churlish to complain given some of our tactics from not so long ago under Hussain and even Vaughan with Giles bowling outside leg stump, but the rules had I thought changed in the interim, okay maybe if Shafiq was a leg spinner looking to rip a leg break out of the rough, but for an off spinner to be pitching there is... interesting. Maybe on the delivery in question he saw Crawley coming and did well to fire it wide, but plenty of balls have pitched outside leg today, enough I'd have been expecting more from the umps

[Digby]

Watching Buttler get out I was struck by the thought I could do that, but only the prod forward with no thought part, he gets a pass for the 150 in the bank before playing a tired shot

[Digby]

I assume we'll be bowling soon

[Digby]

Took longer to start bowling than I'd have liked, but Jimmy is doing the business