30 minutes ago, ruggles1995 said:

I don't know about anyone else but I don't see losing Brittain as a big deal.

Solid, experienced Championship player, like Baath. We don't have many, and they're both gone, and unlikely to be replaced. They will be missed. At a struggling, badly managed club like ours, I don't see why anyone cannot see this is a big deal. 

50 minutes ago, 47er said:

Could go either way but we must be favourites right now.

Don't tempt fate 47er, this is England playing and we're experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

Edit: Woakes strikes just before lunch, eight down

India seven down, 100 runs from victory. Tense, thrilling, could go either way.  Test cricket at its finest

8 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Anybody know what the relegation odds are ?

Give me the nod and I'll open the new season's relegation thread

In the circumstances of the game with 10 minutes to lunch, and England looking to build a steady recovery, Brook got out to the same brainlesss shot as his previous two shots. 

Now 6 down. 

Three down. Another Root rescue act required. He can't keep carrying this team.  Some just aren't good enough against the best Test bowlers

Enthralling day's cricket at Lord's......  tough battle between bat and ball as two teams fought hard and gave no quarter for the upper hand.  Proper Test cricket and no slap and tickle

I thought England were 100 runs short but we'll see what happens. Bumrah is an extraordinary bowler, averaging about 19. He's got Root out so many times now and did it again today. 

That was proper Test cricket today, England carefully building the innings through  Root getting his head down and not playing any silly shots supported by Pope and then Stokes. Pope remains a flawed player, playing daft shots outside the fifth stump when he went in. Crawley is in last chance saloon for me, averaging 30 and about only  18 in the last year of so. 

Pope dropped and lucky to survive 1st ball

Since then it's been proper old school cricket,  scoring below 3 an over

38 minutes ago, 47er said:

Crawley on 1 and doing his level best to get out. Beaten every ball in current Bumrah over.

He’s charging down the wicket, trying to play T20 shots. When you’re trying to build a big total in a game lasting 5 days.  He might get a big score, he might not. Either way it’s not cricket as we know it (Jim) 

Root failed badly in the last Test. You’re only as good as your last game

22 minutes ago, AndyB said:

My wife was company secretary for a large FTSE 250 company.

The external auditors who came to the office were often young & inexperienced and working to a checklist.  If they asked for a document, they didn't know what should look like and she could give them anything.  They were just happy that they could tick a box to say they had seen the document.

She used to tell the partners of the auditors that she should be charging them for training their staff in what they should actually be looking for.

The above shouldn't happen. Amateurish, people not qualified for the jobs they're doing, not doing their job properly, so eventually businesses fail. Plain wrong. Happens right across the country and the economy. Why are we surprised that the same is happening at Ewood? 

England win toss and bat first (hurrah). Lovely day, perfect for batting. No excuses, time for Crawley, Duckett, Pope and Root to deliver

So the 1980s and 1990s Test era was not entertaining? Wonderful players such as Botham, Gower, Gooch, etc, Flintoff in the 2000s - really? Those players knew how to attack and they knew how to defend and play cautiously too, when necessary.

Going back to the 60s and 70s, Boycott was a superb technician, without parallel in batting technique, and the master of building an innings and not giving his wicket away.. I used to love watching him battle against the great fast bowlers of the day - Lillee, Thomson, Holding, Marshall and the rest.  And there were dashers then too - Milburn, Dexter, Graveney and others could belt the ball around the ground when needed in Bazball style.

They were great players in the true sense of the word; the likes of Crawley, Pope, Duckett etc wouldn't get in an England 4XI against the players of those eras 

England were underperforming under McCullum's predecessors and the only way was up after those miserable failures. There's been some good wins under him but in the most important series of all, they got it completely wrong

Who can forget 2023 when Stokes's stupid declaration at Lord's gave extra time that Australia made full use of to claim a victory that should never have happened, and in the second Test, when England hooked again and again to fielders in the deep with Lyon off injured and the game at England's mercy. England 2-0 down when they should have been 2-0 up and the Ashes gone

This summer against India and the winter tour down under is the ultimate test of whether Bazball is a success. If England come through and win both series I'll take my hat off. And to be honest I don't care how England do it - as long as we win, because winning (and not losing sometimes) is all that matters.

