england v/s india

Rascasse

manafana wrote: »

Right test no 4 is nearly upon us with all excitement i have previewed the match here.

England not favourites when really they should be, cook is seeking to be just the 3rd test captain to win a series India

Interesting that you have Onions down as replacing Finn. I'd would prefer that but expect Bresnan to get the nod, if only for the fact he is more of a known quantity in international cricket whereas Onions hasn't had a look in after the injury.

Football Gambler

Bell gone, 123/4 now..... even allowing for the fact that this pitch isn't going to go the distance, England would surely want at least 250 to give bowlers a chance.....

All the talk is that the uneven bounce might suit the seamers, that makes Finn an even bigger miss for me...

manafana

Rascasse wrote: »

Interesting that you have Onions down as replacing Finn. I'd would prefer that but expect Bresnan to get the nod, if only for the fact he is more of a known quantity in international cricket whereas Onions hasn't had a look in after the injury.

was hard to predict, in end root came in for patel, felt he should have come in for bell who is so out form.

I would liked to see onions get a go as he had good domestic season and earned himself a go, on plus side bresnan had been ok with bat, and come day 3 this will be about the spinners.

Indian team was nightmare predict how their changes might go

mattweeden

Onions should have had a go

Football Gambler

manafana wrote: »

was hard to predict, in end root came in for patel, felt he should have come in for bell who is so out form.

I would liked to see onions get a go as he had good domestic season and earned himself a go, on plus side bresnan had been ok with bat, and come day 3 this will be about the spinners.

Indian team was nightmare predict how their changes might go

I thought Bell only survived as there was no ideal candidate in the squad to replace him, so I wrongly assumed that the batting would stay the same (more by default).

With that in mind, I was very surprised to see Root come in. Patel hasn't really contributed, but it was a brave call to bring the untried Root in. It wasn't like England were in a desperate position and had to try something different.

Even if Root gets out first thing in the morning, at least he has already shown he looks comfortable at this level.

mattweeden

root is a fine player. Bell needs to score some runs

mike65

Turned out to be a decent first innings and England are on top of Indias reply, about 90 for 4.

vicM

Thought Dhoni requested a turning pitch to aid the spinners? or were they trying to throw the English off..
Somebody mentioned they will try and follow on, and then put up a mammoth score.. At this point they want to avoid defeat..

Football Gambler

vicM wrote: »

Thought Dhoni requested a turning pitch to aid the spinners? or were they trying to throw the English off..
Somebody mentioned they will try and follow on, and then put up a mammoth score.. At this point they want to avoid defeat..

They seem to have made a right mess throughout this series of what type of wickets to produce. It could have been a smokescreen, but from a distance it looks like they haven't known what to do since Monty out bowled India's spinners in the 2nd Test.

vicM

manafana wrote: »

its a bit of myth that india is cricket mad, they actually prefer football, they do love bollywood culture thou, and cricket players are seen as celebs, so like above they idolise certain players only

well Kolkata, The North Eastern states and Kerala, would enjoy their footy, the rest are just slightly interested in the EPL and the world cup..so no its not a myth, they are cricket mad

manafana

vicM wrote: »

well Kolkata, The North Eastern states and Kerala, would enjoy their footy, the rest are just slightly interested in the EPL and the world cup..so no its not a myth, they are cricket mad

their not hence no sell outs for alot of tests, the interest in the sport isn't what people make out, their more interested in celebrity.

mike65

Fantastic end of the day for England, a long slog which India was on top of ends with 4 late wickets including Dhoni on 99 having fatality let impatience get the better of him in the penultimate over.

Football Gambler

There will be a lot of pressure on the England 2nd Innings batting now when get out tomorrow, they know a batting collapse chucks away the series win.....

booth70

The most boring test match I have ever had the misfortune of watching.....

I can understand Cook and co blocking their way to oblivion at a rate of less than two per over with a series lead to protect but I just could not understand India's tactics this morning:mad::mad:

England winning this series would ironically be the best thing that could happen to Indian cricket at present.....hopefully there will be some sweeping changes before the Australian series

decies

Shamefull performance by India they should forget about that 20/20 nonsense and concentrate on test cricket again . Just hope the Aussies have half a decent team for the ashes or it could get nasty !!

mike65

20/20, IPL = CASH!

