***Official England in India***

[Uppercut]

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.

I wouldn't criticise him, it was an excellent innings. But i still don't think he scored enough to win this match.

Of much more concern is England's failure to take advantage of powerplays, yet again.

 

[Furball]

I wouldn't criticise him, it was an excellent innings. But i still don't think he scored enough to win this match.

Of much more concern is England's failure to take advantage of powerplays, yet again.

If the bolded proves true, then India's bowlers deserve immense credit, as oppose to criticising England's batsmen and Pietersen in particular.

edit: With regards to the powerplays, it'll take time before captains get used to the tactics of the batting powerplay.

In the 3rd ODI, I think Pietersen missed a trick. Bell and Bopara were going like a train, and it would have made sense in my opinion to take the batting powerplay immediately. Dhoni would have been faced with 2 options - bowl his seamers into the ground, or bring on the spinners and risk them getting absolutely smashed.

 

[Richard]

Harmison to open the bowling. Regardless of whether he gets gifted 3 wickets or even more unlikely, bowls stupendously well, this is poor captaincy.

Flintoff should be bowling first-up.

 

[social]

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.

There is no point debating with you because you never admit that you are wrong

Anyway, the tally now stands at

Social - 419.75

Richard - .25 (for effort)

 

[Richard]

There is no point debating with you because you never admit that you are wrong

That's because if I thought something was wrong, I wouldn't have said it at all. I'm not going to admit something is wrong if I don't think it's wrong.

 

[Athlai]

 

[Richard]

Hmm...

Anyway, Sehwag off to the usual Sehwag start, wonder if we'll get the recent Sehwag continuation of a good start, or the old Sehwag of 2003-2007/08 giving it away pretty quickly.

And Broad is silly to complain about a ball that was leg-side of leg-stump being wided.

 

[wpdavid]

I've just spotted that SRT is playing his 419th ODI.
Has anyone played more?

 

[Athlai]

I've just spotted that SRT is playing his 419th ODI.
Has anyone played more?

Sanath + 2

 

[wpdavid]

Sanath + 2

Good call - I forgot how long he's been playing.

 

[Richard]

Sehwag.

 

[wpdavid]

Harmison finding his groove at last, and this'll be over in no time.

Poor decision not to start with Fred, given that Harmy's known not to enjoy the new ball.

 

[silentstriker]

Sehwag - on song, he's insane. Especially in Tests, but even here.

I never thought I'd see a run a ball triple century. I don't rate that knock, but you can't say that too many others are capable of doing something like that.

 

[Richard]

Harmison finding his groove at last, and this'll be over in no time.

Poor decision not to start with Fred, given that Harmy's known not to enjoy the new ball.

Harmison is fairly well guaranteed to be poor brand-new or 8-over-old ball, but Flintoff can potentially offer early economy. Especially given India have shown they're prepared to play him and wait for the easier pickings offered by other bowlers.

Doing that under these circumstances just might end-up getting themselves in a hole. I wonder how they'll treat him given the start they've gotten now.

 

[wpdavid]

Harmison is fairly well guaranteed to be poor brand-new or 8-over-old ball, but Flintoff can potentially offer early economy. Especially given India have shown they're prepared to play him and wait for the easier pickings offered by other bowlers.

Doing that under these circumstances just might end-up getting themselves in a hole. I wonder how they'll treat him given the start they've gotten now.

Won't really matter, afaics. This'll be another walkover, no? You just don't see any English bowler posing a threat, and Fred's economy will be neither here nor there.

 

[silentstriker]

Here's Freddie...

 

[Furball]

Gorgeous shot that from Tendulkar. Absolutely sublime.

 

[Richard]

That one was even better, fabulous fine glide.

Good to see a bit of imaginative captaincy though, with the Powerplay not taken.

 

[wpdavid]

That one was even better, fabulous fine glide.

Good to see a bit of imaginative captaincy though, with the Powerplay not taken.

He didn't really have much option, did he?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Anyone strongly opposed to stripping England of ODI status?