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*Official* First Test at Lord's

Son Of Coco

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
At the same time, with the way KP was batting and with Tremlett and Anderson for support (who are no mugs with the bat), 60 runs off the last 7 overs of the day were perfectly possible, and given the failure to make any inroads in the overs we did get at them. An overnight declaration followed by bowling India out on day 3, even allowing for going in at lunch 72/5, means we'd have an enormous lead/India would be following on trying to save the Test.
Can't really assume anything past what actually happened though. Tremlett & co might have added extra runs...they might've gone out on consecutive balls.

As others have said, the problem lies with being 72/5...and you can't make declarations (o otherwise) thinking "what happens if we end up 72/5 in the second innings".

Edit: Still don't think England have any massive problems just yet. It is more interesting than it looked a few hours ago though.
 
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GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
If Prior and Morgan get in, Dhoni has some decisions to make. Will be a riveting session.

And I'll be doing a driving lesson. Eyes and mind on the road, right? ****ing hell
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Can't really assume anything past what actually happened though. Tremlett & co might have added extra runs...they might've gone out on consecutive balls.

As others have said, the problem lies with being 72/5...and you can't make declarations (o otherwise) thinking "what happens if we end up 72/5 in the second innings".

Edit: Still don't think England have any massive problems just yet. It is more interesting than it looked a few hours ago though.
Point is, the least amount of runs that England would have scored would still have been 478. With the way Pietersen was going, it was well worth the risk.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
you can't make declarations (o otherwise) thinking "what happens if we end up 72/5 in the second innings
DWTA completely. Obviously it shouldn't be a main consideration, but there was nothing to gain by declaring anyway so it was just an unnecessary risk. The possibly of being outplayed as the Test turns is always something that should be considered.

You can't make declarations just assuming you're going to play well for the rest of the match. Test cricket doesn't work like that.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
You mock me and laugh at me now, but when I'm headlining Live at the Apollo, no one is going to be laughing!
Wasn't mocking you, that wasn't what I was trying to say at all. Been meaning to check the link in your sig anyways.
 

Rush

Banned
Hmmm.. got a question. If SRT is only allowed after 5 wickets fall, what if India promote some tailenders/pinch hitters up the order?
 

NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
DWTA completely. Obviously it shouldn't be a main consideration, but there was nothing to gain by declaring anyway so it was just an unnecessary risk. The possibly of being outplayed as the Test turns is always something that should be considered.

You can't make declarations just assuming you're going to play well for the rest of the match. Test cricket doesn't work like that.
Yeah but it works the other way too. If they batted reasonably this innings and India manage to draw the Test 8 or 9 down, people will complain that they batted too long in the first innings.

5/260 still sees England in the box seat, but with 170 overs still left to be bowled in this Test it really could go any way. Awesome start to the series so far.
 

Scaly piscine

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Tbf regarding the declaration, it was very near the end of day two! We couldn't really go into day three still batting and hope to bowl out a strong Indian line-up twice, while possibly still having to bat again ourselves.
There would have been another 8-9 overs to bat (given ~10 minutes lost through change of innings and India faced 6 overs that evening), in which India were down to their lesser bowlers, only PK wasn't getting smashed and he'd just finished. Another 50-60 runs was a definite possibility without anything extreme happening. That number of runs has taken the best part of 25 overs to achieve in the 3rd innings. It was always going to take a good 20 overs even with normal play (which it was up to the collapse).

This is why the declaration was monumentally stupid. There's enough evidence of this already that the management should of figured this out by now. Ponting did some even more extremely moronic declarations, later got skittled for 150-160 and nearly lost as a result of it and that was at home against the West Indies I believe. You significantly increase the chance of losing. You don't increase the chance of forcing a result because in the end you lose time in your next innings getting the runs you should have scored in your first innings. In this era I don't think batting a team out of a game is a bad thing, sides aren't that used to just cutting out risks and batting out for a draw and that would help bowlers maintain attacking lines/lengths anyway.

In this era, unless you've lost huge chunks of play to rain there's almost always value in batting well beyond 500. Most of the time you'll need extra runs, once in a while you'll beat a side so comprehensively it won't matter.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Hmmm.. got a question. If SRT is only allowed after 5 wickets fall, what if India promote some tailenders/pinch hitters up the order?
What would be the point of that? Just go Mukund, Gambhir, Dravid (WAG), Laxman, Raina, Dhoni, Tendulkar.
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
Lunch couldn't come quick enough. A chance to calm the **** down and have someone say to them, "We are 260 for 5 and perfectly capable of getting another ton. We are not at home to Mr. ****up."
 

grecian

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
470+ declaration is vindicated by having a 200 run lead on a ground known for the flatness of the pitch. The problem lays with the 5-60 odd, not the 8-470
Disagree, totally, KP and Tremlett should have just been told to give it a whack, chances are they'd of got out or added 30 or 40 more quickly, which could have made all the difference. I don't much like declarations. I said it before the 5-60 odd too. Always likely with England after all, as I'm sure you know.
 

Uppercut

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You can't make declarations just assuming you're going to play well for the rest of the match. Test cricket doesn't work like that.
Exactly. There's no good reason not to take the full range of possibilities into account when making a decision.
 

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