The International Cricket Thread

[PaulWinch again]

With our tail this could be a problem.

[Rotterdam]

What do we think is a decent score here? The pitch looks ok by the ball is keeping low at times which makes cross bat shots dangerous.

I think 350 is competitive and 400+ would be a big advantage.

375 or so?

[paul_e]

Great knock from Bairstow but it would've been nice if he could've stuck around for another hour, think we'd have been in control if he'd been there at 5:30-6:00 this evening.

[paul_e]

Why are we listening to 2 Aussies on the UK broadcast?

[LeeB]

G'wan Mo!

[PaulWinch again]

And he’s gone.

I feel like we’re frittering this away a bit here.

[Steve67]

It might be an exciting way to play the game, but getting out quickly, Will just give Australia the chance to build an innings over the next couple of days and get ahead of the England score. It just seems a bit naive to me. We need at least another 100 runs on top of this score.

[paul_e]

That's a strange way to look at it when we have seen such a huge turnaround in results by moving to this style and away from the more cautious approach you're suggesting.

I do get the frustration though but I don't think it's fair to criticise Stokes, Bairstow or Moeen for playing in the way that is clearly what works for them and is what they're in the team to do. The only wickets I found frustrating were Duckett (just didn't read the conditions) and Crawley (hung his bat out at one that was high and wide) who both went playing fairly timid shots.

[manic-road]

Stokes, Bairstow and Ali have all gifted their wickets today, the Aussies haven't even had to bowl well. On this pitch England should be getting 450-500 in the first innings, I hope they still can.

[manic-road]

Declared under 400, didn't expect that.

[paul_e]

Brilliant knock from Root, having him there and so good at rotating the strike and keeping the score moving is why we can let the others be more adventurous.

Into the 390s (which i reckon is a decent score) and Stokes clearly agrees with a very bold declaration!

Weather sounds ropey for the last 3 days with coulds and heavy showers predicted so getting the game moving along is probably needed to get a result either way.

[Chris Smith]

You’ve got to love this approach from England, the positive approach means games are mostly played on our terms.

[PaulWinch again]

Root is some player. This declaration is interesting, let’s get into them.

[Jon Crofts]

Blimey. Declare below 400, someone is confident of getting a result here.

Tear into them for a few overs tonight.

[paul_e]

You’ve got to love this approach from England, the positive approach means games are mostly played on our terms.

Yep, Australia were making a big deal about not changing how they play and then put out fields for most of the day that were designed to reduce how many boundaries we'd score.