Early days for Braithwaite? He has been about for about 6/7 years now? And average has stayed steady
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*Official* India Tour of England 2018
- Thread starter harsh.ag
- Start date
trundler
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I must have confused him with some new West Indian batsman. My bad. I was out of the loop for a bit so yeah. Guess I was wrong. It's only England and India then.
trundler
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A ton for Pant regardless of circumstances is fantastic. Hopeful for him.
SillyCowCorner1
Moooo
You were pre-pubescent back when he made his debut...so we're gonna let this slide
Larwood's_boots
U19 Debutant
And just to flog a dead horse a little more... how amazing has this series been and can you imagine if it had been played in the summer holidays and on free to air tv.
Burner
International Regular
Kohli vs Anderson
114* from 270 balls.
Pretty remarkable considering what happened in the 2014 series and also the insinuations Anderson made in that series in India. I didn't think Kohli had it in him to completely put aside his ego like that.
Probably one of cricket's most hollywood style comeback story from a personal perspective.
114* from 270 balls.
Pretty remarkable considering what happened in the 2014 series and also the insinuations Anderson made in that series in India. I didn't think Kohli had it in him to completely put aside his ego like that.
Probably one of cricket's most hollywood style comeback story from a personal perspective.
trundler
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Those figures are a tad misleading. Kohli got so lucky against Anderson this series. Obviously much better this time around and that is what history will remember. Had one of those edges in the first test been caught, this may have been entirely different.
silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
Series was exciting, but pretty humiliating final score line there. There are no moral victories - only actual ones. It shouldn't be acceptable for India to make games exciting when they play overseas. Not anymore.
Burner
International Regular
In a series in which the ball has dominated as much as it has, if you have only two drops against your name you've done pretty well you ask me. These were conditions that were remarkably in favour of Anderson's suit and been just as much unfavourable to Kohli's suit. That's why it's so good.
Burner
International Regular
The moral victories are found because their batsmen showed up when there was absolutely no pressure. If this was the series decider India fold before lunch today.
I don't know whats more humiliating, that you lose 4-1 or the knowledge that it could have been much more worse.
flibbertyjibber
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Just seen the wicket and the interview, this must be what would go down as the perfect test match as far as England are concerned.
Bijed
International Regular
Just some brief thoughts on the series and the players:
Easily the most enjoyable series for a long time, maybe even a classic. The scoreline really doesn't reflect how well India played on the whole and how different the series could have ended up. Plenty of twists and turns, and much more of teams fighting their way out from being behind in the game than we've become accustomed to of late. Also nice to see, in the third and fifth tests, each team put in a good 4th innings even though their chances of getting a draw, let alone a win, were low - too often we've seen teams just fold meekly in these situations. I'm not aware that they do DVD releases of non-ashes series anymore, but this series deserves one.
On to the players:
Chris Woakes: Played an all-round blinder of a match at Lords, you wouldn't say he won it for us all by himself, but bowled a crucial spell to stop the Indian first innings from recovering after a poor start, then, when it looked like England might not end up with a particularly massive first-innings lead, he goes and scores a fantastic maiden century. Less successful at Trent Bridge, but showed that he can still at least take wickets at home. Ongoing fitness still a bit of a concern.
Sam Curran: Comfortably England's main man of the series. Scored clutch runs on more than one occasion and not just little cameos, genuinely match-turning innings and indeed never failed with the bat when the series was still alive. Didn't exactly take bags of wickets, but his average ended up at 23.5, so no complaints. Probably our only genuinely exciting future prospect right now, early days of course but seems a born test player and winning MoTS in your first full (well, nearly) series is quite something. It also stands out that England lost the one match where he (unfairly) didn't play, though if he had it would have probably just been a closer defeat.
Jos Buttler: Not a great start to the series - we won the first two tests without anything of note from him, but was very good once he found his feet. People have criticised the idea of having a specialist bat at seven - but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Acquitted himself well when he kept wicket for a test, we knew he could do it decently anyway but it's good to know we've got a genuine backup if we need one.
Alastair Cook: Ah, Cooky. You can't ignore the fact that he really didn't do much at all in the first four tests (though, in slight mitigation, before the fifth tests the openers had collectively acheived roughly the square root of **** all), but I don't think there's a single cricket fan out there who isn't pleased for him to have bowed out on the high he did. I've never felt as happy for a cricketer as I did for him when he brought up that final century. Thank you Alastair.
Joe Root: A very disappointing series - his conversion rate was perfectly respectable this time, but only because he struggles to get to fifty now. His captaincy wasn't great either, and is possibly the reason his batting has dropped off. Obviously doesn't go so well at 3 either, which is a blow for the team but shouldn't be held against him. Run-outs now included in the list of ways he can get himself out once set. That said, he finished up with a century so lets hope that's dug him out of this rut somewhat.
