*Official* Third Test at Edgbaston

[Spark]

Intensity at an all time low at the moment with this wide Hilfenhaus like stuff.

 

[Uppercut]

I don't think England were at their best yesterday, but even so. Every single time a batting side fails against quality bowling, some of the opposition fans blame it on the batsmen by pointing out how poor some of the dismissals were in isolation. It's completely missing the point.

 

[Manee]

Look India, I don't expect you useless pieces of **** to get 10 wickets, but at least get one. Don't let England get 600/0 declared or something absurd like that.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

The lead will surely be whatever England want it to be. This is looking like a declaration innings.

Maybe, long way to go yet.

 

[hazsa19]

Reckon you need to repost what you said earlier about people who just look at the wicket-taking deliveries.

This is what happens when you watch the high-lights. You get no idea of the unrelenting pressure that this Indian team is under.

 

[Top_Cat]

Reckon you need to repost what you said earlier about people who just look at the wicket-taking deliveries.

Reckon I need to ****ing neck myself first.

 

[Manee]

Maybe, long way to go yet.

Definitely. I'd happily bet my life on it.

 

[Cevno]

I don't think England were at their best yesterday, but even so. Every single time a batting side fails against quality bowling, some of the opposition fans blame it on the batsmen by pointing out how poor some of the dismissals were in isolation. It's completely missing the point.

That is true to an extent, but it wasn't as if they were under immense pressure at any stage and the bowling was unplayable.

Played and negotiated more hostile spells in South Africa and didn't hang their bats to dry outside air or hook and pull in the air. Meanwhile Gambhir was beginning looking comfortable and his dismissal came against the run of play.

At most you need to make sure you atleast get a Dravid type delivery to get out. There was a lack of application and confidence tbh.

 

[smash84]

Look India, I don't expect you useless pieces of **** to get 10 wickets, but at least get one. Don't let England get 600/0 declared or something absurd like that.

 

[Cevno]

109 balls since the last boundary and Cook chased a wide one there.

 

[Uppercut]

That is true to an extent, but it wasn't as if they were under immense pressure at any stage and the bowling was unplayable.

Played and negotiated more hostile spells in South Africa and didn't hang their bats to dry outside air or hook and pull in the air.

Meanwhile Gambhir was beginning looking comfortable and his dismissal came against the run of play.

South Africa didn't sustain pressure though. That's the key difference.

England weren't at their best yesterday, with the exception of the half-hour before lunch. They kinda had the rub of the green in that the Indian batsmen didn't get away with their mistakes as often as they'd generally expect to.

But it's not the conclusion I'm objecting to, it's the methodology. Yesterday's collapse might well have been in large part due to incompetent Indian batting but looking at how they got out isn't the way to find that out.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Try not to take the ball outside of your body (there's a good Ian Healy vid on youtube on this very point).

Some stuff on taking the ball in front for run-outs - key piece of technique is to anchor one leg right next to the stump so the hands know where to go and have a short trip there.

The importance of hard work!

Balanced, athletic stance.

How everyone fancies keeping until they try it.

Try to reduce the give from the hands when standing up.

Will add more if I remember...

Thanks a lot.

The trigger I've been using for the first point is trying to take the ball in as close to your head as possible, using the measure of distance between chin and wrists - got that one from watching Wayne Noon do 45 mins of work at the Parks with Riki Wessels in April.

Hard work and balance (+ alignment) are the points that I bang on about the most whilst I'm coaching, so I'll take that as vindication. Really interesting to read about reducing give when standing up: I hope that means using your wrists to cushion the ball so that you don't take your hands back from the line of the stumps, making stumpings faster - this is a point I've been focusing on increasingly of late.

Was there anything mentioned on stance/balance and weight transfer when standing up to the stumps? Another big focus for me of late has been getting feet further back and therefore hands and head further forward, meaning the take is completed with the weight forward so you have the momentum to create the stumping. I've seen a lot of keepers whose hands have started in line with their knees, which automatically sends them back when they take the ball.

 

[Riggins]

Gosh Dhoni is a **** keeper.

 

[Manee]

Stop 'beaten' them and get a bloody wicket.

 

[Flem274*]

That is true to an extent, but it wasn't as if they were under immense pressure at any stage and the bowling was unplayable.

Played and negotiated more hostile spells in South Africa and didn't hang their bats to dry outside air or hook and pull in the air. Meanwhile Gambhir was beginning looking comfortable and his dismissal came against the run of play.

At most you need to make sure you atleast get a Dravid type delivery to get out. There was a lack of application and confidence tbh.

This is what happens after two tests of being demolished though. Players start losing confidence and asking themselves after a days play why they even bother. Takes huge heart from guys like Dravid to even bother applying themselves at the crease when at the very forefront of your mind you know your side is carrying dead weight in the batting and the bowling attack rivals a club side for direness.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Got to say Dhoni is so bad this series with the gloves. No excuses for the last 2.

 

[Cevno]

South Africa didn't sustain pressure though. That's the key difference.

England weren't at their best yesterday, with the exception of the half-hour before lunch. They kinda had the rub of the green in that the Indian batsmen didn't get away with their mistakes as often as they'd generally expect to.

But it's not the conclusion I'm objecting to, it's the methodology. Yesterday's collapse might well have been in large part due to incompetent Indian batting but looking at how they got out isn't the way to find that out.

I was only talking about yesterday's performance, ftr in response to what Top_Cat said.

South Africa sustained pressure for longer periods than England did yesterday easily. Some of the spells Sachin ,Gambhir and Laxman faced against Steyn, Morkel and company were a lot more ferocious and hostile and had a lot of unplayable deliveries too.

I could understand if it was a phase of play like right now where there is 15 to 20 overs of sustained pressure bringing out a false shot but 2 to 5 overs is poor batting at this level. And really poor for the calibre of batsman India have who were the main reason India got to no.1 in the first place.

 

[hazsa19]

Has anyone else noticed the top left corner of the new seated area is always empty? It's not as obvious on tv but I was there yesterday and it was clear that people sitting there wouldn't be able to see quit a lot of the playing surface.

Hence you can still get 'restricted view' tickets.

How have they managed that?!

 

[Spark]

This is what happens after two tests of being demolished though. Players start losing confidence and asking themselves after a days play why they even bother. Takes huge heart from guys like Dravid to even bother applying themselves at the crease when at the very forefront of your mind you know your side is carrying dead weight in the batting and the bowling attack rivals a club side for direness.

Mmm, Sydney a case in point.

 

[Cevno]

This is what happens after two tests of being demolished though. Players start losing confidence and asking themselves after a days play why they even bother. Takes huge heart from guys like Dravid to even bother applying themselves at the crease when at the very forefront of your mind you know your side is carrying dead weight in the batting and the bowling attack rivals a club side for direness.

Yeah,agreed to an extent.

But these are all experienced batsman + Raina (who is average in anycase) who have been there and done it all so better is expected from them.

The bowling was nothing extraordinary yesterday in terms of building pressure or Wicket taking balls tbh, and Dhoni showed how pressure could be pushed back on them too.