GRcade

Blowers And no chance of any Vaughan commentary.

Brett Lee steaming in at >90mph

Watchalong of the final Edgbaston day with Warne/KP/Key/Hussain currently on Sky Cricket (normal coverage on Sky ME).

Warne just accidentally dropped into the conversation that their nickname for Ashley Giles was Smash me Miles

Warne also just used the phrase "trying my bollocks off" at 12:35pm

Sky Sports Mix is playing a series of Ben Stokes's finest moments and one of them has just made me blorl IRL.

It's Stokes's 85-ball ton at Lord's vs. New Zealand. Stokes in on 99. Bowler comes in, Stokes bumps it into the on-side to grab the single and celebrates. A minute or so later, they show a slow-mo replay, where the England team is celebrating and Joe Root is giving him the Marlon Samuels salute

https://youtu.be/K1Yu4gQMd30 - 15:00

Sadly my fondness for Ben took a hit given the unfortunate yet unsurprising revelation that he thinks BJ’s coronavirus speech the other day was brilliant. Like I said, it’s not too surprising: Ian Botham is a raving loony Brexiteer, and most cricketers follow suit I expect. Does mean that the whole artist vs. art thing has come into play, and that’s always been a tricky one for me.

Love the art not the artist.

Vaughan's twitter is an absolute car crash of populist right leaning nonsense at times. I guess cricket is a sport that tends to lean towards the conservative, it's not traditionally a working class game.

He did later give some clarity to his comment "context not content".

Vaughan is a totally different story, he's retired and his job now is to commentate (on whatever topic he sees fit, whether his opinion is requested or not, apparently).

Looks like we're getting some Test cricket this summer!

Roll on 8th July.

Can’t wait! Love me some Tests.

...and cue the second wave.

God I hope that guy plays in the test series.

Good news
+Jofra has said he's fully recovered from his elbow injury.

Bad news
-Bairstow has again reiterated that he wants "his" gloves back. The penny simply will not drop for the lad.
-Several Pakistan players have tested positive for COVID-19. Not a problem right now as there is plenty of time for them to self-isolate but it's worrying that the virus seems prevalent amongst their squad.

Current rumour mill suggests that the XI for the opening test on 8th July, providing everyone remains fit and free of COVID: Burns, Sibley, Crawley, Root, Stokes, Pope, Buttler, Leach, Archer, Anderson, Broad. Subs: Woakes, Wood, Foakes, Moeen, Curran.

I am sure they will find a way to shoehorn Jonny in.

Jonny should to be fair be second in line for the gloves. It’s just that Jos shouldn’t be first.

Even in England, playing both of Broaderson at this stage feels

That's a decent line up. If Buttler doesn't have the gloves then he doesn't get in and you'd definitely take Foakes over Bairstow as we don't need any other batsmen in that side.

I'd probably agree now on Broad and Anderson, there is going to be a massive hole in England's bowling attack in 2-3 years because we've failed to bring through replacements.

Rex Kramer wrote:I'd probably agree now on Broad and Anderson, there is going to be a massive hole in England's bowling attack in 2-3 years because we've failed to bring through replacements.

Agreed.

James Anderson is 38 next month.
Stuart Broad is 34 today!
Chris Woakes is seen as a successor but he's 31.
Mark Wood is injury prone and 30.
Stokes is 29.
Jofra is 25.
Sam Curran is 22.

Then you've got the less experienced at Test level.

Saqib Mahmood 23.
Olly Stone 26.
Dom Bess 22.

Root's skipping the first test. Likely a Burns, Sibley, Crawley, Denly, Stokes and Pope top 6.

Sibley Crawley Denly isn’t quite Stokes Foakes Woakes but I’ll take it. Hopefully Ali plays too. Shame that Brearley and Woolley played in the wrong eras and that Willey isn’t a Test contender.

Burnsy Sibley Crawley Denly Stokesy Popey Foakesy Woakesy Leachy?

The England nicknames are rubbish, but at least we’re not calling Denly ‘No Pants’.

Also like they’re going to play Foakes, it’ll be Buttler and we’ll all be expected to shut up and like it.

Aaaand there it is. Jos Buttler confirmed as Vice Captain.

Just waiting for some sort of minor injury to Ollie Pope and they can slide Bairstow back in as well.