*Official* Second Test at Trent Bridge

[centurymaker]

It is more a reaction of 'Underrate India at your own peril'. Also after the first test, the English media and former English players (so called experts) were portraying the team as if it is the most perfect team to assemble on a cricket field ever and that India had no chance whatsoever.

spot on. no one's saying that india's got this in the bag. they are just pointing out that india aren't a mediocre side like the english media has portrayed it to be.

I believe it's is going to be close game on this bowler friendly pitch. May even end in a draw because bad weather is forecast for the last two days.

 

[Spark]

Considering the conditions, England shouldn't be too unhappy. I think about 260 would have been par but considering the wickets lost in the 2nd session, this is an excellent score. That's the advantage of having the deepest lineup in cricket. 1-10 (maybe not #6) can all bat and #11 can hang around. Signs of fletchers insistence on having cricketers with multiple skill sets evident there.

India need a lead of at least 150 and that's going to be very very hard. Someone needs a big century. The good news is that barring the weather, there will be a result one way or another in this game, which is great to see.

Yeah, my estimation is that 220 is only somewhat below par - 30-50 runs or so - and that considering they were on track for a simply undefendable total and that batting should be a lot easier when they have their second crack, and India will bat last on what is normally a pitch that wears, they won't be too displeased. Obviously India is in front, but not by a lot, and a good session or two will swing it England's way (possibly literally)

 

[honestbharani]

England needed 2 or 3 by close of play for honours to be even. Dravid & Laxman may have rode their luck at times, but they'll get stronger as the ball gets older and you'd fancy a couple of India's batsmen to make sizeable contributions. Unless there's early wickets tomorrow, this is looking like a repeat of 2007. Shame, but there's been so much crap written and said about this England team lately that it was almost bound to happen.

Nah still think game is in England's bag.. The loss of Viru, GG and Zak is just gonna show us up.

 

[CricAddict]

Nah still think game is in England's bag.. The loss of Viru, GG and Zak is just gonna show us up.

Zak's absence was a blessing in disguise for India with Sreesanth and others rising to the occasion. Let us see if Yuvraj can emulate the same.

 

[Howe_zat]

No idea what happened for the latter two sessions but we were bound to have a nightmare sooner or later.

Reckon the wicket at the end just about keeps us in it. Another one in the evening perhaps would've had it even? How did England bowl, anyway?

I like that we can keep coming back with our lower or but this is the third failure in a row for half the batsmen, pretty poor. Eoin Morgan really starting to concern me.

 

[Spark]

No idea what happened for the latter two sessions but we were bound to have a nightmare sooner or later.

Reckon the wicket at the end just about keeps us in it. Another one in the evening perhaps would've had it even? How did England bowl, anyway?

I like that we can keep coming back with our lower or but this is the third failure in a row for half the batsmen, pretty poor. Eoin Morgan really starting to concern me.

Afternoon session was about as bad as it gets.

The bowling was good - Broad, once again, was outstanding, bowled some "pray and hope you miss it" balls, whilst Anderson was probing without being vicious - without doing quite enough to dislodge. Probably need to get it a little bit fuller. 1-down is probably fair.

 

[Bun]

England was pretty good. But not great.

 

[Spark]

Yeah I don't think one can seriously claim that they deserved more wickets, given the quality of batting too.

---

EDIT: A little PSA. Most of you will be well aware that the posting in this thread, especially in the morning session, was of a despicable standard. It improved in the later sessions, but nonetheless - I didn't hand out official warnings or infractions A. because I was busy trying to watch the actual match and make sure the thread didn't explode and B. I'm a nice guy and I didn't want to infract half a dozen different posters or whatever it became.

That will not be the case tonight, as a general warning.

 

[ankitj]

Zak's absence was a blessing in disguise for India with Sreesanth and others rising to the occasion. Let us see if Yuvraj can emulate the same.

In these conditions? I highly doubt it. We practically have three and a half batsmen, half being Raina who has guts and grit but not quite the technique.

 

[fredfertang]

The whole bloody day just wasn't meant to happen that way - its always the same with England when I'm not around to keep an eye on them

 

[ankitj]

The whole bloody day just wasn't meant to happen that way - its always the same with England when I'm not around to keep an eye on them

Haha. That's one of the superstitions I also harbour. If I don't watch the match, India will do everything wrong - playing rash shots, bowling rubbish half volleys and dropping sitters

 

[Daemon]

Haha. That's one of the superstitions I also harbour. If I don't watch the match, India will do everything wrong - playing rash shots, bowling rubbish half volleys and dropping sitters

You better stay glued to that television screen, ankit, or I'm blaming everything on you.

 

[honestbharani]

Ankit to be out all day.. England's game to lose, tbh.

 

[Anku31]

I think it's a big test for the three Indian giants today.If could could do well today (even score a half-century each) the whole day will be sealed in favour of India.
If they could stick to the wicket,it would be frustrating for Anderson & co. after seeing Ishant,Praveen & Sreesanth tattering the England batting line-up yesterday.

 

[GotSpin]

Missed last nights action unfortunately. Was out on the beers. Looking forward to tonight though.

FMD I love test cricket in England though. Great atmosphere, good pitches, and stuff for the bowlers.

 

[Anku31]

FMD I love test cricket in England though. Great atmosphere, good pitches, and stuff for the bowlers.

I won't be surprised if every test produces a result in this series.Excellent atmosphere for test cricket.

 

[Spark]

seam no where near as dangerous to top batsmen as swing

Disagree massively with this ftr. Seam is much more difficult to control obviously but a ball that seams a lot > a ball that swings a lot, because it's way way way harder to pick.

 

[Howe_zat]

Two plays of the day so far from the highlights:

1. Swann setting himself up for the switch-hit against Harbhajan, who sees it coming and throws it short down the leg side. Swann decides against the shot just when the grip changes, and ends up playing a near-perfect left-handed backward defence.

2. Nasser commenting "All tailenders should be forced to bat like this".

On the whole - shades of Perth?

 

[Spark]

Perth was a much better batting deck, though. Even more pertinently England didn't have a lower order blast like they did yesterday - obviously Swann-Tremlett-Anderson-Finn is a significantly weaker tail than Bresnan-Broad(at 9!? I wouldn't be surprised if he ended his career or spent significant time at 7 some time in his career)-Swann-Anderson.

In any case what did we get at Perth? 260 and 300-odd, right? That was only with Mussey in hero mode too.

EDIT: Timezone lols

 

[Howe_zat]

I meant with the teams changed. Aus got to a just-about barely respectable score from the depths on day 1 thanks to a blast from Mitch, then he came back on day two to make it look like a great score.