[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Apparently someone else has been a naughty boy

A photo has now emerged of the anonymous investigative journalist behind these bombshell stories. Though he won't reveal his name, he's vowed not to stop until he's exposed the sordid racist history of the entire England Test team.

[themaclad]

Buttler and Morgan are under investigation let’s see if they ban them

[Lord Snooty]

Depends who's investigating them. If it's the ECB, yes. If it's the fake sheik, no.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Are they not going after Anderson too? The tweet from 2010 of him joking about Broad's new haircut making him look like a 15-year-old lesbian has been doing the rounds.

[themaclad]

Yep Jimmy as well sorry it really is pitiful

---

Williamson injured

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

From 72-0 to 85-3 after winning the toss. Hopefully somewhere in England there's an available top-order batsman who hasn't cracked a joke about a one-legged transvestite in the last ten years.

[themaclad]

England 258 for 7 (Burns 81, Lawrence 67*, ) vs New Zealand
Half-centuries to Rory Burns and Dan Lawrence restored order for England after a New Zealand attack bolstered by Trent Boult threatened to derail the hosts on an opening day when the ball and the momentum swung at Edgbaston with entertaining effect.
Boult, New Zealand's leading seamer, linked up with the squad on Saturday having served his post-IPL quarantine period and was an automatic inclusion amid a staggering six changes to the side which drew the first Test at Lord's.
With Kane Williamson (elbow) and Mitchell Santner (finger) out because of injury and BJ Watling (back problem) replaced by Tom Blundell shortly before play began, Will Young and and Ajaz Patel came into the side. They were joined by Boult for Tim Southee and Matt Henry for Kyle Jamieson, while Daryl Mitchell replaced Colin de Grandhomme as New Zealand showed an embarrassment of riches ahead of next week's World Test Championship final against India.
When Boult prised out opener Rory Burns for 81 with his 12th ball after the tea break, he removed England's main hope for recovery at that point. It came soon after England had lost three wickets for 13 runs in less than 20 minutes and slumped to 152 for 4 in the afternoon session.
But Lawrence stepped in with an assured and unbeaten 67 to guide England to the close in a far more comfortable position than had looked likely between lunch and tea.
After removing Burns, Boult struck with the first delivery of his next over, removing James Bracey for a duck - his second in as many innings - but Olly Stone survived the hat-trick ball and went on to steady the innings with Lawrence, the pair putting on 47 runs for the seventh wicket.
The Stone-Lawrence union was a much-needed bright spot for England, along with Burns' opening stand of 72 with Dom Sibley, which had steered their side to the lunch break at 67 without loss. What ensued in between times had the potential to devastate England's innings.
Burns and Sibley batted sedately but smartly in the morning, Sibley's knock bearing little resemblance to his grinding 60 off 207 balls which helped England salvage a draw in the fourth innings at Lord's. Sibley struck five fours on his way to 35 from 84 deliveries, including one through square leg to bring up England's fifty.
But when they returned from lunch, New Zealand's bowlers started to find some swing and it proved a weapon.
Henry struck with the sixth ball after the break when Sibley was caught betwixt and between by a ball just back of a length and in the corridor which swung away enough to find an edge and carry to stand-in keeper Blundell.
Zak Crawley's lean patch continued as he followed up twin scores of two at Lord's with a duck. Having been rushed into a defensive shot by a Neil Wagner ball that swung in, Crawley hung his bat out to the next delivery which moved less and edged to Mitchell at third slip.
Henry then claimed his second wicket - the prized scalp of Joe Root - with a late outswinger that caught the edge and was snapped up by Blundell.
Burns brought up his fifty with an authoritative drive through extra cover for two as the wickets tumbled around him. Ollie Pope stuck with him for a while but not long enough, falling for 19 when he was caught behind off Patel.

As Burns and Lawrence looked to rebuild, Boult came to the fore, luring Burns into an attempted cover drive with a ball that swung away and clipped the outside edge, with Tom Latham, acting captain in Williamson's absence, taking a good, low catch at second slip. Bracey followed and with six men down, only three had reached double figures.
That's when Stone and Lawrence got to work and they managed to stall New Zealand's momentum until Patel had Stone out lbw. From there, Lawrence really took control though. He struck Boult for two fours in an over late in the day, the first a gorgeous drive through extra cover and then a neat clip off the pads.
Mark Wood stuck with him to be 16 not out at the close, his straight hit for four off Henry mirrored by Lawrence off Boult on the next ball and the 70-percent-capacity crowd enjoyed it - and every moment of the day - if the noise, colour and movement that heralded the return of fans under a post-pandemic Government trial was anything to go by.

