Yes , very exciting . First time Australia have lost a test at rage Gabba since 1988 ! And India were missing a lot of players .
Jimmy Anderson still doing it at the age of 38 on the subcontinent. He's just a wicket taking machine.
Fair play to Bess here. We desperately needed someone to keep Root company this session, with the longish tail, and he has. SL were still 130 ahead when Curran got out, and even just a 50 first innings deficit in SL can be massive when batting last, let alone something in the region of 90 to 110.
Bess has batted very sensibly, and has punished the odd bad ball with some lovely shots. That half-volley he drove to the extra cover boundary was an exquisite stroke. I’d love to see these two achieve parity, although it looks like we’ll have to wait till tomorrow for that.
Am I alone in wondering why you never see seabirds around the ground in Galle? Plenty of crows and egrets, but no gulls. Bess caught behind?
It wasn't, but equally I'm not going to criticise him. The likes of him and Broad are very different batsmen to the likes of Jimmy and Leach. If Wood is going to score runs, it'll be by giving it a whack. Which is why I want them up at no.9, like Wood to today, to give him more license (and hopefully more time) to do just that. If Wood was playing that shot as a no.11, with Root at the other end, it'd be criminal.
Agree....not going to be quick and flexible after that innings. Also the last over or two is often dodgy....already mentally in the pavilion.