Last time I found a moment to witter away on here I moaned
because England’s senior cricketers hadn’t been producing the goods. Since then the third test has come and gone,
Cook & Bell scored big runs and Anderson took a bag of wickets. There was also big runs from Ballance, six
wickets from Ali and contributions from Root, Broad and Buttler on debut. This led to a comfortable England win, in fact
this was the best performance since England won away in India a couple of years
ago. Plunkett and Stokes were left out
for this match with Woakes and Jordan coming into the side. Neither made any headlines but were both
unlucky to finish wicket less in the match.
This leaves the series beautifully poised at 1-1 with two
matches to play and the fourth test starts at Old Trafford tomorrow! This wicket should suit England’s bowlers, Plunkett
is unfit so it seems likely England will name an unchanged side. The four seam bowlers will be expected to
take wickets on this surface and after his performance at Southampton the
pressure is off Ali for now. He looks a
good cricketer but I’m still not convinced he’s a really top level spinner
though I’d love to be proven wrong. Of
England’s side Robson may start to feel pressure if he doesn’t make runs. It would be good for England if Root could
move back to open and free up a space for another bowler.
I expect England to go on and win the series 3-1 from here
but I’m still not sure we have a side that can compete with Australia next
summer.
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