***Official*** England in India 2016/17

[flibbertyjibber]

It's why Adelaide 2010 is probably my favourite English Test victory.

Mine is probably Jo'burg when Hoggard went mad and ripped through them.

 

[listento_me]

It would likely be a draw whatever speed the batsmen scored at.

The only chance of a result now is if Indian fall asleep in their innings, lose early wickets and panic.

Probably but if England had batted faster, it's obvious there was more of a chance of winning.

Anyway, I called it when India were like 63-0, going to be a draw.

 

[Kirkut]

Wow, Hameed is a very sound player. I watched his batting today, his front foot defence and the ability to leave the ball is sublime. He has it in him to be the country's finest batsman.

 

[91Jmay]

Probably but if England had batted faster, it's obvious there was more of a chance of winning.

Anyway, I called it when India were like 63-0, going to be a draw.

Almost more chance of India winning

 

[honestbharani]

I can see why England will want to play safe but I think Ravi Shastri made a good point on comms. You do not want to let go of an opportunity to have a crack at winning an away test after having played so well for over 4 days. I will be very surprised if they didn't at least take a shot with 50 odd overs at India if the lead is anywhere between 250-300, which means they need to make like 100-140 over 40 overs, not so difficult, now that I think about it.

 

[Bijed]

Regarding the declaration, I'd be disappointed if we don't declare at some point tomorrow, even if a win is highly unlikely (assuming we're not bowled out first). However, I do think that in this case Cook should be cautious, as I don't think it would be good for morale at all going in to the rest of the series if we threw away 4 days by setting India a teaser target that they proceed to knock off.

 

[zaremba]

things that are older than haseeb hameed

- independence day
- blair government
- pokemon

The Bolton Bradman arrived a few months before the Blair government.

 

[zaremba]

Regarding the declaration, I'd be disappointed if we don't declare at some point tomorrow, even if a win is highly unlikely (assuming we're not bowled out first). However, I do think that in this case Cook should be cautious, as I don't think it would be good for morale at all going in to the rest of the series if we threw away 4 days by setting India a teaser target that they proceed to knock off.

I agree. And if the upshot is that our batsmen get some practice playing against the Indian spinners, and the Indian bowlers get tired while ours rest, I'm happy with that.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Gonna be interesting to see how Hameed fares moving forward. He certainly looks to be a fine prospect and he's following in the footsteps of a lot of top class batsmen who done well in India when they first toured there like Williamson, Cook, Root, Smith? to name a few. We won't know everything about him till he plays on seeming pitches against international class pacers though.

 

[weldone]

Does Cook have the balls to declare at lunch?

 

[WindieWeathers]

If England can get to 300 by lunch or just after, then surely they have to declare?

 

[Adders]

If England get a 300 lead by lunch, that means they'd have scored 140 in the first session leaving India 300 to get in the remaining 2. In what world would you declare at that point thinking that India aren't capable of doing pretty much what you've just done??

Anyone expecting England to declare and leave the back door open for India are kidding themselves.......there will be a declaration once the game is out of reach and not before.

 

[burr]

I agree. Being positive in the first test of a five test series you're not favoured in means grinding your opposition into the dust, sending them a message you're here to play and then making them sweat by nabbing a few wickets or - if they happen to panic - the win. How very un-Australian of me.

 

[WindieWeathers]

If England get a 300 lead by lunch, that means they'd have scored 140 in the first session leaving India 300 to get in the remaining 2. In what world would you declare at that point thinking that India aren't capable of doing pretty much what you've just done??

Anyone expecting England to declare and leave the back door open for India are kidding themselves.......there will be a declaration once the game is out of reach and not before.

You really think India would get 300 on a final day pitch in two sessions? REALLY? I also did say "just after lunch" which would cut further into the remaining overs. Scoring quick runs and putting them under pressure to see out the day should be what England are thinking about. Drawing a dull game does nothing imo.

 

[Adders]

You really think India would get 300 on a final day pitch in two sessions? REALLY? I also did say "just after lunch" which would cut further into the remaining overs. Scoring quick runs and putting them under pressure to see out the day should be what England are thinking about. Drawing a dull game does nothing imo.

Yeah but your scenario sees England scoring at the same rate (give or take) that you are saying India wont be able to to win the game........all 3 sessions including the one we've got to bat are on a day 5 wicket. Unless your expecting the wicket to somehow implode just after lunch.

And the other factor here, despite them maybe not having the greatest of tests so far......is that India's spinners are still better than ours. I would expect that it will be harder for England scoring runs against Ashwin and Co than it will be for India against Rashid et al.

All that said I would like to see us bat extremely positively given we've got the wickets in hand and see what the lead is sometime during the second session.

But really only a neutral is going to be screaming for England to take this game by the scruff of the neck and go all out for the win. It is a five test series and as burr quite rightly say's there will be more benefit for the series for England to grind them out and hopefully at least give them a scare by grabbing some wickets in the 4th innings.

This is going to be a draw but England can come out of it with a lot more positives than India if today goes well.

 

[91Jmay]

Declaring before lunch with anything less than a 350 lead would be idiotic. There is nothing worse in cricket than backseat drivers going on about declarations.

 

[Furball]

Declaring before lunch with anything less than a 350 lead would be idiotic. There is nothing worse in cricket than backseat drivers going on about declarations.

If England get a 350 lead by lunch they'll have belted about 200 runs in a session. I wouldn't be declaring if the pitch is good enough to do that.

 

[vicleggie]

Who's this Hameed guy? Looks to have a good FC average. FTB or real deal?

 

[honestbharani]

Very real IMO. Plus you cant really call anyone with a good FC average in England as a FTB... Do they even get flat tracks there in FC?

 

[Kirkut]

Very real IMO. Plus you cant really call anyone with a good FC average in England as a FTB... Do they even get flat tracks there in FC?

I presume they have lower amount of green wickets than Indian first class cricket where dibbly dobbly medium pacers dominate the wickets column.