***Official*** India in England

[TheGreatAusie]

In context of the series though, is it that ridiculous? It's made it nigh on impossible for England to win the game. Lets be honest, a series win is a series win, whether its 1-0 or 2-0. They've given England just about no chance to notch up the runs needed to tie the series. Their best chance was if they were made to follow on, really.

Can understand where your coming from, but test wins come rarely for India overseas, and this was a perfect chance for India to notch up a place on the ICC rankings too.

A 2-0 win would be a mentally nice result going into the 7 ODI's too!

 

[Prince EWS]

Wow, Atherton just listed the top wicket taking spinners from county cricket and the list goes something like Mushtaq, Kaneria, Murali, Warne, Panesar...there are like four-five names before any English spinner, and like six-seven before any English spinner other than Panesar.

Surely the cupboard isn't that bare?

Monty Panesar
2007: 49 wickets @ 27.53
2006: 78 wickets @ 28.57
2005: 51 wickets @ 22.47

Gary Keedy
2007: 20 wickets @ 23.95
2006: 61 wickets @ 27.21
2005: 33 wickets @ 22.81

Adil Rashid
2007: 38 wickets @ 38.26
2006: 25 wickets @ 25.16

Gareth Batty
2007: 32 wickets @ 33.43
2006: 43 wickets @ 33.46
2005: 33 wickets @ 37.50

Graeme Swann
2007: 39 wickets @ 31.51
2006: 28 wickets @ 44.53
2005: 33 wickets @ 39.60

Shaun Udal
2007: 9 wickets @ 33.55
2006: 15 wickets @ 43.06
2005: 44 wickets @ 18.90

Robert Croft
2007: 29 wickets @ 41.86
2006: 66 wickets @ 32.00
2005: 43 wickets @ 49.62

James Tredwell
2007: 21 wickets @ 36.80
2006: 26 wickets @ 35.65
2005: 3 wickets @ 48.66

Ian Salisbury
2007: 9 wickets @ 70.44
2006: 62 wickets @ 27.93
2005: 7 wickets @ 51.28

Ian Blackwell
2007: 21 wickets @ 30.23
2006: 3 wickets @ 46.43
2005: 28 wickets @ 56.03

Richard Dawson
2007: 5 wickets @ 33.60
2006: 8 wickets @ 87.62
2005: 27 wickets @ 40.66

Alex Loudon
2007: 8 wickets @ 76.12
2006: 32 wickets @ 34.28
2005: 37 wickets @ 36.64

Keedy is interesting. He plays at the same county as Murali, so he doesn't always get picked - hence his low wicket count. He's not a spring chicken though and his batting is dire.

 

[Gloucefan]

Oh come on Indian fans you're going to be the first team to win in England since 2001, Dravid's decision is questionable at worst. Give him a break.

 

[Prince EWS]

In context of the series though, is it that ridiculous? It's made it nigh on impossible for England to win the game. Lets be honest, a series win is a series win, whether its 1-0 or 2-0. They've given England just about no chance to notch up the runs needed to tie the series. Their best chance was if they were made to follow on, really.

I wasn't really against the decision at first, but the innings that followed left me scratching my head. If he decided he wanted to bat for the rest of today and just play time, that would have been fine... but Dhoni's innings and then the declaration seemed to contradict the rest of the effort. They didn't really seem to have a common goal out there.

 

[stumpski]

Interesting to see those spinners' stats there. Does Loudon's 8 wickets include the four he took yesterday?

Batty's figures are better than I'd have expected. Richard Dawson was dropped by Northants after taking one wicket in two CC matches and his county career looks in real danger now.

 

[Prince EWS]

Interesting to see those spinners' stats there. Does Loudon's 8 wickets include the four he took yesterday.

Sure does.

 

[Turbinator]

Only three times has a team batted out 110 overs in the final innings at The Oval.

 

[stumpski]

Looks like SRT's getting a bit of turn already. I wonder if India will have cause to regret not playing Powar.

 

[adharcric]

Uhh, why was Zaheer fielding at backward point?

Get a wicket now!

 

[Prince EWS]

Looks like SRT's getting a bit of turn already. I wonder if India will have cause to regret not playing Powar.

To be fair though, Sreesanth took two crucial wickets in the first innings. He got rid of Collingwood once set on 63, and then Prior a few overs later to expose the tail.

 

[stumpski]

True, but a second spinner could have played in place of RP - all hindsight, though.

 

[Prince EWS]

True, but a second spinner could have played in place of RP - all hindsight, though.

Yeah, but as you said - hindsight. They really could have played Powar instead of Jaffer or Dravid in hindsight but it was never going to happen. Powar/Sreesanth/Bose was the call they had to make and I'm still convinced they made the right one.

 

[Tomm NCCC]

Hey, we're still in it

Usually, Im not one to be blindly optimistic, I think its 444 off 100 overs they need to get. Ive seen stranger things happen in cricket, and If Cook and Strauss can put on another 100 runs, we still have Big hitters like KP, Colly, and even Matt Prior can score quick runs. As unlikely as it is, don't write England off yet. records are made to be broken

 

[stumpski]

Only 90 overs left, surely - they're not adding on time in this game are they?

Five an over, almost - not a problem while attacking fields are in place, but if England looked like getting close (and I remember India at this ground in '79), we'd see the gaps being closed.

 

[silentstriker]

I think if England are 7-8 wickets down, they can add 30 mins more.

 

[Tomm NCCC]

Apologies, I heard Bumble say we had 100 tommorow

OK then, 444 off 90

yeah, a touch under 5. You never know, you just never know.

 

[stumpski]

I think if England are 7-8 wickets down, they can add 30 mins more.

You're talking about the 'extra half hour' - I'm pretty certain you can't have that on a final day. That's to stop everyone coming back for a few minutes when the match is near a conclusion on the penultimate day.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Went to see the 4th day at The Oval, got back about an hour ago. It was an entertaining, if tactically puzzling, day's cricket.

India's tactics at times seemed to suggest they're more than happy with the draw, ta very much. Dravid's innings boggled the mind. I'm a fan of his usually, but it was possibly the most monumentally selfish innings I've ever seen. Given that runs (& runs scored quickly if possible) were the order of the day (assuming India have ambitions to win the test, of course) his taking nearly 100 balls to score 12 served no purpose whatsoever. At least Ganguly (who's had an extremely impressive tour for mine) seemed to appreciate what the situation required.

India's bowling to Cook & Strauss was a little strange too; far too many balls (particularly early on) were able to be harmlessly left by the batters.

One final thing: Sreesanth's action. It looked a little iffy seeing it live, far more so than it appears on telly. It seems to become particularly ragged when he bowls his ball that comes back in to the left-handers.

 

[silentstriker]

One final thing: Sreesanth's action. It looked a little iffy seeing it live, far more so than it appears on telly. It seems to become particularly ragged when he bowls his ball that comes back in to the left-handers.

I've now heard this from numerous people. I am surprised he has not been tested yet.

 

[Sanz]

Dravid's innings was as good as Gavaskar's 60 over 36. Worst inning ever. Tendulkar proves once again that he is not the man for crisis, atleast not anymore. Gangs otoh showed everyone else how to play play the game in 4th inning. I have no problem with Dravid's decision to not enforce follow on though.