You were a bit previous with that remark. England were 100 runs light first innings imo. Match right in the balance now. If aus can get parity tomorrow this is feeling like brisbane.Christ almighty.
Agree with LBJ. Another 50 would still not be enough. This isn’t going to go well.
You're not the only one who wants Ali to score a hatfull of runs mister. I haven't said one single word against him, not one. Just wanted to clear that up.
Wow, ok well I was never really any good at cricket. I could bowl some half decent deliveries at a reasonable pace, but my radar was mostly way off, a bit like Mitchell Johnson in his early days ("he bowls to the left, he bowls to the right, that Mitchell Johnson, his bowling is shite"), the only difference between myself and him is that he went on to become an Ashes legend, and I stayed at shite.
Qualitatively better? By which measure? I don't think "we" would thrash them, the teams are too closely matched for that.
I know right. Just imagine how he'd be doing if he wasn't so "patchy".
Indeed he is the leading wicket taker and got all those wickets without being at his best and leaking a lot of runs. Must try harder. 
Nothing else, that's it, the teams are very close. Things can change "for the better" at any time. The Poms now have 2 centurions, have a 200 run lead and one good early morning session tomorrow could set them up with a nice first innings lead. Of course I'd rather that not happen because I'm rootin' for the Aussies, but England aren't as bad as some of the pessimists make out.
...and difference isn't that great on those measures, which was my original point. Their bowlers are better in their conditions, we have a better batting line up on paper which hasn't quite clicked into gear yet. Malan and Bairstows score upgrades from what they did in the first 2 tests shows what's possible, and Cook and Root are due big scores and Stoneman looks good too. Englands scoring rate is higher than the Aussies, it's just that they keep getting bowled out by those dastardly quicks. Not sure that the Aussies do have a stronger tail, it's just that the Aussie bowlers are a lot more efficient at delivering a quick decisive coup de grace when they sniff blood and get to the tail whereas our bowlers are more of the slow suffocating type. After the mammoth first innings score England have rattled Smithy a tad and he's not looked as invincible as he did in the first test, of course that could all change if he gets 150+ in a few hours time (and Swanny reckons he's batting with a cigar in his mouth, which sounds ominous). So I still maintain, there's not a lot between the two sides, and things can quickly change so there's room for pom optimism and something for the Barmy Army to cheer.
Well he's leaked too many for my liking, fortunately he's had good backup support to tie the other end up. It's Broad/Woakes that are underperforming and need to do a bit more of the striking, Jimmy's doing all right. Proper spinner Lyon is outperforming semi-spinner Moeen, no argument there, but there are signs that England might be getting the measure of him.
No, but if you're giving money away I'll take it.
They had an opportunity to set that up in the first innings of this test if they had scored 500+ which was tantalisingly within reach. 400 doesn't look like it's enough scoreboard pressure give Englands bowlers time to get the 20 wickets they need to win.
England don't look like getting 1 wicket today, let alone 20. Would a score of 500 helped the bowlers? 600?
Anderson almost but not quite with a nearly wicket off a no-ball. Might have induced lower order panic, but yes, now the batsmen are well set on a good pitch, and an England win is out of the question now failing something epic like a Botham/Willis effort.
