England begging for a draw, Manchester, 27th July 2025

[Johan]

"Much Ado About Nothing"

To be fair Stokes gave them a chance to excerise their biologically ingrained hatred of everything English, so fair play on their part.

 

[cnerd123]

"Much Ado About Nothing"

summarises Test cricket in general

 

[Spark]

TBF, his injuries were entirely on him so not that much sympathy.

Glad I missed all this rubbish yesterday whilst watching the football instead. Can't blame either team for their actions, both would've done the same in reverse.

This post here is how you know England ****ed up badly.

 

[Spikey]

If England wanted an early finish, they simply should have started bowling Brook and co straight after tea. skill issue imo

 

[Burgey]

So much insecurity in the England team. The way it manifests itself at the slightest head wind is instructive.

 

[Molehill]

This post here is how you know England ****ed up badly.

How so? They offered the draw at the first available moment, are you saying Australia wouldn't have done likewise?

I mean, there are depths you could plumb to for when you don't get much help off a flat pitch, this didn't seem to be one of them.

 

[ankitj]

How so? They offered the draw at the first available moment, are you saying Australia wouldn't have done likewise?

Why did they all whine so hard when India refused. "Do you want to score a test hundred against Harry Brook?"

Stokes also dodged shaking hand with Jadeja at the end of the game. Petulant behavior.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah it’s not so much the offering of the draw as the way they carried on afterwards tbh. Lot of sportspeople have glass jaws when things don’t go their way. These guys are no different

 

[Johan]

bowling Brook made sense. Snide comment is whatever. The handshake is something I take issue with, match is done, you didn't lose, just laugh it off and worry about next match.

 

[ankitj]

This just seems to be Stokes imposing his personal whims and declaring them timeless convention. Again.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/eng-vs-ind-4th-test-cricket-must-be-played-by-the-rules-not-ben-stokes-moral-code-1497091

 

[Molehill]

Why did they all whine so hard when India refused. "Do you want to score a test hundred against Harry Brook?"

Stokes also dodged shaking hand with Jadeja at the end of the game. Petulant behavior.

Because they didn't fancy another pointless hour of cricket on a road, hardly rocket science.

And the shaking the hand thing is rubbish. There's video evidence of him being the first to shake hands with both.

 

[Spark]

How so? They offered the draw at the first available moment, are you saying Australia wouldn't have done likewise?

I mean, there are depths you could plumb to for when you don't get much help off a flat pitch, this didn't seem to be one of them.

I think everyone offers the draw, but I also think most other teams understand that the batsmen will want the hundred and play on without complaint.

No other team in world cricket starts chirping on about how **** it is that the batsmen don't accept the draw, actively try to devalue the milestone with snide comments, sarcastically offer the draw again when one (and not the guy who is looking a debut hundred either) gets there etc. Cummins' Australia wouldn't do it, I don't think this India team would do it, certainly SA/NZ/SL/WI wouldn't and I don't think Pakistan would either. England are on an island of their own in this regard.

 

[Johan]

No other team in world cricket starts chirping on about how **** it is that the batsmen don't accept the draw, actively try to devalue the milestone with snide comments, sarcastically offer the draw again when one (and not the guy who is looking a debut hundred either) gets there etc. Cummins' Australia wouldn't do it, I don't think this India team would do it, certainly SA/NZ/SL/WI wouldn't and I don't think Pakistan would either. England are on an island of their own in this regard.

The series was pretty chill until one guy started yelling at our batters over something his own team would do the very next day iirc

 

[Spark]

The series was pretty chill until one guy started yelling at our batters over something his own team would do the very next day iirc

"But he started it" is an excuse that's understandable if you're about nine years old but wears rather thinner when you're an experienced professional sportsman and, you know, an adult.

 

[ankitj]

And the shaking the hand thing is rubbish. There's video evidence of him being the first to shake hands with both.

OK right, I got that wrong

 

[Johan]

"But he started it" is an excuse that's understandable if you're about nine years old but wears rather thinner when you're an experienced professional sportsman and, you know, an adult.

I don't remember threads mocking Gill's India after India lost at Lord's after Gill started the shithousery but I can be remembering wrong.

 

[Molehill]

I think everyone offers the draw, but I also think most other teams understand that the batsmen will want the hundred and play on without complaint.

No other team in world cricket starts chirping on about how **** it is that the batsmen don't accept the draw, actively try to devalue the milestone with snide comments, sarcastically offer the draw again when one (and not the guy who is looking a debut hundred either) gets there etc. Cummins' Australia wouldn't do it, I don't think this India team would do it, certainly SA/NZ/SL/WI wouldn't and I don't think Pakistan would either. England are on an island of their own in this regard.

I think you underestimate where teams can get to after 4 Tests, (where the 3rd had turned tetchy), and 5 days on a road. Like I say, other teams have plumbed significantly deeper in the past and the Cummins era is a direct response to that. I don't say it's right, but it's hardly surprising.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

I'll be disappointed if India don't offer the draw 10 overs into the next test.

 

[Spark]

I think you underestimate where teams can get to after 4 Tests, (where the 3rd had turned tetchy), and 5 days on a road. Like I say, other teams have plumbed significantly deeper in the past and the Cummins era is a direct response to that. I don't say it's right, but it's hardly surprising.

Indeed the Cummins era is a response to that, that's how I know they wouldn't do it.

This is hardly an unprecedented situation in cricket where an obviously dead game lasts a little longer to let a batsman get a milestone, I can immediately think of at least one example of it off the top of my head and it happened without any complaint whatsoever (and England were the fielding side then too). This is, however, the absolute first time I've ever heard anyone object to it, let alone lose their minds the way England did in that last half hour, and the concoction of some supposed deep norm of cricket where it's just wrong to let that happen (to the point where even someone as one-eyed as Michael Vaughan is having to talk Jonathan Agnew off the ledge) is truly difficult to take seriously.

 

[Molehill]

I don't remember threads mocking Gill's India after India lost at Lord's after Gill started the shithousery but I can be remembering wrong.

This is a valid point. Two batsmen trying to see out the close of play by delaying the bowler has literally been a thing for about 50 years. And yet it's where the tetchiness all started when Gill lost the plot. Where was Mr Monga's Crapinfo article on that?

I'll be disappointed if India don't offer the draw 10 overs into the next test.

You do know they're 2-1 down right?