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*Official* 2nd Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, 13 - 17 Feb 2021

mackembhoy

International Regular
Could see us going for Broad and Woakes in place of Jimmeh and the sadly broken Jofra.

We lose a bit of (potential) pace by not going for Stone, but think Woakes's batting will look attractive, especially with Foakes in at #7.

There'll obviously be a very strong temptation to play Anderson and it wouldn't necessarily be a mistake, but the rotation idea exists for a reason. Bloke is gonna be 40 next year.
Archer bowled slower than Anderson so we don't lose any pace.
 

centurymaker

Cricketer Of The Year
Don't quite agree with the decision to drop Bess and play Ali. Would have been better to play both if they really wanted Ali but not in place of Bess. Way to destroy a spinners confidence.
 

Pothas

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
It's pretty much one good series and one poor series but you'd struggle to find a spinner to have done much better than that overall against India since uncovered pitches were a thing.

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He came back at the end of that last series in England and took loads of wickets, I watched Pant take about half an hour to make 0 against him at the Rose Bowl, it was glorious.
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
Yes, by a hundredth of a run with an average of 32.6.

Has had more good matches against India than most, though his wickets against them are still more expensive than his career average. I haven't exactly exhausted the list but I'd guess the only ones with a significantly better average against India than everyone else are Moeen and Michael Clarke.
 
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Teja.

Global Moderator
That filter leaves out the best series-winning performance by a spinner in India against a batting line up which was destructive against all kinds of spin at the time - Saqlain had 24 wickets in 3 tests @ 20.9 in 1999, including 2 10-fers, which is one more than anyone but Murali for the time period.

He played one more test against India in Multan in 2004 where Sehwag scored a triple, took him for slightly less than 5 an over over 40+ overs for figures of 1-204 and ended his career.

Ended up with 25 wickets in 4 games against India @ 28.
 

theegyptian

International Vice-Captain
My hunch is they'll go with Woakes over Stone, even though their default plan in recent times in Asia has been one (reliant - broad or anderson) and one (quicker guy - wood or archer). They've had a couple of opportunities to play Stone in the past in overseas tests and haven't so I'm not sure they are convinced of him.

Crawley already back in the nets should be back for test 3. Bairstow returning for test 3. Burns and Lawrence need runs this game or they likely will makeway for Crawley and Bairstow.
 

Father Time

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
I'm not a fan of a rotation policy as I feel it lessens the competitve spirit within a team. You can kind of understand it with Anderson I suppose but I still dont agree with it. Form & fitness should be the deciding factor. Can someone honestly tell me what Moeen Ali has done to get a selection?? I am completely bemused by this. Where is his form to demand selection? Can see India coming back & winning big after this. We simply won't have our best team out there.
 

JOJOXI

International Captain
He looked really spent in the second dig tbh.

Dropped though.
Know he bowled quite a few full tosses in that 2nd innings but arguably a decisive factor in their victory. 4 first-innings wickets, all 4 of them specialist batsman. Against Sri Lanka you could argue a poor batting side but now doing it v India I'd presume they'd have stayed with Bess whilst the wickets keep coming but 8-0-50-1 not a great bowling analysis on a final day wicket granted.
 

Pothas

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
He bowled both his best and worst spells of the winter in that last Test but I think everyone knows he won't keep getting wickets bowling like this. Reminds me a bit of them dropping Finn during the ashes and that worked out pretty well. Obviously a lot depends on what sort of form Moeen is in, still great to see him back was starting to think it might never happen.
 

Red_Ink_Squid

Global Moderator
Can someone honestly tell me what Moeen Ali has done to get a selection?? I am completely bemused by this. Where is his form to demand selection?
'Bowling well in the nets' is a bit of a cliché but you've got to imagine the England camp have a better idea of how Moeen is bowling right now than we do. His game had completely gone last time we saw him in Tests (almost two years ago) and I agree he didn't look great in white ball internationals since then either, but there has been a long break leading into this tour for him to have sorted his action out so 'form' is a hard one to judge. There haven't even been any proper warm up games so everyone on this tour is going into Test matches 'cold', whether that was into the Sri Lanka series or for some (Stokes/Archer/Foakes) into these India Tests.

Bess couldn't land the ball in the most recent innings, so it's not unreasonable to think the England coaches have assessed how the two are bowling right now and feel Moeen is in the better place of the two offspinners.
 

JOJOXI

International Captain
He bowled both his best and worst spells of the winter in that last Test but I think everyone knows he won't keep getting wickets bowling like this. Reminds me a bit of them dropping Finn during the ashes and that worked out pretty well. Obviously a lot depends on what sort of form Moeen is in, still great to see him back was starting to think it might never happen.
Just think its a bit harsh, do get your point but almost think that should be allowed to happen before he is dropped, his got good results in Sri Lanka with inconsistent bowling the narrative was India is a different Test, he plays a big part in winning the first Test v India to be dropped seems harsh.

Happy Moeen is back though, feel sympathy for him as well - 1 bad Test match and its often made out like he's not been getting wickets in Tests for ages when he had 47 wickets in 11 Tests @ 27 in the immediate buildup to the Ashes Test that saw him dropped. If he is bowling well in the nets have no problem with him being selected just question Bess being dropped slightly.
 

JOJOXI

International Captain
'Bowling well in the nets' is a bit of a cliché but you've got to imagine the England camp have a better idea of how Moeen is bowling right now than we do. His game had completely gone last time we saw him in Tests (almost two years ago) and I agree he didn't look great in white ball internationals since then either, but there has been a long break leading into this tour for him to have sorted his action out so 'form' is a hard one to judge. There haven't even been any proper warm up games so everyone on this tour is going into Test matches 'cold', whether that was into the Sri Lanka series or for some (Stokes/Archer/Foakes) into these India Tests.

Bess couldn't land the ball in the most recent innings, so it's not unreasonable to think the England coaches have assessed how the two are bowling right now and feel Moeen is in the better place of the two offspinners.
Post at same time as you to read "bowling well in nets is a bit of a cliche" :laugh: .
 

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