On Friday evening, play closed with Alastair Cook unbeaten on 64. England were leading by 17, an unlikely advantage given the balance of play over the first two days. The Edgbaston full-house rose to him, and to Alex Hales who had gone to 50 from the final ball of the day. The captain returned to the dressing-room amidst a flurry of back slaps. He had batted with a hitherto unseen freedom, as if the shackles of responsibility had been thrown to the wind, and thus inspired his men. It was a brilliant example of leadership, which comes in so many forms.He unclipped the armour, towelled himself down and remarked to the team that the game felt like a boxing match. For two days England had taken the punches, now they were giving a few back. It was, he figured, going to be much the same story over the next two days. There have been periods during Cooks career that his default position would have been to soak up the blows until the opponent wore himself out. Not these days. Confident and proud, he had hammered away - cuts and flicks off his pads, of course, but some magnificent driving of the ball too. The experience of 10,000 runs and more served him well. He saw the moment and took it.By Saturday evening, Cook was even more pleased than his wildest dream might have allowed. Though he fell early in the day himself, the others continued the momentum. Not that it was easy. Pakistan at first bowled impressively in an attacking manner and then, sensing the ball softening and the pitch becoming flatter, Pakistan bowled meanly. Ball after ball was speared wide of off-stump in an attempt to control the tempo of the match. Rather than panic, England changed down the gears, waiting until fatigue betrayed the tourists plan. When it did, England cashed in to a man.There was another virtuoso performance from Joe Root, cut short when a hundred beckoned. No man does tempo like Root. He brings movement and range to the game, adapting his method to the requirement of the moment. At the other end, James Vince watched and learnt, the result of which was the best Test innings he has played - a combination of beautiful flow and a previously unidentified steel. For a while, Gary Ballance let the game come to him but, once settled, he added a hint of risk to his otherwise risk averse nature. Johnny Bairstow hit them hard and ran them ragged. Moeen Ali sucked in the Edgbaston air that he so loves and paraded his touch and timing. England were suddenly miles in front and able to declare when they chose. Each one of the chosen batsmen had thrown the punches their captain had asked for.Cook then put the match out of Pakistans reach. It is his way. Old-timers reckon you keep the chaser interested, to encourage a hopeful response that leads to mistakes. The moderns reckon you crush all hope and choke the chaser to death.The problem England faced was that the ball would not move. Sami Aslam, at just 20 years of age, worked this out and played each one back down the line from whence it came. It was a masterclass, from an apprentice. He is the Pakistani cricketer of the hour. For the second time in the match, Azhar Ali batted with a nice feel, ensuring his team stayed in motion. Those who get stuck often find to their horror that they are sinking in quicksand.At 79 for 1, all seemed well with the Pakistan resistance. Then Cook came up with the first game-breaker. He convinced Moeen to flight the ball wide of off-stump but to keep trying to spin it hard. This brought his action into sync with his wrist. Suddenly, the ball came out with increased revs and the seam at 45 degrees. Cook himself went to gully, a most unusual position to an off-spinner and, bingo. Azhar drove hard to a ball that drifted away before it dipped just a little as the drive reached the point of impact. It fairly flew from the edge of the bat to the gully, where the captain reacted with haste and effect. He said afterwards that he didnt know much about it. He failed to mention that you never really do when you field that close; you just let instinct work its magic.The second game-breaker was less to do with Cook than the groundsman, whose wicket-ends from previous matches were suitably worn and dusty. The ball that pitched on the dry pitch, also bounced across and around these. After a few overs, Cook thought how handy, this thing might reverse swing. Which it did.Soon after 3 oclock, Steve Finn was roaring in - you aint seen nothing like the mighty Finn. He found a smidgeon of movement away from the bat which was quite enough at that pace and when delivered with such accuracy. Even Misbah succumbed. Then Chris Woakes was called back instead of Moeen and he fired the ball at the stumps and pads with an almost indecent expectation. Confidence is the most wonderful drug. Four big fish fell for a single run.Aslam watched on, doubtless confused by his elders but otherwise untroubled. All match, his judgement of what to play and what to leave alone had been unimpeachable. Tea was delayed to acknowledge the chance of a result within the 20-minute period of extension. Three minutes of that period remained when Sami shouldered arms to a fast ball that trimmed his off bail. There are two types of leave - a good one and a bad one. Ouch, his pain was our pain for this young mans courage, temperament