76th over: England 196-3 (Crawley 50, Stokes 16) Holder has taken himself off! I hope it’s just for a change of ends. Alzarri Joseph takes over and does well, beating Stokes outside off and persuading him to top-edge a hook over the slips. He gets a couple for that and a couple more couples from a steer into the covers and a tuck to leg. Stokes isn’t settling for a draw here, thank God.
Here’s John Starbuck, picking up on Keiran Betteley’s plea for picturesque settings (16:15). “The problem with Test cricket at the moment,” John argues, all too sensibly, “is that logistics demand that the ground has to have a hotel attached, with all their staff, plus players, their medics, coaches, ground staff and broadcasters all able to perform in the same bubble. Country house-style grounds may appeal aesthetically, but you’d need accommodation for a couple of hundred people.” Arundel could manage that, couldn’t it? Clearly it’s not going to happen now, but I hope someone at the ECB is kicking themselves for not thinking of it two months ago.
75th over: England 190-3 (Crawley 50, Stokes 10) Stokes plays his first big shot against spin, clubbing Chase over midwicket for four. If there was a crowd, they would have loved that.
74th over: England 185-3 (Crawley 50, Stokes 5) The Stokes-Holder duel continues, less dramatically, with a couple of dots and a tuck for a single off a lifter. Even Hector and Achilles had their quieter moments.
73rd over: England 184-3 (Crawley 50, Stokes 4) Chase drops short and Crawley cuts backward of square for four more. Needing another four for fifty, he finds them by nailing the reverse-sweep that he messed up earlier. That’s a fine effort, a creative 50 off 80 balls. It’s his second fifty in Tests and his first at home.
72nd over: England 176-3 (Crawley 42, Stokes 4) With Stokes still stuck on 0, Holder has to send for himself. It’s nemesis against nemesis. But Stokes is willing to wait for the bad ball, and along it comes – a long half-volley which he doesn’t so much drive as ease back past the bowler for four.
71st over: England 172-3 (Crawley 42, Stokes 0) Chase starts superbly, drifting his arm ball past Crawley’s outside edge. But Crawley again shows a cool temperament by cutting for four. It’s going to be so interesting to see whether the selectors keep him in, at Denly’s expense, when Root returns from paternity leave.
The players are back out there. It’s going to be Roston Chase, currently the hardest-working man in showbusiness.
England captain Ben Stokes and Zak Crawley walk out to bat after tea Photograph: Dan Mullan/Getty Images for ECB
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“Just a thought,” says Keiran Betteley on Twitter. “Given that they can’t have a crowd in anyway, would this not be a once in a lifetime opportunity to play test matches at some picturesque provincial cricket fields…? I’m thinking Arundel would set the match beautifully. Any other thoughts?” That’s a lovely idea.
70th over: England 168-3 (Crawley 38, Stokes 0) Holder decides it’s time for a part-timer – Kraigg Brathwaite, who is classified by Michael Holding as right-arm optimistic. A round-arm off-spinner, he gives Crawley a cheap three, clipped to deep square, and then has a review against Stokes, for a catch at slip. Not out, the masterly Michael Gough swiftly deduces – the bat hit the ground. Well bowled though. And that’s tea, with Stokes still to score after facing 15 balls.
In the afternoon England made 89 for 2, so they lead by 54. Although they’ve batted better than in the first innings, their sluggish tempo has made the draw the hot favourite.
Ben Stokes fist-bumps Zak Crawley but is yet to score Photograph: Adrian Dennis/NMC Pool/PA Wire/PA
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69th over: England 165-3 (Crawley 35, Stokes 0) Crawley hasn’t let that miscue put him off coming down the track to Chase. It brings him a quick single that turns into two with an overthrow, and then a lofted four over mid-off – lovely stuff.
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68th over: England 158-3 (Crawley 28, Stokes 0) Stokes appears to have got off the mark by shovelling Joseph’s rib-tickler round the corner, but it’s three leg byes.
67th over: England 154-3 (Crawley 27, Stokes 0) Curse of the commentator! Crawley plays the worst shot of his innings, advancing to Chase, aiming to midwicket and getting a leading edge that lands just over the shoulder of cover. As he heads for a chat with Stokes at the end of the over, he looks suitably red-faced.
66th over: England 152-3 (Crawley 25, Stokes 0) Joseph digs a couple in, looking to rattle Crawley’s ribcage, or his sang-froid. Both pass the test. Of England’s three adverbs – Sibley, Denly, Crawley, also known as Truly, Madly, Deeply – Crawley seems to me the most talented.
