This England v Ireland test match

[KratosBaggie]

I think the ground staff need replacing. That’s two appalling wickets in a row for England internationals.

Considering the occasion, that wicket for the World Cup Final was disgraceful

The wicket for the World Cup final made one of the best games, let alone ODIs, that I can remember. It wasn't dangerous either. The wicket for this game was a bit green but Ireland in their first innings and Leach showed that you could score decently on it if you bat sensibly instead of bat like an idiot and search for everything. Just because we're the home team doesn't mean we should try to make things easy for us every time, especially in a World Cup final and a warm up game with plenty of rotation designed to test some of the newer lads.

I'm absolutely fed up with flat wickets that don't offer anything for bowlers, there's plenty of criticism for Lord's but the groundstaff do not deserve any of it.

I disagree. The final was a spectacle right at the end. Up until then it was made worse by the pitch, the ball was holding up which made for a poor spectacle for long periods as the batsmen couldn’t time it.
Batsmen shouldn’t have it all their own way but that was awful.

The test match scores kind of speak for themselves.

Generally speaking, Test matches are completing quicker than before as batsmen can no longer bat time. This is a negative impact of T20.  Concentration and the ability to 'dig in' is dying out, sadly.

Now, yesterday's Ireland collapse was brought about by conditions, excellent bowlers who exploit those conditions and the fact the batsman just aren't very good. 

But it is sad to see there's not many examples of a team digging in to save a Test match. I remember Monty and Jimmy battling to save an Ashes Match in Cardiff. Prior and someone one else battling to save a Test in New Zealand, that to me is great drama and tension, and far more entertaining than slapping the ball for boundaries as per T20 matches.