TMS

I've been glued to TMS - Test Match Special - on BBC Radio 5 sports extra today, so had to go out to take a picture when the game ended that had some connection to cricket. The picture is of the back of the sightscreen at Chobham cricket club. It's hardly Lord's cricket ground, though. The atmosphere there, as the test match came to a controversial and spectacular crescendo on the fifth and final day, sounded incredible. There's been a lot of discussion about whether the Bairstow dismissal breached the spirit of the game even though it was allowable within the laws. It's good that such a principle still exists even if the Australians  have tested it today.  It's not a principle that's ever given a moment's thought in football these days. It nearly backfired on the Aussies anyway as it seemed to provoke Ben Stokes into a brutal onslaught on their bowlers which, for a time,  raised the prospect of a most unlikely England victory. In the end, Australia won the match and went 2 nil up in the 5 match series. The 3rd test starts at Headingly on Thursday, so very little let-up in the Ashes drama.