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65th over: England 151-3 (Crawley 24, Stokes 0) So here’s Ben Stokes, and it will be fascinating to see how he plays – safe like the openers, or more enterprising like Crawley? He starts, as ever, with some solid blocks.
“Afternoon Tim.” Afternoon, Brian Withington. “Rebecca’s query about run-outs [56th over] recalls an infamous school match where our bowler was unaware of the rule about removing the stump and desperately fumbled to replace the bails whilst both batsmen were mid-pitch. Much incoherent screamed advice ensued resulting in the ball being dropped, one bail lost and the stumps flayed as both batsmen converged on the scene. Happy days.”
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Wicket! Denly c Holder b Chase 29 (England 151-3)
Oh Joe, oh no. Denly chips a harmless ball straight to Jason Holder at midwicket, and departs for a supremely Denlyish score.
Holder celebrates after Chase took the wicket of Denly Photograph: Reuters
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64th over: England 151-2 (Denly 29, Crawley 24) Crawley goes back and eases Joseph past cover for two to bring up the 150. If there was a crowd, they would be greeting this with watery applause.
63rd over: England 149-2 (Denly 29, Crawley 22) Chase has an appeal for leg-before against Denly, but it’s half-hearted at best and the ball was going down. One more thing, Abhijato: “soft corner” is a lovely phrase. May all our corners be soft.
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62nd over: England 148-2 (Denly 29, Crawley 21) Roach gives way to Alzarri Joseph, who is promising but less astringent. He strays onto the pads and Crawley plays an elegant clip for two.
“Good evening from India!” Ah, the unmistakable sound of Abhijato Sensarma. “It has indeed been a slow day, but I’ve loved it all the same. My week-long online exams came to a hectic conclusion. I feel a sense of relief and a peace of mind, exemplified by the broadcast of this match. At times, it is serene to watch skilled professionals go about their jobs without fireworks. Adding to that the excellent Sky coverage, and my soft corner for Denly – who might be playing his last Test unless he gets a big one – I thus find myself following the OBO as well as the live stream with a keen eye. Cheers for the coverage!” Our pleasure. Mixed with some astonishment that you managed to fit any exams in between emails to us.
61st over: England 145-2 (Denly 29, Crawley 18) Denly’s turn to do some dancing. He threatens to hit Chase for a straight six but only gets two as Kraigg Brathwaite, racing round from long-on, makes a stylish stop.
60th over: England 143-2 (Denly 27, Crawley 18) Line-and-length brings another maiden for Roach, and another hint that these West Indians, after their long stay in Manchester, have become more English than the English.
An interesting email comes in from Ohio. “England have the worst record of taking advantages of huge slices of luck,” says David Keech. “A bad drop, out from a no-ball etc. Inevitably the batsman concerned gets out immediately as today, or shortly afterwards. All other nations you let them get away with a life and you have a high chance of staring at a double century from the reprieved batsman. Why is this? Is it an old-fashioned sense of fairness meaning that the batsman has a guilty conscience and contrives to get out anyway? What do the readers think?”
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59th over: England 143-2 (Denly 27, Crawley 18) Denly, seeing Crawley sneaking up on his England place, unfurls a sweep for four off Chase. Crawley says, “I see your sweep and raise you a reverse sweep,” but only connects with thin air. This partnership is going at four an over, a big improvement on the turgid two of its predecessors.
Crawley attempts a reverse sweep Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
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58th over: England 137-2 (Denly 22, Crawley 17) Roach, though empty-handed in this match, has been West Indies’ most successful bowler against England over the past three years, with 29 wickets at 22. He produces a jaffa to beat Crawley, who responds with a sumptuous straight drive. Roach in turn draws the edge, but Crawley keeps it down and steals a two to third man. Good contest.
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57th over: England 129-2 (Denly 22, Crawley 9) Four singles off Chase, two to each batsman.
56th over: England 125-2 (Denly 20, Crawley 7) Crawley rather blows my theory by playing out a maiden from Roach.
“Quick question about a wicket,” says Rebecca Graham. “Consider the following scenario: the batsman hits the ball, and hits the wicket of their batting partner while behind the white line, so that partner batsman is safe, but the ball continues past the wicket and the players run. How is it possible for a batsman to be run out at the wicket where the bails have fallen off? Kind regards and looking forward to hearing from you.” Very polite! If I remember rightly, one of the fielders has to uproot a stump and hold it in the same hand as the ball. As rules go, it’s eccentric but effective.
