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

[listento_me]

Didn't get to watch much of this - what happened to Ashwin: bad game or just pitch too docile?

Ashwin just isn't as good on these types of pitches where turn is rare. He did bowl with a certain level of control though.

Rashid however was the best spinner on show.

 

[listento_me]

Just realised JImmy is probably coming back.

I honestly believe Ansari is just dead weight at the moment. A good cricketer who can hold the bat but England should slot in Jimmy, that leaves them with Woakes, Broad and Stokes all in the team.

Moeen and Rashid to pick up the spin.


Sorted.

 

[honestbharani]

Great display from England. It just shows how important having men around the bat is for spinners AFAIC. Ashwin was bowling really good balls in the morning session and even post lunch but with no men around the bat, the batsmen were just not under pressure. Same with Jadeja to an extent. MIshra was the disappointing factor for me. The pitch was an absolute road till maybe the 8th session of the match and even then whatever happened, was happening slowly off the deck and it was never really gonna threaten a result. I am totally fine with Cook's declaration and that is what I would have done too. You wanna have the best possible crack at winning but at the same time, if you let a team beat you to the punch after outplaying them for 4 days almost, it would have been a sickening feeling and with a 5 test series, even going 1-0 up may not be as big an advantage to risk being 0-1 down. I thought Rashid got the most out of the pitch but on Day 5, with the side on action and putting more pace into the delivery, Ash was doing the same thing. As I said, it just shows how different a spinner can be when he can have men around the bat and a score to play with. I think the real story of the game were the dropped chances. India being so poor in the field on day 1 and England dropping a couple of crucial chances, even though they were overall much better than us in the field, is what set up the result of the game to be what it is. That last innings was simply pressure at work on India and it was obvious that some of the Indian bats did panic or at least did not make the best decisions under pressure, which is, tbf, something to be expected given that they have not been in this situation at home for a very long time.


But again, get the sneaking feeling this was the best chance for England. Lets see how the rest of the series pans out.


One thing that did become clear to me is that Root and KW are probably a level higher than Smith and Kohli and the other contenders for that spot. I thought it was the case even before the Ind NZ series and this test just solidifies it. KW on this track would have killed it just like Root did. And I am not too disappointed at how Ashwin bowled as he showed he can create decent number of opportunities on an absolute road on Days 1 and 2 and showed he can bowl dry and still get the ball to do stuff on Day 5. Day 4 was more disappointing but it was because he could not get the ball in at the right speed for this track and was bowling his usual way. Jadeja much better suited to bowl dry on an absolute flat deck like he showed on Days 1 and 2. These are interesting things that Kohli should keep in mind for future games. And the last aspect that was disappointing for me was how Kohli handled the bowlers. He just seems to blindly trust nostrils and Shami so much. They are still not past the 4 good balls, 2 easy pickings an over they were when they first came in and what cost us so many series including the WC. I wish he understands that in these conditions he
HAS to get more from the spinners and only use them when it is absolutely necessary. Vizag should provide a lot more zip off the surface and a bit more turn and bounce from the outset, and it will be extremely interesting to see how England play, esp. if they have to play catch up.

 

[Black_Warrior]

What a finish. Excellent game.
So happy for Hameed. England might have found another jewel on tour of India..and this time much needed to fill up the opener's spot

 

[Adders]

Surprised at the talk of Jimmy not coming straight back.......if he's fit he plays. That's not to say they should take any chances on him, by fit I mean 100%.

I still don't think we need 3 spinners so straight swap of Jimmy for Ansari for mine. Root can make up some overs if needed.

 

[honestbharani]

But Ansari seems best suited for a typical Indian turning track, not a Bunsen. And if there is a Bunsen, he s even more likely to be successful. That is what English management need to weigh up.

 

[Black_Warrior]

So has there been the usual talk of how Cook should have declared earlier yet?

 

[Black_Warrior]

Oh here we go

While Australia destroy themselves, England destroy the game

 

[Starfighter]

Oh here we go

While Australia destroy themselves, England destroy the game

Decided to read that PoS. With attitudes like that no wonder Australian cricket's going down the loo.

 

[Adders]

Oh here we go

While Australia destroy themselves, England destroy the game

What an absolute dead set ****wit Malcolm Knox is......quite possibly the worst article ever written on the game.

 

[OverratedSanity]

It's Knox,what do you expect? This is the guy who wrote that infamous Gayle article. Complete ****wit.

 

[Cabinet96]

Haha, the saltiness is brilliant.

 

[Howe_zat]

Oh here we go

While Australia destroy themselves, England destroy the game

fascinating insight into why Australia suck so much

 

[Prince EWS]

fascinating insight into why Australia suck so much

Yeah, it really is. Knox is the pointy end of the stick but that article is really emblematic.

 

[Daemon]

Hilarious article. Quite possibly the worst I've ever read in my life.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

The comments at the bottom are funny too.

 

[honestbharani]

Haha, the saltiness is brilliant.

Its basically an embodiment of what I meant in my post about what is going wrong with Australian cricket circles, isn't it?

 

[vcs]

The comments are mostly sensible actually, and calling bullshit. The writer is just looking for bites I think, surely he can't be that stupid.

 

[Furball]

The comments are mostly sensible actually, and calling bullshit. The writer is just looking for bites I think, surely he can't be that stupid.

You've seen Australia bat, right?

 

[91Jmay]

Yeah, to be fair the reaction I've seen from most Aussies is one of "this is our problem" rather than backslapping agreement.