1st Test: England v Bangladesh: Lord's 26-30 May

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by flanflinger

How about seconding them into the ICC's Inter-continetal cup?

OK ff, then what do we do about Zimbabwe, who are just as bad, and Bangladesh have beaten them not long ago.

[flanflinger]

I would send both teams.. why not - what is there to say that as a Test team you cannot also compete in something like that?

It is essentially three first class games before the finals stage, why not include Zimbabwe or Bangladesh in that?

[Trescothick]

Tea-time: Tresco 34*
Strauss 28*

Tresco should have 38, it was credited leg-byes when jhe actually hit it to the boundary. I'm only making a point of this because of my bet on him being Englands top scorer this series: Very frustrating. This is the ball:

Mashrafe Mortaza to Trescothick, legbye: FOUR, drifting down the leg side, ball clips the pad and runs down to the fine leg fence.

Is there any way this will be recitifed watching the replay? or has it been declared now, so no change can be made.

Nice to see the two openers doing well again. Hope they go ahead to make 200+

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Richard Jenkins

i'll bet that ttfc's 3rd ix team could perhaps do better. park cricket at it's worst!

Aw.. that's harsh... the England attack wasn't THAT bad :-)

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Trescothick

Is there any way this will be recitifed watching the replay? or has it been declared now, so no change can be made.

If that is the biggest umpiring "blunder" this Test, the umpires would have done very well indeed. Once the next delivery has been bowled, the scoring of any prior delivery cannot be retrospectively altered.

[Teatime FatCat]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Aw.. that's harsh... the England attack wasn't THAT bad :-)

Well now, let's look at the facts here -

My bowling attack for Saturday's key game against Guildford 3rdXI is not really like for like, but we'll see how we match up -

1) 'Stonewall' Chenery, our fastest and oldest bowler, fresh from a 4 - fer last week, bangs it in, doesn't swing it much - but unlike Harmy, doesn't drop it down leg! One nil to Chertsey

2) PC3567 Avery our gentle swing bowler, can't bat for toffee, genuinely does drop it down leg, but like Hoggy loves left handers. One all

3) 'Pullo Pulling' Although only 5'2" he's angry and bamboozles batters with a selection of well aimed long hops - I think Freddy may have the edge here. Two one to England

4) 'Medium Sized Dan' another gentle swing bowler, but he's about 6'6" tall, and gets bounce. Much more to offer than Jonesy I'm afraid. Two all

5) Me! Genuine loopy spinner with a fiendish 'even slower one', can buy wickets for fun, and comical fielder. Definately takes Batty hands down. Three two to Chertsey.


There you have it Rach, I think we'd have bowled 'em out for under a hundred - better give Fletch a ring.

[flanflinger]

Right what should we declare on? 250 and bowl the out for sub-100? Or am I being very cynical

[Occasional Fan]

Sod's Law that, having got up this morning with little more on the schedule than checking the availability of TMS on the web for those of us outside the UK, I then wound up having to be out of the house all day. Did I miss anything? No: don't answer that! I've read it all - seems I've almost missed everything! For anyone outside the UK who hasn't discovered it yet, the BBC's Test Match Special is available to us on the web. Go to www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive and follow the link to Five Live Sports Extra. I'll be there tomorrow.

[Rachael]

Now Chertsey vs Bangladesh might actually prove better viewing that the current mismatch... but how about Chertsey vs England? See off Jones and your top order would have had it made today: do you think they could have made it?

I'd love to see Glamorgan Wanderer's reaction to today's play: the standard of batting and bowling, Jones excepted, must have been pretty familiar from Glamorgan's dire early season domestic performances... but with the exception being a Glamorgan player who seemingly now bowls better for England than his club!

On a side point.. the merits of having the Ashes at the end of the summer are just becoming apparent: at least if gives Troy C a month or two to gently remind his proteges what bowling one side of the wicket means and Duncan Fletcher a chance to contemplate replacing Harmison, Hoggard and Flintoff with Tremlett, Lewis and Collingwood.

I'm sure at least 2 of the 3 will turn it around this summer.. but Caddick and Tremlett must surely be more motivated than ever back on the county scene.

[Occasional Fan]

I haven't seen or heard anything of this game so far other than what I have read here and on the BBC website. The England bowling figures taken "raw" don't look too bad, although both Hoggard and Harmison seemed to take a while to find their run-ups if I understand the reports well. Twelve no-balls from these chaps in a total of 27 overs between them is not too hot.

I see, Rachael, that you have popped in your traditional "Should Flintoff go?" thought at an early stage! All I can see of him in the reports is 5-0-22-2, which I think I could live with from a non-specialist bowler. What was it that took your eye?

I did note that Jonathan Agnew feels that Matthew Hoggard is flattered by his 4-42. True or false?