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55th over: England 125-2 (Denly 20, Crawley 7) Zak Crawley seems to agree that there’s been too much stonewalling. He dances down the track and lofts Chase over mid-on for four. Holder responds by sending mid-on to long-on, so Crawley helps himself to an easy single in the same direction. An old head on young shoulders.
Thanks Adam and afternoon everyone. The day so far has been … old-fashioned. It’s as if the England top order are mourning the departure of Geoff Boycott by batting like him on a particularly dull day.
Adam Collins
54th over: England 119-2 (Denly 19, Crawley 2) Crawley off the mark with a drive down the ground for a couple; didn’t get all of it but did enough to beat the man at mid-on. He leaves and defends the rest of Gabriel’s over fairly confidently. And that’s drinks! In turn, that’s me done for the day. Thanks for your company – I’ve really enjoyed it. Talk again tomorrow. Over to Tim de Lisle. Bye!
“Hi Adam. Lovely to have you back on the OBO.” Cheers, Simon Begley. Have had a great time back on the tools. “Re the CricViz stat, surely Eng are actually reducing their chances of victory? At the start of the day Eng might have expected to be level by lunch, particularly after the first hour (47 runs). However, they’ve only scored 51 runs in the 2 hours either side of lunch. Even with Stokes and Buttler to come – and assuming Eng aren’t bowled out – they’re unlikely to be able to declare early enough to force a win. Stokes is unlikely to offer even an outside chance of a Windies win in his debut Test as skipper, so Eng need to score at least 400/450 before which would take them well into the afternoon session tomorrow, no?”
I reckon they were in a position this morning where they had to avoid losing before thinking about winning – the beauty of Test cricket, in many ways. Now, in the lead by a few, they can have a bit of a pop after tea and see where they are at. But had they lost a few wickets in the first session, a far different story. Just my take.
53rd over: England 117-2 (Denly 19, Crawley 0) NOT OUT! Nup, no glove in that. Denly survives and the West Indies loase their review. The No3 responds by playing a beautiful pull shot to finish the over, moving England into the lead.
Is Denly out hooking Holder? Richard Kettleborough says no but the Windies’ captain wants it looked at by DRS. Stand by!
52nd over: England 113-2 (Denly 15, Crawley 0) Crawley defends the two balls he has to see off to complete the successful Gabriel over. Right, so Sibley’s lapse will be dealt with extensively – far from the first time he’s been strangled in that way, doubly frustrating as it came in the same over he posted his 50 and got away with chopping on. But it cannot be brushed over how ridiculous it is that we are still dealing with no-balls in this way. At the Women’s World Cup in March this year, the ICC rolled out the very successful process where the TV umpire takes control of the job of managing the front line; an admission that central umpires haven’t called close no-balls since the Adam Voges debacle in 2016 – and I don’t blame them. However, fast forward four months, and we’re back to this. Yes, the bowler is responsible for staying behind the line – certainly. However, how are they meant to know they are consistently over (as it is often shown in hindsight by TV broadcasters) when the umpire isn’t watching to begin with? We have a solution and we know it works. For more on this, I told the full story on Jarrod Kimber’s podcast a few months ago.
WICKET! Sibley c Dowrich b Gabriel 50 (England 113-2)
But he’s caught down the legisde two balls later! Behind the line this time!
Gabriel celebrates with teammates the dismissal of Sibley Photograph: Mike Hewitt/AP
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NO BALL!
Michael Gough says there is nothing behind the line! What drama! Sibley survives. Chopping on the delivery after bringing up his half-century, he has a reprieve.
Dom Sibley fist bumps with Joe Denly after reaching his fifty Photograph: Mike Hewitt/NMC Pool/PA Wire/PA
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Sibley bowled for 50! But was Gabriel behind the line? Many replays to come.
51st over: England 110-1 (Sibley 48, Denly 15) Glorious straight drive, Joe Denly. Coaching manual stuff off Jason Holder. These two have now put on 38 with the first innings deficit down to just four. According to WinViz (remember: it’s a backward looking measure, usual caveats) they’re now in a very strong position.
The CricViz Analyst
(@cricvizanalyst)England’s chances of victory with WinViz has stayed put at around 25% all day – but the draw has increased from around 25% at the start of the day, to well over 50% now. England are pushing the West Indies out of this contest. #ENGvWI
50th over: England 105-1 (Sibley 47, Denly 11) There’s the England 100, Sibley pushing carefully through cover for a couple. He’s back into his happier hunting ground on the legside after that with a single to square leg, prompting a further discussion from Nasser on TV about the weight of runs he scores in that direction. “It’s working for him. Why change if it is working for you?” The over ends with the opener picking up three more to that favoured midwicket. Productive.
