Okay this is thelink on ESPN and was written in 2011, however it mentions that Thommo was considered.
Okay, my first prediction of the lead was crap. However it does signify to me that the going is easier today. I think England are a chance- the one factor we haven’t really seen is spin. Maybe interesting.
ENG need 359 to keep the series open.
A bridge too far methinks.
Probably right but I just feel England can not bat as horribly again.
But there’s a long way between a terrible 67 and a winning 350
I suspect it’s been said in this thread before, but it’s the hope that gets you.
Root decides to dance down the wicket at Lyon.
(When did he last try that?)
Big inside edge onto pad, big deflection over Paine and a handy catch at slip.
One more good ball and the fat lady can clear her throat.
Confident? I’m not but rarely am. It’s a big ask for England now.
7 down, with another hundred to get, and that fat lady is starting the car. All over bar the shouting.
I wouldn’t give up yet, if I were you. Stokes looks good, and it only takes one person to stay with him and we might be looking at a really close game. I’m biting my nails here, looking for a wicket.
Reminds me a bit of the Boxing Day test in 1982, when Allan Border and Jeff Thomson put on 70-odd for the 10th wicket and almost pulled off a miraculous victory, before Thomson was caught by Miller in the slips after the ball had popped out of Chris Tavare’s hands.
9-286
Will take some brilliance from Stokes and some resilience from Leach
Yeah, it will take a miracle for England now. There’s something to admire about Jofra’s aggression, but I’m not sure it was the right strategy.
Is anyone watching this?
Stokes is putting together one of the greatest batting performances in test cricket history. A reverse sweep for six, followed a bit later by a boundary to reach 100, followed up immediately by two consecutive sixes.
18 to win now!
Knight this man immediately!
Well, that was one of the most exciting days of text crickets I’ve ever watched.
What was I saying about memories of Border and Thomson? Stokes and Leach put on 76 for the 10th wicket. Leach scored possibly the best 1* in test cricket history.
Can’t believe that the Aussies wasted a review on a clearly not out LBW decision, only to have a clear LBW turned down and not have a review left. And I can’t believe that Lyons dropped the ball on that run-out opportunity right at the end.
Series tied 1-1. Game on!
As I said on an English message board where I post: Fuck all of you Poms! You don’t deserve a player as good as Ben Stokes, and neither does the rest of your crappy team. 
I thought England had used up all of its luck in the WC Final?
WTF?
Text crickets? 
Check out the tweet sent out by the England Cricket twitter account at the end of the game. 
Cricket, eh?
And this is why we hope, because it can happen. I’m in France this week, on a caravan park, burning the last of my data on streaming the Iplayer because the park WiFi is terrible, and I’m surrounded by French people who don’t know or care, but this has been the best holiday ever already.
Roll on Old Trafford.
It’s been a wild year. Arguably it’s not the best Test match innings put together this year - Kusal Perera put together a bigger last wicket partnership against SA to get them over the line - and it’s not the most amazing thing to happen to English cricket this summer either (do you need me to fill in these parentheses?). And lucky as all fuck too, with Lyon dropping the run out and Wilson going blind on that last lbw decision (plus Australia kippered themselves by using their reviews in profligate fashion). England have just won a Test match having been bowled out for 67 (the 4th lowest score of all time, the lowest in 130+ years) and I still don’t think they are going to win this series; you don’t get bowled out for 67 without having serious flaws in your batting line up. But it’s still alive and fair enough. Smith to come back, Anderson probably to come back too. Old Trafford will be interesting.
Fixing England’s batting is going to take years. Dobell on cricinfo has written a take down in the middle of this match, post the 67 all out innings, which is as about as succinct an appraisal as can be mustered. The ECB have sold the red ball game down the river for the home World Cup and the prospect of money out of T20 and the upcoming Hundred tournament. We’re not developing Test match bats and it’s obvious given the scores over the last 18 months - we have regularly been dismissed for fewer than three figures - and getting bailed out by an admittedly amazing innings by Ben Stokes shouldn’t paper over the cracks. But then you look at the stands today - rammed at north of £80 a ticket (and you sell 4 days out per Test) and it’s pretty bloody obvious that there’s life in Test cricket yet, money certainly, and they’re potentially going to kill this revenue stream if they don’t put out a competitive batting unit. It’s going to take some time to fix - but fix it, they must.