*Official* First Test at Lord's

[Jacknife]

Kevin Pietersen and Praveen Kumar congratulate each other | Photo | England v India 2011 | ESPN Cricinfo

this photo sums up the day.

kumar was gun today- really wanted him to do well so that people would stop crticizing him for his lack of pace. flintoff, boyoctt, hussain and co take that *****

'there are 100s of kumar sort of trundlers in county cricket' 'he wouldn't even get into a county side' 'his pace wouldn't even worry my mum' etc etc

Good photo that.

 

[oitoitoi]

Very few county trundlers can swing it that much under sunny skies, with the old ball too. You won't see many bowlers who are able to reverse swing it at lords. Top effort, single handedly kept India in the game. Should be effective at trent bridge too, maybe edgbaston, could struggle at the oval though.

 

[shankar]

Good photo that.

Yeah. They played together for RCB in the IPL.

 

[Howe_zat]

Draw definitely on the cards now, despite the weather. With two days gone England have got to make them follow on if they want to force it.

Sad to see my call on the declaration vindicated. Think the bowlers tried to do too much, too fast to take the oppertunity - hence Tremmers not managing his line. Would've been just as positive to swing the bat, and we'd be 50 runs to the good.

 

[vcs]

Kevin Pietersen and Praveen Kumar congratulate each other | Photo | England v India 2011 | ESPN Cricinfo

this photo sums up the day.

kumar was gun today- really wanted him to do well so that people would stop crticizing him for his lack of pace. flintoff, boyoctt, hussain and co take that *****

'there are 100s of kumar sort of trundlers in county cricket' 'he wouldn't even get into a county side' 'his pace wouldn't even worry my mum' etc etc

That's good to see. Was pretty annoyed at Pietersen when he was waving his bat at him yesterday.

 

[honestbharani]

I have said this so many times.. but in an odd way, it is good to see us suck in the first test of a series, esp. away ones. Means we will remain true to form and do well in the rest.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Have to defend Strauss here a little, he didn't get the wicket before the close he'd have hoped for, but taking 20 wickets versus this line up is going to be a lot of hard yakka and, with the English summer living down to its reputation, every over could be vital, cliche territory as that is.

 

[Howe_zat]

KP got to his 50 from 134 balls (SR 37) and the next 152 from 182 balls (SR 84.)

 

[zaremba]

Yup, poor declaration, I find myself largely in agreement with Scaly's rant. The only point in favour is that the Indian openers might have been expected to be a bit knackered after a couple of days in the field, and had the horrible "surviving a short session" factor to cope with.

Well played those who played well. Loved that image of KP ruffling Praveen's hair - slight shades of Freddie/Brett and yet KP manages to be the tiniest bit condescending at the same time. Which in a way is one of the best things that KP brings to this team: a sense of belief and a shaking off of the inferiority complex that had plagued England teams for years before the mid-2000s.

 

[Jacknife]

have to defend strauss here a little, he didn't get the wicket before the close he'd have hoped for, but taking 20 wickets versus this line up is going to be a lot of hard yakka and, with the english summer living down to its reputation, every over could be vital, cliche territory as that is.

awta.

 

[hazsa19]

Don't think the declaration has made much of a difference, with pretty much a session lost Strauss knows he has to press on. It looks pretty placid for batting when the sun's out, so if they have to score quick in the 3rd innings shouldnt be too hard, especially with Zaheer potentially out of the picture.

Anderson and Tremlett didn't look too threatening. Tremlett swinging it in to the lefties just isn't going to work, he get's too much bounce on a surface where there's decent bounce to begin with. It's always going to go over. Think he'd be better off bowling an off stump/just outside off stump line with 2 gullies in place. Anderson not swinging it anywhere near what I expected given the hype, the way he was being talked up I was expecting some Akramesque banana stuff. Still if the clouds come over tomorrow could be interesting. Was more impressed with what I saw in those 6 overs from Mukund than his whole Windies tour, looked tight, relatively compact, good stance against the right arm overs, open but not too open, didn't play around his front pad too much. Think he knows that Tremlett isn't going to get him that way barring a bad umpiring decision. Also he didn't look too overawed which is good for a young opener. Not expecting much from broad, and I think the Indians should do well against Swann, 3 lefties but Gambhir and Raina excellent against spin, Swann much less effective against the right handers. I predict runs, tomorrow's going to be all about Sachin.

