What no cricket thread ?

[Rockmeister]

and breathe.

 

[clifftaylor]

Blimey!

 

[Weekender]

Phew!

 

[Andrew C!]

Get in!

 

[doctorf]

What a fantastic day of test cricket.

 

[SteveS1]

Great character, especially in a last innings chase.

 

[davidjt]

Really special when a man playing under such pressure for his place in the side can deliver the goods.

 

[clifftaylor]

Another example of why Test cricket is such a good format.

 

[Bob McC]

Imagine if there had been a full crowd there!

 

[RickyC6]

Tremendous win! Test cricket eh?!
Joe Root’s win ratio increases further.
Really looking forward to the rest of this series.

 

[hifinutt]

We have had a lot of fireworks going off all day....not sure if they are celebrating England or Pakistan...normally we get convoys of hooting cars when it's pakistan

 

[avole]

England were extremely lucky. Their captain is, at best, médiocre, but the have easily the best lower middle order around. Buttler showed why he is a number one pick for the IPL: he knows how to damage an attack then sit back and grand thym slowly into the ground. In Woakes we have a great bowler who today showed that he can bat bit, too. Why there should be any query in either of them being in the team can only be because they don't fit the current Captain/coach thinking.

Pakistan has a similar problem with their captain, who, great batsman that he was, has lost the confidence of his team through a poor batting run and some on-the-field tactics that don't seem to be working. He'll be lucky if he's there for the rest of the series.

 

[davidjt]

The better team won. That's not luck.

Pakistan's bowling attack (on that pitch) was formidable, but England's wasn't too shabby.

 

[Andrew C!]

Their captain is, at best, médiocre, but the have easily the best lower middle order around.

Didn’t take long...

 

[avole]

Never said it was. England will need Pakistan to play equally poorly for thèm to take the series, which, to be honest, they should. That said, England needs to look closely at its captaincy and coaching. They aren't especially bad, just not especially good.

 

[Andrew C!]

Archer out. Wood in. Anderson out. Curran in.

 

[Aethelist]

After losing those 32 runs in the first 3 overs this morning I thought we were doomed.

117 for 5? Truly stuffed.

But Butler and Woakes (sounds like an olde English brogue manufacturer) played some of the best cricket shots I can remember in a tight test match situation.

Bloody Brilliant.

 

[Rockmeister]

That wasmemorable...beeb highlights totally failed to catch the drama. R5live still fine however. B&W splendid!

 

[thebigfredc]

Super days play.

I am still coming to terms with the fact that Yasir didn’t bowl us all out on that spinning wicket. I love watching his action and effort - quite the opposite to England’s spin bowlers.

 

[tqineil]

a squeaky win but I'll take it every day.... Pakistan seemed to medd it up in the afternoon session?