[andy_e]

Let's hope Flower can stem Root's bad habits eh?

[butters]

Glad to see Root make a solid debut in testing circumstances, bodes well! Also mightily relieved that Prior continues to carry the middle order and turn bad scores into defendable ones. It'll be interesting to see how our bowlers fare on this wicket... hopefully Anderson runs through them! 

Interesting selection actually and not one that many people expected - Patel has not done anything badly wrong in this series that I can recall and is a known good player of spin but if Root goes on to make a decent score tomorrow then it will have been a good call. He can also bowl tidy off spin by all accounts which could be handy.

As for the wicket - it's a dog of a wicket by all accounts with uneven bounce on the first day which should guarantee a result but as a test wicket it is really not what you want unless you are trying to save a series at home.  Lord knows what a par score on it is going to be - other than Cook all of the wickets came from bad shots so I suspect we could be below though if they take a heap of time out of the game then it could make for an interesting few days.

[Grubes]

Great knock by root.
Looked solid as an oak at the stump s Lets hope he keeps at it and does not wilt away

From what looked a disatorous innings england have put up what sh/could be a reasonable score of 330

Nice that sehwag went in the first over. It would be nice to see root do something with the ball too.

[Jaspersharpe]

Tendulkar gone to Anderson (again) for 2. 64/3.

[rich d]

330s not looking too bad, not sure I'd want to bat last on it either.

[Jaspersharpe]

71/4 Gambhir gone. Anderson is on fire!

[GraemeA]

Ton from Trott and hopefully from Bell see's us wrap up the draw and series win 

Bring on the Cons in the summer, can't wait.

[andy_e]

Great shot

[GraemeA]

Ton up for Bell 

[DaveC]

Bring on the Cons in the summer, can't wait.

Not much of a contest really. More payback for 1989-2002 on the way I suspect!

[GraemeA]

Bring on the Cons in the summer, can't wait.

Not much of a contest really. More payback for 1989-2002 on the way I suspect!

I certainly hope so - got a round of drinks with Rob LeBreton riding on it 

[DaveC]

I certainly hope so - got a round of drinks with Rob LeBreton riding on it 

Lucky sod, you found an Australian who knows nothing about cricket! 

[butters]

It all ended with a bit of a whimper really but I'm not going to complain about that - England are the only team to have ever come back from 1-0 down in India to win a series and they have done it twice now.

Dave C - things are looking tough for you at the minute - injuries are playing havoc with your bowling unit it would seem and Clarke seems to have picked up an injury as well in the test vs Sri Lanka. Wouldn't like to think how your tour of India is going to go - don't think that you have any spinners of note and even should the blatantly ridiculous happen and Warne comes out of retirement (one writes this with tongue firmly in cheek) his record in India is not much to write home about. 

[GraemeA]

I certainly hope so - got a round of drinks with Rob LeBreton riding on it 

Lucky sod, you found an Australian who knows nothing about cricket! 

What about the Aussie selectors, do they know much about cricket 

[Jaspersharpe]

It all ended with a bit of a whimper really but I'm not going to complain about that - England are the only team to have ever come back from 1-0 down in India to win a series and they have done it twice now.

Where is ksjs? I thought we were supposed to be a bunch of average, overrated journeymen......

[DaveC]

What about the Aussie selectors, do they know much about cricket 

Apparently not.....

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

What about the Aussie selectors, do they know much about cricket 

Apparently not.....

Especially if Matthew Wade gets to bowl an over!

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

and to think.

He got 5-48 against the Aussies, and his legacy was to appear as a supporting character in a Christmas episode of Dr Who…

[notbadforafatlad]

Australia were bowled out for 74 by Sri Lanka today - their 3rd lowest ODI total. Kulasakera bowled an outstanding spell in Inswing - his control was amazing, but the Australians technique against the moving ball was non existent. An interesting marker for the upcoming Ashes series.

[GraemeA]

Although Sri Lanka did lose 6 wickets before winning

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

98/5. (24.2 ov)

Bollocks!

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

Still. It's "Lard Lad" in next - so these two should now see us home!

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

Aaaaaaargh!

[Stenno]

Australia were bowled out for 74 by Sri Lanka today - their 3rd lowest ODI total. Kulasakera bowled an outstanding spell in Inswing - his control was amazing, but the Australians technique against the moving ball was non existent. An interesting marker for the upcoming Ashes series.

Really? I would have thought that Australia's convincing 3-0 win against Sri Lanka in a test series last month would have been a much more relevant marker of their form for the upcoming Ashes (test cricket) than a result in a different code of the sport.

[notbadforafatlad]

Really? I would have thought that Australia's convincing 3-0 win against Sri Lanka in a test series last month would have been a much more relevant marker of their form for the upcoming Ashes (test cricket) than a result in a different code of the sport.
[/quote]

There is much more lateral movement in England in general than in Australia and it tends to move later. If Australia play as they did they are unlikely to achieve large 1st innings totals (scored briskly) as they did against Sri Lanka in the recent Test Series. However, Australia's current rotation system is not helping their batsmen in particular.