lol this is unexpected

Lord's is super flat. I'd back them to chase 400

What a legend, he averages 72 in England (10 matches). Got the perfect technique for these conditions. Surprised he's played so few matches there.

Ghambir blow on the arm, batting ability in question. Never nice to see people get injured but if England don't take advantage of all these injuries then it's going to seem pretty bad.

England leaving the declaration too late as usual?

Perhaps getting Prior to a century is more important?

Declaring to leave 2 hours left to bowl was pretty much the unanimous opinion of the commentators. It just so happens that will coincide with Prior's 100 since he's scored so quickly this session.

Really hate how Lord's always gets 2 tests a summer, and there's always a test at the Oval. Those grounds produce the most boring matches in general. It's a shame Old Trafford and Headingly didn't get any tests this season

Yeah Prior was on 75 when I made that post. I thought they had enough. But he's scored so quickly since then, he hasn't really taken time out of the game, and I'm sure they'll just declare immediately once he's there.

This has been a pretty good match so far and this is more or less exactly what you're want from a test match pitch. Plenty of help for the bowlers early on, easiest to bat on days 2 and 3 and starting to get a little harder and spin a bit on days 4 and 5.

Broad didn't get the memo.

Broad wants to get his hundred too lol.

Oh FFS, now they'll have to let Broad get on the honours board.

There's nothing in this pitch and it's late 4 day.

Swann fivefer imo

It's definitely turned more this innings than it did in the first. There might not be much in the way of uneven bounce or whatever but it's not the road some pitches can be.

India 286ao.
England 62/5

Gabba in disguise imo.

Mukund appears to have a leak of playing away from the body. Great bowling from Broad too in this match

Broad bowling decent. He's not acting like a petulant kid either, for some reason.

Would be really happy if we come away with a draw from this test tbh. Both our best bowler and batsman injured/sick and our opener might not bat, talk about injury worries..

That's why I think England declared too late, should've declared with a 400 lead, I don't see how India would even consider going after it with 2 of our main batsman unfit to bat, and the guy most likely to try to chase it down not playing...

In poker if you're never caught bluffing then you're not bluffing enough, or in motor racing if you never crash then you aren't going fast enough. When it comes to making declarations, imo, if you never lose then you're declaring too late. Tilts the hell out of me when captains bat a team out of the game and don't leave enough time to bowl a side out.

Yea Strauss is definately too denfensive a captain to lead this side. If England has to become the best in the world they have to become more agressive both with thier play and strategy. They're getting there with thier play but with Strauss at the helm I'm not sure about the latter.

After Broad and Prior got past a 50 partnership, I was hoping we wouldn't bowl them out since I felt England would declare atleast an hour too late. Hope it makes a difference in us saving the match.

Don't completely agree with the consensus here. Might be different if the forecast is bad, but we (I'm English) should have 98 overs to bowl at them tomorrow, and we have already had a go at them today, and got a wicket. 2 wickets in the morning is certainly doable, and will leave India in a pretty bad spot.

you guys are too harsh on strauss imo. i think it was michael vaughan who said something interesting on the radio a while ago. the press basically always want england to declare early because it opens up the game for all 3 outcomes of results, and they basically have nothing to lose. he said whenever he was captain it was generally always an hour or so later after everyone else said england should declare that he actually did declare.

declaring earlier does offer you more chances to win but also increases the probability of losing, and even a 10 or 15% chance of losing a match you have dominated can have serious consequences if you do lose to the outcome of the series and potentially careers.

my point is basically that the stakes are so high that generally captains are always going to be risk averse in their approach to the game.

and isn't dhoni known for being a particularly defensive captain??? anyway looks likely that he won't be playing the next match after his one match ban for slow over rate.

anyway should be a good day tomorrow. prior is playing like a dream at the moment, interestingly his best knock of the summer was probably in a county game where he made a matchwinning innings on a tough wicket in the complete opposite style to which he normally plays(super aggro). just shows that he's still improving and looking to develop which is always a good sign

Don't think it's harsh at all. If England were a middle tier team his approach is okay. But you shouldn't be so defensive with a stud bowling attack which includes a spinner who can tie up/build pressure on one end on the 5th day, and 3 different style fast bowlers.

i mean i just disagree. we have a good but not brilliant bowling attack. none of the seamers have been particularly brilliant this season, indians are excellent players of spin.

the 10% chance of losing if we declare early would be such a crushing blow, and so early in the series it really isn't a worth risk taking. again as fans we don't have to worry about the repercussions if we lose we just want an exciting match.

australia could always afford to make these declarations because they had great bowlers in their team and even if they lost they would probably be good enough to still win the series.