England vs India

[Spaghetti Legs]

I think leaving Ashwin out of the Indian team has been a mistake. He would have caused the England batsmen more problems than the pace men.

And Jadeja, i was listening an Indian pundit on TMS (Prakash?) and he scoffed at the idea of Jadeja making way for Ashwin which i thought was strange, Ashwin is a better spinner and a decent batsman, he has a test century to his name (maybe 2?), might not be as destructive a batsman as Jadeja but still, India surely need to be giving themselves the best shot at getting 20 wickets? along with hoping Kohli, Dhawan and Pujara turn up.

 

[tony]

They are definately missing a trick not playing Ashwin, but his overseas bowling record is woeful and is why they are not picking him. Pretty wierd why bring him if there is no intention in playing him. Back up for Jadeja - must piss him off royally

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

Hope Finn gets his chance and smashes it, England are a better team having a fit and firing Steve Finn in it.

David Saker being around him though, it's a struggle to see how that will work.

 

[kingjulian]

Apparently Fletcher has the Indian batsmen practicing sweep shot!!!


Im really surprised he has lasted so long. He has to go imo...never understood Indian Cicket.

 

[tony]

Apparently Fletcher has the Indian batsmen practicing sweep shot!!!


Im really surprised he has lasted so long. He has to go imo...never understood Indian Cicket.

Seeing as India have lost 54 out of 119 wickets to English spinners in the last two series I would have thought a little coaching wouldn't go amiss!! I don't know if its the IPL but your batsmen don't seem to have the patience to play spin anymore. The smash him out of the attack attitude has clearly not worked. Ali bowls enough four balls without needing to take liberties.

 

[Portly]

On the Sky Sports commentary during the last test, Sourav Ganguly remarked that the notion that Indian batsmen were "good with spin" is now a myth.

 

[kingjulian]

Seeing as India have lost 54 out of 119 wickets to English spinners in the last two series I would have thought a little coaching wouldn't go amiss!! I don't know if its the IPL but your batsmen don't seem to have the patience to play spin anymore. The smash him out of the attack attitude has clearly not worked. Ali bowls enough four balls without needing to take liberties.

None of the Indian batsmen would have been coached to play sweep shot mate...

From grassroot level they have always been asked to use their feet. If you have watched any Indian domestic cricket at all, you would no why im so pissed off about this.

If you are setting up a session on the eve of a match to sweep sweep and sweep some more..... you are wasting time.

I dont know how to explain it ....but this is the dumbest thing to do with Indian batsmen.

Success comes with good preparation and Fletcher has always failed in providing that and is a big reason for the catastropic performace since Kirsten.

He is a worse coach than Chappell and thats saying something.

 

[kingjulian]

On the Sky Sports commentary during the last test, Sourav Ganguly remarked that the notion that Indian batsmen were "good with spin" is now a myth.

I said that earlier in this thread...

 

[Portly]

I said that earlier in this thread...

You were right!

India currently 8-3 after 5 overs. Bad decision to bat first in overcast conditions which are helping Anderson and Broad!

Sorry make that 8-4.

 

[Brizzle]

Cracking start! Awful decision to bat first, surely the ball would quite clearly be swinging!

 

[Red Astaire]

Blimey I pop to Waitrose for 30 mins come back and 4 wickets gone! The pitch will dry out and should be ok to bat on but it's too bloody late. As @Brizzle said what the hell were they thinking!

 

[Portly]

Ganguly is saying that the Indians will have expected the swing, but what has surprised them is the pace and carry in the wicket. He reckons that it wasn't a bad decision to bat first at the time.

 

[Red Astaire]

Well I missed the pre match commentary and the toss. I would have thought with clouds about and arguably the best swing bowler in the world chomping at the bit would make them think twice about batting. Guess we'll see how it pans out. Looks good for England so far though!

 

[Brizzle]

Can't wait for Woakes to come on - really rate him for his good line and length from the past few matches. Might get a few more nibbles in these conditions.

 

[tony]

Cracking start! Awful decision to bat first, surely the ball would quite clearly be swinging!

The plan was for England to bat last as Old Trafford spins and they are playing two spinners.

 

[tony]

Ganguly is saying that the Indians will have expected the swing, but what has surprised them is the pace and carry in the wicket. He reckons that it wasn't a bad decision to bat first at the time.

Its the fastest test pitch we have, surely they knew that, Ganguly even played for Lancashire ffs

 

[Brizzle]

Interesting discussion re: Finn on TMS. I think they're right - if he is in the squad - play him! Don't just make him sit on the side. Perfect pitch for him to come back to - I personally would have taken Jordan out again although understand the approach of keeping some consistency. In the long run I think Finn will be a definite starter with Broad and Jimmy and so needs to get back into the squad as soon as he can.

 

[Red Astaire]

Yep agree with this^^^^^ Strange given the rubbish that Jordan was throwing down last test.

 

[tony]

Yup it would have been lovely to see him get the Indians hopping around, especially with the rubbish Jordan bowled in the first innings

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

Today reminds me of the good days we used to have 3/4 years ago at home, that Pakistan series where Broad and Anderson killed it, think we bowled them out for under 100 3 times in that series.

Just thinking about that, Amir must be back soon from his ban, will be interesting to see how he goes.

 

[Red Astaire]

Heh good point @Spaghetti Legs - I saw a fair few of those London tests including the one after Amir and the others got 'found out' and Trott kicked off with someone in the nursery end. I have a funny story about that - I won't go into too much detail but the Pakistan fans where I was sitting with were a disgrace that day and as a result I got a free ticket to Lords on a day of my choosing after I complained

 

[tony]

Today reminds me of the good days we used to have 3/4 years ago at home, that Pakistan series where Broad and Anderson killed it, think we bowled them out for under 100 3 times in that series.

Funny you should say that - I was thinking it had the feeling of the Melbourne test 2010 up to where Balance got out. Think we will need a big lead today, don't fancy chasing too many

 

[gkmacca]

Great win, but I was really looking forward to a Sunday of Test cricket!

 

[Portly]

Not sure if you are being ironic there gkmacca. Hurricane Bertha is going to hit Old Trafford tomorrow.

 

[tony]

Fantastic performance - Root and Buttler's partnership invaluable but what an inept batting display from India - really really poor. IPL responsable perhaps

 

[SummerOnions]

Did not expect this turnaround! Thought Cook was done for. Good to see

 

[Mersey86]

I was wondering, watching Broad's injury ..... couldn't one of the Indians have kindly removed his helmet for him, removed the ball, and claimed the catch?

 

[kingjulian]

Very inept performance from India...folding in three days. The first innings is understandable, but again folding so ridiculously under pressure in the second innings is not. No balls to slug it out.

 

[Portly]

If the Indians had been able to bat for the rest of Saturday, there's a good chance it would have been a draw, because the weather forecast for Sunday and Monday is terrible. They seemed to have a "couldn't care less" attitude, playing risky shots. That included Dhoni.

 

[Judge Jules]

Michael Vaughan was saying on TV earlier today that he thinks they're mentally kaput now. Pathetic if true, considering the start they had in the series.