Matt Roller
(@mroller98)You, an idiot: It’s great having Test highlights back on the BBC
Dom Sibley, an intellectual: pic.twitter.com/r3rSyWkCJb
49th over: England 98-1 (Sibley 41, Denly 10) Holder takes Roach off in favour of himself. I’m always keen to see the captain bowl, and there’s nothing wrong with this maiden to Denly, but it felt like Roach wasn’t far away in his previous over.
From Chris Evans in response to criticism of Sibley’s legside tendencies: “I assume none of these watchers is Graeme Smith?” Yup. Make them where you can.
48th over: England 98-1 (Sibley 41, Denly 10) Denly miscues a cut off Gabriel and it isn’t far away from ending back on the stumps. Still, he survives. There’s a fantastic stat about Steve Smith’s average after reaching 30 deliveries at the crease – it’s triple figures, or something ridiculous. Denly, who has now seen 31 balls, has battled after his starts, even when they advance to a Dentury of deliveries (more on that later). It’s today or never. He moves to double figures via the inside slither of the blade.
47th over: England 95-1 (Sibley 41, Denly 7) Excellent from Roach, neither he nor Sibley giving an inch in their scrap. Somehow, he’s still wicketless in this match.
Kemar Roach of the West Indies bowls Photograph: Getty Images
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46th over: England 95-1 (Sibley 41, Denly 7) Shannon Gabriel is back, replacing Joseph after his six over burst either side of lunch. He’s immediately up and around 90mph in the old money but Sibley is up to the challenge, collecting another three runs behind point with a controlled stroke. A big score on the shelf for him here. At Denly, the bumper comes immediately and he’s not at all far away from being the second England player to cop a whack on the elbow today.
“Absolutely delighted to have you back!” writes Michael Robinson. Most kind. I’ll be on again tomorrow provided this reaches the afternoon shift, which surely it will now. “Enjoying the OBO as us in Leicestershire hope to come out of lockdown again soon. Found it interesting that a previous reader referred to the States as “good, old”. I’m not sure the USA is either of those things… Have a good ‘un.”
Stay safe, Michael. I realised yesterday that I’ve booked a flight to Australia clashing with the US election. It will be one journey I’m happy to buy the in-board WiFi for.
45th over: England 92-1 (Sibley 38, Denly 7) Roach gets one to pop at Denly, who plays with just soft enough hands to keep the ball away from the waiting catchers, spilling away for a couple. Such an important innings for him. With Joe Root returning next week, either Denly or Crawley miss at Manchester, simple as that.
The CricViz Analyst
(@cricvizanalyst)England have already run more singles (31) in this innings (43 overs) than they did in the entirety of their first innings (30) which lasted 67.3 overs. #ENGvWI
44th over: England 90-1 (Sibley 38, Denly 5) Shot, Dom. Plenty of wise and experienced watchers don’t believe Sibley will make it as a Test player, believing he’s too limited, scoring too heavily through the legside. Well, this wasn’t that – waiting on Joseph’s short ball to arrive before steering it with pefect timing to third man for four. He has to get under a sharper bouncer to finish, and does it well. He’s been out there for 143 deliveries now for his 38. In other words, doing his job.
“95 degrees and 96% humidity?!” says Brian Withington in reply to Rich in Virginia. “Sounds like the inside of my kettle.”
Dom Sibley plays a shot Photograph: Mike Hewitt/AFP/Getty Images
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43rd over: England 86-1 (Sibley 34, Denly 5) We can talk about Roach’s uneventful over to Sibley or we can quietly marvel at Ben Foakes’ hair. It’s currently hiding under a beanie, as Athers notes as the reserve wicketkeeper walks to the nets.
42nd over: England 85-1 (Sibley 33, Denly 5) It’s pretty clear that Denly is going to attack anything short, as he does the first Joseph delivery at him after lunch. The Kent veteran is more convincing on the front foot when the fuller ball arrives, driving past Chase at mid-off, getting three runs for it. A quick single to finish, Sibley taking on the man at mid-on but he’s home in a flash. A lot was made of the 12 kilograms he lost during lockdown – he’s fit as a fiddle.
