You could find hundreds of examples similar to that Bichel from the Aussies. This is why a) I've had no problems sleeping since Friday b) there's very few Aussies making any complaint about the Broad issue

it's English people making a big deal of it, mainly because we're a bit uneasy with that particular part of the game.

The Bichel one was bad though, that was a deliberate ploy to con the umpires. Langers catch looked good though.

Yeh I think he was robbed with that one.

Remember the Aussies invented sledging, the last breakthrough in gamesmanship. I loved that quote where an Aussie said to an England player (or vice versa) 'why are you so fat??'

'Because every time I fuck your wife she gives me a biscuit.'

England's tail haven't necessarily scored the runs but they've hung around a few times to save Tests.

With Ian Bell back in form our top 5 is light years ahead of there's and should be the difference over the Summer as everything else is reasonably well matched

Yes we agree pj was talking shite when mentioning bresnans averages or he was talking shite when he claimed he didn't think Finn would be dropped


He would reply but is probably on the phone with cook giving him some batting advice !

well Bresnan in then eh?

And I see the whole cricket loving world are being made to wait an extra 15 minutes to start just cos the bloody queen cant be arsed to get her arse out to meet the players on time.

Bloody royals.

love to see us bat for 2 full days and sicken the aussies right out of the game.

I thought you werent going to be around today?

I hate the BBC by the way.

Some great golf to be watched, but as usual the beeb give more air time to their obscene number of presenters.

Why cant they just the sport and fook all these presenters off. Only at the beeb.

Are you the worlds dumbest person?

For the last time, you are not meant to believe a word I say.

I know nowt about cricket in the grand scheme of things, and I know almost as little about betting.

But I saw an odds coupon yesterday with England 10/11, the Draw at 2/1 and the convicts at 7/2. I'm pretty sure rain needs to happen for Draws, and given the Australians only lost by a very small margin last time surely 7/2 is worth a punt?

If only!!!!

One down.

jesus christ.

28 for 3.

What the fook are we doing?

try 3

Utter fuck!

Hopefully we can get another disciplined innings out of Bell. Him and Trott have the mentality to just tap it around for singles all day.

7/2 looked value.

Apparently if you're going to get anything out of the pitch it'll be early on, hopefully these two will see it out for an hour and then we can move on

I feel a lot more confident in the batting lineup with the inclusion of Bresnan and he's in form with the bat

interesting yet again that a dream batting track turns into a nightmare to bat on.

It does now. It didn't an hour ago IMO.

Luckily I didn't hit 'submit' on my post about how crap that bet is!

I was tempted to shove a daft £20 on yesterday but never bet on Cricket or against a team I want to win.

As I said before strange decision to promote root to opener when he had been learning his trade well further down the order- Compton should be on for bairstow

Once again our batting comes into question in the first innings, but the Aussies have bowled well, game on

cant believe the shot Trott has just played.

Played brilliantly then gives it away.

Very uncharacteristic of him, that's twice this series now.

Interesting afternoon ahead....

How lucky was Bairstow?

He HAS to go and get a ton now.

Apologies for those that dont like c ricket, or me, but still open the thread and moan.

Pub cricketer bairstow gets a second life- lets see what he makes of it

Is there such a thing as pub cricket? I thought it was pub football and village cricket?

Nice shift from Bell so far, steadied the ship well. Pietersen though?? What went on there??

He got out, it happens to batsmen!

Well aye but it'll be nice to see when the saviour produces.

Oh sorry, a smiley. I'm not allowed smileys.....

I don't follow cricket but I've watched this all day and I'm quite enjoying it. Nothing too exciting but it's been an excellent recovery from where we were this morning. Bairstow got very lucky like!

Aye seven and a half thousand runs, 22 hundreds at nearly 50.

He really needs to produce and prove himself at Test level.

He got a good ball which he knicked.

..NEWSFLASH..FTA of Doubledecker.. Pub Cricketer makes 50 at Lords ...

Bell's asked for a new helmet lining. There's got to be a joke in there somewhere.

Shit, another smiley...

I'm not talking about his record. It's not possible to crticise that. I'm talking this series. His history isn't helping us so far is it?

He got 60 odd last week in second innings. Those runs were rather helpful.

Anybody would be hard-pushed to criticise Ian Bell for grinding out this knock.

Exactly what was needed to halt a collapse

This pub Bairstow plays for must be decent.

Yes he did. But today he got 2. Surely you'd expect more than that, that far up the order? He got 14 in the first innings last week. That's not sparkling either. We all know he's better than that, he just forgets whether he's in a test or a one dayer.

To be fair this series its hard to criticise any batsmen after just 3 innings. Root will come in for some criticism but I'm confident he will get the runs. He's been very unlucky with 2/3 of his dismissals. I'm surprised your whinging over kp, his knock with cook spearheaded our comeback to win the 1st test. Seeing that day out was huge. Bairstow done nothing wrong and fully deserves his place and to be labelled a "pub cricketer" shows the mentality of some.

He got a good ball, anyone can get out for a low score against a new ball when it's doing a bit. If he'd played a shit shot then criticise away but he didn't you can't expect anyone to get runs every time they bat.

The Cricketers Arms in Richmond?? I'd do the laugh smiley but, well, I don't wish to offend.

Duly noted Mr Birthmark. Again and probably like everyone else I hoped for a decent knock from KP.

Surely you don't expect 50 every single innings. All world class batsmen score single figures, maybe if the bowlers were "pub bowlers" i could understand your gripe

Ian bell take a fucking bow

If we can get a decent total from here like you'd expect it'll be interesting to see how the vulnerable Australian top order cope with the pressure we'll put on them

Hopefully these two will see tonight through and then Prior will be licking his lips at coming in this type of situation.

Well done Ian Bell....for so long he took stick from both his own fans and opposition players. More than handy to have an in-form number 5

Is take 400 from here like. Hopefully prior keeps the board ticking over

Ffs bell ! Needed to convert that to a biggie, now new batsman exposed to the new ball in a few overs

Well done bairstow, took his second life after a shaky start, hopefully he can push on and finally get a test hundred

He did Smith bowl such filth one ball and then a perfect leggie next up? From Shane Richie to Shane Warne in 20 seconds!

I would take350 !

Great innings from bell, but like trott poor concentration got him out