Rascasse

As seen on Twitter, The Times' assessment of the England players performance for this series. Interesting remarks on Prior and Anderson.

Football Gambler

That was an unbelievable pitch for a Test match that needed a result. It's not just the Indian team that needs sorting out, the whole structure does. When England needed a win in 2009 at the Oval against Australia, the groundsman produced a result wicket - by instruction. England could have lost the test and the series, but that's the risk you take.

India didn't give themselves much of a chance in this test with the wicket.

The fact that India produced a banker draw pudding of a wicket - or where in a position where it was too late for the groundsman to work on the wicket, shows either bad planning, or lack of planning. That wicket should have ensured either a 2-2 or 1-3 series score.

To let it be a tame bore draw like that is shocking and bad for Test cricket. It's almost like India can't be arsed with Test cricket.

Rjd2

Football Gambler wrote: »

To let it be a tame bore draw like that is shocking and bad for Test cricket. It's almost like India can't be arsed with Test cricket.

Pitch was a disgrace aye, I still like to think this result will have hurt a lot of the players who have been playing test cricket for a long time especially guys like Tendulkar and Sehwag. I don't know if Dhoni has the same passion however for the format as the others though.

Rascasse

So, the first T20 starts in a couple of hours. Looking at the England side you'd have to expect India to win it. Plenty of batting for England but the bowling attack won't worry the Indians with Bresnan/Dernbach/Treadwell/Meaker looking likely.

India to win the series 2-1 or 3-0. Doh. I thought there were 3 T20's, but there are only 2 (waste of time). India 2-0.

Football Gambler

Rjd2 wrote: »

Pitch was a disgrace aye, I still like to think this result will have hurt a lot of the players who have been playing test cricket for a long time especially guys like Tendulkar and Sehwag. I don't know if Dhoni has the same passion however for the format as the others though.

Yeah, I think it would definitely have hurt the senior players a lot. Think that all the team would have been hurt too, just wonder if not as much as it would have hurt if it was the ODI's or T20 though.

Also not sure if the administrators of Indian cricket seem so bothered about Test matches though, if they produced pitches that were crap for ODI's or T20, I bet there would be a lot more uproar than there seems to have been about this last Test match pitch.

Dozen Wicked Words

Good end to the tour for England, not convinced by some of their "specialist T20" players and I would pick Prior for all forms of the game the way he's playing at the moment, still, some great batting from the team today to draw the series. Good to see Morgan get a few too. Such a turn around in form, great to see. The way things are at the moment in Test Cricket, I don't think there is much between South Africa, Australia or England.

Beasty

The only thing I would say about Prior is that his role requires 100% concentration whenever in the field. If any particualr players need to take a break from one form of the international game I would put the wicketkeeper alongside the captain as the guys who need it most.

I would add that T20s seem to be the form of cricket England often use to test out young players - giving "young pretenders" a chance of international cricket can only help prepare them for the longer forms of the game at that level.

Alan70

manafana
its a bit of myth that india is
cricket mad, they actually
prefer football,

Am in Chennai as I type. India is absolutely cricket mad. As I travel around it is cricket being played in parks and on streets. Soccer is popular mainly in Kolkata.
Hoping to attend India v Pakistan T20 in Chennai, should be exciting and tense.

Rjd2

dooferoaks wrote: »

Good end to the tour for England, not convinced by some of their "specialist T20" players and I would pick Prior for all forms of the game the way he's playing at the moment, still, some great batting from the team today to draw the series. Good to see Morgan get a few too. Such a turn around in form, great to see. The way things are at the moment in Test Cricket, I don't think there is much between South Africa, Australia or England.

Their is a little between South Africa and England now to be fair, as they did outclass them to win 2-0 in England not so long ago.:P

Prior has had numerous opportunities in the limited overs formats of the game and failed every time, can't blame them for not giving him another opportunity.

At least they didn't pick Kiesswetter this time anyways.:D

booth70

dooferoaks wrote: »

The way things are at the moment in Test Cricket, I don't think there is much between South Africa, Australia or England.

I'd say Australia are not in the same class as SA or England right now....I'd put SA comfortably ahead of England and don't forget Pakistan....they only thrashed England 3-0 not so long ago

Top Tier
SA
England
Australia and Pakistan

Bottom Tier
Sri Lanka
India , NZ and WI