***Official England in India***

[Scaly piscine]

Another couple of gift wickets for Panesar to boost his average. Opposition teams obviously want to keep the duffer in England's team.

 

[Manee]

Another couple of gift wickets for Panesar to boost his average. Opposition teams obviously want to keep the duffer in England's team.

I know you are not Monty's biggest fan, but two of Swann's wickets were as gifted to him as Monty's. I obviously cannot compare Harbhajan to Gambhir or Dravid (although, given Dravid's recent form... ) but surely the damage had already been done from the latter two. Moreover, how can you talk about England carrying a dead weight in the bowling department and not mention Stuart Broad who was largely ineffective after dismissing Sehwag - something which cannot be underplayed, but Sehwag does often tend to get himself out early.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Another couple of gift wickets for Panesar to boost his average. Opposition teams obviously want to keep the duffer in England's team.

Your dislike of poor old Monty is becoming a tad irrational.

 

[G.I.Joe]

I hear Scaly piscine spends his spare time poking at a turbaned doll with pins and needles.

 

[Manee]

I hear Scaly piscine spends his spare time poking at a turbaned doll with pins and needles.

I was wondering why the sudden dip in form from the great spinner.

(I'll stop now)

 

[Scaly piscine]

I know you are not Monty's biggest fan, but two of Swann's wickets were as gifted to him as Monty's. I obviously cannot compare Harbhajan to Gambhir or Dravid (although, given Dravid's recent form... ) but surely the damage had already been done from the latter two. Moreover, how can you talk about England carrying a dead weight in the bowling department and not mention Stuart Broad who was largely ineffective after dismissing Sehwag - something which cannot be underplayed, but Sehwag does often tend to get himself out early.

Swann and Broad can actually hold a bat and field, not that I'd have Broad in the team anyway. Also Swann was unlucky in the first place and I wouldn't have him in the team most of the time.

Panesar has been completely inept all series, he deserves to have 1-2 wickets at most over the two games. Before that he was competent but rubbish.

 

[andrew9120]

I think that India is a difficult place for bowlers who are not used to the conditions. The trouble for Monty is that I keep remembering South Africa chasing at Edgbaston and Monty sending Smith a four ball every over. Likewise I remember him sending the Indian batsmen regular four balls at Chennai. Its one thing for a bowler to be wicketless but it becomes seriously worrying when they seem to be relieving the pressure on the opposition.... I am also inclined to agree with Aggers that Montys biggest trouble is his failure to learn new tricks, although this could be said of alot of Englands attack.

 

[GIMH]

Umm, your own team isn't all there is. Clearly England are never going to win this game now and haven't been for quite a while, so I'm just pleased to see Dravid get some runs.

There are three days left. We could still win this.

Don't think our batsmen have the stomach for it, but a 450 1st innings doesn't make the game safe, IMO.

We just need to score a quick 400, declare, bowl them out for 150 and chase down 200, easy

 

[Lillian Thomson]

There are three days left. We could still win this.

Don't think our batsmen have the stomach for it, but a 450 1st innings doesn't make the game safe, IMO.

We just need to score a quick 400, declare, bowl them out for 150 and chase down 200, easy

 

[pup11]

There are three days left. We could still win this.

Don't think our batsmen have the stomach for it, but a 450 1st innings doesn't make the game safe, IMO.

We just need to score a quick 400, declare, bowl them out for 150 and chase down 200, easy

Well its good to be optimistic as a fan, but there is no chance of England winning this, if anything they are the once who could possibly lose this if they don't bat well, but still due to the weather the full 90 overs play won't be possible on either of the three days, so chances of any result are pretty bleak.

 

[Uppercut]

I think that India is a difficult place for bowlers who are not used to the conditions. The trouble for Monty is that I keep remembering South Africa chasing at Edgbaston and Monty sending Smith a four ball every over. Likewise I remember him sending the Indian batsmen regular four balls at Chennai. Its one thing for a bowler to be wicketless but it becomes seriously worrying when they seem to be relieving the pressure on the opposition.... I am also inclined to agree with Aggers that Montys biggest trouble is his failure to learn new tricks, although this could be said of alot of Englands attack.

