What a great addition to Mark Butcher in the Sky A team. For years he has been quietly attractive, enlightening, and witty about things in the county, and is now adding a new dimension to the coverage of the test. It’s great to see.
E-mail! “They still use gasoline rollers in Headingley apparently,” says Andrew Benton. “There should be a general ban on non-renewable ground equipment: outlets are only a step away from the limit.”
I can’t claim to be an expert in this field, but yes, that seems reasonable to me.
Surprisingly, yesterday was a phenomenally stimulating day in the green and pleasant. Bread and circuses, yes, but we must bring our joy wherever we find it. McCartney and Glasto singing Hey Jude together, oof madone.
Yesterday’s atmosphere was absolutely splendid, and I’m sure we have more of the same today.
Branderson here?
Fortunately for us, this is not the only cricket today, much less. Join Tanya Aldred at the Oval to have fun with Champo!
1999. Holiday time, yes, but also the year England last faced New Zealand in a series of more than three games. Frankly, it’s absolute nonsense, and not just because the matches are excellent, that’s an advantage. In short, sport – in a sporting sense – is competition, identifying the best team. This has nothing to do with the display figures, the prioritization of which is a shame on the game.
Just test if you have symptoms and Foakes left the park yesterday with a sore back. Feel better soon, Ol Blue Eyes.
Ben Foakes gives positive for Covid-19 and is out of the game
Sam Billings replaces him.
Preamble
Far be it from the OBO to offer guidance of any kind, but before the start of what we know for sure is another exciting day of Test Match CricketTM, it would be worth taking a moment to be very, eh, intentional, ehm . , stay in the moment to be, well, present to enjoy it. We’ve seen seriously affirmative things these past few summers, but even in this context this has been a big stir. That we know many others.
Somehow, over the course of this, England have become a team, winning the big sessions and refusing to retire when things have gone against them. Were it not for the comfortable familiarity of some avant-garde slide capture, it would be quite disconcerting.
So start today as favorites to complete a whitewashed series, and rightly so. But in spite of all the rejuvenation of England, the chaotic margins of elite sport have also served them well: fitness, form, and fortune have gone in their favor, and the world champions are good enough as to reverse this, especially with Daryl Mitchell. and Tom Blundell in the fold. The first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth hours could be crucial
Reproduction: 11:00 BST