Posted by 
At one point in the afternoon session, Ben Stokes accidentally spat on his own shirt. You’d think this would be a low point, but he plucked off the deposit with no obvious display of emotion. Perhaps he knew that things were about to get significantly worse.
Shortly after spraying a loose one over his off side, Stokes used the ball to find the edge of a Yadav’s bat. Alastair Cook – a man who we’re confident has dropped more chances for England than any other outfielder in history – duly did his ball-shelling thing.
Stokes looked ever-so-slightly peeved.
Three balls later, Stokes found the edge of another Yadav’s bat. Jonny Bairstow did that thing where he takes a huge step to the left while diving to the right, so that he doesn’t so much stretch for the ball as rotate around a fulcrum somewhere around his navel. The ball passed right by him.
Stokes looked ever-so-slightly more peeved.
But then the wickets came. The next five Stokes deliveries resulted in two wickets and he finished the innings with five scalps and a greater bowling workload than anyone bar Adil Rashid.
Ben Stokes made tiredness and not-quite-so-big-a-first-innings-deficit-as-might-have-been-expected happen.
Well, what a load of balls that was.
Can they come home yet?
If by ‘yet’ you mean ‘for a couple of weeks in February’, then yes.
Gary Ballance getting dropped might turn out to be good for his future England prospects.
Buy shares in IR Bell.
Quiz Question! – Who is Cristiano Ronaldo named after?
I ask because it occurred to me that IR Bell might also be named after Ronald Reagan. I’ll post the answer later if nobody has got it.
I think I’ve got it, Bert! Is it American government relations expert and Republican political strategist Ronald I. ‘Ron’ Christie?
I looked up Stokes name because I thought he had Irish decent It turns out his name is Anglo Saxon and means Stump Remover how cool is that?
Stokes is the son of a Stock broker from Kerala, who wanted his son to own a lot of “stokes”
If any of you use Facebook, please could you give our page a like. We think we need a soupcon more appreciation before we’re allowed to have a username.
Stupid bloody website this Facebook. Looks like shit, stuff’s dotted everywhere, it’s slow and it has weird rules. Can’t see how it’ll ever catch on.
https://www.facebook.com/King-Cricket-668293676669711/
I’ve liked it already, I can do no more. Strangely, the stock photos you’ve resorted to using of late make you look like some kind of PPI claims or clickbait peddler on there. Intentional?
Ha, no.
Thanks for clicking to express affection.
If it helps, I’m still maintaining my pessimism.
Doesn’t *seem* like it’s helping, but then who knows how badly England would be doing without it.