Entertainment is for children

15 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

If you can’t win, you need to get a draw if you can.  Yesterday we’d no chance of winning. We’ve had players in the past that would have got a draw in that game.  Our current players had no chance.

What was Smith playing at yesterday? Smashing the ball around the field as if it were a run chase, hits 2 sixes in successive balls then gets out trying to hit a third. Totally brainless in the context of the game and why Bazball is flawed 

It's the rigid mentality of Bazball that's so annoying

Engfland prefer to bat fourth and chase a score but that defies logic when they win the toss, it's a good batting wicket and they put a very good batting team like India into bat first. Then, 1000 runs for India later, refusing to bat for a draw which would have been an excellent achievement equal of any run chase.

And before anyone points to the first Test, India would have won that too if they hadn't dropped so many catches

Then there's the nature of the defeats - absolute thrashings. This 336-run defeat follows the 423-run loss in Hamilton, the nine-wicket thrashing in Rawalpindi, the eight-wicket defeat by a poor Sri Lanka team and the 434-run thrashing by India last February.

It's all or nothing - with no in between. England say they want to follow Strauss's team and become world No 1 - they haven't a prayer playing brainless Bazball cricket

The

6 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

stuck in the past way Cricket was played. no one was to boring 5 day test matches anymore

not acknowledging that Cricket has actually moved on from those era and England want to entertained the fans. 

Also no praised of Indian bowlers like Deep and Siraj for their efforts

The instant gratification generation on display. Pathetic

India's fine bowling (and England's poor bowling) has been noted 

26 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

isn't that true of most batsmen these days. 

People are stuck in the past the way Test cricket was being played. Those boring days have gone. Crowds want to be entertained especially when paying the prices they are now for tickets. 

We seen some good batting from both sides and some good bowling from either side. 

interesting that England had added Gus Atkinson to the next test squad and I would be tempted to brig in Archer and Atkinson in for Carse and Tongue at Lords for the 3rd test

Cardiff 2009. One of the best, most tense, most excruciating Test matches of all time as England’s last wicket pair Anderson and Panesaar held out for an improbable draw. Atherton’s one man defiance of South Africa to secure a draw. Brilliant games that lives long in the memory.

There is a middle way between attack and defence,  all the best teams do it and the best teams would have fought tooth and nail for a draw today. This Bazball England team is  not one of them. 

My mistake - but the point stands. A poor defeat ..... long may it not continue

Deeply (literally) disappointing performance by England - wrong call on the toss (again...... England got away with it in the first Test) , and then outbowled and outbatted from the first day.

This Test was eminently saveable with sensible batting today and a mindset to dig in for a draw but the win/lose mentality of this team meant there was only going to be one outcome. Bazball nonsense

To make it worse, it's the first time India have won at the England stronghold Headingley and India showed England how to bowl well in English conditions.  The England attack looked toothless and there needs to be wholesale changes for the next Test.

Combined with the women's defeat in the Euros it's been a depressing weekend for England 

58 minutes ago, TurkishDelight said:

It is always better to read some rumors a so called journalist comes up with than the conspiracy mambo jambo some of the members here comes up with. 

 

Nixon makes a living on filing football gossip. It puts food on his table so it doesn’t matter to him whether it has a semblance of truth as long as it fills the column inches (in newspaper terms). In reality his nonsense can be ignored because only a tiny fraction of his stuff actually comes true

There’s a couple of posters on here who have their ears to the ground on what’s going on in Ewood. Real contacts. They’re the ones to watch

The Lionesses were pussy cats tonight. Disappointing, tepid performance and big game against the Dutch on Wednesday. 

Another poor day for England and needing about 6 an over this is a match they cannot win

From this position they need to forget this stupid Bazball mindset and aim to bat the whole day tomorrow

A draw is a perfectly acceptable  result and would be as good as a win if they can achieve it

England lose last 5 wickets for 20 runs. Innings included 6 ducks and 2 150s.  Bonkers

Bring back Boycott and Barrington

Normal service resumes with Duckett and Pope. 

587 looks a long way off