*Official* First Test at Lord's

[Furball]

I was really thinking of the almighty fuss made by a scrabble playing denizen of County Durham, who seemed to return to these fair shores just to say Strauss had made the worst tactical decision since The Charge of The Light Brigade.

I think it was Benchy, possibly following Sun Tzu's maxim from The Art of War which I know he has memorised, who said that doing what your opponent wants least is often the best course of action and I thought and still think facing those potentially ticklish half dozen overs on Friday would be somehwere down there for the openers after a hard day in the field.

With the exception of the two openers I still think doing what India would have least wanted would have been to stay out and for Pietersen to attempt to go for the triple century by the close of play.

 

[Pothas]

Best bit of the day by far was Massively ****s Dhoni's massively **** shot.

 

[Burgey]

Tried and failed to go to to Lords today, wound up in a pub at Baker street, still a great day as whole place was full of fans from both sides,

When did we get so ****ing good???

Did you go to the Sherlock Holmes Museum or the zoo in Regents Park?

A nice mooch around Regents Park also a fine activity if you can't get into the cricket. Gardens lovely this time of year I'd imagine.

 

[Daemon]

Batting was terribad but positives can be taken from the bowling at least. Outplayed thoroughly though there are hints we can definitely make a comeback barring mishaps.

As for England, bowling + Prior, awesome to watch. And something tells me its going to take nothing less than the delivery Sharma bowled to get rid of Pieterson in the coming games, looks in good touch. Good thing hes captain in my fantasy team

 

[hazsa19]

My mate got there at 10.10 and got a couple of tickets. I got there at lunch and was treated to a great bowling display.

The best day of live cricket i've seen since 2005.

 

[Anil]

well done england!

 

[centurymaker]

wasn't surprised when i woke up and saw that england had won. convincing win

 

[LJMJ]

As poor as India's batting was, this would've still looked very different had Zaheer not gone down. Or if India had a 4th bowler. It's just awfully hard to maintain any type of momentum as a fielding side if you're only stuck with 3 full-time bowlers.

O Well, with the obligatory opening-test stink job now out of the way, hopefully India goes back to playing like the #1 team they are. They are much better than this, and I am seeing the same over-confidence from the English that SA suffered from after kicking India's butt in the first Test earlier this year, only to see India return the favor in the 2nd Test.

 

[Cevno]

As poor as India's batting was, this would've still looked very different had Zaheer not gone down. Or if India had a 4th bowler. It's just awfully hard to maintain any type of momentum as a fielding side if you're only stuck with 3 full-time bowlers.

O Well, with the obligatory opening-test stink job now out of the way, hopefully India goes back to playing like the #1 team they are. They are much better than this, and I am seeing the same over-confidence from the English that SA suffered from after kicking India's butt in the first Test earlier this year, only to see India return the favor in the 2nd Test.

Absolutely. Zaheer was bowling beautifully when he got injured and Trott had just been dropped in the first innings. And when we had them 62-5 in the second innings,one spell from Zaheer to complement Ishant could have done the trick.

Plus Dhoni has said that Sachin was playing with fever in both the innings. Which might explain somewhat him going into a strange shell in the second innings where between his 2 LBW appeals he made 1 run out of 40 balls.

While England Played well and were deserved winners, not too dissapointed with India's performance this game given the circumstances.

 

[silentstriker]

Yea too bad about Zaheer, but hey, that's sport. India's first Test woes continue. Hopefully there's a better showing in a couple of days.

The problem with Zaheer in three days is even if you think he will be OK, it's a risk with so recent an injury and you might to go in with five bowlers, just in case.

And yea, well played England but I'm not too dissapointed all things considered.

 

[Cevno]

That's why i was i advocating picking Irfan Pathan for this tour in the squad, for a long while now.

If Munaf and Sree come in it weakens the batting too much and what is worse is we don't have a fit Sehwag to fill in the spinners role if it turns, so that we can go with 4 seamers at trentbridge which is likely to favor them.

 

[hazsa19]

As poor as India's batting was, this would've still looked very different had Zaheer not gone down. Or if India had a 4th bowler. It's just awfully hard to maintain any type of momentum as a fielding side if you're only stuck with 3 full-time bowlers.