Do you have anything original to say? And Anderson isn't about swinging it hoops. It only needs to move an inch to take an edge.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Have to defend Strauss here a little, he didn't get the wicket before the close he'd have hoped for, but taking 20 wickets versus this line up is going to be a lot of hard yakka and, with the English summer living down to its reputation, every over could be vital, cliche territory as that is.

Problem is that the chances of a wicket are probably pretty low due to the bowlers taking a few overs to find their straps, and by the time they have done it's time to go off anyway. While it gives us two bites at the unsettled batsmen, the problem is that those two bites will be taken by bowlers who are necessarily equally unsettled.

I think we'd have gained more in terms of making as sure as possible we don't lose by plundering some more runs if possible than we gained in trying to increase our chances of winning by giving ourselves 6 overs which were always more likely to be unsuccessful than successful.

 

[hazsa19]

Lets be honest. Can any of you see India pulling an Adelaide 06 on us? May as well have as long bowling at them as possible,

 

[Tom Halsey]

Lets be honest. Can any of you see India pulling an Adelaide 06 on us? May as well have as long bowling at them as possible,

We still probably have a higher % chance of winning batting on anyway. Our best chance of winning is by getting them to follow on, and batting on would have given us the best chance of that.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Problem is that the chances of a wicket are probably pretty low due to the bowlers taking a few overs to find their straps, and by the time they have done it's time to go off anyway. While it gives us two bites at the unsettled batsmen, the problem is that those two bites will be taken by bowlers who are necessarily equally unsettled.

I think we'd have gained more in terms of making as sure as possible we don't lose by plundering some more runs if possible than we gained in trying to increase our chances of winning by giving ourselves 6 overs which were always more likely to be unsuccessful than successful.

I am a pessimist by nature, but even I'm fairly confident of our chances of avoiding defeat with 474 on the board.

I think the psychological effect of declarations is sometimes overstated, but in this case it was quite pleasing Strauss was able to slap his old fella down on the table and say "this is what I've got, I reckon it's long enough", especially after being inserted. Oooer, missus, etc.

 

[vcs]

Lets be honest. Can any of you see India pulling an Adelaide 06 on us? May as well have as long bowling at them as possible,

2nd Test: Australia v India at Adelaide, Dec 12-16, 2003 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[silentstriker]

It's pretty sick that Lancashire team has bench bowlers who can get on the Lord's honor board in their first match at Lords.

 

[silentstriker]

Thoughts on the day:

That's a great photo between KP and Praveen.

I hate Ishant. What a douche.

I think the declaration is fine. Pretty good in fact. You lost most of the first day, and based on how India are bowling, England aren't going to lose this match - so might as well give yourself some time to bowl the opposition out. Yes, in hindsight, it may not look good because India didn't lose any wickets, but that's a chance you take - India could easily be two down by now and it would look genius.

Good on Strauss - he wants a result and I can't ever blame someone for trying even if it backfires (which it won't - India can't bowl, Praveen will be dead from exhaustion by the end of this match).

Praveen WAG. Yes his bad balls look atrocious. But all balls from Ishant look atrocious. I'll take the former.

Always preferred Cook to KP but hey double century is a double century, toothless attack or not, well played and well done to the man.

Indian fielders...WAC all of them except probably Raina. GAGF all of you. Catches win matches.

LOL Eion Morgan - I do hope he hit that and that's why he didn't review and not because he thought he was given LBW and it was unreviewable.

No UDRS for LBWs...Dhoni/BCCI/Sachin can GAGF too.

 

[Jacknife]

Just watching the highlights and I can't believe, Morgan didn't review that decision, from the evidence he clearly didn't hit it and hit his pad, very strange.
Oh, they've just said, apparently Morgan thought he hit it, at the time but it turns out, it was his pad he clipped.

 

[BoyBrumby]

It said on the cricinfo rolling commentary that the word was Morgan thought he'd hit it.

Having watched the highlights he did a good impression of someone looking pissed off with the decision for someone who believed he'd edged the ball.