btb

I'm gonna buck the trend - there's usually one letter with 3/4 options and that is part of the fun for me but maybe I'm just saying that because I got lucky with my first "proper" guess today (the first two always being about establishing what & how many vowels there are - usually two). There was one a coupla weeks back where IMO there were 6/7 options for the final letter so I had to go tactical on guess 5 and use a word I knew was wrong but eliminated 3 wrong letters instead of one. Like I say that's the name of the game, otherwise where's the fun? Wordle 286 3/6 Also the other day when the Wordle was nymph I "wasted" guess 3 because I wanted to use my favorite (sic) no-vowel 5 letter Scrabble word cwtch - there would've been some fuss if they'd used that!

......international football is a JOKE and it's KILLING me......

In hindsight the funniest part of the Maitless interview is that PAs initial thoughts were that it had gone well.

Difficult to envisge Root having much authority over Anderson/Broad after losing the Windies series, which may not be a long term problem but could be tricky this summer.

Watching Fire In Babylon a documentary about the start of West Indies glory years under Sir Clive Lloyd! Well that didn't take long - less than 5 overs.

Semi-wasted attempt 3 just because I wanted to use one of my favorite (sic) Scrabble words. Wordle 281 5/6

I kinda thought that, it has seemed pretty benign at times with both team's tailenders cashing in, but this is the third time a top order has collapsed - what would be a hard target for the West Indies, 200 is rarely easy at Test level, although that seems a very long way away just now.

Oooft - England 27/3

Tom Garrett & Edwin Evans of Australia from when beards were beards!

Stumps on Day 2 and Windies have nudged into a 28 run lead with two wickets left.

Great performance by the English tail, but how will the pitch play today with the Windies batting? Edit: 41-0 after 14 overs, looks like the pitch might be quite benevolent for the next coupla days - the issue is whether it will start to disintegrate in time for either side (prob'ly the Windies atm) to force a win? Edit: Lunch - West Indies 71/3 - pretty close now, at least we should a "result".

Not always I remember in 2013/14 when we started the season badly it was the introduction of Kelly & Naismith that turned things round for us, veering slightly offtopic I always felt Lennon's biggest assett as a manager was the ability to recognize when he'd got things wrong - who can forget the Summer of 69 Beath?

Oooft, it kinda had that inevitability that if you can't take your chance when your on top (last week) it'll come back to bite you. Having said that we don't know how the England bowlers will utilize the pitch...

The only question is who'll be leaving us (or not) on deadline day come August, my money is on Erhahon. The saddest thing is when Flynn goes in there'll be no-one on my 2107/18 Championship Winners mug left at the club - skweeze me, pleeze me Robbo, give Flynn a new contract.

New world record for most brass in a human neck?

Ours (for nostalgia) or yours?

There's nothing to stop us making up next year's figures!

Only two laughing emoji's - 1-0 it is then! Who is going to score our goal?

Could you not have waited till next Friday before starting the thread - I really didn't want to think about this match yet. Can't see the Fakes bridging the gap (famous last words) but it would be depressing to get cut off from the pack and drift downwards towards them.

Game on....

In Antigua Root waited till the RR was 4 (286 in 71 overs) before he declared, that rose to over 4.5 after the first 20 overs of the West Indies innings - should he be a bit more aggresive this time? ************************* Off for rain - I reckon that's lunch with England leading by 281. England should declare leaving West Indies 2 sessions and overs 65 overs (conditions permitting) to force a draw.

Well we've got a fortnight before our next game, against Well who are on the same points and GD as us. It's probably not our worst spell this season (?) since his arrival but it is important that Robinson shows us between now and the end of the season that he's not gonna be a Stubbsy/TC disaster. Statin' the bleedin' obvious but we need to get some points on the board and stay in the pack over the next 7 games - sliding off it and drifting towards the Fakes would not bode well (sic) for next season.

You won't be laughing when he's our next manager!

Oh well there's always the cricket, c'mon the Windies!