Cricket

like just there. *sigh* it was hitting the stumps and it pitched inside

cricket's been alright on that basis for the last 130 years, to be fair xp

Monty!!!!

Absolutely no turn but smith played for it like KP did and bowled. We shouldn't get too excited though, it was a bad shot,not a turning delivery.
But its a wicket!

well hello there

Any more promise from today's pitch? I can't believe this match is going to just fizzle out - ultra-defensive 7-batsman selections usually go horribly wrong somehow (at least they do when England pick them)

Basically, England have a fantastic chance to take this game from a negative WI, and I suspect they just might do it. It'll take some good bowling from the spinners, though.

We've bowled well so far, if we can keep this pressure up and get Gayle out then the prospects look pretty good IMO.

Now, where's Herman for a prognostication of doom?

you know its a draw. no point in watching

lol Owais Shah is to running as Mitchell Johnson is to blunt-force trauma

Has there ever been a test series with less wickets taken? ZZZZZZZZZZ... What we need is uncovered pitches and playing in twilight.

i think i'm with pfunkboy on that last lbw decision...panesar's bowling pretty well!

Bob Willis says Russell Tiffin and Daryl Harper are the two worst umpires he has ever seen standing in a Test - certainly Tiffin is terrible, but I would insert the name of Ian Howell in there, who, while not actually a member of the Elite Panel, does sometimes stand in Tests and is execrable.

how quickly we forget b.c. cooray

i dont think warne and mcgrath would get 20 wkts on these pitches.

Wouldn't matter if everyone ran like Owais "Mummy, my hand hurts" Shah

stop being horrible to the poor man!!

Alvays mit the crrrrrramp and the running, oy!

a terrible man for the hand cramps, he is

While I'm here, thank God someone has finally told Viv Richards that Christoper Martin-Jenkins first name isn't Martin - thought it's taken them 5 tests to do it. Now can someone give Viv a thesaurus to find an alternative word for "individual"

That's Sir Viv to you.

Terrible individual for the first names

He does have a tendency to repeat himself, but he's also funny and can be astute, I think.

these 2 are the worst umpires I've ever seen.

and prior is not a good enough wicket keeper

the only way there will be a result in this game is if england lose wickets quickly and collapse trying to score quick runs (if the WI even let them bat again)

which sadly will justify gayles negative tactics

but he's also funny and can be astute

Surely not? He's not been as bad this Test series as in previous ones, but on occasion he has sounded like he's looking at a different match to anyone else. Still prefer to him to Tony 'Most Boring Man in the World' Cozier tho. Or Bishan Bedi.

I think he banters well with Agnew and CMJ. I like Cozier as well though.

suggest microphone battering

the hope will kill us!

OH FUCKING DIE

ALL OF YOU, DIE

THIS IS GONNA BE LIKE PFUNKBOY BUT WITH MORE CAPS

FUCK YOU, UMPIRES, GET FUCKING SACKED

what's going on

England took a wicket. The batsman appealed for a TV replay in an attempt to reverse the decision. It still looked out. There was absolutely no reason to overturn the decision. Yet it was overturned.

Yep, more referral ambiguity. There was an absurd one in the South Africa/Australia Test, where the South Africans appealed for an lbw shout, but the umpire said not out and gave it as byes (indicating the batsman hadn't hit it), so Smith referred it, feeling it was straight.

However, the referral showed it had hit the bat. Runs were put on the batsman's score, and South Africa lost a referral (despite the fact they had only referred because the umpire had signalled the batsman hadn't hit it).

And all this nonsense ignores the bigger picture, which is that the whole player referral system significantly undermines the relationship between the game and the fans (especially those at the ground) who go up for a massive cheer/groan when the umpire's finger goes, oh actually wait a sec, and then a muted cheer or groan either way when the decision comes up.

With hot spot and snicko technology starts multiplying to the extent ('We need another hot spot camera from the side here' exclaimed I think it was Robin Jackman the other day) that the whole bloody thing might as well be a computer game.

Apparently none of England, WI or India are happy with the way referrals are currently handled, so something will change. Seems very difficult to balance it correctly though.

umpires are fucking useless. this test series is boring enough without the umpires prolonging it.

these pitches are killing cricket as it is, the last thing you need is the utterly disgraceful umpires contributing with wrong decisions. Now the tv referral umpires are getting it wrong. Cricket is dying.

WI fans cant even be arsed turning up to games. Sure they will all file in tomorrow to witness the series win, but its doubtful they will be there the next series they play at home, but they will be there for the 20/20s. But if there is nothing in pitches for the bowlers. noone should bother turning up. Test cricket sort yourself out before all we have left are 20/20 matches.

That's a bit melodramatic but OH FFS NOT AGAIN

there is nothing wrong with the referral system, its the assholes working it and the asshole umpires in the middle getting blatant decisions wrong. Decisions so blatant that they should be SACKED as umpires.

These umpires are the worst i've ever seen.

lol Swann gave Hinds ye olde send-offe

there is nothing wrong with the referral system

I think there IS something wrong with the referral system - the myth of complete objectivity, a myth that has been given substance by the confidence commentators have in tv replays and their own judgement.

It would be nice if you could get rid of the bad, sometimes terrible decisions that on field umpires make, but what you lose is greater than what you gain. You lose the connection from the top level of the game to the grass roots of the game, you lose the idea that the umpire's judgement is final (which has the useful idea inherent in it that although we all make mistakes and only God can be said to be completely objective, you have to gesture towards objectivity for the purpose of the game), you lose the connection between the game and the fans (as described above), it undermines the confidence of the umpire who may be tempted (subconsciously of course) NOT to make a borderline decision knowing the players will appeal and therefore the pressure is taken off him (something of the sort seemed to be going on in Bowden's mind yesterday - although clearly that's just guesswork), furthermore it retards the progress of the game and takes it off the field of play, and finally it takes away from the idea that it's JUST A FUCKING GAME and that these absurd convolutions of justice that we are going for are completely misplaced on the sports field and belong only to courts of law.

All good points, but I think a referral system isn't a bad idea for important international games, where a bad decision is recorded for posterity on television cameras, and thus where it makes sense to overturn a blatantly bad call. The issue of how far you go in this overturning is a niggly one and I don't think it'll be solved soon.

Anderson must have accidentally left a black cat in his oven before bowling in this innings.

thank heavens for karma!

I wonder if bob willis will go postal now on sky

Prior is a worse wicket keeper than Geraint Jones isn't he?