*Official* First Test at Lord's

[Cruxdude]

Really well played by KP. From what I watched of the first days play he looked like the guy who would be getting out early today but kudos to him for such a good innings. And PK what to tell of him, 40 overs when the rest of the bowlers were bowling **** and a 5 wicket haul. Most well deserved fr the both of them.

 

[Jacknife]

Missed a trick not getting Swann on for the final over of the day, especially with 2 left handers at the crease and Swann's penchant for taking wickets in his first over. Not a big fan of the declaration either, still plenty of time left in the game.

I can see both sides of it, they could have let KP hit out and maybe added another 30 or 40 runs, then started fresh tomorrow, with a bit of cloud in the sky and tougher conditions to bat. Or you back your bowlers and put them in for a difficult, final 6 overs.

 

[Bun]

Think the declaration was a mistake -- would have been better to get up to 550 or so tonight and take advantage of morning conditions tomorriw.

ha yes, if someone told me if we could get england under 475 when bell and pietersen were batting, with us being literally a one man attack. i'd have laughed at him

turns out andy doubles have decided to play to the gallery and look aggressive when they really need not have imho.

india is used to play and heck, even win after oppn scoring 400 plus scores. the pitch looks largely benign. I don't think they stand a chance to win this unless zak comes out and someone does an ajit agarkar adelaide.

as it stands, england may have slightly underesimated the tenacity of this lineup.

Tremlett dedicated his first over to Ishant

mighty umimpressive that was, although last two balls showed how dangerous he cann be.

 

[Cevno]

PK has today alone kept India in the game.

 

[Themer]

as it stands, england may have slightly underesimated the tenacity of this lineup.

Like they showed vs Somerset?

 

[Furball]

ha yes, if someone told me if we could get england under 475 when bell and pietersen were batting, with us being literally a one man attack. i'd have laughed at him

turns out andy doubles have decided to play to the gallery and look aggressive when they really need not have imho.

india is used to play and heck, even win after oppn scoring 400 plus scores. the pitch looks largely benign. I don't think they stand a chance to win this unless zak comes out and someone does an ajit agarkar adelaide.

as it stands, england may have slightly underesimated the tenacity of this lineup.



mighty umimpressive that was, although last two balls showed how dangerous he cann be.

 

[Scaly piscine]

An absolutely atrocious declaration that even Ricky Ponting would have thought twice about. Seemed like Strauss was trying to dispel his negative captain image because no matter how you look at it that was an absolutely boneheaded decision. If you were going to be aggressive then wait til KP gets out. You're going to have bat again in almost every scenario and you're going at 8+ an over and their best bowler has just come off. Then there's this two bites at the cherry bollocks. Yea because they give you a new new ball tomorrow don't they... oh wait no so there's **** all difference because the only rhythm that was disrupted by the break was that of the bowlers. Tremlett finally gets going and they all walk off. Super.

 

[Bun]

Like they showed vs Somerset?

like their test cricket records stackle up. go chek up on cricinfo

 

[Prince EWS]

An absolutely atrocious declaration that even Ricky Ponting would have thought twice about. Seemed like Strauss was trying to dispel his negative captain image because no matter how you look at it that was an absolutely boneheaded decision. If you were going to be aggressive then wait til KP gets out. You're going to have bat again in almost every scenario and you're going at 8+ an over and their best bowler has just come off. Then there's this two bites at the cherry bollocks. Yea because they give you a new new ball tomorrow don't they... oh wait no so there's **** all difference because the only rhythm that was disrupted by the break was that of the bowlers. Tremlett finally gets going and they all walk off. Super.

Haha yeah AWTA tbh.

 

[Jacknife]

ha yes, if someone told me if we could get england under 475 when bell and pietersen were batting, with us being literally a one man attack. i'd have laughed at him

turns out andy doubles have decided to play to the gallery and look aggressive when they really need not have imho.

india is used to play and heck, even win after oppn scoring 400 plus scores. the pitch looks largely benign. I don't think they stand a chance to win this unless zak comes out and someone does an ajit agarkar adelaide.

as it stands, england may have slightly underesimated the tenacity of this lineup.



mighty umimpressive that was, although last two balls showed how dangerous he cann be.