41st over: England 79-1 (Sibley 31, Denly 1) Roach to Sibley, who copped that nasty whack on his right elbow not long before the break. Roach starts as he did this morning, just outside the off-stump to the opener, hoping he’ll play when he needn’t but he doesn’t. After missing down the legside, he’s back on the mark, the right-hander defending solidly before leaving close to his bails to finish. Maiden.
The players are back on the field. England trail by 35, Sibley and Denly on their way to the middle. Can the West Indies get another couple before their lead expires? They might have to with this pitch going both up and down. Roach to start. PLAY!
“Hi Adam.” Hi, Rich. “Thoroughly enjoying your OBO coverage from Virginia, in the good old US of A. It’s going to reach 95 degrees today with 96% humidity.
I’m a bit behind the times but just finished watching the exhilarating “Howzat” and was curious about your thoughts on it, in terms of authenticity, player relationships etc. My cricketing heroes growing up were Clive Lloyd, Viv, Beefy and Tony Greig.
Still absolutely gutted to hear that Michael Holding experienced such racism in England and Australia. Even the spellbinding “Fire in Babylon” didn’t fully alert me to it. Guess I was, still am, so naive. Like Nasser said, it’s time to ‘stop looking away.’”
I haven’t watched Howzat since it went to air, but my recollection is that because they worked closely with Gideon Haigh on the script (who literally wrote the history of the episode) that the consensus was it was largely on the mark.
A fantastic Sky feature on England’s tour of West Indies in 1989-1990. They’ve outdone themselves this week. Meanwhile, some emails! From Rob, he’s found my 2016 piece about Barbados being Test cricket’s hottest spot. We calculated in 2016:
Yorkshire – 1 per 63,095
Wagga Wagga – 1 per 55,364
Tasmania – 1 per 28,611
Barbados – 1 per 3,429
And here’s Ian Copestake: “Not wishing to rain on Bobby Dunnett’s parade, but I hope the turning back of the clock to a victorious Liverpool and an impressive West Indies side does not mean we have to endure a Tory …, wait, what? Oh.”
We’ve got a good contest here. Enjoy a sandwich, I’ll do likewise – back shortly with some emails. If you’re after some conversation during the interval, we spoke to the great Ian Smith for the project I mentioned earlier, discussing his 25 years behind the microphone and that World Cup Final call. The full interview is now live.
LUNCH: England 79-1 (England trail by 35 runs)
40th over: England 79-1 (Sibley 31, Denly 1) Denly gets off the mark from the first ball from Joseph, tucking to square leg. A relief for him. Oh, but Sibley has given the strike straight back with the identical stroke. Oooh, Joey D has a crack at a full-blooded pull shot! Not sure about that with seconds until the break. He misses the ball by some way. And he goes again from the penultimate delivery, this time making contact but straight back onto his thigh pad. One to go before lunch… Joseph finds the inside edge with the fuller ball but it deflects off the pad into the turf. And that is lunch. 64 runs and one wicket across the session but just 19 of those were scored in the second hour, with Burns falling not long before the break.
39th over: England 77-1 (Sibley 30, Denly 0) Clever cricket from Chase, zipping throgh an accurarte 90-second maiden to ensure that Joseph will get another pop at Joe Denly before the lunch break. The spinner has put in an excellent shift.
38th over: England 77-1 (Sibley 30, Denly 0) Some quick stuff from Joseph to Denly, doing just enough to get out the way of a couple of bouncers and the West Indies are letting him know all about it. Great stuff. He wasn’t far from gloving a ball that snuck through the gate, either – an enduring issue for England’s No3. Earlier in the over, another delivery kept low. The Windies only have the one wicket this morning but they still have a 37-run lead and a helpful surface. Time to get busy.
37th over: England 72-1 (Sibley 29, Denly 0) And all of a sudden, it is Joe Denly with ten minutes to get through before lunch in what could, quite possibly, be his final innings for England. But the 34-year-old solid to begin, playing out Chase’s wicket maiden safely. The spinner has done plenty right across 10 overs in this spell, his figures 1/17 – we know he loves bowling against England. That Burns replay doesn’t get any better as it is shown again between overs – he’s gutted.
WICKET! Burns c Campbell b Chase 42 (England 72-1)
Oh dear, he’s thrown it away. Burns, having played so wonderfully this morning, cuts a short off-break from Chase straight to Campbell at backward point.
36th over: England 72-0 (Sibley 29, Burns 42) Joseph keeps banging it in at Burns. I don’t mind this as a bit of a change up. Lunch is about four overs away.
