Holy Kohli: India in England Summer 2018

[Gangster Octopus]

Cook's got his fifty.

[Kevin S]

Yay!

[Various Artist]

Cook, on 73*, currently needs just three more runs to pass Kumar Sangakkara as the most prolific left-handed batsman in Test history, fact fans.

[Various Artist]

...and typically for such landmarks, it's time for Radio 4 LW to cut to the Shipping Forecast just in time to potentially miss the moment.


Edit: No, we're back with Cook still on 74*!

[Various Artist]

And there's the 2 needed, and Cook is soaking up the applause of the crowd and shaking hands with Root at the crease, which is a decidedly odd state of affairs for someone moving onto precisely 76*, but he'll now be out in front of Sangakkara on 12,401 Test runs. He's now the 5th-highest scorer of all time in the format, after Tendulkar (15,921), Ponting (13,378), Kallis (13,289) and Dravid (13,288).

[Gangster Octopus]

And now he's got his ton...

[Various Artist]

And lo, there was much joy, as Cook brings up his century in his final Test innings. I think he went for a single but the ball ran through and so they kept running and he wound up with a 5. Riotous applause and cheering around the ground and the TMS team sound absolutely made up for him.

Edit: My mistake – they didn't need to keep running, in fact; the overthrow went right to the boundary!

[longeared]

Ah, what a moment.

[ad hoc]

Brilliant

[SouthdownRebel]

Fantastic stuff, well done Chef

[Various Artist]

Apparently that 33rd Test ton puts Cook ahead of Steve Waugh into 10th place on the all-time standings. He's also only the 5th player ever to make a hundred in both their first and last Tests.

[Capybara]

He's also only the 5th player ever to make a hundred in both their first and last Tests.

Does that include Andy Ganteaume?

[Various Artist]

Hah, the stat specifically applies to players who played more than one Test!

[Kevin S]

Root up high in the nervous 90s now too.

[Kevin S]

Thank fuck. Root can still bat after all.

[longeared]

Rooooooooooooooooooot

('ere ECB, why not let him gather further confidence from this innings by letting him play the final couple of Championship matches while he's in form? Be an excellent warm up for the Sri Lanka tour.)

[Gangster Octopus]

So when do England declare?

[Kevin S]

Ah, just shy of the 150 but what a performance.

Come on Joe, let him bowl.

[diggedy derek]

England will have a spell before the new ball sometime before tea tomorrow, you'd fancy. Maybe a few overs then...

[longeared]

He won't want a bowl will he, unless the game reaches stalemate and he takes the final over. It'll be like when Chris Read was offered the chance to take his maiden wicket in his final game last year and he declined because he wanted to finish behind the stumps.

[Gangster Octopus]

Standard collapse. Still, for a change there were a few more runs on board...

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Why the fuck are England still batting? Are we playing for a draw? Surely there's something to play for on winning a series 4-1 not 3-1? World ranking points, something?

[Gangster Octopus]

It appears to be an attempt to get Rashid to hit a ridiculously fast fifty...

[Levin]

You only want India to have 10 overs tonight and then the wole of tomorrow should be enough time to get them out. No need setting too achievable a target.

[Gangster Octopus]

India obviously want to wrap everything up tonight...