***Official*** England in India

[Pratters]

I'm not getting in to this argument, but Pathan's second spell barring the first few balls of his first over has been very good. He's beaten Collingwood's bat on plenty of occasions and that ball that naturally came back in and then swung away late was a very good ball.

Thank God some one is watching the same game I am!

 

[Pratters]

what was wrong with the shot execution then?

See the result to note it wasn't the best shot execution of all time.

 

[Jono]

Just use some logic guys, its no coincidence that the ball Pietersen got out trying to pull happened to be Sreesanth's fasted ball of the day. It hurried on to Pietersen.

 

[tooextracool]

See the result to note it wasn't the best shot execution of all time.

and see the rest of my earlier response for my answer. you are putting way to much emphasis on the result, when the margin of variation of the result is very very small.

 

[IndianByHeart]

I think at tea, India seems to be right at top thanks to some fabulous bowling by Santh.

I had predicted earlier that Santh and Kumble will do the job for India, i'm glad that Santh has proved me right so far.This guy is a class act, and i believe he has` a great future ahead of him.

 

[Pratters]

Given that

1) England's batting is depleted
2) A wicket could be very risky at the stage
3) Getting your eye in helps (despite you saying that hitting 4s is vital for getting your eye in)

The risk is immense.

Players have to adapt to situations. Its called playing for the larger team cause.

 

[Pratters]

when the margin of variation of the result is very very small.

Given the ball, the margin for variation wasn't small in this instance.

 

[tooextracool]

Given that

1) England's batting is depleted
2) A wicket could be very risky at the stage
3) Getting your eye in helps (despite you saying that hitting 4s is vital for getting your eye in)

The risk is immense.

Players have to adapt to situations. Its called playing for the larger team cause.

ok let me put it this way. early on in cooks innings, he pulled a poor short ball away to the boundary while barely managing to keep his eye on it. given that a) englands batting is depleted
b) an early wicket would be very risky at the stage especially given the build up
c) the fact that he hadnt gotten his eye in yet

should kick also be given a kick in the backside for attempting such an awful stroke? or should he be forgiven simply because the outcome was a boundary.

 

[tooextracool]

Given the ball, the margin for variation wasn't small in this instance.

err the inside edge could quite easily have gone over or just missed the leg stump. or he might actually have got it in the middle of the bat and it might have raced away for 4. im certain that if either of the above scenarios occured, this incident would have gone unnoticed. why? because he didnt get out to it, irrespective of whether the shot he played was poor or not.

 

[Pratters]

ok let me put it this way. early on in cooks innings, he pulled a poor short ball away to the boundary while barely managing to keep his eye on it

I thought it showed early nerves/inexperience. Cook played maturely mostly after some dicey shots early on. Cook was lucky in that respect, also the fact that he wasn't tested as much early on.

He made the most of it playing superbly and he shouldn't be whacked or any thing because

a) He isn't expected to have as much responsibility as a Pieterson is expected to have in the depleted line up.
b) I doubt if he could have helped it given the nerves/inexperience.

 

[Pratters]

err the inside edge could quite easily have gone over or just missed the leg stump. or he might actually have got it in the middle of the bat and it might have raced away for 4. im certain that if either of the above scenarios occured, this incident would have gone unnoticed. why? because he didnt get out to it, irrespective of whether the shot he played was poor or not.

I doubt if there was a lot of chance, given the ball, of it carrying to four. The ball maybe wouldn't hit the stump but I would still be critical of the shot.

 

[Jono]

This is beginning to look like a dangerous partnership. Both Collingwood and Freddy doing very well.

 

[Scaly piscine]

This is beginning to look like a dangerous partnership. Both Collingwood and Freddy doing very well.

As long as they don't start hitting across the line...

 

[IndianByHeart]

India needs a wkt badly!

Bring back SANTH!!!

 

[alternative]

Anil Kumble picks up Flintoff.. that is a BIG WICKET..

 

[Neil Pickup]

As long as they don't start hitting across the line...

Like that, you mean?

 

[Pratters]

"I believe it was going down leg side but thats how Kumble gets his wickets." - Nasser Hussain.

WTF Mr. Hussain?

 

[adharcric]

tough luck freddie ...

 

[wpdavid]

"I believe it was going down leg side but thats how Kumble gets his wickets." - Nasser Hussain.

WTF Mr. Hussain?

Let's assume he just meant that Kumble get a lot of wickets by persuading batters to play across the line.

 

[Autobahn]

As long as they don't start hitting across the line...

Thank you for jinxing Flintoff.