and technical application deserved to take the game to the wire. He knew, as we knew, there was no saving the game now. The mighty Finn had won the day.James Anderson popped up with another wicket after tea; Stuart Broad too. The last pair delayed the inevitable and so Cook returned to magic Moeen and the man-of the-match (for the two street-smart innings he played) rewarded his captains faith with a sharp catch off his own bowling. They all rushed to a huddle of unbridled joy, except Cook who stood alone for a moment, slightly crouched, shaking the hands he had made into fists. The longer he plays, the more animated he becomes. His celebrations are ever so slightly showy now, which tells us he is comfortable in the captains skin and ecstatic at the results being achieved.These 1,200 words have included mentions of Cook, Hales, Root, Vince, Ballance, Bairstow, Moeen, Woakes, Broad, Finn, Anderson. It was not planned so, it is simply how the words turned out. There may not have been an England victory that so equally shared the efforts of each player. And there cannot have been many that were fashioned from a first innings deficit of 103.If Cooks team win at the Oval, they could go to number 1 in the world rankings. The captain has a lot to answer for. Miikka Salomaki Predators Jersey . With his new coach and six-time Grand Slam singles champion Boris Becker watching him during an official match for the first time, Djokovic appeared tentative early against the Slovakian player, who often appeared content to keep the ball in play. Matt Irwin Jersey . Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. http://www.authenticpredatorspro.com/Craig-smith-predators-jersey/ . -- The plastic that was taped across the lockers in Oaklands clubhouse came down and the champagne that was on ice went back into the cooler. Nashville Predators Jerseys . Gather a group of friends, or find a league to join online, draft your team, set your lineup and compete in a number of different formats. Austin Watson Predators Jersey .C. United of Major League Soccer. United chose the defender in the second round of the 2013 MLS re-entry draft. The San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers might have two of the NBAs most explosive offensive players in Kawhi Leonard and Chris Paul, but defense will be the deciding factor when the teams meet Saturday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.The Spurs and Clippers traveled to the Alamo City after road victories late Friday night. The Clippers beat the Memphis Grizzlies 99-88 and the Spurs handled the Utah Jazz 100-86, avenging a 110-95 loss to the Jazz on Tuesday in San Antonio.That loss was the first at home for the Spurs this season. It took until its 79th game and its 40th of 41 home games for San Antonio to fall at the AT&T Center last season.The Spurs (5-1), who have been without starting shooting guard Danny Green all season because of a left quad sprain, kept point guard Tony Parker back in San Antonio with right knee soreness. Parker is expected to miss about a week, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told the San Antonio Express-News on Friday.Parker hurt his knee against Golden State (in the season opener on Oct. 25), Popovich said. He hyperextended it and its just bruised basically, so we are giving him time to heal.Parker, who missed an earlier game at home against New Orleans, is averaging 5.5 points and 4.0 assists per game in his four appearances with the Spurs this season. Patty Mills started at the point on Friday at Utah and scored 16 points, hitting six of his first seven shots from the field.Leonard led San Antonio in scoring with 29 points. He has been the Spursscoring leader in all six of their games.In Fridays win over Memphis, Paul tied a season high with 27 points andd led the team in scoring for the fourth time in five games.dddddddddddd Los Angeles also got 21 rebounds from center DeAndre Jordan, almost twice his season average (11.3) entering the game.The Clippers (4-1) are just two points from being undefeated. Theyve enjoyed a 12.5-point winning margin in their four victories, with their only loss on a last-gasp bucket by Oklahoma Citys Russell Westbrook in an 85-83 defeat at home on Wednesday.Los Angeles is shooting 41.5 percent from the floor (tied for 28th) and just 28.9 percent from 3-point range, the latter ranked 26th in the NBA. The Clippers are 20th in offense at 100 points per game and have twice score 88 points or less.I dont think we are worried -- we will eventually break out, Los Angeles forward Blake Griffin said after the loss to Oklahoma City. It is not something we cant figure out. It is early in the season and it is a frustrating loss, but we are going correct our mistakes. We will use this as a learning process.Playing against the Spurs seems like an unlikely scenario for an offensive explosion. San Antonio has allowed just 94 points per game in its six games.The Spurs beat the Clippers two of the three times the teams played in the 2015-16 season, with both teams winning their games at home.Parker became the youngest player to ever appear in a game for the Spurs when he suited up on Oct. 30, 2001, against the Clippers. The 19-year-old Frenchman had nine points and three assists in his NBA debut. ' ' '