 

[Furball]

Have to say I agree with pube-head.

When was the last time the "let's give the opposition a really tricky 30 minutes" idea actually worked for England?

 

[Tom Halsey]

An absolutely atrocious declaration that even Ricky Ponting would have thought twice about. Seemed like Strauss was trying to dispel his negative captain image because no matter how you look at it that was an absolutely boneheaded decision. If you were going to be aggressive then wait til KP gets out. You're going to have bat again in almost every scenario and you're going at 8+ an over and their best bowler has just come off. Then there's this two bites at the cherry bollocks. Yea because they give you a new new ball tomorrow don't they... oh wait no so there's **** all difference because the only rhythm that was disrupted by the break was that of the bowlers. Tremlett finally gets going and they all walk off. Super.

Yeah agreed. Strauss not the kind of captain you expect it from either.

 

[Cevno]

Pretty sure Ponting thinks thrice about any declaration atleast

 

[Jacknife]

An absolutely atrocious declaration that even Ricky Ponting would have thought twice about. Seemed like Strauss was trying to dispel his negative captain image because no matter how you look at it that was an absolutely boneheaded decision. If you were going to be aggressive then wait til KP gets out. You're going to have bat again in almost every scenario and you're going at 8+ an over and their best bowler has just come off. Then there's this two bites at the cherry bollocks. Yea because they give you a new new ball tomorrow don't they... oh wait no so there's **** all difference because the only rhythm that was disrupted by the break was that of the bowlers. Tremlett finally gets going and they all walk off. Super.

The two bites of the cherry , is more about the ball stays in good shape, for 15-20 overs, so your best 2 bowlers have the most use of it. Would you be saying all this, if they managed to have nicked a wicket out?

 

[GIMH]

The more time we have to bowl that batting line-up out the better IMO.

 

[vcs]

Is this the same pitch as the one on which the recent England-SL game was played?

 

[oitoitoi]

Don't think the declaration has made much of a difference, with pretty much a session lost Strauss knows he has to press on. It looks pretty placid for batting when the sun's out, so if they have to score quick in the 3rd innings shouldnt be too hard, especially with Zaheer potentially out of the picture.

Anderson and Tremlett didn't look too threatening. Tremlett swinging it in to the lefties just isn't going to work, he get's too much bounce on a surface where there's decent bounce to begin with. It's always going to go over. Think he'd be better off bowling an off stump/just outside off stump line with 2 gullies in place. Anderson not swinging it anywhere near what I expected given the hype, the way he was being talked up I was expecting some Akramesque banana stuff. Still if the clouds come over tomorrow could be interesting. Was more impressed with what I saw in those 6 overs from Mukund than his whole Windies tour, looked tight, relatively compact, good stance against the right arm overs, open but not too open, didn't play around his front pad too much. Think he knows that Tremlett isn't going to get him that way barring a bad umpiring decision. Also he didn't look too overawed which is good for a young opener. Not expecting much from broad, and I think the Indians should do well against Swann, 3 lefties but Gambhir and Raina excellent against spin, Swann much less effective against the right handers. I predict runs, tomorrow's going to be all about Sachin.

 

[Cevno]

What's the weather prediction for the upcoming days?

 

[Jono]

England bowlers didn't make India play enough. That declaration would have looked a lot better if Anderson and Tremlett hadn't taken 4 overs to hit their straps.

 

[centurymaker]

Kevin Pietersen and Praveen Kumar congratulate each other | Photo | England v India 2011 | ESPN Cricinfo

this photo sums up the day.

kumar was gun today- really wanted him to do well so that people would stop crticizing him for his lack of pace. flintoff, boyoctt, hussain and co take that *****

'there are 100s of kumar sort of trundlers in county cricket' 'he wouldn't even get into a county side' 'his pace wouldn't even worry my mum' etc etc