England India 5th test

[Quickenthetempo]

How does everyone think we’ll get on this winter, down under?

Melt within the pressure cooker that Australia brings, or take it on and actually win a test or two there, with the way we play?

Only top sides win over there and the heat is normally too much for English players.

But we have a better batting line up then them which doesn't happen often, so you have a chance.

If the bowlers are all fit at the same time gives us another chance.

[blatherwickstattoos]

Better fielding we’d have walked that.

[Bacchus]

If we want him to bat like Boycott then fair enough

Its almost like there is nothing between the two extremes....

Obviously he doesn't need to turn into a blocker. He just needs to consider the bigger picture a bit more occasionally. Similar to when he was caught on 99 at Headingley trying to showboat his way to a century.

I guess it's similar to the debates about Kevin Petersen's approach at times.

[Casper2]

Clearly not watched much of the whole series if you think that.

Watched most of the 25 days actually

[nil_desperandum]

But we have a better batting line up then them which doesn't happen often, so you have a chance.

Not much to choose between 2 relatively poor batting sides (by historic test standards I mean)
They have Smith, Head and Labuschagne who are likely to score well. Others capable of contributing.
We have Root, Brook and Stokes- and sometimes Duckett, but we also have significant weaknesses in Crawley and Pope up the order, and our likely bowling attack don’t bat as well as Cummins, Starc, Lyons etc
At the end of the day it will come down to performance- particularly Root whose record in Australia- up to now - is poor.

[CoolClaret]

Not much to choose between 2 relatively poor batting sides (by historic test standards I mean)
They have Smith, Head and Labuschagne who are likely to score well. Others capable of contributing.
We have Root, Brook and Stokes- and sometimes Duckett, but we also have significant weaknesses in Crawley and Pope up the order, and our likely bowling attack don’t bat as well as Cummins, Starc, Lyon’s etc
At the end of the day it will come down to performance- particularly Root whose record in Australia- up to now - is poor.

Labuschagne hasn't been up to much with the bat for a couple of years, Warner hasn't been properly replaced (though, we didn't used to struggle with him - thanks Broady), and Khawaja is close to retirement.

Head and Smith are fantastic but I don't think there's much to fear with their batting lineup. Their quicks however - best in the world.

[Goalposts]

We've got the batters to put us into strong positions but we've got to make it count when they do. We failed to do so in the first two tests in '23 and found ourselves chasing the series.

Two from Atkinson, Wood and Archer have to play every game. Al three together would be an absolute bonus.

And most importantly, Stokes needs to be fully fit.

Spot on you need 3 hard track hitting Bowlers , a good spinner to tie an end down and give them a breather. You need mental toughness and an attitude to give as good as you get. ,, i believe weve only got one warm up game which i think is fundamentally flawed , you want to be playing a couple of state-sides to get the edge and taste.

[Silkyskills1]

A fantastic series. Shame it was crammed into such a short space of time.

August belongs to 'The Hundred' now. Can't have proper Test cricket getting in the way of family slapstick entertainment.

[Silkyskills1]

The thing with Brook is, he was playing risk-free cricket in that afternoon session and still dominating the bowlers. There was no need to change his approach. There’s a lot of times with this team when cruising in 5th gear is absolutely fine but they reach unnecessarily for 6th and often throw it away.

Could and should have been more 'choosey' with which delivery he selected to clobber. Some of the batting after his dismissal was truly awful.

[Quickenthetempo]

Not much to choose between 2 relatively poor batting sides (by historic test standards I mean)
They have Smith, Head and Labuschagne who are likely to score well. Others capable of contributing.
We have Root, Brook and Stokes- and sometimes Duckett, but we also have significant weaknesses in Crawley and Pope up the order, and our likely bowling attack don’t bat as well as Cummins, Starc, Lyons etc
At the end of the day it will come down to performance- particularly Root whose record in Australia- up to now - is poor.

We have number 1 and 2 in the world. I wouldn't swap Duckett for anyone. Our opening partnerships average higher than ever.
Wicketkeeper who had a poor test averaged 50 before the game.

We are far stronger than the aussies in batting.

I like Travis Head though.

[nil_desperandum]

We have number 1 and 2 in the world. I wouldn't swap Duckett for anyone. Our opening partnerships average higher than ever.
Wicketkeeper who had a poor test averaged 50 before the game.

We are far stronger than the aussies in batting.

I like Travis Head though.

I hope that your optimism isn’t misplaced.
You must remember that we are facing a terrific experienced bowling attack in Australian conditions. They will be very aware of Crawley and Pope’s weaknesses and will hope to get Root in early. Root will be under enormous pressure as he doesn’t even have a single century on Australian soil. They will no doubt keep reminding him of this and target him.
If Root can score big runs then it makes us more competitive, but we will need to get Smith out, (who you didn’t mention)

[MrTopTier]

Saw the result earlier and just caught up with the highlights.

Overall 2-2 was probably the right result.

Had we taken our chances in this game, we’d have won comfortably. Catches win matches.

Although he is a Fanny, Siraj was immense this game and throughout the series.

Joe Root top class throughout and his tribute to Thorpey yesterday sums him up.

A great series which had a bit of everything.

Roll on the Ashes.

[Andreshotboots]

A fair result in a rollercoaster of a series.

One thing this series has highlighted though, is that there really are very very few quality spinners left in World cricket.

[Quickenthetempo]

I hope that your optimism isn’t misplaced.
You must remember that we are facing a terrific experienced bowling attack in Australian conditions. They will be very aware of Crawley and Pope’s weaknesses and will hope to get Root in early. Root will be under enormous pressure as he doesn’t even have a single century on Australian soil. They will no doubt keep reminding him of this and target him.
If Root can score big runs then it makes us more competitive, but we will need to get Smith out, (who you didn’t mention)

It's not optimism as such because I'm not confident we will win. Everything would have to go right.

I just think we have a far better batting line up. Their bowling attack has been superb for a long time though.

[Taffy on the wing]

Fair play Siraj player of the tournament

You certainly get your money's worth with him!