The International Cricket Thread

[PaulWinch again]

Special mention to Mo - played a massive part in this series. He’s been one of my favourite cricketers for a long time, and I’m glad he played a key role given he came to our aid in our hour of need.

[olaftab]

Yes Moeen, it was telling that Broad mentioned him twice in his post match interview. Shows how highly he is rated by his  teammates.

[Brend'Watkins]

We could justifiably have won this series 4 or 5-0.

Not sure about that but I will say that but for the weather a win at Old Trafford was nailed on. Manchester fucking it up again.

[olaftab]

Thank god that boring test cricket is done and we can start The Hundred tomorrow.

I am quite looking forward to a visit down under in 25/26 as it should not be the repeat of humiliation of last  tour in 17/18. Not counting the one in between.

[Meanwood Villa]

We won that series and no one can ever tell me different.

[Drummond]

We won that series and no one can ever tell me different.

Yep a 2-2 win. Imagine if the Villa had done that, an extra 14 points last season. We'd have Champions League football.

[Risso]

It was like our 3-3 so called "draw" with Brentford. We battered them and it was a win in my head.

[PaulWinch again]

It’s so disheartening that we’ve got a Test summer against Sri Lanka and West Indies. Not a reflection of either team, they’ve both got amazing legacies, but it reflects on how badly cricket has been managed that it’s two 3 test series against two underfunded and under supported sides.

[PaulWinch again]

Also I’ve had concerns about a few specific decisions, but there’s no doubt our approach to Test cricket is spot on. In 18 months we’ve gone from hopeless to matching/arguably bettering the best side in the world.

[Beard82]

A brilliant series - shows why test match cricket is the best sporting format of them all.

Im not even a little annoyed that I was there yesterday, rather than today!

[Lsvilla]

Thank god that boring test cricket is done and we can start The Hundred tomorrow.

I am quite looking forward to a visit down under in 25/26 as it should not be the repeat of humiliation of last  tour in 17/18. Not counting the one in between.

Yeah me too. Had always done Melbourne / Sydney historically with one trip to Perth, but at the World Cup last year went to both Brisbane and Adelaide for the first time and would like to spend more time at both.

[paul_e]

Also I’ve had concerns about a few specific decisions, but there’s no doubt our approach to Test cricket is spot on. In 18 months we’ve gone from hopeless to matching/arguably bettering the best side in the world.

Agreed, this is why I was getting frustrated at people moaning about bazball at the start of the series, it was application not intent that caused the problems in the first 2, and largely because we had an attack that was a mess and looked undercooked in the field. If we'd had Woakes and Wood available and selected for all 5 I think we'd be celebrating a 4-0 and mourning the loss of a whitewash to the Manchester weather.

To go back I moaned about Robinson a lot in the first 2 matches and the reason is because of the difference between what he was doing and what Woakes did. Robinson took a few wickets but also bowled a lot of poor spells where he allowed them to coast at 3-4 an over with little risk. Woakes on the other hand only bowled like that for a few brief periods where the pitch was offering nothing, and even then he helped slow the scoring rate and build pressure in another way. As it turns out Anderson out for Woakes would've been the right call.

[LeeB]

It's 100% the right approach but you have to be prepared to take the rough with he smooth as a result.

[LeeB]

Woakes should be first pick in home tests, especially with Broad now gone.

[Villan For Life]

What a wonderful session of test cricket and a fantastic series, it was absorbing from the first ball at Edgbaston to the last ball at the Oval. I reckon England were ahead for 80% of the 25 days played and boy I’m going to miss test cricket between now and next January!