NPR

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 9:52 am

Woddy wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 9:49 am Glad that Buttler's got his mojo back. Gives England a good headache over selecting him or Foakes. I hope the latter will get his chance over the winter, as his superior keeping will be needed against the spinners. Please let Leach have a go too!

Not sure who to drop for Stokes, once he's back. Pope?

A bowler, I'd say. 5 quicks and a spinner is a bit much.

Woddy wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:00 am well, one spinner and Bess.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:28 am Bess is a 23-year-old bowling in English conditions currently averaging 36 with the ball. He's not exactly shaming himself. Particularly given how much Buttler's keeping fucked him over recently.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:28 am Bess is a 23-year-old bowling in English conditions currently averaging 36 with the ball. He's not exactly shaming himself. Particularly given how much Buttler's keeping fucked him over recently.

Woddy wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:26 am

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:28 am Bess is a 23-year-old bowling in English conditions currently averaging 36 with the ball. He's not exactly shaming himself. Particularly given how much Buttler's keeping fucked him over recently.

He just doesn't seem to do very much with the ball, even when he's had a big total to defend.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:28 am

Woddy wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:26 am

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:28 am Bess is a 23-year-old bowling in English conditions currently averaging 36 with the ball. He's not exactly shaming himself. Particularly given how much Buttler's keeping fucked him over recently.

He just doesn't seem to do very much with the ball, even when he's had a big total to defend.

He's still developing, but you're being very harsh. He can turn the ball and he's been unlucky with the keeping - I said at the time his career could suffer because of Buttler's repeated fuckups.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:28 am

Woddy wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 11:26 am

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 10:28 am Bess is a 23-year-old bowling in English conditions currently averaging 36 with the ball. He's not exactly shaming himself. Particularly given how much Buttler's keeping fucked him over recently.

He just doesn't seem to do very much with the ball, even when he's had a big total to defend.

He's still developing, but you're being very harsh. He can turn the ball and he's been unlucky with the keeping - I said at the time his career could suffer because of Buttler's repeated fuckups.

3.10 pm: We have news - Play will re-start at 3.45 pm.

frodder wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 4:11 pm TMS Stat Attack: If Jimmy gets 2 wickets in 26 balls he's the fastest to get to the 600 landmark

Un Pilier wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 4:26 pm

frodder wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 4:11 pm TMS Stat Attack: If Jimmy gets 2 wickets in 26 balls he's the fastest to get to the 600 landmark

He could have been there already

9.40am: Morning all. Unfortunately the weather has been as advertised in Southampton - the match officials were probably right not to bother with the 10.30am start option today - and the ground looks pretty waterlogged. That said, some of the forecasts for this afternoon are looking brighter, so there's every chance we'll get on at some stage.

3.10pm: Another inspection at 3.35pm, the super-soppers have trundled back out to try and deal with a couple of those wet patches. The umpires are having a chat with both teams - could go either way, I think. Conditions look much better, but there's no point trying to squeeze in two hours of cricket, with a positive result some way off, if someone's at risk of doing a knee ligament on a damp playing surface.

Saint wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 3:39 pm Congrats to Anderson. That's some achievement

frodder wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 3:50 pm Missed the fastest to 600 wickets by 6 balls.

And 1 guest wrote: ↑Tue Aug 25, 2020 3:58 pm Fantastic achievement by Jimmy. Decent ball to get there too.

Gerard Stokes, the former Kiwis rugby league player and father of England cricket star Ben, has revealed he is battling brain cancer.

Ben Stokes arrived back in New Zealand this week to be with his seriously ill Dad, and is in managed isolation due to coronavirus safeguards. He left the England squad during the recent Pakistan series to be with his family.

"I didn't sleep for a week and my head wasn't really in it," Ben Stokes told the Weekend Herald. "Leaving [the team] was the right choice from a mental point of view."

In an interview with the Weekend Herald at his Christchurch home, Gerard Stokes, 64, revealed he was diagnosed with the illness in January on his return to Christchurch from South Africa. He, wife Deb and eldest son James were there to watch Ben represent England in four tests against the Proteas.


Ben Stokes offers up a special three-finger salute for his dad as he celebrates after reaching his century.

Stokes senior was admitted to hospital in Johannesburg ahead of the Boxing Day test due to a brain bleed for which he required surgery. It was reported at the time as a "serious illness". Further tests on his return to New Zealand revealed cancer.

"They had to assess how I travelled and from that they discovered I had a couple of tumors on my brain as well," Stokes says.

"So, basically brain cancer. How that came about nobody knows but obviously I've had a few bangs on my head through my life so that's probably contributed to it."

Stokes, a well-known Canterbury league identity, coached professionally in England for a decade before returning home seven years ago. Once back in Christchurch, the qualified builder and a man notorious for his toughness led a large team who worked with inmates at Rolleston Prison, a role which he says taught him a great deal about empathising with those less fortunate.

Ben, 29, one of the world's best allrounders, was just 12 when he left Christchurch with his parents to live in the north of England; a journey which put him on the path to cricketing stardom.

He played a key role in England's dramatic World Cup final match against New Zealand at Lord's last year which was won on countback by the home side. But he acknowledged that his dad, known as Ged, plotted a path in a different and no less significant way.

"He was tough [on me]. But as I got older I realised it was all for a reason. He knew I wanted to be a professional sportsman and he was drilling that into me as I started to make a career in cricket."

Ben also says his dad's illness had given him a new perspective on suffering, adding that he now pushes himself a lot harder on the cricket field. He says his innings of 120 against South Africa in Port Elizabeth a few weeks after his dad's emergency surgery was hugely emotional.

As has become traditional, he recently celebrated a century against the West Indies in Manchester with a three-finger salute, a tribute to Ged, who dislocated a finger during his league days and requested an amputation in order to get back on the field quicker.

"His reputation sort of speaks for itself," Ben says. "You speak to anyone who knows him, played with him or worked with him, they'd all say the same thing. Most people acquire a softer side with age and sometimes with dad that has been quite weird to see.

"What he's going through has brought that side out as well – we all knew he had it, he just didn't show it that often."

James, Ben's brother, says of his dad: "He has never taken a backwards step in life and never lost his sense of humour, even when life threw him a few curve balls."