***Official England in India***

[Precambrian]

Haha, so earlier on we got a non-chance that was gone for that shouldn't have been, now we get what should've been an easy catch not gone for.

Rohit Sharma struggling to sight the ball. Guess these poor lights are a disadvantage to fielders and not batsmen.

I hope he picks it when he bats.

 

[Richard]

So what do you call WC ODIs of England? Preparation for the next WC?

Probably. No matter how much attempted preparation is done, England have gotten nowhere for the last 4 tournaments and have been scrabbling around trying to find the best combination at the last minute.

 

[wpdavid]

260+ is difficult to chase considering that the dew, which will make batting soggy under the lights.

Maybe it would help if we had a decent swing bowler, but it sounds like Harmy's stuff will simply sit up & be smacked. Perhaps Colly will do well if you're right. But it sounds like Broad & Fred's use of the new ball will be absolutely crucial if we're going to have a contest.

 

[Precambrian]

I hope he picks it when he bats.

No acceleration towards the end by England. With 6 wickets in hand, expected they'd end up at 280 or whereabouts.

 

[Richard]

Last ball an oddity, but it's 270-4. Not a bad performance by England standards at all.

Wonder if it'll be enough.

 

[GIMH]

Should be an interesting chase itbt

 

[Scaly piscine]

158-3 after 30

KP Pietersen 65* (68b 8x4 1x6)


270-4 after 50

KP Pietersen 111* (128b 10x4 1x6)


If you look at the last 20 overs they've scored 112-1, KP made 46* off 60 balls with 2 fours. That's pretty poor.

 

[Richard]

Shah now averaging 56 in his last 13 games (10 innings').

Pietersen is the first England ODI captain to score a century outside Lord's and The Oval. Says a fair bit about how often England have picked mediocre one-day batsmen as one-day captains. Last decent one was Graham Gooch, and he played mostly in the old era of ODIs rather than the new.

 

[Precambrian]

158-3 after 30

KP Pietersen 65* (68b 8x4 1x6)


270-4 after 50

KP Pietersen 111* (128b 10x4 1x6)


If you look at the last 20 overs they've scored 112-1, KP made 46* off 60 balls with 2 fours. That's pretty poor.

Yeah, expected a score of 290+ seeing the way Shah was batting. KP slowed down towards his 100. Selfish.

 

[Richard]

If you look at the last 20 overs, KP made 46* off 60 balls with 2 fours. That's pretty poor.

His alternative would probably have been 14 off 14 balls or so then out. They bowled damn well to him, and if he'd tried to score too fast he'd probably have been out, then they'd bowled like that to the rest of the order, and it'd probably have been 230-240 all-out.

They bowled less well at Shah and he smacked it.

 

[Stapel]

No acceleration towards the end by England. With 6 wickets in hand, expected they'd end up at 280 or whereabouts.

Well, the last 4 overs went for 12, 9, 9 & 8. But indeed, England, or rather Pietersen, slowed down. Which is odd......

Did the circumstances alter? Or can we conclude England were too hesitating towards the end?

 

[Richard]

No, Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan just bowled damn well. The only thing about Pietersen today that disappointed me was how he didn't try to smash Yuvraj Singh's bowling (and that was earlier on). Other than that, damn good innings. The bowler controls the game and you cannot expect any batsmen to hit unhittable bowling, however good he is.

 

[Precambrian]

No, Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan just bowled damn well. The only thing about Pietersen today that disappointed me was how he didn't try to smash Yuvraj Singh's bowling (and that was earlier on). Other than that, damn good innings. The bowler controls the game and you cannot expect any batsmen to hit unhittable bowling, however good he is.

Pietersen certainly looked not taking risks even after PP3. They had full 6 wickets in hand, and by any standards, 117/0 in the last 20 overs looks way bizzare.

 

[Richard]

The main reason was that they kept hitting good areas to him. Had he taken risks, he'd probably just have been out and England would've gotten a few less than they ended-up getting.

 

[Precambrian]

The main reason was that they kept hitting good areas to him. Had he taken risks, he'd probably just have been out and England would've gotten a few less than they ended-up getting.

I can understand Pietersen's tactics for the first 10 overs. But since Powerplay, they were looking content to taking singles, and boundaries came only in the last 3 overs or so. certainly they'd care less about wickets in the last 5 overs right? Kevin could've been tired and Patel could have blasted off.

 

[Richard]

But Patel isn't as good as Pietersen is at hitting balls that need hitting. You saw in the last over how well Pietersen can smack them, even if he has been in for 45 overs.

Pietersen is never well served, IMO, gifting his wicket trying to score boundaries off deliveries he has negligable chance of scoring them off. That in fact applies to most batsmen. Especially when there is little hitting power to come after him.

Patel = not a hitter. Prior = rubbish. Broad = not a hitter. Swann = highly unproven.

 

[Uppercut]

I don't think they've got enough tbh. First time in living memory i've watched a KP innings and thought he'd scored a little bit too slowly.

 

[Furball]

Only Pietersen could be criticised for hitting an unbeaten century in an ODI.

Had he gone on an all out offensive, the same critics would have blasted him for batting brainlessly when England needed him to bat out the innings.

 

[social]

No, wickets at this stage are of small value. Saving runs in a ODI is always valuable.

Owais Shah ends up with 66 @ 116 - proves the point entirely

 

[Richard]

Yeah, it does - my point. So if they'd stopped that four things would've been totally different, as he'd have got an odd rather than even number off that ball.

Going for the catch you had no chance of taking damaged India's chances.