Moeen Ali: Won us a match with the ball, which was very heartening after his horror winter. Also, whilst his batting returns aren't great on paper and he looked out of place at 3, he did score important runs in the first innings of both the tests he played in. Not much else to say, but it's good to have him back an contributing to English test cricket.
Jonny Bairstow: After a solid start to the series, fairly dire with the bat. Needs to rethink how he approaches a test innings as he's far too loose starting out these days. His keeping is consistently good, these days and in series like this where dropped catches can be crucial (even moreso than usual), that can't be undervalued.
Ben Stokes: Statistically a poor series with the bat, but I feel he deserves credit for being actually trying to occupy the crease when things weren't going well. Needs to get some significant scores again soon, but it's good to know he has this side to his game for when we need it. Bowling wise, still sends down his fair share of rubbish but felt like he was more of a consistent wicket taker (though again not loads of them) that he has done - a bit less hot and cold in this respect than previously, I'd say, which is nice.
Adil Rashid: A curious one. Clearly not trusted very much by his captain, his series statistics are respectable but not brilliant - whilst it's widely appreciated that spinners need a show of confidence from their captain, I can't help but feel that maybe if he'd been given more opportunities with the ball he wouldn't have shone and that we've been lucky for him to have a series as acceptable as we've seen from him here . But I may be being unfair as he held his nerve well in the runchase in the first test and in the final innings of the series, when he was getting smashed and looked to be hitting the lows we'd all been fearing he would, he went on to turn the game back around. No signicant contributions with the bat, but he at least showed determination when things weren't looking great and built an important partnership with Curran, so fair play to him.
Keaton Jennings: Woeful, sadly. At one point or another in his career he seems to have exhibited every technical flaw in the book. And his catching is bad too. Surprised he got the whole series, since his returns were poor and it was his second chance anyway, but I guess the selectors wanted to try to paly him into form for the Sri Lanka tour he's apparently a lock for. I feel a bit bad criticising him like this as he seems a nice bloke, but I'm afraid he hasn't done anything great at all this summer.
Ollie Pope: Didn't look ready for test cricket, but he wasn't given many chances and was being asked to bat further up the order than he's used to, which is tough for a youngster. Arguably harshly treated but I think it's actually for the better that the selectors quickly decided he wasn't ready rather than him endure a whole series out of his depth and mess with him. If he was 27 or something, I'd be arguing for the opposite and saying he should have been given more time to find his feet, but as a future prospect there's no need to destroy his confidence now. I just hope the selectors were tactful when he was dropped - admitting it was their mistake to put him in at 4 etc.
James Anderson: Our standout bowler - only one truly devestating test, but then only one innings where he was poor. Felt like he was the unluckies of England's bowlers too, though my perception could easily be wrong. Not much else to say that we don't already know about him tbh. Feels like he's regained his willingness as a batsmen to just try to hang around and let the other guy score runs, rather than go for glory and usually just get out as a result.
Dawid Malan: What a comedown after being the surprise package in the Ashes. Just looks quintessentially out of form at the crease (think so anyway, it seems ages ago now so I may not be remembering properly). Dropped catches too and if we'd lost the first test it would have been fair enough to say he was the main culprit.
Stuart Broad: Bowling a bit mixed, didn't do anything really special at important times (as he hasn't for a while), but overall an improvement on last summer (and most of the winter). Batting statisitcally as terrible as it generally is of recent years and he's racing up the all time duck list, but succeeded in hanging around to build a few important partnerships.
Easily the most enjoyable series for a long time, maybe even a classic. The scoreline really doesn't reflect how well India played on the whole and how different the series could have ended up. Plenty of twists and turns, and much more of teams fighting their way out from being behind in the game than we've become accustomed to of late. Also nice to see, in the third and fifth tests, each team put in a good 4th innings even though their chances of getting a draw, let alone a win, were low - too often we've seen teams just fold meekly in these situations. I'm not aware that they do DVD releases of non-ashes series anymore, but this series deserves one.
On to the players:
Chris Woakes: Played an all-round blinder of a match at Lords, you wouldn't say he won it for us all by himself, but bowled a crucial spell to stop the Indian first innings from recovering after a poor start, then, when it looked like England might not end up with a particularly massive first-innings lead, he goes and scores a fantastic maiden century. Less successful at Trent Bridge, but showed that he can still at least take wickets at home. Ongoing fitness still a bit of a concern.
Sam Curran: Comfortably England's main man of the series. Scored clutch runs on more than one occasion and not just little cameos, genuinely match-turning innings and indeed never failed with the bat when the series was still alive. Didn't exactly take bags of wickets, but his average ended up at 23.5, so no complaints. Probably our only genuinely exciting future prospect right now, early days of course but seems a born test player and winning MoTS in your first full (well, nearly) series is quite something. It also stands out that England lost the one match where he (unfairly) didn't play, though if he had it would have probably just been a closer defeat.
Jos Buttler: Not a great start to the series - we won the first two tests without anything of note from him, but was very good once he found his feet. People have criticised the idea of having a specialist bat at seven - but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Acquitted himself well when he kept wicket for a test, we knew he could do it decently anyway but it's good to know we've got a genuine backup if we need one.
