***Official*** England in India

[PY]

That's an absolute Jaffa Cake.

 

[Jono]

Wow! What a ball by Monty. That was amazing.

Poor Kaif, he deserved a ton. Well batted though, brilliant knock.

 

[adharcric]

Absolute beauty from Panesar. He's a real find for England, picks up Tendulkar and Kaif in his first match.

 

[Gloucefan]

Get some!

 

[adharcric]

So Raina can say goodbye to the test squad for now, Kaif has secured his spot as the reserve after this brilliant knock under pressure.

 

[steds]

Go Python!!!

 

[Nate]

Great to see Monty performing excellently, he looks a great talent.

Go England!

 

[Barney Rubble]

Go Python!!!

Indeed.

 

[grecian]

The Python spits venom

Now is this pitch going to go downhill from here, or was that magnificent bowling?

Or a bit of both

 

[alternative]

i call it a great piece of bowling.. and also my credit to Kaif, as it was a very sesible knock.. deserved a century..

 

[SJS]

So Raina can say goodbye to the test squad for now, Kaif has secured his spot as the reserve after this brilliant knock under pressure.

Not Raina. Laxman can say goodbye to his spot in the next test if Yuvraj is fit.

 

[adharcric]

England's New-Look Test-Squad

A Strauss, M Trescothick, M Vaughan, I Bell, K Pietersen, A Flintoff, G Jones, A Giles, M Hoggard, S Jones, S Harmison
Reserves: A Cook, P Collingwood, J Anderson/L Plunkett, M Panesar

certainly looks better now ...

 

[adharcric]

Not Raina. Laxman can say goodbye to his spot in the next test if Yuvraj is fit.

you seriously think the selectors would drop him from the SQUAD altogether in favor of a rookie?

 

[wpdavid]

I'd love to see the percentage of balls Harmison has bowled in this innings that have gone down legside. India always manage to scalp 2 or 3 runs an over from just flicking him to the men on the leg-side boundary.

True, and his lack of accuracy is indefensible. And yet, in the 2 overs he had with the new ball, he twice found the edge of Kumble's bat: surely he should have been given a longer spell with it.

As for Jones, how crucial will his drop of Kumble be? We were looking at a lead of 150, instead it's about half that. Shaping up to be a great game though.

 

[Barney Rubble]

A Strauss, M Trescothick, M Vaughan, I Bell, K Pietersen, A Flintoff, G Jones, A Giles, M Hoggard, S Jones, S Harmison
Reserves: A Cook, P Collingwood, J Anderson/L Plunkett, M Panesar

certainly looks better now ...

Let no-one claim we don't have strength in depth. We know have at the very least eight batsmen who are capable of Test centuries, probably nine (Cook being the 9th), three of those are openers; we now seem to have two spinners capable of doing a job at international level; and we have at least four (possibly as many as six) pace bowlers capable of at least doing a job at Test level, more than that in some cases. We also have two wicketkeepers in reserve who are certainly handy.

 

[Jono]

Not Raina. Laxman can say goodbye to his spot in the next test if Yuvraj is fit.

*cue Laxman scoring a match-winning 88 not out out of a total required 145 runs for victory in the 4th innings leading India to win by 2 wickets*

i.e let's not jump the gun just yet. It wasn't too long ago he tonned up against Sri Lanka (and he also got a good 90against Pakistan but I'll dismiss any scores by the Indian batsman from the first 2 tests).

 

[wpdavid]

A Strauss, M Trescothick, M Vaughan, I Bell, K Pietersen, A Flintoff, G Jones, A Giles, M Hoggard, S Jones, S Harmison
Reserves: A Cook, P Collingwood, J Anderson/L Plunkett, M Panesar

certainly looks better now ...

I think one or two assumptions about our best starting XI may need revising before too long. Still, it's only 3 days - too early to say yet.

 

[aussie]

A Strauss, M Trescothick, M Vaughan, I Bell, K Pietersen, A Flintoff, G Jones, A Giles, M Hoggard, S Jones, S Harmison
Reserves: A Cook, P Collingwood, J Anderson/L Plunkett, M Panesar

certainly looks better now ...

add either Prior/Read & Shah & you have possibly the squad that will go down to australia & defend the ashes.

 

[PY]

I think one or two assumptions about our best starting XI may need revising before too long. Still, it's only 3 days - too early to say yet.

Is that a call on Harmison? Because I'm thinking if Simon Jones was fit with Giles then Blackwell and Harmison would miss out on form!

 

[TT Boy]

What a day… Really felt for Kaif the bloke played such a fantastic knock and to get out so late on was a shame but the dismissal of Kumble had a real affect on him and he didn’t fancy Singh helping him out one bit.

I just think the game may be heading for a draw, for England to get a substantial lead there will need play positively and that could be there downfall because the pitch is so damn slow and shots are hard to time- that may cost a few of are boys there wicket and may lead to England getting into a spot of bother. If England do have any ambition of winning the game, really would need at least 90 overs to bowl the Indians out. Can’t see Laxman, Sachin and Sehwag going cheaply again in the second innings.

One of the other positives for England in this game other than Hoggard and Monty’s bowling has to be the performance of Ian Blackwell, one less headache, the guy is clearly not up to it, bowling short on this wicket is inexcusable, replace fat boy with another batsman.