bantamweight division has featured an extreme cl

Just as nobody wanted to ask Usain Bolt how much quicker he might have gone had he not slowed down before the line in the 2008 Olympics, so it seems churlish to pick holes in Englands performance Old Trafford.England have, after all, just completed the fifth-largest victory - in terms of runs - in their Test history. Joe Root showed that he is continuing to develop as a batsman and has the skill and intelligence to adapt his game to the situation. Alastair Cook, whose decision not to enforce the follow-on was vindicated, continues to produce at the top of the order and Chris Woakes emergence as an international-quality bowler provides the strength in depth that England have been searching for in the seam department.This is a more than respectable Pakistan team and they were hammered. It is 1-1 with two to play and the Edgbaston pitch may well suit England better than any other in the series.But the fact is that England came into the summer with questions to answer about several areas in their side. Notably, they were unclear over the identity of the most suitable partner for Cook at the top of the order, unclear about at least one of the middle-order positions, unsure about their keeper, their spinner and their first-change bowler.So, five Tests later, how much progress have they made?The answer is a little. But whether they are improving as a side or being dragged along by the improvement in their best young player is open to debate. It remains entirely possible that England will go to India later this year with a new opening batsman, a new first-choice spinner and a new face in the middle-order.To some extent, this is positive. If England can win against decent sides despite performing at something around 75% of potential, they clearly have the scope to develop into a fine side.And there have been positives. Woakes seems to have come of age at this level and might, before the year is out, give the selectors some interesting decisions to make if they decided to go into Tests in Asia with fewer seamers. While he does not quite ease the pain of losing Ben Stokes for Edgbaston, he does reduce it. The last time England had two such fine allrounders was arguably in the brief period in the late 1970s in which Ian Botham and Tony Grieg played together.In this match, too, Jonny Bairstow produced an admirable performance with the gloves. There were only two catches, but there were no drops, few fumbles and only two byes in total. He still has questions to answer, but this was a step in the right direction.Most of all, there was the performance of Root. If, in the first innings, he demonstrated the discipline and restraint required to succeed at No. 3, in the second he demonstrated the strokeplay and selflessness to prove he can adapt as his side requires. Afterwards Cook referred to his double-century as a great innings and one of the best he had ever seen while Misbah-ul-Haq described it as amazing. It was hard to disagree. Root really does look as if he is developing into a special player.So it is probably inevitable that England should rely upon him and Cook. Just as Sri Lanka once relied upon Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, Australia relied upon Allan Border and South Africa now rely on Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers. To some extent, that is the inevitable burden of excellence.In the end, that was the difference between this Test and the first. While at Lords, Root top-edged an overly aggressive slog-sweep, here he made sure he took advantage and, as Cook put it, ground Pakistan down. England took advantage of winning the toss, they werent in a rush with the bat or their tactics and they still won with more than a day to spare. There is a lesson there.The concern - or perhaps it is just a gripe - is that Root and Cooks success is masking some pretty modest returns from the rest of the top-order. Roots move to No. 3 has opened a hole at No. 4, with Alex Hales, Gary Ballance and James Vince all struggling to supply contributions so far this series.It is Vinces form that is most concerning. He is not just falling for low scores - he is averaging 18.57 after seven Test innings - but failing in predictable ways. His first-innings failure here, edging a drive at a ball angled across him, came in spite of a life earlier in the innings attempting the same stroke. The failure to learn does not bode well.If Vince is dropped - and Stokes injury may save him - it does not mean the end for him. Many players have found their first taste of international cricket tough but have returned to county cricket with more knowledge of the standards required to succeed at this level. He has the talent to come again.Ballance has only had three innings in this series - one of them quite impressive - so probably deserves a longer run to prove himself, while Hales surely did enough in the Sri Lanka games to earn a place for the rest of this series. He is not at the stage, though, where he can be said to have secured the opening position and is clearly struggling against the swing of Mohammad Amir. How he overcomes that very specific challenge in the next two Tests may define his career in this format.Moeen Alis form is a worry, too. While he has the third-best average of any English spinner (with more than five Test wickets) since the war, he also has the worst average of any England bowler with more than 20 Test wickets this century.He took five wickets at Old Trafford - a reflection of Pakistans policy of trying to destroy him as much as any particularly wonderful bowling - but seems to have developed a worrying habit of delivering a head-high full toss an innings, which betrays a man struggling for form and confidence. England deserve credit for sticking with him - Cook has developed as a captain in that regard - but Adil Rashid continues to push hard for inclusion. It could well be that both men play on an Edgbaston track that tends to turn as the game progresses.The truth is, England rather got away with their errors in Manchester. They got away with Cooks missed slip chance on the fourth day - had Younis Khan been at a different stage of his career, he may have punished them - and they got away with a top order that offered contributions from two players. So dominant were Englands seamers and two of their top three that it made little difference that Hales, Ballance and Vince struggled.Theres still work to do, Cook said. Theres still inexperience in that batting line-up. Three of the top five are pretty inexperienced. We still have a couple of years to go as a side.But that presupposes that experience will improve players. It might, of course. But it might also show they are not quite up to the standard required. It remains a bit early to draw conclusions about a couple of this top order. As a result, it is a bit early to gauge how much improvement England have made.Selection for the next Test will be intriguing. As well as trying to find a replacement for Stokes - there is surely no way he will be fit for next Wednesday - England must also reflect on Vinces form and decide if Moeen did enough here. Had Stokes not been injured, there was a chance that England could have picked Rashid in place of Vince for Edgbaston. But now they must decide if they also want a replacement seamer and how much batting is required. For a side who have just achieved a huge win, they have quite a lot of thinking to do. Cheap MLB Jerseys Online . