Good evening. We’re back online. Apologies for the inconvenience caused.
HDWLIA is now closed again. I thought I might keep it up and running for a bit, but someone decided to ruin it. I’ll say no more than that as I don’t want to give the cretin more publicity than he/she deserves, but hopefully they’ll get bored soon.
Today there were lots of early runs, then very many wickets. Then England lost some wickets too. The game is “evenly poised”. That’s all you are getting. I’m knackered.
Comments on tomorrow’s play below.
Those of you with memories of February 9, 2015…..I’ll leave it there.
Being Outside Cricket 
Glad to see you back up and running. It all sounds a bit John le Carré to me. Shame some tosser has to try to ruin it. So many of them about these days.
As for the match, Bangladesh seem to think they were playing a 50 over ODI. 9 wickets down for 50 odd is ludicrous. Looks likes it could be another 3 day test match.
I have had to resign in and have another colour logo
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Thank goodness everything is back to normal. Poor Dmitri having to go through that.Missed it all whilst asleep here in OZ so my insecurities didn’t last long.Rest assured we will always find a way to enjoy your writings and everyones comments.Sleep well Dmitri.
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Doesn’t feel back to normal.
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Regarding the “cretin”, I’m pretty bemused that someone would waste their time trying to wind you up about something that really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I mean, the views may be strong and disagreement may abound, but at the bottom line this is a blog where ordinary people who like cricket talk about cricket, not a cabinet meeting discussing nuclear war. It’s not worth the effort getting so worked up about, there’s plenty in life they could be finding joy in instead.
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I agree, but you undersestimate the concern troll. They are terribly concerned you see.
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How can I put this? People are entitled to differing views and I welcome them. Those who go after someone BECAUSE they have a different view….invite my contempt.
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Apologies for the downtime. This was my fault. I had a cloned bank card and when the domain was renewed it got rejected as a disputed payment. Basically, everything after a particular date was rejected, and the WordPress payment got caught up in that.
They could have given us notice to sort it out.
Anyway, bank card blocked, new one on the way and for the next 12 months we’re on Dmitri’s bank account. I’d better buy him a beer.
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You could’ve simply not told us that and everyone would’ve carried on blaming the troll, none the wiser. Anyway, glad it’s sorted. It was a worrying moment this afternoon when I stopped by and found the blog had disappeared. Surely, I thought, the ECB haven’t resorted to cyber warfare…
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Kind of felt bad about it. It’s my third card problem in the last two months, I don’t understand it.
So I spent this evening on the phone to Barclays trying to work out why.
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Not sure we are. No idea what is going on.
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Some magnificent nonsense here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/0/the-20-best-sport-pundits-on-television-right-now/
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Back to the game.
It is Root vs Bangladesh. Bangladesh might edge. Currently 124/6, with Root on 47, and Ansari on 3.
36 overs into the reply and it has just been Shakib, Taijul Islam and Mehedi Hasan bowling.
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England made it to lunch at 163/8 – with Rashid and Woakes having added 19 runs for the 9th wicket already. Credit to Mehedi Hasan – second 5-fer in his second Test.
No quick has bowled for Bangladesh. Hardly a need to.
I doubt this performance will get the Indian players too worried.
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Rashid and Woakes adding many valuable runs. They have taken England from 144/8 to 210/8.
Obviously that means the clamour will be to drop one of them, to get an extra batsman in …
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*re-hashed comment about technology, umpires and non-big-3 sides*
Farcical.
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Liking the way Rashid comes in two places lower than Ansari despite having a better career average (34.5 to 31.3), more centuries (10 to 3) and more career runs (6209 to 2908). Plus of course more experience by any measure one cared to use.
Got to protect that fragile mind.
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Dam you Simon. I was just going to point out that it’s a good job Captain Cook is relying on someone who they think is of fragile mind.
Once again Englands lower order saving the captains bacon. My goldfish could captain England, and I don’t even have a goldfish. We might as well play 8 bowlers who can bat a bit.
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…obvious fragility of mind in taking the single off the first ball to expose the tail to the new ball….
#greatescape
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Of course when a favoured son does that it’s “magnificent psychology, show the tail-ender you believe in them, every run is precious” etc etc.
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Tweet of the Year contender:
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Juxtaposition:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/mar/02/colin-graves-ecb-woes-kevin-pietersen-england
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Juxtaposition #2:
He held his job far longer than he deserved. The courtiers can shove it.
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I will never forget *that* article. Of them all, it stands alone and, you’re right, he should have gone a lot earlier than he eventually did.
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Bangladesh 60/0 and Woakes/Stokes (1st innings combined figures of 5/43) and Rashid (fresh off 44*) haven’t bowled yet.
#captainfantastic
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Add Moeen Ali starting with a long-off to that rap sheet.
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So Rashid is the fifth bowler in the innings, Woakes the sixth. That should have cooled them down a bit, after saving England from the brink of total calamity with a 99-run partnership for the 9th wicket.
Brilliant captaincy.
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I love watching Tamim bat. Just putting that out there.
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Oh Mahmudullah – I was just about to say there’s a bit of a RHB Sangakkara about him and he does that….
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Mahmudullah gifted his wicket from the last ball of the day. But effectively it is 128/3, which is not a bad position for Bangladesh. Still with the tail being horribly weak, I’d make England slight favourites here.
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