I would rather have Rashid as leg spinning all rounder (99 runs in 2nd inns to save current county match vs Soms).
Root covers your conventional offie role, Rashid moves it t'other way.

Mind you, I'm from Yorks, so I'm biased

Its his batting or lack of batting they're not too keen on.

It's true Moeen has a slightly better FC batting av (38.37 vs 35.78)
But then Adil has the better bowling av (34.18 vs 38.99)

Moeen has done a decent job, but that horrorshow in WI was worrying; (although it has to be said Moeen was returning from injury and shouldn't have been selected).

I just feel Rashid is the better wicket taking option, which has been our problem recently (esp if Jimmy ain't swinging it).

Rashid to me is a bolwer who can bat- a #8- whereas I see Moeen as more of a genuine allrounder.

We have Stokes as an all rounder. I'd prefer bowlers picked on their ability to take wickets rather than their batting prowess.


Riley of Kent and Kerrigan of Lancs may be the spinners we need, but for my money, Rashid is the best Eng qualified spinner playing county cricket at present. His batting and fielding are a bonus.

I do like Moeen though. The beard to be feared!

Anyone know how you can record a live stream? I want to watch the next test tonight but I'll naffed if I'm staying up all night to do it.

Call for Gozit

Or just move to the maritimes, watch it in the evening, and spend the change from the move on a tanker full of champers.

That's an idea Oink, I gather the fishing is pretty good off the East Coast, especially the seafood!

That's a bit drastic even for Oink!

Yah but you're swapping your 2-bed condo for a harbour. With lighthouse.

I have the jitters about the first day in Cape Town- too many batsmen have got a start and not gone on. There are runs to be had chaps...

I won't be going nowhere east of here, well not in Canada anyway. I got to lunch last night and caught the last ten overs. If we can bat well tomorrow morning, we could put up a big first innings score.

Well stapp me vitals if that wasn't a proper good bang by young Mr Stokes. That will take some catching.

Splendid indeed. I was trying to explain to my 6-year-old, asd he kept interrupting the dulcet tones of the TMS team's meanderings on iPlayer, how a team can be 600-odd runs to the good but "you can't really tell who's winning yet, it'll take another day or two to see what happens." That may have been rather more prescient than I meant it to be, since Amla seems to be settling in nicely at 133no as I type...

Unless weather conditions change this has a draw written all over this. Or if England could hold on to their catches.

A draw, you say? I don't think there's much chance of anything else, now.

Does SA's declaration, two runs short of England's hefty first-innings score, diminish the impact of Ben Stokes' runfest on day 2? With England being put in to bat 20 minutes before the close on day 4, and with a nominal 2-run lead at the changeover, I suppose it's possible that anything might happen on the last day. But only 15 wickets have been taken altogether in the first four days, so I somehow don't think it's likely. Unless Cook has a rush of blood to the head and declares just before tea tomorrow with a reachable but ambitious total for SA to chase in the last session-and-a-bit.