Any cricket fans out there?

[ilovetomatoes]

Been watching the ashes this week. Need a hand hold 😂😂

And that is exactly why we love cricket. Incredible.

I never thought I'd see Anderson successfully hold out for a draw. Stokes did really well. So did Leach who hung on, well, like a leech. Bairstow must have played himself back into the side and Crawley must keep his place.

Buttler is flying home with a broken finger, so I guess Bairstow will keep wicket in the fifth test and Pope or Burns will be recalled.

In other news: will Ross Taylor actually get to bat in his send-off?

I spoke too soon. Bairstow has a hurt hand and can't keep either.

First time I've pulled an all nighter for the Ashes for years. Although I did doze off after lunch while it rained. What a match, it feels like a win. Great to see some players getting some runs but more importantly battling so hard. Watched the last few overs through my fingers!

Hoping that Bilbo gets a chance in the final test, but I'm a Kent girl so a little biased.

I never thought I'd see Anderson successfully hold out for a draw

Cardiff 2009 ashes he batted 10 with Monty at 11.
Their partnership lasted over an hour

Just found my people! 🏏 I’m annoyed I didn’t see this thread a month ago!

Pretty sure Sam Billings will be keeping in Hobart.

Billings or Pope?

Billings will have just driven from Brisbane

@Cottagepieandpeas welcome!

It's nice to find you're still here and so nice we drew.

After we were beaten in the third test there were one or two smirking, sneering kinds of remarks on BBC, the Today programme and a TV newsreader. I was so mad I rang the BBC on 0370 010 0222. They give you a minute to speak your message and I don't say vile things. Sometimes I praise them. But not this time. I spat the words down the phone and told them the blasted soccer season just goes on all year now, and they are complicit in harming cricket. Switch on the Beeb and what is there? Soccer, soccer, soccer.
A little over 50 years ago I went to Leeds by train and from the train I could see that nearly every little boy in Yorkshire was practising cricket in the back yard.
A couple of family members from the generation above me would be sad about how little it's on ordinary TV nowadays. It is a lovely game.

Yawning my head off, but on so much of a high after that! Apparently (amazing if this is true) it's the first time Anderson & Broad have finished an innings together not out.

A match like this is exactly what reminds you of why test cricket is quite simply the highest pinnacle of pretty much any sport. They play for five days, and it still comes down to that final ball. To play like that when the series has gone shows England can do it. Massively relieved for Root too, because he just looked broken after the 3rd test.

I think they probably will get Billings in to keep in Hobart, so they can use Pope elsewhere, as Stokes is unlikely to be able to play with his side strain.

Oooofff... that was so, so tense! It's a draw that feels like a win.

@upinaballoon well done! Do you get a response to those kinds of things or is it just a feedback mechanism?

@sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea also been feeling great all day. It was just brilliant.

upinaballoon,

I share your frustration. I really don't miss the snarky attitude so many British people have towards cricket. I get the impression that they think the only acceptable way of being 'into' sport is watching football on television without ever going anywhere near a playing field.

In other news, Ross Taylor has probably played his last test innings. Bangladesh are heading for a heavy innings defeat in Christchurch.

[quote ilovetomatoes]@upinaballoon well done! Do you get a response to those kinds of things or is it just a feedback mechanism?

@sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea also been feeling great all day. It was just brilliant.[/quote]
It's just a feed-back mechanism, but they say the messages are transcribed and will be passed to the programme etc., and I believe they are. I was years behind other people getting the laptop so I have rung the BBC often!
I remember the days when the FA Cup was the end of the season, in early May, and then there was a rest from it on BBC and cricket was shown.
I'm not anti-soccer but we get such a bellyfull of it.

@TomPinch I have to admit I was one of those snarky gits who went on and on and on about how boring cricket is. Until it clicked in my head during the 2005 Ashes - ironically the series where the whole country finally saw the point of cricket, and also last time test cricket was on free to air tv in the UK.

There is a certain snobbery around cricket in England. I know a magnificently gifted sportsman who went on to play for England in another sport. He always says he was a much better cricketer than a footballer, but he didn't go to the right school, so never stood a chance of being picked for his county.

Re: Ross Taylor, I hope he gets a magnificent send off in the ODIs. He truly deserves to be recognised for all he's achieved, and what he's done for NZ cricket.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59948836 @TomPinch This is lovely! What a way to end his test career.

@sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea
I remember reading that the Neville brothers were excellent cricketers - Philip was the best that the Lancs League had seen - but Lancashire CCC v Man Utd was no contest.

I've been gone too long so my impressions could be wrong, but my feeling had been that English cricket just couldn't shake off an image of obsolete olde worlde eccentricity and that was the problem. But I guess the Yorkshire show a sinister side. It's beyond frustrating when you think how South African cricket managed to reinvent itself from being a game for white British colonial men.

Yes it was a great send off for Ross Taylor. The light was fading, umpires said spinners only, and Taylor was the only spinner. It means he has a test bowling average below 20 😂

Will be really interesting to see how England and NZ match up in June. The English wickets will suit Southee, Boult etc.

Good grief. How can they throw this one away as well?! Fuming!

H o p e l e s s.

Batting like it's a one-day match.

I'm just laughing at this point. The stumps mic picking up Broad's robot camera comments & Billings really going for it trying to gee the others up is about as much joy as we're going to get from English cricket!

As an aside, I have really loved the extra bits TMS have put in to cover rain delays etc. Aggers, Strauss & McGrath talking about breast cancer, the interview with Billings during his 500 mile drive, Finny & McGrath talking about cricketing heroes. I haven't watched cricket in over 10yrs, but listening to TMS reminds me what it is I love so much about the camaraderie between everyone involved, even when they've been on opposing teams.