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Wholesale Baseball Jerseys China . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. http://www.cheapmlbjerseysfromchina.com/ . Instead of dwelling on the negative, Oates focused on what was good about the clubs recent play. It worked. Wholesale MLB Jerseys .C. -- Rodney Hood connected from all over the court while freshman Jabari Parker was busy swatting shots and scoring in transition. Baseball Jerseys Authentic . Tevez, who has had conflicts with coaches in the past, has not been called up since Sabella was named coach in 2011. Argentina boasts Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Angel Di Maria. In a year that already has proved to be massive for the UFC, with one major card after another, UFC 205 on Nov. 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York looks to be the biggest and most important of them all. In honor of such a marquee event, ESPN.com is providing dedicated previews to all 13 bouts on the card, breaking down whats at stake and projecting who will win, along with quotes and statistics for each fighter.Womens bantamweights: Miesha Tate (18-6) versus Raquel Pennington (8-5)Odds as of Nov. 4: Tate -185; Pennington +160Dana Whites thoughtsI like both of their fighting styles. Miesha is nasty. Shes tough, durable and super well-rounded. One of the most durable women Ive ever seen. Yeah, she got her nose smashed in her last fight with Amanda Nunes, but shes so tough. And this is another tough fight for her. The womens divisions right now, 115 and 135, are stacked, lot of good fights and they are very exciting.Whats at stake?Tate: Once youve tasted that life, its addictiveA few weeks after losing her title to Nunes at UFC 200, Tate flew to Kansas City to corner a friend. After the event, Tate rented a car and drove the 1,400 miles back to her home in Las Vegas, alone.As it turned out, that trip wasnt long enough for Tate. The minute she got home, she traded in the rental for her own car and continued driving -- first to Los Angeles and then up the coast to Washington.In all that time of reflection, did she ever reach a conclusion as to why she fought poorly in her first title defense? If she did, Tates keeping it to herself.I wish I could say it was one certain thing, Tate said. Sometimes you just have a bad night. I had a great camp. I trained hard. Not everything was perfect, there were a lot of difficult things going on in my personal life, but thats not the reason I lost. When the cage door closes I have one job, and I didnt execute that.Tate, 30, says her career is in a far better place than one year ago when she was publicly contemplating retirement after the UFC didnt come through with a promised title shot.Shes open to big fights and has made headlines by stating shed be open to one against a heavier Cris Cyborg Justino (and a trilogy fight against Ronda Rousey) -- but says reclaiming the title is still very much the goal. Tates climb to the top was one of the best stories of early 2016 and shed like to repeat that in 2017.During that drive, I reminded myself that I didnt get to where Im at based on one fight, Tate said. I get asked the Cyborg question and I say, Yeah, show me the money. But I want the title. Once youve tasted that life, I think its more addictive. Its one thing to wonder about it, its another to know exactly what it is.Pennington has everything to gainPennington broke into the UFC in 2013, as a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter reality series.dddddddddddd She was the third pick of one of that seasons coaches, who just happened to be Tate.When Pennington describes Tates role on the show, she puts air quotes around the word coach. By her account, Tate was mostly hands-off as far as daily practices went.There was one major exception, however. Pennington says other members of Tates team refused to roll with her after a while, saying she went too hard. When Tate brought it up, she had a quick response.She said I needed to tone it down, and I was like, Youre not even out here. You should come roll with me and then tell me Im a bad partner, Pennington said.The two ended up working so well together, Tate flew Pennington back out to Las Vegas to help her prepare for a title fight against Rousey later that year.Pennington is now focused on her own title run, which has seen her win four of her past five fights. The only loss during that stretch came via split decision to Holly Holm, in a fight Pennington thinks she won. A win against her former coach and champion Tate would be the biggest of her career.Im not looking to put extra pressure on myself, but in reality, this is the biggest fight card in UFC history, Pennington said. Miesha has established a huge name for herself, and we have a storyline from our relationship on TUF. Theres a lot going on as far as all that, but I just see it as another stepping stone towards my goal.Im right there for a title shot, and I have everything to gain off this fight.Key statsTate: 18-6 record (5-3 UFC); 5-fight win streak snapped in loss to NunesTate: Scored takedowns in 6 of 8 UFC fights (9 total takedowns)Pennington: 8-5 record (5-2 UFC); 3-fight win streakPennington: +71 significant strike differential in UFC fights (356-285)BreakdownThe top of this female bantamweight division has featured an extreme clash of styles of late. Rousey the judoka. Holm the boxer. Tate the submission wrestler. Now, Nunes, a heavy hitter.Pennington isnt as easy to define. Shes a slick boxer with good head movement, but shell also bite down on her mouthpiece and throw when she feels she has opponents trapped near the fence. She has leaned on her wrestling enough that we definitely know its there and actually, although she classifies mostly as a striker, both of her UFC finishes have come via submission.Still, Tate figures to have a grappling advantage, especially if shes able to create scrambles with regularity. Tate has always flourished when a fight falls under a little chaos. Pennington is good at minimizing that because of her IQ and range awareness, plus a familiarity with Tates grappling ability cant hurt.Prediction:?Pennington via decision.You make the call: ' ' '