O Well, with the obligatory opening-test stink job now out of the way, hopefully India goes back to playing like the #1 team they are. They are much better than this, and I am seeing the same over-confidence from the English that SA suffered from after kicking India's butt in the first Test earlier this year, only to see India return the favor in the 2nd Test.

I've got a real problem with this. One bowler and one batsman having their problems does not equate to 197 runs and the fact that England declared twice.

Barring that, Test Cricket is a test, injuries are a part of that test, and it's your own fault for choosing a 4 man attack that relies so heavily on Zaheer.

 

[centurymaker]

I've got a real problem with this. One bowler and one batsman having their problems does not equate to 197 runs and the fact that England declared twice.

Barring that, Test Cricket is a test, injuries are a part of that test, and it's your own fault for choosing a 4 man attack that relies so heavily on Zaheer.

equates to more than 197 tbh.

in the 1st innings i doubt england would';ve got anything more than 350 in those conditions and in the 2nd innings they probably would';ve been bowled out for 100 runs less than what they got.

This test would've gone to the wire and some of the indian batsmen certainly wouldn't have taken the defensive approach in the last innings.

but thats how it is. if you lose players to injury, then hard luck!!

 

[Jacknife]

As poor as India's batting was, this would've still looked very different had Zaheer not gone down. Or if India had a 4th bowler. It's just awfully hard to maintain any type of momentum as a fielding side if you're only stuck with 3 full-time bowlers.

O Well, with the obligatory opening-test stink job now out of the way, hopefully India goes back to playing like the #1 team they are. They are much better than this, and I am seeing the same over-confidence from the English that SA suffered from after kicking India's butt in the first Test earlier this year, only to see India return the favor in the 2nd Test.

Where's this over confidence, that you speak of. I haven't read any serious posts like , where going to win 4-0 , or anything along those lines.
I also don't think any England fan, is under any disillusions, that India will play a lot better than they have at Lords but England fans also know, England can play a lot better, as well. You seem to be imo, mixing up happiness because the Test was won convincingly, with over confidence.

 

[Burgey]

equates to more than 197 tbh.

in the 1st innings i doubt england would';ve got anything more than 350 in those conditions and in the 2nd innings they probably would';ve been bowled out for 100 runs less than what they got.

This test would've gone to the wire and some of the indian batsmen certainly wouldn't have taken the defensive approach in the last innings.

but thats how it is. if you lose players to injury, then hard luck!!

If my aunty had balls, etc etc.

If Zaheer is there, who says Sharma gets the ball when he did in the second innings? Or Kumar for that matter? Who says Sharma would lift as he did and actually put in instead of being carried like he was in the first dig?

The point is, you don't know. Neither does anyone else.

Surely any sensible Indian supporter would have factored in Zaheer only playing in two tests in this series? Well, you've had one already.

India got hammered. End of.

 

[centurymaker]

If my aunty had balls, etc etc.

If Zaheer is there, who says Sharma gets the ball when he did in the second innings? Or Kumar for that matter? Who says Sharma would lift as he did and actually put in instead of being carried like he was in the first dig?

The point is, you don't know. Neither does anyone else.

Surely any sensible Indian supporter would have factored in Zaheer only playing in two tests in this series? Well, you've had one already.

India got hammered. End of.

who says india would've got out for less than 300 in both innings if there hadn't been scoreboard pressure?
this test would've been tight had zaheer not pulled his hamstring

 

[Cevno]

Well, how could the main bowler out of 4 getting injured in the first session of a match make any difference to a match between 2 very closely matched teams? Centurymaker clearly does not know what he is talking about,imo .

 

[Top_Cat]

In terms of bowling, in England they were never closely matched I'd suggest.

 

[Cevno]

In terms of bowling, in England they were never closely matched I'd suggest.

I said "Teams"?

 

[Turbinator]

Great work by England, congratulations to them and all their supporters/fans.

But tbh, I expected an England win in the first test. With that said, I also strongly believe India will hit back hard. With Zaheer out, Sachin and Gambhir recovering, I am fairly proud of the effort India put in. Yes they played some rash and unnecessary shots, but Raina's and Dravid's current form is a positive we can take from it. And the others are also hitting their strides. So, once again, there is no doubt in my mind that India will hit back hard and tie the series in the upcoming test.

Nonetheless, I have nothing but praise for England's performance. And like always, I was quite right with my praise for Anderson as I saw it coming

Can't wait for Friday!