***Official*** England in India

[DanielFullard]

Sreesanth was marvellous again and I have been saying on here for some time now that he is one of the top bowlers in the world at this moment. Heck, I even had him in my world XI a few days ago.

The England bowling was rubbish. Thats the bottom line. As as soon as I saw the team I said that we had no hope of bowling them out or restricting them to a low score and even when we posted a good total I just knew that the bowlers would let us down. Anderson was abysmal, Mahmood a little better but still bad, Plunkett poor, Ali is not an England worthy player, Blackwell was costly and we lacked any bite, failed to really pressure the batsmen

For goodness sake England, put some effort into the one day game

 

[DanielFullard]

Great win, at the moment this Indian team can chase almost anything

Dont get carried away. It was good batting and a great performance by the Indians but come on, they were up against nothing. Shove Harmison, Flintoff and Jones in there and you would have got no where near the total you did

 

[TT Boy]

Sreesanth was marvellous again and I have been saying on here for some time now that he is one of the top bowlers in the world at this moment. Heck, I even had him in my world XI a few days ago.

His not, he bowled reasonably well today but 55 for 6 was rather flattering in my opinion.

All the same India will a different class in these one day games, fantastic batting depth and you would really fancy them to do well in the World Cup. Only slight worrying point for them would be other than Pathan and Sreesanth none of the other pace bowlers contributed throughout the series.

 

[Scaly piscine]

His not, he bowled reasonably well today but 55 for 6 was rather flattering in my opinion.

All the same India will a different class in these one day games, fantastic batting depth and you would really fancy them to do well in the World Cup. Only slight worrying point for them would be other than Pathan and Sreesanth none of the other pace bowlers contributed throughout the series.

As a team they were a different class, because they were playing against a side with several completely useless players in it and that's frankly the main reason there was such a gulf. It is worth noting that nearly all the remaining members of England's first choice side all did well (Strauss, KP, Flintoff, Collingwood, Geraint and maybe Plunkett/Blackwell) apart from maybe Anderson if we assume he'd make a first XI.

 

[Sanz]

As a team they were a different class, because they were playing against a side with several completely useless players in it and that's frankly the main reason there was such a gulf

I will wait for the day when you give credit to the opposition. Did you watch India's last 3 ODI series, we outplayed Pakistan, SriLanka and now England ? Even in the last ODI India were without Sehwag, Dhoni, Pathan, Kaif, Harbhajan, Tendulkar and we still won comfortably. So I dont really think it would have mattered.

It is worth noting that nearly all the remaining members of England's first choice side all did well (Strauss, KP, Flintoff, Collingwood, Geraint and maybe Plunkett/Blackwell) apart from maybe Anderson if we assume he'd make a first XI.

Erm how can you say these players did well. IMO except KP all of them were either Poor or average, even KP was guilty of throwing his wicket on most occasions. Freddie average 18 with the bat, Blackwell averaged 12, Geraint 31, Strauss 34 all worse then Irfan Pathan's average. I dont think that's acceptable batting performance on Indian pitches. And this could have been worse If India had played their strongest XI in last 2 matches.

 

[Sanz]

Did anyone watch Uthappa ? How does the lad play ? I have been hearing a lot about him and I hope he gets more chances in the future. I am really sick of Sehwag and Gambhir throwing their wickets after decent starts.

 

[TheEpic]

Did anyone watch Uthappa ? How does the lad play ? I have been hearing a lot about him and I hope he gets more chances in the future. I am really sick of Sehwag and Gambhir throwing their wickets after decent starts.

Haha, I'd avoid the highlights then if I were you!

 

[luckyeddie]

I will wait for the day when you give credit to the opposition.

Don't hold your breath, Sanz

 

[maxpower]

Saw few sections of ENG batting when VRV and RP were getting hammered, still I think with edition of new pace bowlers IND has, its an Okayish attack and they can keep rotating the bowlers to keep em fresh. Also saw the keeper stand right next to stumps when pathan was bowling, that can't be good for a pace bowlers ego. I can't understand why ENG keeps failing in ODI's even with missing players it was still a good team that should'nt have lost 5 odis.

 

[open365]

Saw few sections of ENG batting when VRV and RP were getting hammered, still I think with edition of new pace bowlers IND has, its an Okayish attack and they can keep rotating the bowlers to keep em fresh. Also saw the keeper stand right next to stumps when pathan was bowling, that can't be good for a pace bowlers ego. I can't understand why ENG keeps failing in ODI's even with missing players it was still a good team that should'nt have lost 5 odis.

When Kabir Ali, James Anderson, Saj Mahmood and Liam Plunkett play in the same side, you don't stand much of chance of anything.

 

[Scaly piscine]

When Kabir Ali, James Anderson, Saj Mahmood and Liam Plunkett play in the same side, you don't stand much of chance of anything.

