5th Test (The Oval) - 31st July to 4th August

[AndyZaltzHair]

its the nerves for bethell

 

[mackembhoy]

its the nerves for bethell

Only his second FC game of the season.

Batted fewer than 250 balls since 1st April. Really poor treatment of him to keep him in the setup.

Should have been released more.

 

[The Brian Hardie Stance]

Impact outside

 

[King Kane]

Outside off.

Another good ball from Siraj though, he has been troubling all the England batsmen with his off cutters.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Brook you DOUGHNUT

 

[Silver Silva]

Rain falling with tea !
A twist in the tail?
But either way England win the series

 

[Howe_zat]

Rain falling with tea !
A twist in the tail?
But either way England win the series

It's day 4.

 

[JRC67]

its the nerves for bethell

It is, but he either gets through it or he doesn't. Sport isn't always beautiful.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Outside off.

Another good ball from Siraj though, he has been troubling all the England batsmen with his off cutters.

Amazing how the bowlers get a new lease of life when a wicket falls

 

[kevinw]

Brook you DOUGHNUT

Yeah I'll take his run a ball hundred into account though.

 

[honestbharani]

Teams are clearly spooked about Bazball's chasing abilities even if they won't admit it ..

TBF most of it is pretty much just in England on tracks made to be flat. And Pakistan coz they gotta Pakistan, I guess.

I feel this 3-1 is a better result than the 3-1 in 2018. We have fought harder, been in the games longer with a noticeably worse side and even in games playing with just 10 men due to the injured Pant in two of the previous 4 tests.

The problem is, I feel this is the one game we should have won. Headingley was just flat and our catching and lower order collapses gave them the game. Lords, that last session on day 4 we played really poor cricket but outside of that, Stokes and Archer bowled brilliantly along with Carse to get the win and even then it was edge of the seat stuff for a long time. And we ground out a draw from a situation where I feel almost any other side today would have lost. But today, our bowling, Gill's captaincy, Gambhir's tactics have all been found wanting. It should not have been so easy for England and yet it has been. Guess the long tour finally took its toll and we have lost on the back of our poorest day on the field in this tour yet.

 

[kevinw]

Bethell is where Brook was a few years ago. A prodigious talent who averaged in the late 20s in FC. Then Brook just had an amazing season that catapulted him into consideration. Bethell had already played internationals but I'd love him to have a full season playing for Warwickshire.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Yeah I'll take his run a ball hundred into account though.

We should win this from here but allow me some headloss!

 

[Silver Silva]

TBF most of it is pretty much just in England on tracks made to be flat. And Pakistan coz they gotta Pakistan, I guess.

I feel this 3-1 is a better result than the 3-1 in 2018. We have fought harder, been in the games longer with a noticeably worse side and even in games playing with just 10 men due to the injured Pant in two of the previous 4 tests.

The problem is, I feel this is the one game we should have won. Headingley was just flat and our catching and lower order collapses gave them the game. Lords, that last session on day 4 we played really poor cricket but outside of that, Stokes and Archer bowled brilliantly along with Carse to get the win and even then it was edge of the seat stuff for a long time. And we ground out a draw from a situation where I feel almost any other side today would have lost. But today, our bowling, Gill's captaincy, Gambhir's tactics have all been found wanting. It should not have been so easy for England and yet it has been. Guess the long tour finally took its toll and we have lost on the back of our poorest day on the field in this tour yet.

I guess now England is the hardest place to win in the world at the moment with the perfect conditions for Bazball ..

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

20 hundreds in the series so far...Will Root make it 21?

 

[mackembhoy]

Most 300-plus totals in a Test series

14 - The Ashes, 1928/29

14 - India in England, 2025**

13 - West Indies in Australia, 1975/76

13 - The Ashes, 1993

 

[ashley bach]

Unlikely but 2 quick wickets after tea could breathe life into the game yet.

 

[andruid]

Halcyon days...

 

[mackembhoy]

Bethell is where Brook was a few years ago. A prodigious talent who averaged in the late 20s in FC. Then Brook just had an amazing season that catapulted him into consideration. Bethell had already played internationals but I'd love him to have a full season playing for Warwickshire.

Alas the IPL will always deny Warks fans of that.

I think if he hadn't gone there he might have started instead of Pope in this series.

Plenty of flat wickets at Edgbaston to have got his teeth into.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Alas the IPL will always deny Warks fans of that.

I think if he hadn't gone there he might have started instead of Pope in this series.

Plenty of flat wickets at Edgbaston to have got his teeth into.

You do wonder if the ECB were happy to keep Bethell in India while the Zimbabwe Test was going on as we wanted to keep Pope at 3 and didn’t want a challenger. He did get released before the end of the season (by which time the season ordinarily would have been done), but he wasn’t playing and we had a low key very important series against the West Indies