I thought he bowled quite well in that run chase in terms of accuracy. He regularly hit the footmarks and didn't allow Smith to get onto the back foot, as well as picking up a couple of top-order wickets. The main issue there was that every ball turned, so Smith just planted his foot outside off stump and played with the turn without having to worry about bringing the caught behind into play. Monty badly needed an arm ball on that occasion.

The fault that's being exposed in India, already seen in Sri Lanka last year, was a lack of flight. Good flight is a bonus on English pitches, but an absolute necessity in the subcontinent.

 

[Richard]

There are three days left. We could still win this.

Don't think our batsmen have the stomach for it, but a 450 1st innings doesn't make the game safe, IMO.

We just need to score a quick 400, declare, bowl them out for 150 and chase down 200, easy

There aren't three days left though, there are three probably-just-about-3\4-days left. IOW, about 200 overs. There's no way 450 isn't going to be a safe total with that few overs left.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Thought Jimmy bowled really well today from what I managed to see (not a lot tbf). Better than yesterday, anyway.

 

[Richard]

I thought he bowled quite well in that run chase in terms of accuracy. He regularly hit the footmarks and didn't allow Smith to get onto the back foot, as well as picking up a couple of top-order wickets. The main issue there was that every ball turned, so Smith just planted his foot outside off stump and played with the turn without having to worry about bringing the caught behind into play. Monty badly needed an arm ball on that occasion.

The fault that's being exposed in India, already seen in Sri Lanka last year, was a lack of flight. Good flight is a bonus on English pitches, but an absolute necessity in the subcontinent.

Funny thing is, in theory a lack of flight should make a bowler even less effective over here than in the subcontinent. And even though MSP at England grounds other than Old Trafford hasn't been enormously successful, he's still been a damn sight more than he has been in India and Sri Lanka.

BTW, obviously Beevs was always going to be fuming about MSP being gifted those couple of wickets having been doing little but for the last 2-and-a-half years, but I'm so relieved Flintoff got gifted the last couple, he so deserved that and quite a bit more. Bloody Alastair useless Cook.

 

[Manee]

Flintoff today was rapid, accurate and provided enough movement on a docile pitch and ended up with just three wickets whereas the spinners were gifted with their fair few wickets. Flintoff really is an unlucky bowler, a lesser bowler would have ended up with five or more for that spell.

 

[Manee]

I'm so relieved Flintoff got gifted the last couple, he so deserved that and quite a bit more.

Amit Mishra does not gift his wicket, he was forced back into his crease and then done with the in-seaming delivery - such a complex ploy is often required to dislodge the Haryana number six stalwart!

 

[biased indian]

think ther is enough in the wicket for us to win

hopefully our seamers can take 3-4 wickets in the first session tommorrow

 

[Uppercut]

Funny thing is, in theory a lack of flight should make a bowler even less effective over here than in the subcontinent. And even though MSP at England grounds other than Old Trafford hasn't been enormously successful, he's still been a damn sight more than he has been in India and Sri Lanka.

BTW, obviously Beevs was always going to be fuming about MSP being gifted those couple of wickets having been doing little but for the last 2-and-a-half years, but I'm so relieved Flintoff got gifted the last couple, he so deserved that and quite a bit more. Bloody Alastair useless Cook.

Hmm, the problem (i think) with Monty on the subcontinent is that he can't get adequate bounce because he doesn't toss it up. But it's obviously not just the pitches, Monty's had other things going for him- the weakness of the NZ and WI batting lineups, the surprise factor as a fairly unique kind of bowler when he played in Australia, and a lot of luck in England outside OT. Somehow he finished with 13 wickets at 31 from the SA series where he was so ineffective it was ridiculous.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

If England had won the 1st Test i think they'd be pretty happy with how this test was going. The problem is England will find it very very hard to win from this position unless India totally collapse in the 2nd innings.

 

[Manee]

Dhoni as captain: 385 runs at 64.16 including five consecutive fifties - good effort.