Roundup: Occasionally, Test cricket rewards you for sticking around
Archer and Stokes shine at Lord’s, Jadeja’s almost-great innings, & Starc picks up the quickest fifer ever.
Good morning!
Jadeja faced 266 balls (50 more than India’s Top 6 combined). Bumrah and Siraj batted for 168 minutes (which was 168 minutes longer than anyone expected). Ben Stokes had two looong bowling spells on day 5 despite treating a groin injury after the second game (and needed to go to ‘dark places’ to find the willpower).
Then, Siraj got out in the most unfair way possible. Jarrod Kimber even wrote about the cruelty of losing your wicket after playing a ball perfectly. And then something magical happened. Siraj had spent the game taunting and sledging the English batters. Twitter saw his hit wicket as comeuppance. His English opposition saw it as an unfair end to a heroic effort, and spent time consoling him on the pitch.
Test cricket. Bloody hell.
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Occasionally, Test cricket rewards you for sticking around
🏏 Match Updates: Archer and Stokes shine at Lord’s, Jadeja’s almost-great innings, & Starc picks up the quickest fifer ever.
England v India:
England beat India by 22 runs, but lost Shoaib Bashir to injury.
👉 ESPNcricinfo’s Vithushan Ehantharajah on Archer & Stokes at Lord’s. Again.
👉 Good Areas’ Jarrod Kimber on Siraj getting out despite playing a ball perfectly.
👉 ESPNcricinfo’s Sidharth Monga on another almost-great innings by Jadeja.West Indies v Australia:
Australia beat West Indies by 176 runs, & Mitch Starc got the fastest fifer ever.
👉 Cricket Australia’s Dave Middleton on Starc’s milestone wickets as he gets #400.
👉 ESPNcricinfo’s Andrew McGlashan on Sam Konstas’ future after a poor series.
👉 Sydney Morning Herald’s Tom Decent has series ratings for the Aussie players.All the other cricket:
South Africa beat Zimbabwe by 5 wickets, & MI New York won the MLC.
👉 Stuff’s Andrew Voerman with NZ’s uncontracted but important Ish Sodhi.
👉 The Guardian’s Gary Naylor rounds up the T20 Blast action in England.
Heavy Metal Number Fives
📺 A/V: The evolution of the No. 5.
“Heavy Metal Number Fives”
📽️ Good Areas’ Jarrod Kimber & Behram Qazi discuss the evolution of the No. 5 position, and the modern ‘heavy metal’ incumbents. [YouTube]
That’s it for today!
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