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The heavy roller is out, Lee Fortis is on it. The new ball is due in 3.4 overs. Nerves?
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Siraj is signing autographs. Intensely.
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“Bought my son a day five ticket several weeks back,” you clever man David Adam, “and he’s been watching the whole match hoping for wickets to stop and rain to start. As much as yesterday’s crowd were rightly gutted not to see the conclusion, I’m selfishly delighted that my son will get his first taste of Test cricket this morning, even if it’s only half an hour. Surely the series deserves to end with a third ever tied test? Siraj sending an spectactularly unsporting bouncer down at Woakes?”
Absolutely! Overhead cameras show that your son isn’t the only lucky ticket holder, the crowds are pouring in through the Hobbs gate and more. Hope he, and they, gets a thriller.
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“Good morning, Tanya.” Hello Richard O’Hagan.
“Can I please say another HUGE thank you to all of the OBOers who so generously supported my club’s 24 Hour Netathon in aid of Opening Up Cricket. With the help of this wonderful community we smashed our fundraising target. We are very, very grateful indeed.
In other news, I have just realised that I have a meeting at 11am, so I am off for a sulk.”
Wonderful news about the fundraising, less so about the meeting. Commiserations. Any chance of bad light postponing flow charts?
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Woakes ready to bat if needed for England
“If I don’t go out today, I won’t be able to forgive myself,” is what Chris Woakes told Joe Root this morning. I think you can rely on him having a bat if needed.
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Updated at 10.33 BST
Joe Root is chatting to Stuart Broad and Ian Ward. He plays tribute to Graham Thorpe, then Harry Brook, his partner in that incredible partnership yesterday.
“Brooky is not a big talker out in the middle but we have played a lot together and complement each other. I can be a bit busy and he can really upset bowlers’ rhythms and before you know it they’ve got a long off, everything seems to happen at a completely different pace [when he’s batting.]”
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Pictures from The Oval, where the skies are dirty, but the players are out, practising. Pictures of England arriving, Jamie Smith in a white T-shirt like a teenager off for a kickaround; Jamie Overton brooding largely in maroon, Chris Woakes outrageously handsome in a sling.
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If you’re at The Oval, do let us know what the atmosphere is like. And the clouds.
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And Simon on Mohammed Siraj, India’s rubber band of energy, and his fatal step back.
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Some great writing by the team at The Oval yesterday:
Ali’s match report:
Barney’s homage to Harry Brook:
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Preamble
After five Tests of high-class and at times chaotic cricket, it all comes down to this – half a session, if you’re lucky, 35 runs and four wickets.
With every sinew of every body in these two weary teams stretched to an E, it is almost-cruel to make them do battle again. But for us, fat in our armchairs, it is an umbrella on the cocktail – a last chance to see Siraj, eyes wild, at the top of his mark, to watch Jamie Smith setting sail for series victory at his home ground. Whether last night’s high tension quickly dissolves to bathos, we find out when play starts, at 11am.
At least it should start at 11am. While it is chucking it down here in Manchester, as Storm Floris takes hold, things look better in London. Our man on the ground Jim Wallace reports that a sunny morning has turned grey, but there is no rain yet.
Do join us for this final morning of nervous anticipation, to chew over the series a last time, or to look forward to what it means for England’s Ashes hopes or Shubman Gill’s young Indian team.
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Updated at 10.00 BST