The creekit

[dirty leeds]

Great way to start the week!

[AndyPaul]

It nice not to be playing for a draw from day one. I wouldn't have complained if we'd have lost as we'd given it a go. Last year I'd done with test cricket it was so dull with no intent to win.

[Rob]

Quite outstanding leadership

[Tommy]

Hard to even know where to start with that one -

- The series going ahead at all given recent history.
- The whole England side being ill one day before.
- 500+ runs on day one, in 75 overs.
- 4 Centuries on day one.
- Every England player scoring a boundary in the first innings.
- Seven centuries in the first innings.
- A part time spinner taking six wickets on debut.
- Pope scoring 123 runs at 3 and having to keep wicket last minute.
- Brook scoring 240 (181) in his second test.
- Root scoring 9 off an over where he batted left-handed.
- One of the bravest declarations by an away side in living memory.
- Seamers taking nine wickets on day four and five in Asia.
- Pakistan going from 259-6 in the 80th over to 268-10 in the 96th over.
- 40yo Anderson taking his first ever wicket in Pakistan, then 4 more in the next innings.
- 5 wickets in the match for Robinson despite recovering from serious injuries.
- Stokes banging in 20 overs with whatever is left of his knees at this point.
- Leach at the death with the last wicket mere moments before bad light.
- The fact that there was any result at all on this road of a pitch.
- 1768 runs in the match!

Probably about twenty records broken and a bunch of stuff I've forgotten. Astonishing stuff.

[Trumper]

As pointed out by Tommy many great highlights ..more than 100 t20 games can provide …excellent stuff. Got to give Stokes and McCullum credit not just for the bold declaration but field settings and bowling changes

[Trumper]

Vamp had a lot to contribute when he wasn't being a wum/prick. Sadly, he was being that way the vast majority of the time.

Have to admit, I don't care for bazball. It's exciting and everything, but I think it's taking some of the real great elements out of test cricket.

How do you mean?

[eric olthwaite]

I really hope the next pitch is completely different.

[Trumper]

That pitch is what hurts cricket…a shocker of a road. Pakistan think they’re still in 70-80s when they produced garbage pitched like this. It’s great a team shoved it back to them by scoring 6-7 runs an over and actually trying to win the game . May give Pak second thoughts on the next pitch

[Devi]

2nd test starts in 3 days. The pitch will be another road.

[H-Bombs]

Vamp had a lot to contribute when he wasn't being a wum/prick. Sadly, he was being that way the vast majority of the time.

Have to admit, I don't care for bazball. It's exciting and everything, but I think it's taking some of the real great elements out of test cricket.

How do you mean?

I suppose, more batting situationally. Like digging in a bit if you lose early wickets, or seeing off a dangerous strike bowler. Or slowly accumulating a good lead on the penultimate day knowing the pitch is breaking up and the opposition will have to bat last. Lots of little strategic things that can really only happen in the longer form of the game but which seem kind of doomed when the idea is just for everyone to back themselves to hit it out of the ground from the off.

One of the greatest things about test cricket was that it was 5 days of 3 sessions and you had to play consistently to win, through all the phases of cricket. You could be ahead for long parts of the game and then one bad sessions crushes you.

[Trumper]

Vamp had a lot to contribute when he wasn't being a wum/prick. Sadly, he was being that way the vast majority of the time.

Have to admit, I don't care for bazball. It's exciting and everything, but I think it's taking some of the real great elements out of test cricket.

How do you mean?

I suppose, more batting situationally. Like digging in a bit if you lose early wickets, or seeing off a dangerous strike bowler. Or slowly accumulating a good lead on the penultimate day knowing the pitch is breaking up and the opposition will have to bat last. Lots of little strategic things that can really only happen in the longer form of the game but which seem kind of doomed when the idea is just for everyone to back themselves to hit it out of the ground from the off.

One of the greatest things about test cricket was that it was 5 days of 3 sessions and you had to play consistently to win, through all the phases of cricket. You could be ahead for long parts of the game and then one bad sessions crushes you.

But that’s because it was a road of a pitch. On swinging/seaming/grassy first days pitches that would still be the case. This was excellent strategy by England because they were presented with a batsmen’s paradise. This was betting hitting than short forms because Tests don’t have manipulated fields. It was strategy by taking more risk. In the old days guys like Boycott would look at that pitch and rub his hands at batting all day regardless of team needs. Don’t think Test cricket loses any of those points by being a bit more attacking

[H-Bombs]

I would agree if England weren't essentially doing the same thing when they were at home this summer on pitches that weren't roads. I'm not sure there's a huge variation in strategy, regardless of the pitch.

[dirty leeds]

I would agree if England weren't essentially doing the same thing when they were at home this summer on pitches that weren't roads. I'm not sure there's a huge variation in strategy, regardless of the pitch.

Well, yes, but on this pitch - not at all suitable for test cricket of any description - it was the only way to make a game of it. No other team in the world would have gone for it the way England just did. It was remarkable and exactly the right approach on this pitch at this time, and it produced a thrilling finish.

I am, anyway, interested to see how this new attacking approach is adapted over time to the demands of 'normal' test cricket. How would they get on in Australia, for example? If, down the line, it produces a shift towards a more adventurous approach to the five-day game, I'd rather have that than endless bish-bosh over 20 overs or 100 balls and no test cricket at all. [Which is where some people say we were headed.]

And why does my auto correct always think I mean 'fish-bosh'?