35th over: England 71-0 (Sibley 29, Burns 41) Chase is back onto his accurate line to Sibley but drags his length back a bit this time around, keeping him in the crease to defend rather than getting out there with his front pad. A maiden follows.
“Liverpool winning the league and a strong West Indies team is taking me back to my childhood,” writes Bobby Dunnett. “All I need to complete my summer of nostalgia is for Steve Davis to win the snooker.”
It’s a cliché, but yes, how we long for a seriously strong West Indies outfit to consistently test the best teams in the world. Under Holder, anything is possible.
34th over: England 71-0 (Sibley 29, Burns 41) Alzari Joseph, at last, having been ignored for 40 minutes last night and 98 minutes this morning. He feeds Sibley on his pads to begin, which means a single just about every time. He goes a touch shorter to Burns, who isn’t particularly bothered. Rob Key makes another good point on telly, comparing the shorter length the Australians bowled at the left-hander last year contrasted to how the Windies have gone about it today.
“Roston Chase, PI might be a show everyone watches,” Abhijato Sensarma speculates. “The titular character will be an ageing man who retires in London after spending a lifetime as a corporate lawyer. But a money laundering scheme he helped cover up during the eighties comes back to haunt him – his bed-ridden wife finds out, leaves him in disgrace, and dies alone. He thus embarks on a mission of penance and investigation, with the season finale featuring the unexpected dismissals of eight Englishmen.”
33rd over: England 69-0 (Sibley 28, Burns 40) That’s a very tidy bit of batting from Sibley to finish the Chase set, getting to the pitch to get short leg out of the equation before following through with a clip, timed well enough to race away. He’s faced 105 deliveries for his 28, England just 44 runs behind. What a psychological win it would be if they can abolish the deficit with these two still out there.
32nd over: England 64-0 (Sibley 24, Burns 39) Make that three on the trot and six of the last seven overs without runs. After Sibley had a ball spit at him from Holder in their previous exchange, this time one keeps low. The West Indies captain backs this up with a couple of short balls but neither earn him an error from the opener.
31st over: England 64-0 (Sibley 24, Burns 39) Chase to Burns, with the deficit now an even 50. And it’s back to back maidens once again. They’ve had a much better half an hour since drinks, Chase using his angle well at the left-hander.
“Adam, it’s great to have you back on the OBO.” Rob, thanks for this. “After reading about Everton Weekes (and consequently Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell) at the beginning of the month, as a lot of writers point out, it’s pretty amazing that they were all born around the same part of Barbados within an 18 month period. This got me thinking – is there anywhere on the planet which has produced so many international cricketers with such a small population base? When I first started following cricket in the late 70s/early 80s, the great WI team of the time had Marshall, Garner, Greenidge, Haynes – all from Barbados, with its population of around a quarter of a million! And that’s not to mention the likes of Collis King, Wayne Daniel, David Murray, Sylvester Clarke who were all playing around that time. Anyway, I imagine this might have come up before on an OBO… does anywhere else come close to Barbados? On a completely unrelated note, I spent some time listening to the Final Word during lockdown, which is just brilliant – nerd pledge coming soon.”
I’ll also leave in your commentary about my podcast! Right, to your query: you are correct. Along with Will Macpherson, I wrote a piece on this very topic in 2016 for the Nightwatchman special marking Garfield Sobers’ 80th birthday. I don’t have the data to hand, but it was (roughly, from the top of my head) 86 Test cricketers from a population of 400,000. There is no hotspot quite like it – not Yorkshire, nor Wagga Wagga in Australia. I don’t think the piece is online, but I’ll dig at the lunch break.
30th over: England 64-0 (Sibley 24, Burns 39) Sibley hit on the elbow. Ooouch! The back elbow too, while letting the ball go. That’s taken off from a length, Holder taking full advantage of this volatility from his considerable height. The opener bats on without medical assistance despite the fact that he has blood on his shirt. Holder goes upstairs with a bouncer but it isn’t an accurate one; well ducked. Two balls to go and he’s able to leave both of them, albeit nice and close to the off-stump. It being the end of the over, the doctor is now on his way to the middle to take a look so we will have a brief delay. I assume he’ll also have to change his shirt?
“I might be a tad late making this observation, but oh my god, how much does the slimline Dom Sibley resemble Marcus Brigstock?” That’s tom V d Gucht, appropriately timed with that email. “I thought cricket was trying to get away from public schoolboy vibes, so selecting the man behind Giles Wembley-Hogg (a cracking radio show) is a bit of a step backwards.”
