***Official England in India***

[Jono]

Another series win, good stuff India

 

[Stapel]

England hit 407 in 79.2 overs V Australia at Edgbaston 2005, 1st innings. I'm sure it's happened elsewhere as well.

I think it is fair to say that was an exceptional innings and the start of the very best test ever.

 

[Arjun]

I was listening to tea-time talk on radio, and journalist G Rajaraman was very unimpressed and disappointed by Dhoni's late declaration, talking of how individual milestones are preferred over team wins and how the will to win has been sacrificed to guard the series.

But how much can you expect from this team? The pitch is very flat, and the bowling doesn't have the ammunition to take 20 wickets on a flat pitch. Looking at how quickly the English scored in their first innings, we wouldn't expect the Indians to even bowl out all those overs without England getting to the target. With Harbhajan looking a little off-colour and no other bowling options at hand, Dhoni had to close out the match to guard another series win for his team, fought hard against a team that played very well out there.

 

[Stapel]

Obviously 400 in 40 or whatever it was today, I can forgive them not going for that!

Yeah, that was pointless form the start.

I'm a bit surprised about the commentary. This wasn't a bad test. To bad it had slipped into a draw, mostly due to the weather.

It's my opinion that poor weather will always be the greatest factor in spoiling a test. A draw after 450 overs is simply good cricket!

Wouldn't it be a good idea to add a 6th day, when fewer than 450 overs have been bowled?

 

[fredfertang]

So Strauss finally breaks his long unbroken run of completed innings - did anyone on commentary mention that particular record?

 

[masterblaster]

For India to beat both Australia and England consecutively is quite an achievement. This Indian side has something special about them and with Dhoni at the helm with players like Gambhir, Ishant and Mishra maturing into quality players it looks really promising for India. I will be watching their tour of New Zealand with great interest.

India lost really badly back in 2002 but this New Zealand side without the likes of Bond will be a little easier for India to handle. Can't wait for that series to start. As for this series, there were plenty of positives. Tendulkar's continued good form, Yuvraj Singh finding runs and the bowling of Mishra, Zaheer and Ishant were all great positives.

As an Indian fan I'd like to commend England on being such great representatives of their country. They were full of class and showed a lot of courage out there in the middle. They played some pretty great cricket too so well done to KP and the England guys. The England team are great role models for the rest of the cricketing world.

 

[Manee]

Cook has actually taken a handful of First-Class wickets TBH and isn't the worst. Nor, strangely, is Dhoni, that's easily the best over I've ever seen from a specialist wicketkeeper.

Dhoni apparently works hard on his bowling in the nets. It shows as it was certainly impressive to see him touch 130kph and bowl with decent accuracy.

1-0 series win over England in a two Test series is a pretty average result. It was to be expected and I believe we should have been pushing harder for a 2-0 victory, but alas, the pitch was quite flat.

 

[Penguinissimo]

Cook has actually taken a handful of First-Class wickets TBH and isn't the worst. Nor, strangely, is Dhoni, that's easily the best over I've ever seen from a specialist wicketkeeper.

The best I've seen is Tim Zoeherer, who was Ian Healy's back-up for Aus for many years. He was a pretty decent leggie and took a number of wickets in tour games...

 

[Scaly piscine]

Friggin knew Panesar had to get a completely useless stat-boosting wicket. It's like England need Panesar to get the meaningless soft wickets and Bell to get the meaningless soft runs.

 

[Richard]

I think it is fair to say that was an exceptional innings and the start of the very best test ever.

Best? Nah, no chance. Most exciting? Possibly the 2nd-most exciting in England in the last 10 years, but no more than that.

 

[susudear]

Here it is

The scorecard.

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64023.html

 

[Penguinissimo]

Best? Nah, no chance. Most exciting? Possibly the 2nd-most exciting in England in the last 10 years, but no more than that.

What was the most exciting?

 

[Richard]

Lord's 2000 vs West Indies. And what's more both of them are even better viewed in hindsight as they were pendulum-creaking games - the second match of the series where England recovered from an opening-match thrashing and set themselves on the road to series dominance.

AND the WI one led to a victory that hadn't been achieved for much longer than the one against Australia. Australia was '85 to '05; WI was '69 to '00.

