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Personally, to help the England Test team I would: Play the 50-over stuff throughout April Play County Cricket from the first week of May to the first week of Sept, Mon-Thurs, a total of 18 games in 18 weeks, put it on free-to-air TV and promote it Play T20 Blast on Fridays alongside the County Cricket season, two nine-team North/South divisions (minimum 8 games each) plus knock-out rounds and Finals Day Play The 100 after Finals Day solely in September. Anyone available but not playing Tests for England should play for their county, instead of carrying the drinks all summer. For the big Test tours, like the Ashes and India, schedule in at least two first-class games as warm-up matches and maybe a third midway through the five-Test series. Get rid of Root, Silverwood, Bobat, Giles, and Harrison. Reinstate a national selector. Employ a Test coach and a white-ball coach. Two coaches, two different formats.

I can see the potential benefits, but I'd rather my county (Glos) wasn't taken away from me when we're finally looking like we mean business. As far as Aggers' proposal goes, we already have a 10-team First Division of County Cricket. How would an 8-team Second Division going down to three days (from four) benefit the Test XI, especially when there are some big counties in it? I loathe The 100 and franchise sport in general, and the concept of potentially rewarding some of the big ground counties (Glamorgan being a prime example) turns my stomach.

Aggers is usually bang on the money and while I agree it’s time for radical change, I’m not sure this is the way to go. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/60016410 Glos and Somerset to merge into Wessex, for example, in a new 10-team first-class county setup?

He was a youngster with potential when we signed him, but he’s not progressed at all during that time IMO. He should be in the prime of his career right now; he’s nowhere near. Time to move him on.

The odds yesterday on us to win today were 11/1, because a) the amount of money going on Fulham, and b) we were never to going to win. However, at least we had a good go at them on their own turf. Two quality finishes from a developing Semenyo and plenty to be positive about. UTC.

I’m happy to eat humble pie here. Semenyo’s finishing was different gravy today against arguably the best team in the league. I thought his finishing was his weakest attribute. It appears I was wrong and I hope it gives him the confidence to kick on now.

SA have passed 300 two or three times in their last 30 Test innings, so I expect it to be a low-scoring series dominated by the ball. Burns didn’t even dive and could’ve said no! A soft dismissal that set the tone for the latest collapse. A big part of opening the batting at any level is about trusting your partner and knowing their game. How can we do that when this is our third opening partnership of the series?

Right you are.

I was sat in the Dolman as a schoolboy. We won 1-0 (Heskey scored), Buffon made a blunder.

Spot on. While we're talking Cook, one of the reasons he did so well Down Under is because his technique was heavily based on the back foot and so the cut and pull shots came into the equation on the bouncier pitches. Flower made Cook tweak his technique in India in 2012. I don't have faith the likes of Silverwood or Lewis could help Hameed in the same way. Hameed's technique is pretty sound, certainly by modern standards. He's just got some good deliveries and been undone by the bounce. I wouldn't write him off from scoring runs in the Windies or next summer.

Me too, although one former news editor of The Sun I know well is/was also exceptional.

Especially when Burns a) hasn’t played any cricket since being dropped, and b) looks a bigger rabbit than Hameed.

Hameed should get a run opening until the end of the Windies tour IMO. His low-hands technique, which is ideal for the sub-continent, has been exposed on the bouncy pitches in Australia. But we can’t keep chopping and changing when we don’t have a plethora of options. I actually think Hameed has generally looked OK but has but got some really good deliveries. He and Crawley, until Yates emerges at least, could be the future IMO so why drop him when he might get that big score to reignite his Test career like Crawley did in Sydney? I can see us risking playing Stokes as a batsman with the Windies tour around the corner, which is annoying when he’s found form.

Assuming Stokes doesn’t play in Hobart, that’s a huge blow which comes just as his form with the bat has returned. Great to see a bit of fight at long last.

? Surely it’s 3-5-2: O’Leary; Kalas, Atkinson, Pring; Benarous, King, Scott, Massengo, O’Dowda; Martin, Wells

And that (30-0) is our highest opening partnership of this woeful Ashes tour so far!

Credit to Stokes, Wood and obviously Bairstow today, but we’re still 158 behind and will be batting last on an uneven track unless rain saves us.

He’s also been scoring big runs in the Sheffield Shield, and averages 41 in Test cricket (more than all of our rabble aside from Root). Really poor drop from Root when he was on 28 as well. That should be taken at any level. Then, after we had a good afternoon session, he decides to bowl Malan with Khawaja on 99*. Another innings defeat beckons IMO.

With the starting XI yesterday having an average age of 23, the only thing I expect for the rest of this season is for us to be consistently inconsistent and that’s why I’m remaining patient and urge others to do likewise. If we finish above 18th, they’ll have outperformed my expectations. A fully-fit Williams should help on the consistency front, as would Semenyo learning how to finish clinically. But we still have weak links like Vyner, Bakinson and KP, plus the teenagers (Scott, Benarous) and novices (Tanner, Atkinson) learning on the job, and that’ll prevent us from being in the play-off picture both now and probably next season IMO. Things are improving, though.

The pass wasn’t on as Semenyo was in an offside position. That’s why Weimann held onto it IMO

Towler should go out on loan again, someone like Exeter or FGR would be a good move IMO.

Totally agree. His performance today was really positive in almost every area, except for where it matters — in front of goal. Instinct, intelligence, clinical, call it what you will. Who cares anyway, great to come back from behind and win at home again, despite a largely shit performance. We played far better against QPR and got nothing. That’s football.

Get in, boys. Three brilliant finishes from Weimann.

And that counter attack sums up Semenyo. Weimann tells him to hold his run to stay onside so that AS has a clear run in on goal. He doesn’t look, doesn’t get it, and gets flagged offside. That should be 4-2. Great opportunity spurned and AW rightly has a go at him.