Plunkett (series ER: 4.52, 6 @ 28.66) & Anderson (ER: 5.14, 9 @ 32.11) are perfectly decent players - just not as people who're going to lead the attack. Anderson was not at his best (getting him at his best is worth the occasional hammerings sustained when playing him) but both of them are I think ODI class. Mahmood and Kabir aren't - both of them had series economy rates of 6 or above and they're not exactly that threatening either.

 

[Raymond]

Dont get carried away. It was good batting and a great performance by the Indians but come on, they were up against nothing. Shove Harmison, Flintoff and Jones in there and you would have got no where near the total you did

...similarly, India were without Tendulkar who was still good in ODI's

Add to that, Sehwag and Kaif's poor run, if all 3 were there then score could have been chased in 40 Overs..

But I understand your pain, its not India's fault that others were injured.,...if and buts are just a poor excuse

.and NO DHONI

 

[Scaly piscine]

...similarly, India were without Tendulkar who was still good in ODI's

Add to that, Sehwag and Kaif's poor run, if all 3 were there then score could have been chased in 40 Overs..

But I understand your pain, its not India's fault that others were injured.,...if and buts are just a poor excuse

.and NO DHONI

You can't say oh Sehwag and Kaif were on a poor run and if everyone was on good form blah blah. Sehwag's not that great in ODIs anyway and a whole batting lineup isn't ALL on form at any given time. Tendulkar is fair enough, but batting is generally India's strength so they would still have someone competent to replace him (tho obviously whoever the replacement is they would never compare with Tendulkar). England can similarly cope with the one injury with the bowlers - unfortunately they have Harmison, Jones, Tremlett, Giles out (probably missed someone out there).

The last two ODIs were pretty much meaningless (even by 7 ODI series standards), so don't really care about those with Dhoni missing or Flintoff - the first 4 were where the contest was.

 

[adharcric]

Did anyone watch Uthappa ? How does the lad play ? I have been hearing a lot about him and I hope he gets more chances in the future. I am really sick of Sehwag and Gambhir throwing their wickets after decent starts.

He had decent technique for the most part and played predominantly with a straight bat, which was a good sign. He did come out on the front foot even against some of the short balls, which will be an interesting trend to follow in the future. That run-out was really unfortunate, no one had any idea that casual throw would get him out. He also looks like a good fielder. Good start from the youngster.

Personally, Uthappa was my man-of-the-match. Sreesanth took six wickets, but a MOM bowler shouldn't be part of a rotation that gives up 288 runs on the day. Chasing the target was a much more difficult task and Uthappa laid the foundation brilliantly.

 

[kvemuri]

Bell really looks like a much better opener than Prior. He's much more sensible and much less reckless.

Watching the game yesterday night thats exactly what i was thinking, why did England not go with Bell from game 1...he looked compact and had a healthy strike rate too.

 

[kvemuri]

Gotta love how Pietersen always throws his wicket away despite having the ability to completely tear the game apart.

No surprise Yuvraj got the wicket.

KP, Yuvi's bunny. Think Yuvi got him 3 times in this odi series.

 

[adharcric]

Believe it or not, four Indian cricketers are now in the top 10 of the ICC ODI rankings ... and they don't include Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman or Anil Kumble. MS Dhoni is now #2 among the batsmen while Yuvraj Singh comes in at #9. Among the bowlers, Irfan Pathan is #4 and Harbhajan Singh has jumped to #7. The "superstars", Dravid and Tendulkar, are now ranked #11 and #18, respectively.

This just shows how far this revitalized Indian side has progressed since Dravid and Chappell came to the helm.

 

[Goughy]

This just shows how far this revitalized Indian side has progressed since Dravid and Chappell came to the helm.

Well Australia have 8, so there is still a very long way to go.

 

[adharcric]

I'm not comparing India to Australia, simply pointing out that India have been doing so well even without some of the "cricketing greats".

 

[Raymond]

You can't say oh Sehwag and Kaif were on a poor run and if everyone was on good form blah blah. Sehwag's not that great in ODIs anyway and a whole batting lineup isn't ALL on form at any given time. Tendulkar is fair enough, but batting is generally India's strength so they would still have someone competent to replace him (tho obviously whoever the replacement is they would never compare with Tendulkar). England can similarly cope with the one injury with the bowlers - unfortunately they have Harmison, Jones, Tremlett, Giles out (probably missed someone out there).

The last two ODIs were pretty much meaningless (even by 7 ODI series standards), so don't really care about those with Dhoni missing or Flintoff - the first 4 were where the contest was.

..ya well, I think its better of to sim a match else, with so many ODIs these days..there are bound to be injuries so in that respect no ODI game would ever be fair & square.

The result and the stat say 5-1, jones or no jones, giles or no giles, harmison or no harmisson