 

[Stapel]

Best? Nah, no chance. Most exciting? Possibly the 2nd-most exciting in England in the last 10 years, but no more than that.

I should admit I rate excitement as a very important element in the qualification of a "good test".

 

[silentstriker]

[When] you've got a pie-chucker like Yuvraj Singh bowling at you I really don't mind...When you've got Zaheer Khan bowling from one end and you get left-arm filth like that it makes you feel really good." -KP

Haha. This should be fun. He isn't wrong though.

"I asked a few people [what "pie chucker" meant] and they told me it was a useless kind of a bowler. Well, a useless bowler getting him out five times, that's useless batting, I'd say."

-Yuvraj

Haha. Also funny. And he isn't wrong either.

 

[duffer]

"I'm in love (with Yuvi) again, and it feels sooooooooooo gooood!"



Congrats India, chuffed we managed to win this series after staring down the barrel in Madras. Awesome stuff to the lot of them.

 

[Richard]

I should admit I rate excitement as a very important element in the qualification of a "good test".

Well for me "good" is purely about the quality of the cricket; exciting is, well, how much it keeps you on the edge of your seat obviously and for me is a completely separate thing to how good it was.

But yeah, not unusual that the Tests that see the best quality action aren't all that exciting. Nonetheless, I'd say the quality of most of the cricket in the England-WI Test at Lord's 2000 was pretty damn good - there were a few catches put down in the first five sessions but in the second half of the game it was pretty well faultless and the seam-bowling (on a helpful pitch) was peerless from both teams. The batting varied between a little disappointing and brilliant.

England-Australia at Edgbaston in 2005 was error-strewn from both sides, as was the whole series. And that's precisely the main reason why it was so constantly thrilling.

But Lord's 2000 was the best game I've ever seen to my eyes because of the quality + the excitement.

 

[Uppercut]

Well for me "good" is purely about the quality of the cricket; exciting is, well, how much it keeps you on the edge of your seat obviously and for me is a completely separate thing to how good it was.

But yeah, not unusual that the Tests that see the best quality action aren't all that exciting. Nonetheless, I'd say the quality of most of the cricket in the England-WI Test at Lord's 2000 was pretty damn good - there were a few catches put down in the first five sessions but in the second half of the game it was pretty well faultless and the seam-bowling (on a helpful pitch) was peerless from both teams. The batting varied between a little disappointing and brilliant.

England-Australia at Edgbaston in 2005 was error-strewn from both sides, as was the whole series. And that's precisely the main reason why it was so constantly thrilling.

But Lord's 2000 was the best game I've ever seen to my eyes because of the quality + the excitement.

In terms of a combination of both quality and excitement, i struggle to remember a better test than the just-finished one in Perth.

 

[neutralguy]

I was listening to tea-time talk on radio, and journalist G Rajaraman was very unimpressed and disappointed by Dhoni's late declaration, talking of how individual milestones are preferred over team wins and how the will to win has been sacrificed to guard the series.

But how much can you expect from this team? The pitch is very flat, and the bowling doesn't have the ammunition to take 20 wickets on a flat pitch. Looking at how quickly the English scored in their first innings, we wouldn't expect the Indians to even bowl out all those overs without England getting to the target. With Harbhajan looking a little off-colour and no other bowling options at hand, Dhoni had to close out the match to guard another series win for his team, fought hard against a team that played very well out there.

I think what dhoni was trying to do here, is give confidence to both gambhir and especially yuvraj, to make their hundred on fifth days pitch.Both of them making good scores will do a world of confidence to their batting when they bat or chase in their second innings.
Though i agree that dhoni should have declared somewhere when the lead was around 367 at lunch or even 330 five overs back. That would have given around 50-55 overs for england to chase.Overall a good performance form india . Hope they do well in new zealand.

 

[Richard]

In terms of a combination of both quality and excitement, i struggle to remember a better test than the just-finished one in Perth.

If I'd watched every ball or close to of that I might quite possibly agree. However, the fact that half of it was followed only on waking-up meant that the Lord's one had to come top. I watched every ball of that when I wasn't at school and listened to every ball that took place while I was at school at school on my radio.