***Official*** India in England 2014

[Howe_zat]

I hope Ballance gets to spend some time batting at #3 for Yorkshire over the next month rather than playing some one dayers.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Well he'll be red faced now won't he.

 

[Viscount Tom]

I hope Ballance gets to spend some time batting at #3 for Yorkshire over the next month rather than playing some one dayers.

Would hope so given we lose Williamson after this game up at Scarborough.

 

[GIMH]

I really don't like that Moores says "Broady, Jimmy..."

Probably got got too used to Flower, but also see the link in Brumby's sig

 

[OverratedSanity]

Will attempt to put aside my rage and objectively rate the players now:

Vijay: Excellent early in the series. Faded as the series progressed, but still looked the least clueless of the top 5. 2nd innings at Lord's was easily the best knock he's played for us. He's had a really good year and hopefully carries on. We desperately need at the very least one stable opening slot. 6.5/10

Dhawan: Clearly couldn't handle the conditions, but still looked slightly more composed than Gambhir. 1/10

Pujara: Huge disappointment. Played an underrated, key role at Lord's in the first innings, but then regressed with each passing innings. 3/10

Kohli: Could do nothing right. Didn't correct his mistakes, dropped catches, signed up for a Karan Johar movie. 0/10

Rahane: Genuinely great knock at Lord's. Wasn't found out like Kohli or Pujara, but kept giving it away with annoying dismissals. 4.5/10

Dhoni: Surprised by the way he batted... definitely our best batsman in the second half of the series. Captaincy, the Lord's fluke aside, was poor as per usual. 6/10

Jadeja: Fluked a vital knock at Lord's, but should never play test cricket again. Sooner we get rid of such bits-and-pieces players the better. 2/10

Ashwin: Still not good enough to be a key part of the attack overseas, but showed signs of improvement. As well all know, can bat. Should be persisted with for overseas tests and he'll improve to a decent level with the ball. 3.5/10

Bhuvneshwar: Standout performer in the first half of the series. Predictably did well with the ball in English conditions, but needs to add something to his game to succeed elsewhere. Faded as the series progressed like Vijay and Rahane. 7/10

Ishant: Hilariously confounding spell at Lord's and really wasn't as terrible as expected even apart from that. 5/10

Shami: Along with Pujara, the biggest disappointment of the series. Has gone from "looks like a decent bowler" to just another rubbish Indian pacer with 'talent'. 1/10

Aaron: Expensive, but has something about him. Still think Yadav should've played instead of him but produced one genuinely quality spell to give us a decent session after ages. 5/10

Pankaj: Poor bloke bowled well on debut, but it shouldn't be forgotten that he was terrible after that. 3/10

 

[GIMH]

England ratings

Cook - 8 (gets bonus points for the turnaround)
Robson - 3
Ballance - 9
Bell - 6
Root - 9
Ali - 8
Buttler - 8
Jordan - 5
Woakes - 4
Broad - 8
Anderson - 9
Plunkett - 6
Stokes - 4
Prior - 1

 

[OverratedSanity]

I really don't like that Moores says "Broady, Jimmy..."

Still less annoying than Wasim saying "Jaimie Anderson"

 

[Howe_zat]

OS you forgot to rate Gambhir

 

[OverratedSanity]

OS you forgot to rate Gambhir

Didn't forget

 

[OverratedSanity]

Ishant : "We bowled well even in South Africa and New Zealand as well"

Yeah, that's why we almost allowed SA to chase 450 and let New Zealand recover from 90/4 to 6 trillion declared?!

 

[Howe_zat]

England ratings

Cook - 8 (gets bonus points for the turnaround)
Robson - 3
Ballance - 9
Bell - 6
Root - 9
Ali - 8
Buttler - 8
Jordan - 5
Woakes - 4
Broad - 8
Anderson - 9
Plunkett - 6
Stokes - 4
Prior - 1

Cook 6 and Broad > Ballance/Root imo

 

[GIMH]

Cook 6 and Broad > Ballance/Root imo

I always give the captain extra points when a team wins well, but especially given the circumstances. As a bat alone yeah he's a 6/6.5

Don't agree on Broad but really it's apples and oranges and I felt he didn't deserve as good a score as Jim

 

[Kirkut]

When are England touring South Africa? Would be interesting to see what they do there.

 

[indiaholic]

When are England touring South Africa? Would be interesting to see what they do there.

Considering that us beating England at home is no longer a certainty, I propose that England's tour of SA be adopted as our new revenge series.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Dhoni when asked as to whether some of the players would miss the IPL in order to work on their test games responded with "Don't be so jealous of the IPL", thereby reaffirming his stupidity.

 

[grecian]

Dhoni when asked as to whether some of the players would miss the IPL in order to work on their test games responded with "Don't be so jealous of the IPL", thereby reaffirming his stupidity.

Really? If so shouldn't he be stripped of the captaincy, he's already said his greatest moment was winning the IPL hasn't he? If he thinks Test cricket is a secondary thing, aybe he shouldn't play in it, let alone captain in it.

 

[91Jmay]

Fun day, albeit tempered somewhat by how awful India where. Root/Broad in the first hour was great fun though and all four pacers did well.

Dhoni's comments are an embarrassment.

 

[GIMH]

Reading back through the thread post-Lord's and we were all so depressed. Remarkable turnaround.

 

[Kirkut]

Considering that us beating England at home is no longer a certainty, I propose that England's tour of SA be adopted as our new revenge series.

Revenge series? seriously? Who actually fell for such cheesy media stuff?

 

[Kirkut]

Really? If so shouldn't he be stripped of the captaincy, he's already said his greatest moment was winning the IPL hasn't he? If he thinks Test cricket is a secondary thing, aybe he shouldn't play in it, let alone captain in it.

Read Martin Crowe's recent article on cricinfo, well explained. Dhoni is still in the team because he feels there is no successor to him who is mature enough to captain the longer format.