[Bobbycollins]

Had Jonnie Bairstow not broken his leg, would Harry Brook have been practising his not-spilling-the-drinks routine, rather than playing in only his second test? Given that Bairstow scored the second fastest Test century by an England player in the summer plus several other rapid test centuries, it seems unlikely that he wouldn't have been selected for the Pakistan series. I don't think any of Pope, Bairstow, Root or Brook can afford to lose form, which is good for England. Now we just need to find some young Baz-bowlers who remain fit.

[Tommy]

I'm not sure there's a huge variation in strategy, regardless of the pitch.

I get what you're saying but I will also say that I think Bazball is being somewhat underappreciated/misunderstood in terms of how agile it is. They score runs quickly to give the bowlers more time to collect 20 wickets, the only way to win a test match. It also plays into the strengths of English cricket as it stands - holders of both major short format titles. Of course they will also get destroyed from time to time, particularly abroad, but that's to be expected due to the nature of home advantage.

I wasn't particularly elated by the prospect of Stokes as a Captain but the sheer number of good decisions that went into winning that match is extraordinary - far more of a contribution than his bowling or batting in fact. I too suspected that this summer a combination of factors (particularly Bairstow's improbable purple patch) happened to work out for Stokes but the match yesterday showed to me that it wasn't a fluke. He's making very good decisions and it's paying off because they're good decisions. The choice of bowlers and the fields he's choosing are good and key decisions like that brazen declaration, the remarkable spell of short balls late on day four and taking the new ball right at the death on day five to give Leach that extra bit of rotation necessary to pin the last batsman.

Will it work in Australia? No, probably not but it'll at least make for a more entertaining series and I do think it'll gradually help to modernise test cricket, which will mean what is still the best format of the game (albeit a mutated version of it) survives that much longer.

[Tommy]

I don't think any of Pope, Bairstow, Root or Brook can afford to lose form, which is good for England.

This is a good point because after years of it feeling like you might as well stick with what you had regardless of their form, now everyone has to be on their toes (apart from, it seems, Crawley). Lees was decent throughout the summer but he's lost his place to Duckett, who must also be vulnerable to being replaced by say, Jennings or Hameed. Obviously Pope and Brook have already proved their worth but I think there's more batting to see from Jacks too. You would expect Bairstow to come back in eventually but if it came to it, they could also give the likes of Malan, Buttler, Hales, Curran, Billings, Salt, Roy etc another shot given the new way of playing.

[dirty leeds]

I don't think any of Pope, Bairstow, Root or Brook can afford to lose form, which is good for England.

This is a good point because after years of it feeling like you might as well stick with what you had regardless of their form, now everyone has to be on their toes (apart from, it seems, Crawley). Lees was decent throughout the summer but he's lost his place to Duckett, who must also be vulnerable to being replaced by say, Jennings or Hameed. Obviously Pope and Brook have already proved their worth but I think there's more batting to see from Jacks too. You would expect Bairstow to come back in eventually but if it came to it, they could also give the likes of Malan, Buttler, Hales, Curran, Billings, Salt, Roy etc another shot given the new way of playing.

Good point.

[H-Bombs]

I'm not sure there's a huge variation in strategy, regardless of the pitch.

I get what you're saying but I will also say that I think Bazball is being somewhat underappreciated/misunderstood in terms of how agile it is. They score runs quickly to give the bowlers more time to collect 20 wickets, the only way to win a test match. It also plays into the strengths of English cricket as it stands - holders of both major short format titles. Of course they will also get destroyed from time to time, particularly abroad, but that's to be expected due to the nature of home advantage.

I wasn't particularly elated by the prospect of Stokes as a Captain but the sheer number of good decisions that went into winning that match is extraordinary - far more of a contribution than his bowling or batting in fact. I too suspected that this summer a combination of factors (particularly Bairstow's improbable purple patch) happened to work out for Stokes but the match yesterday showed to me that it wasn't a fluke. He's making very good decisions and it's paying off because they're good decisions. The choice of bowlers and the fields he's choosing are good and key decisions like that brazen declaration, the remarkable spell of short balls late on day four and taking the new ball right at the death on day five to give Leach that extra bit of rotation necessary to pin the last batsman.

Will it work in Australia? No, probably not but it'll at least make for a more entertaining series and I do think it'll gradually help to modernise test cricket, which will mean what is still the best format of the game (albeit a mutated version of it) survives that much longer.

Those are all fair points Tommy and I mostly agree.

Stokes has been a revelation as captain. I didn't think he was a good appointment at all but was clearly wrong, he's been terrific. Much better than Root in all honesty.

Like you said, Australia will be the litmus test, it's shaping up to be a great Ashes series.

I guess the one thing that I really hope doesn't happen, is that we end up with very batsmen friendly pitches across the world, allowing everyone to slog it out for 5 days, that would be pretty hideous imo.

[Bobbycollins]

Stokes has been a revelation as captain. I didn't think he was a good appointment at all but was clearly wrong, he's been terrific. Much better than Root in all honesty.

I think England Test captain is similar to football mangement, in that there is usually a shelf-life, after which the players have probably heard everything that the captain can say and it's time for a fresh voice. I'm not sure Root's captaincy could ever be described as mould-breaking but his record wasn't bad - more matches, victores (and defeats) than his predecessors and for much of the time he was the only batsman whose form guaranteed him a place. I hope Stokes is given the time and space to be successful and isn't persuaded to burn himself out by reversing his decision to sit out ODIs.

[Tommy]

I'm actually hoping that Stokes also retires from T20 as well now he's won the World Cup. No objection to Buttler coming back to the Test side if needed though, he could yet be handy given the new ethos.