[themaclad]

New Zealand 229 for 3 (Conway 80, Young 82, Taylor 46*, Broad 2-22) trail England 303 (Lawrence 81*, Burns 81, Boult 4-85) by 74 runs
New Zealand boasted an embarrassment of riches for a second day running as Devon Conway and Will Young frustrated England's bowlers and moved to within 74 runs of England's first-innings total with seven wickets in hand at Edgbaston.
Conway, who cemented his place in the side with 200 on debut in the series opener at Lord's, produced another valuable, though not chance-less, innings of 80. And, while he would have been disappointed not to press on to triple figures again, a gutsy 82 from Young - in the side as a replacement for injured captain Kane Williamson - mitigated the damage.
Stuart Broad bowled superbly for his 2 for 22 from 15 overs, including six maidens, but he was the only England bowler to reap any reward for his considerable efforts - until Young's dismissal by part-time off-spinner Dan Lawrence on the last ball of the day.
England had resumed on 258 for 7 with Lawrence on 67 and Mark Wood 16. Wood provided serious entertainment as he pushed his score up to 41. He hit Trent Boult for three fours in six balls across two overs followed by back-to-back boundaries off Matt Henry as he punished New Zealand's persistence with short-pitched bowling.
Wood eventually fell, bowled by a Henry outswinger which found an inside edge onto the stumps.
Lawrence remained not out 81 to share top-scoring honours for England with Rory Burns, while Boult polished off Broad and James Anderson to end as New Zealand's leading wicket-taker with 4 for 85.
When Broad had Tom Latham, New Zealand's stand-in captain, out lbw in the sixth over of the innings, the visitors were 15 for 2.
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Mark Wood and Dan Lawrence added vital runs for England PA Photos/Getty Images
Young ground out eight runs from 45 balls to begin with before settling into his stride, unfurling a beautiful on-drive to the rope off Olly Stone and then lacing another past third slip. In Stone's next over, Young jabbed another four through point, his feet leaving the ground as he latched onto a short ball.
Having survived on seven when Joe Root juggled and dropped a standard-looking slips catch off Stone's bowling, Young brought up his maiden Test fifty with a single off Anderson's late-moving inswinger.
Conway had earlier done well to make it back to his crease when Latham struck a Broad delivery straight back down the pitch and the bowler, following through, managed to get his fingers to it before it crashed into the stumps at the non-striker's end. Conway, who was advancing, tracked the ball like a hawk and managed to turn and stretch his bat back to safety.
That was positively skilful, whereas his next nervous moment - on 22 - fell more in the lap of fortune. Having edged Broad towards Zak Crawley at third slip, the soft signal given on the field was not-out, suggesting the ball had touched the ground first. Broad was incensed but, upon review, there was enough doubt for the decision to stand - and spark debate over the existence of the soft signal.
Conway and Young put on 122 runs together before Conway holed out to Crawley at deep backward square leg, giving Broad his second wicket, having conceded just 18 runs to that point midway through his 12th over. Conway's scores of 200, 23 and 80 meant he had scored more runs in his first three Test innings than any other New Zealand batter.

Broad gave Ross Taylor a thorough examination, beating the bat on numerous occasions while Anderson provided excellent support from the other end. It was Anderson who had Taylor given out lbw shortly after Broad had wrapped up his spell but the decision was overturned on review, which showed the ball was missing leg stump by a distance.
Taylor managed to grit his way towards a half-century and was 46 not out at stumps when part-time off-spinner Lawrence finally broke through in the last over of the day. Lawrence ended Young's knock with his ninth ball, finding an inside edge onto the pad, which Ollie Pope swallowed diving forward at short leg.
Young was playing just his third Test - he earned both his previous caps in the home series against West Indies in December - and had scored two centuries in three innings for Durham in the County Championship in the lead-up to this match, earning his place among six changes to the New Zealand side which drew at Lord's. Based on his performance at Edgbaston, he gave selectors plenty to think about going forward.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

First innings deficit of 85, and now 0-1 off the second ball. Might be time to switch over to the footy.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Just switched back over from the footy. Wish I hadn't.