Eleven oclock on a bright, slightly sticky Saturday morning in Manchester. Mohammad Amir runs in from the Statham End and bowls to Joe Root, who is 141 not out. The ball is on a good length but wide of the off stump. Root plays no shot and it passes to Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps.And so another day in the grass arena has begun. One ball has been bowled and there are scheduled to be roughly 539 more; or a minimum of 1617 pieces of action if we include the participation of bowler, batsmen and fielder. Some will be faithfully recorded and never mentioned again; others, the dismissal of Ben Stokes, for example, will be reviewed and scrutinised for, perhaps, five minutes.I wouldnt care if it was another sport but cricket takes up so much of the day. With these words the partner of even a club player explains why things arent working. Yet for many of its supporters the length of a first-class cricket match is the essence of its attraction. They like the slow accretion of events and the way time imposes its demands. They enjoy their T20 matches - this isnt an either/or dilemma - but they appreciate a format in which a cricketers endurance and mental strength are examined and in which batting for ten hours receives its due reward. It is, for them, truly a ball-by-ball game in which progress can be close to invisible.And so they enjoyed Roots 618-minute innings and his Jesuitical quest for absolution after his transgressions at Lords. Successful Test batsmen are defined by their ability to go on. For them, a century is a junction not a terminus. So it is with Root and it was curious how his watchfulness in facing the Pakistan bowlers in that first session was matched by that of most spectators as they, in their turn, watched the way he began again.For most people on earth, the idea of being watched as they work is inimical; for sportsmen it is essential. And the symbiosis between the crowd and cricketers repays its own close attention. We watch the watchers watching the watched. The applause that greeted Chris Woakess first fours - a cut, a cover-drive, a square-drive - were almost celebratory, as if the good times had begun to roll and another drink was, indeed, the order of the day.Root, though, continued to wear a hair-shirt and we were 16 overs into the morning before he found the boundary courtesy of an edge and Younis Khans dropped catch at slip. He scored 44 runs in that first, exploratory session and only after tea did he bat as if truly liberated. By then, of course, there were beer snakes and fancy dress; some spectators may have watched the cricket a little less closely than they had in the morning. Stokes and Jonny Bairstow played trampling innings on tired fielders, hoping that weight of runs would earn early wickets. There was less intensity but more fiesta; summer in full, good-humoured riot.Then the declaration and a re-cranking of tension. A new guttural as James Anderson ran in from the Pavilion End. Earlier in the day Andersons team-mates, suddenly spectators themselves, had watched from one of the pavilion balconies. But it was not the local hero who made the breakthroughs. That honour fell in large measure to Woakes, whose three wickets were greeted with fresh roars as spectators scraped their plate in the last hour of the day.6.25 on Saturday and the air is a little fresher, the clouds higher. Stokes runs in from the Statham End and bowls to Shan Masood. The ball is on the off stump and the batsman plays it defensively and safely. There is a slightly subdued gasp from the crowd as if the air had been released from a huge balloon. Then ringing applause for the England players as they return to their dressing-room.For Woakes this has been another fine day; his shares on crickets stock-market have risen. He has masqueraded as a nightwatchman and reinforced his position as a potent strike bowler at a time when England are not short of them. As the crowd disperses, many are talking about how his bowling has helped make their day memorable.Within fifteen minutes Old Trafford is almost deserted and a few minutes later Pakistans players, rucksacks on their backs, are returning to their coach, trooping over the outfield like blue-uniformed trekkers.And so it ends, this gentle, fierce ticking down of 540 pieces of action, the shape of it all collaborative, confrontational, intense. If you rush, youll never get anywhere, said the man on the gate this morning.Chief Bender Jersey . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said. James McCann Jersey .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. https://www.cheapwhitesox.com/1244e-carson-fulmer-jersey-white-sox.html .5 seconds to play in the game, Kevin Love never stopped believing that they would come out of there with a win. Jose Ruiz Jersey . LOUIS -- Rookie Tavon Austin has missed another day of practice, lessening the odds hell be ready for the St. James McCann White Sox Jersey . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft.CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Joey Votto drove in a pair of runs with a single and a triple on Friday night, and Bronson Arroyo recovered from his roughest outing of the season, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 7-2 victory over the San Diego Padres. The Reds have won three straight since getting embarrassed by the St. Louis Cardinals at home last weekend, dropping games by scores of 13-3 and 15-2. Arroyo (10-9) took the loss in that first game against the Cardinals, giving up seven runs in a season-low 3 2-3 innings. He was back on his game against San Diego, allowing only four hits in seven innings, including Logan Forsythes solo homer. Votto drove in the first two runs off Andrew Cashner (8-6), ending the right-handers streak of three straight wins. Brandon Phillips added a two-run homer off Tim Stauffer. San Diegos sloppy fielding helped the Reds score twice in the fifth for a 5-1 lead. It was a break-out night for Todd Frazier. The Reds third baseman doubled in the first inning, ending an 0-for-31 slump that was the longest by a Reds player since Drew Stubbs went out in 32 consecutive at-bats last season. He came around on Vottos single, which gave the first baseman a seven-game hitting streak. Frazier opened the third with a walk and scored on Vottos third triple of the season, a drive off the wall in right field that deflected back toward the infield. Jay Bruces double made it 3-0. Frazier also had a walk and scored three times overall. San Diego ranks fourth in the NL in fielding, but helped the Reds take control wwith sloppy defence.dddddddddddd Votto opened the fifth inning with a four-pitch walk -- Cashner wasnt going to give him anything this time -- and came around on Chris Heiseys two-out single that right fielder Will Venable misplayed for an error. Then, Zack Cozart grounded to Forsythe, whose high throw from shortstop landed in the Reds dugout area, letting in another unearned run. Phillips hit his 14th homer an inning later, also with two outs. Venable homered in the eighth off Alfredo Simon, extending his hitting streak to six games. Reds catcher Ryan Hanigan was activated off the disabled list and started the game, his first in a month. Hed been sidelined since July 11 with a sprained left wrist. Hanigan went 0 for 2 with a pair of walks. Reliever Jonathan Broxton gave up a single in the ninth, his first appearance since June 13. The Reds set-up man was activated on Wednesday after recovering from a sprained pitching elbow. Notes: Padres LF Carlos Quentin was out of the lineup for the seventh straight game because of a sore right knee thats not improving much. Manager Bud Black suggested that hes headed for the disabled list. "Its probably best for the club to get a (healthy) player in here," Black said. ... Bruce and Phillips are among only seven players in the majors who have driven in a run in at least 50 games this season. ... Frazier chose the soundtrack for the postgame fireworks show on Friday. ... LH Tony Cingrani (5-1) starts for the Reds on Saturday against RH Tyson Ross (2-5). ' ' '