9 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

Ego similar to Ronaldo. Out first ball please then we can all move on.

You bore!

You will no doubt get your wish soon, I’ll be amazed if he’s still around in half an hour or so.

But what entertainment.

You can bask on here in the next series when this excitement has gone from English cricket

He was playing normally the rest of the Test. Head's gone completely today.

Take the personal glory out of it, its actually a good idea what hes doing.

Go out and smash it, dont let them settle in on a length. They must be flustered as fuck. And hes already busted their main man's bowling hand

I now know how my son goes on getting Ashes tickets. 😊 I was in a waiting room.🤷‍♂️

Well, he's certainly had luck on his side so far

I bet there's a few in the Trent Bridge hierarchy a bit put out they didn't get the nod beforehand

Edited June 28Jun 28 by Lt. Aldo Raine

Thanks for the great memories Stokesy. 👏

That innings of 30 helps no-one.

This batting order is just weird

28 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

He was playing normally the rest of the Test. Head's gone completely today.

It did feel a bit too indulgent

And at odds with what he was saying to his players this morning

This is just really weird cricket in general, are they all trying to win it today or get out so they can go on the piss tonight?

A second second-innings duck of the series for Bethell

I like Stokes and he is an incredible cricketer, but putting yourself to open and then just ‘slogging it’ and giving other licence to do it is self indulgent.

Bazball did not ultimately work bring it back for one last fling is stupid

I’m old enough to remember Geoff Boycott taking all day to get 30. I also watched Travis Head open the batting for Oz. during the last Ashes series.

People were writing us off after day one. We go into day 5 with a chance and people are queuing (online) for tickets to see it. Some like this style of cricket, some don’t. 🤷‍♂️ (I’m back in the waiting room😊)

Harry Brook can get to fuck

An awful innings

All seems like a massive ‘fuck you’ to Rob Keys and the ECB

Dogshit all round frankly

All smacks of me being made redundant 25 years ago and dropping in little nuggets of code that deleted a customer’s WIP file.

And then calling my boss a cunt at my leaving drinks.

I didn’t, I just wished I had.

That little passage of play today when it went around the ground that he was retiring and then came in to bowl and took the wicket and the reaction of the crowd was absolute classic Stokes. We’ll miss him.

I have mixed feelings about all this.

Before Stokes and "Baz ball" we'd "gone off".

Introducing the more flamboyant style produced some remarkable results and big chases.

It also saw a great deal of hubris, and a lack of match awareness at times that could have seen the win rate higher.

The biggest example being Stokes himself- sometimes extraordinary others almost irresponsible.

That comment he made a while back about not being bothered if we lost, so long as we entertained, was a bit of a headscratcher.

Needed to find a better way of expressing his feelings.

I'd like to see an effective, quality test team that can be expansive when required and dogged also.

The pinnacle of the game requires ultimate professionalism and pragmatism.

Micheal Vaughan's team was entertaining, winning, aggressive, dogged, showed sportsmanship. Great captaincy and a great team.

I’m still in a ‘waiting room’ for tickets for tomorrow. I’m a third of the way through the line of progress. It reminds me of the 2005 Test at OT. Me and my son got there early and luckily got in. The best days cricket I’ve ever seen and it ended in a draw. Wonderful. Test cricket is great.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/4152930.stm

If you think we've got a chance then put some money on @ 10/1, it'll pay for your tickets and then some

3 minutes ago, jmjhb said:

If you think we've got a chance then put some money on @ 10/1, it'll pay for your tickets and then some

Tickets are free.

😊

15 minutes ago, BobyBrno said:

I’m still in a ‘waiting room’ for tickets for tomorrow. I’m a third of the way through the line of progress. It reminds me of the 2005 Test at OT. Me and my son got there early and luckily got in. The best days cricket I’ve ever seen and it ended in a draw. Wonderful. Test cricket is great.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/4152930.stm

I went to that. Sent my boss an email saying I’m not coming in toda I’m off to the cricket. He lived in Chorlton and 30 mins later he finds us in the queue and asks if he can come in with me and my mates.

Top, top day

4 hours ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I think it's been pretty clear for a while now that there's been a rift between Key, Stokes, and McCullum and it seems this is ultimately the end result

I suspect he's retired in the sense politician resign

Yep. I’d say his interview post match pretty much confirmed that

Yesterday was crazy.

I've heard Stokes' interview/reasoning and don't actually believe it. I think he's fallen out with the hierarchy and has come back this week and been made to feel like the naughty school kid so hasn't enjoyed it.

It's not hard to work out who, but I have a good friend at Durham who was telling me how much Stokes enjoyed it up there last week, he wasn't happy to be dragged away before the end of the game.

Personally, once Key and Baz have gone, I can see him back in the fold.

Also saw something online suggesting that the England batting performance yesterday was some sort of kickback against what is happening around the Stokes thing - not sure about that one but it wouldn't be totally ridiculous. Every single player tried hitting their first few balls for a boundary.