Jonathan Agnew was ‘astonished’ that England were bowled out for 85 by Ireland. Were you?

1. Worth adding that Leach has actually opened for England before.

2. Did Murtagh actually have to carve his own name on the honours board? Bloody Irish, coming over here, taking our jobs.

   1. He’s from Lambeth. Like me.

3. Is anyone going to report the state of that pitch? 20 wickets falling on the first day of a match is unacceptable. Gus Fraser should hang his head in shame. Excessive ‘doing just enough for the line and length merchants’!

   1. I don’t think England can blame the pitch for collapses anymore! Especially given a 4 day match – we need result wickets in this truncated format

   2. Gus Fraser has no influence over Lord’s pitches, Mike. Nor does he even have an interest (team-wise) in those used for internationals.

4. That’s the opener crisis solved then.

5. Personally, I was astonished that, according to the BBC headline at least, Agnew should have been astonished. As for compliments he better keep to himself, I’ve heard all sorts of rumours.

   1. I think Private Eye had a recent story about some insults he should have kept to himself as well

      1. Him calling Jonathan Liew a Giles Clarke, was it?

      2. Yes, I think so, although I think he spelt it wrong

6. I was at Lord’s yesterday. I wasn’t completely astonished. it’s curious. I felt more deflated last year after leaving Lord’s on the final day of the Pakistan Test, ‘Only once have England been bowled out for a lower score than 184 after winning the toss and batting in a Lord’s Test, in 1955,’ as the stat had it.

7. *Sheepishly raises hand*. I’m a bit astonished. I’m not surprised that they got out cheaply, but 150 is cheap. 85 is an awful lot less than 150.

8. Agnew really seems to be quite an unpleasant person.

   1. We suspect he’s not… except when he thinks you’ve had a go at him.

      Maybe that makes him an unpleasant person in a broader sense. We’re not sure. We’d say that the thin-skinned reactions are just one aspect.

      1. Suspect? Do you not get invited to his soirees in the Vale of Belvoir?

      2. I think social media gives him the freedom to express himself like a stevedore, salty, short and pithy.

   2. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2019/may/13/jonathan-agnew-row-with-journalist-bbc

      You mean this? It made me strangely sad.

9. Okay, that’s not on, Murtagh.

   1. Donald Trump is US President. Boris Johnson is UK Prime Minister. Jack Leach has scored 92 opening the batting in a Test match. That’s enough sun for me.

      1. I’d almost forgotten the test team has a reversed batting order.

      2. I’d say all three of those are a few runs short of a century

10. How’re those Dukes balls coming along, then?

11. So should Leach be picked over Ali in the first Ashes test as we need a spinner who can bat? Or do we need the specialist spinner Ali?

    1. What exactly has happened to Batting Ali in recent times?

       1. Both Bowling Ali and Batting Ali feel like passengers in this team at the moment, unfortunately.

       2. Yes. The way he has been nurtured on an international level must have something to do with it, spiralling into the psyche he has on the field now. When he came out to bat yesterday, Vic Marks commented, ‘this is not exactly encouraging.’ He’s a glorious cricketer but maybe his glory should be reserved for double centuries on the county circuit.

12. I bought a ticket for tomorrow, with 3 England down. More hubris.

    1. You’re likely to be in refund territory with completion of match at this rate!

13. Could do with more Leaches.

    1. Yes Daneel, they would stick it out.

14. Its fairly astonishing how England have maneuvered themselves into a selectorial cul-de-sac. With the collective batting performances over the past few years they need to select players like Malan and Foakes over Ali and Bairstow.
    They need the bowling variety that Sam Curran offers but they wont drop Woakes who would be another right arm fast medium.
    We need a team that can score 600 in 2 innings – not World cup stars bringing in poor technique. And for the love of God… Root bat 3!

    1. Was I the only one who looked at the 13 man squad and saw 4 batsman – 3 with hardly any test experience – a wicketkeeper and 8 bowlers and thought the selectors are taking Ireland to easy. Surely this gives the wrong impression to the players? Or maybe the selectors believes the bow ers score more runs and are planning for the ashes with 10 bowlers and 1 week keeper!

15. Was I the only one who looked at the 13 man squad and saw 4 batsman – 3 with hardly any test experience – a wicketkeeper and 8 bowlers and thought the selectors are taking Ireland to easy. Surely this gives the wrong impression to the players? Or maybe the selectors believes the bow ers score more runs and are planning for the ashes with 10 bowlers and 1 week keeper!

    1. It was a weirdly bowler-heavy squad and indeed team.

    2. It’s all about BatDeep™

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