***Official*** England in India

[wpdavid]

Nice one Cook. Something correct about him being the one to get to 23 ahead of KP.

Setting records all the time then, first to 23, youngest to 7000 and first ever captain to score centuries in first 5 games as skipper which almost certainly will never be bettered.

Might be bettered next week given the form he's in.

And he tends to make it a daddy when he reaches three figures nowadays.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Nasser has just repeated his "donkeys" remark. Way to fuel the fire, but bang on the money.

I saw him laying into the Indian fielding but phone went so muted it.

Bet he wouldn't have made the comment if he was in India now.

 

[Satyanash89]

Not if he only breaks them because England play so much more Test cricket than India did though. If he plays for 20+ years and averages in the low to mid 50s then sure, valid comparison, but scoring more runs and hundreds overall doesn't make him the better bat for the same reason Tendulkar isn't the best bat of all time.

Seriously think Cook can maintain a mid 50s average though... doesnt really have any clear weaknesses and he's proven himself on all kinds of surfaces and got lots of tough runs too... 23 hundreds already, jesus... how many did sachin have at this age? 25?

 

[Spikey]

Jonathan Agnew ‏@Aggerscricket

Says a great deal that the man put up as end of day interview by India is their fielding coach, Trevor Penney


Poor Ashwin. Does nothing on the field, and lost his off-field job to boot

 

[Spark]

Seriously think Cook can maintain a mid 50s average though... doesnt really have any clear weaknesses and he's proven himself on all kinds of surfaces and got lots of tough runs too... 23 hundreds already, jesus... how many did sachin have at this age? 25?

Erm...

 

[Daemon]

shameful.

if we do get whipped, i hope it's in a proper manner, not this boring, torturous method.

 

[superkingdave]

Yeah Cook still has a few weaknesses moreso against express pace now- people forget he had a pretty poor summer - even after scoring nearly 500 runs in these 3 tests at a stupid average, he only averages mid 50s for the year.

 

[uvelocity]

Just like the previous game, i hope India loses and the stupid public finally realises this is a **** team no matter where we play and more than that, i hope dhoni gets called out on all that ****e about "greentops".
No excuses left if we lose this... none at all... and thats why i srsly want us to lose... badly

so good to finally agree with an indian fan. Thursday.

 

[grecian]

Can we have Viru_is_god and Kohli-fan unbanned please. It looks like India have pulled a few punches, and I'd like to know their views

 

[Pothas]

Yeah Cook still has a few weaknesses moreso against express pace now- people forget he had a pretty poor summer - even after scoring nearly 500 runs in these 3 tests at a stupid average, he only averages mid 50s for the year.

Yeah and you can't see him ever consistently averaging in the mid 50s at home. For oneopening in England is pretty hard. Will stil get plenty of runs of course.

Doesn't really matter when he is this good away though.

 

[weldone]

Only one positive from last 4 sessions play - I don't miss not being at the Eden Gardens any more...

 

[Pup Clarke]

Yeah Cook still has a few weaknesses moreso against express pace now

I think that's a strength of his tbh. Lethal on the pull/hook when a genuine quick drops it in short and is great at using the pace of bowlers to deflect the ball fine. The bowlers I' can remember seeing him genuinely struggle against were the likes of McGrath, Clark, Asif, Aamer and Kulasekera - guys who could just hit a channel all day..

 

[smash84]

I think that's a strength of his tbh. Lethal on the pull/hook when a genuine quick drops it in short and is great at using the pace of bowlers to deflect the ball fine. The bowlers I' can remember seeing him genuinely struggle against were the likes of McGrath, Clark, Asif, Aamer and Kulasekera - guys who could just hit a channel all day..

Aamer really couldn't hit a channel all day

 

[NasserFan207]

I think that's a strength of his tbh. Lethal on the pull/hook when a genuine quick drops it in short and is great at using the pace of bowlers to deflect the ball fine. The bowlers I' can remember seeing him genuinely struggle against were the likes of McGrath, Clark, Asif, Aamer and Kulasekera - guys who could just hit a channel all day..

Dont remember Cook struggling much against Clark or Kulasekera. Pretty much everyone struggles against those other 3, dunno if that proves much. Also Aamer wasn't really a 'channel' bowler, though he could do anything.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Clark had him in all sorts throughout the 06/07 series, even though I don't think he dismissed him that often in the series. And Aamer's no Ambrose but there's no doubt he could be probing for spells at a time.

 

[NasserFan207]

Meh, still don't think Cook is particularly weak to good channel bowling which wobbles each way. Everyone is weak to that stuff. A player like Cook probably gets out to that kind of delivery more because he opens the batting and doesn't really have any stupid dismissals, so when he does get out its almost always nicking off to a good ball.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Meh, still don't think Cook is particularly weak to good channel bowling which wobbles each way. Everyone is weak to that stuff.

Well yes, but there's looking weak and then there's looking plain bad. Great batsman can potentially ride out consistent line and length bowling with a bit of nip, Cook really can't.

 

[centurymaker]

last yr in england whenever ishant sharma bowled consistently outside off to cook , he caused a lot of trouble to him
I think he dismissed him Half of the times too.

i don't think trundler pace is enough do the trick nowadays.
you'd have to be around 135

 

[Furball]

last yr in england whenever ishant sharma bowled consistently

Not sure if srs.

 

[Stapel]

Nasser Hussain had a few words about Cook during tea. He was impressed by the idea that a previous poor innings or an akward play&miss don't seem to bother Cook.

I guess that is very much true! Succes as a batsman at the highest level, obviously, needs some talent. But also some toughness and concentration. Cook has not the batting talent Tendulkar has. Maybe not even the talent Pietersen has. I guess he compensates a lot with mental toughness.