Alastair Cook: Ah, Cooky. You can't ignore the fact that he really didn't do much at all in the first four tests (though, in slight mitigation, before the fifth tests the openers had collectively acheived roughly the square root of **** all), but I don't think there's a single cricket fan out there who isn't pleased for him to have bowed out on the high he did. I've never felt as happy for a cricketer as I did for him when he brought up that final century. Thank you Alastair.
Joe Root: A very disappointing series - his conversion rate was perfectly respectable this time, but only because he struggles to get to fifty now. His captaincy wasn't great either, and is possibly the reason his batting has dropped off. Obviously doesn't go so well at 3 either, which is a blow for the team but shouldn't be held against him. Run-outs now included in the list of ways he can get himself out once set. That said, he finished up with a century so lets hope that's dug him out of this rut somewhat.
Moeen Ali: Won us a match with the ball, which was very heartening after his horror winter. Also, whilst his batting returns aren't great on paper and he looked out of place at 3, he did score important runs in the first innings of both the tests he played in. Not much else to say, but it's good to have him back an contributing to English test cricket.
Jonny Bairstow: After a solid start to the series, fairly dire with the bat. Needs to rethink how he approaches a test innings as he's far too loose starting out these days. His keeping is consistently good, these days and in series like this where dropped catches can be crucial (even moreso than usual), that can't be undervalued.
Ben Stokes: Statistically a poor series with the bat, but I feel he deserves credit for being actually trying to occupy the crease when things weren't going well. Needs to get some significant scores again soon, but it's good to know he has this side to his game for when we need it. Bowling wise, still sends down his fair share of rubbish but felt like he was more of a consistent wicket taker (though again not loads of them) that he has done - a bit less hot and cold in this respect than previously, I'd say, which is nice.
Adil Rashid: A curious one. Clearly not trusted very much by his captain, his series statistics are respectable but not brilliant - whilst it's widely appreciated that spinners need a show of confidence from their captain, I can't help but feel that maybe if he'd been given more opportunities with the ball he wouldn't have shone and that we've been lucky for him to have a series as acceptable as we've seen from him here . But I may be being unfair as he held his nerve well in the runchase in the first test and in the final innings of the series, when he was getting smashed and looked to be hitting the lows we'd all been fearing he would, he went on to turn the game back around. No signicant contributions with the bat, but he at least showed determination when things weren't looking great and built an important partnership with Curran, so fair play to him.
Keaton Jennings: Woeful, sadly. At one point or another in his career he seems to have exhibited every technical flaw in the book. And his catching is bad too. Surprised he got the whole series, since his returns were poor and it was his second chance anyway, but I guess the selectors wanted to try to paly him into form for the Sri Lanka tour he's apparently a lock for. I feel a bit bad criticising him like this as he seems a nice bloke, but I'm afraid he hasn't done anything great at all this summer.
Ollie Pope: Didn't look ready for test cricket, but he wasn't given many chances and was being asked to bat further up the order than he's used to, which is tough for a youngster. Arguably harshly treated but I think it's actually for the better that the selectors quickly decided he wasn't ready rather than him endure a whole series out of his depth and mess with him. If he was 27 or something, I'd be arguing for the opposite and saying he should have been given more time to find his feet, but as a future prospect there's no need to destroy his confidence now. I just hope the selectors were tactful when he was dropped - admitting it was their mistake to put him in at 4 etc.
James Anderson: Our standout bowler - only one truly devestating test, but then only one innings where he was poor. Felt like he was the unluckies of England's bowlers too, though my perception could easily be wrong. Not much else to say that we don't already know about him tbh. Feels like he's regained his willingness as a batsmen to just try to hang around and let the other guy score runs, rather than go for glory and usually just get out as a result.
Dawid Malan: What a comedown after being the surprise package in the Ashes. Just looks quintessentially out of form at the crease (think so anyway, it seems ages ago now so I may not be remembering properly). Dropped catches too and if we'd lost the first test it would have been fair enough to say he was the main culprit.
Stuart Broad: Bowling a bit mixed, didn't do anything really special at important times (as he hasn't for a while), but overall an improvement on last summer (and most of the winter). Batting statisitcally as terrible as it generally is of recent years and he's racing up the all time duck list, but succeeded in hanging around to build a few important partnerships.
Starfighter
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Did Broad actually bowl with the keeper up? Wow.
Starfighter
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Right, let's evaluate the series predictions, do note that biggest disappointment is rather subjective so I've used by own biases so suck it:
2.5
2
0
4
3
4
0
2
2
4
1
2
0. Hands down the worst of the lot
2Most runs: Root Nah
Most wickets: Jimmeh Yeah
Biggest disappointment: Kohli Disappointingly un-disappointing
Biggest surprise: Curran We have two smart fellas here
Mots: Jimmeh No
Result: 5-0 England Close, but no
2.5
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