*Official* India Tour of England 2018

[Top_Cat]

Good conditions to bat and, broadly, England bottled it. That said, the ball to Cook was lovely and the bit of fielding that nutted Root was sensational by Kohli and they were big moments. India’s game at the moment.

Buttler continuing his complete ineptitude against the twirlers. Begs the question, if he isn’t keeping and doesn’t score some serious runs this series, what’s he actually bringing to the side? England are basically gambling on him bringing in his white-ball form but it’s all been up the order where he can really run the game. At 7, he’s more likely to have to bash the spinners around to shore up a **** total, something he’s never been particularly good at - no pressure. Low-percentage cricket.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Saw none of it today and won't tomorrow. Same **** different day I guess.

 

[BSM]

Think Bairstow running Root out pretty much ruined a good day for England up until that point. You can argue it was great fielding by Kohli, which it was, but Root would have ultimately been run out even if it wasn't a direct hit anyway, he was that far behind.

It was bad running by both, but I think Bairstow was too aggressive and should have not called Root for a quick second when he had not even turned around. By the time Root could have said no, Bairstow himself could have potentially been run-out. Yeah Root was slow, but was there really any problem in Bairstow seeing this and just taking the single? So frustrating when there was really no importance in scoring quickly and we were pointlessly reckless. Oh well, we go again tommorrow.

If we can get 300, it should be competitive. The ball was swinging throughout the day, so Anderson and Broad should bowl well. But they have to bowl well or this could be a long test match. I don't trust Curran as the third-seamer, nor do I think Rashid will be game-changing (hope he is though). Stokes will bowl sh** as always I imagine

Also, will be interesting to see if the ICC take any action against Kohli? If he doesn't get any demerit points whatsoever for the send off, considering the treatment of Rabada last year, then it just seems unfair to me.

 

[ImpatientLime]

r-r-root will fix his conversion issue i swear

 

[vic_orthdox]

If we can get 300, it should be competitive. The ball was swinging throughout the day, so Anderson and Broad should bowl well.

Issue is that the pitch seemed slow enough to negate the effect of the swing, unless it's really full (or fast).

 

[Adders]

FFS that is such an England scorecard to wake up to.

Someone tell me about the Root run out.......did Bairstow **** him up or was it Roots own fault?

 

[S.Kennedy]

That pitch looked a 350 job to me.

 

[BSM]

FFS that is such an England scorecard to wake up to.

Someone tell me about the Root run out.......did Bairstow **** him up or was it Roots own fault?

I'd say Bairstow was at fault if either player was. He called him through for a second, with Root only being able to turn around for the second when Bairstow was almost halfway down the pitch already. Didn't seem to possess awareness of the fact that Root is a significantly slower runner. Then again, Root could have sent him back. Good fielding by Kohli as well to release the ball quickly to be completely fair.

 

[Top_Cat]

Was he really that far out in the end? My own sense, quick highlights check, was that if Kohli took a fraction longer to throw in the ball, didn’t get the direct hit or if Root didn’t hesitate that little bit, he was home.

50/50, though. At that stage of game, will cop to it being an unnecessary risk.

 

[Top_Cat]

Issue is that the pitch seemed slow enough to negate the effect of the swing, unless it's really full (or fast).

Yeah. Bairstow’s drag-on was telling for a day 1 deck.

 

[Mr Miyagi]

Root looking set for a big 50 here.

And run out for 80

 

[Mr Miyagi]

As much as I think Miyagi deciding bowling allrounders are better batsmen than bowlers is fast becoming a meme... having followed Curran's junior rep career with some interest due to his Zimbabwe connections, people did typically think he'd end up a better batsman than bowler. I'm still not ruling that out.

That's not quite what I said about Holder. I said that his batting is good enough to get him in the WI team without bowling. That says more about the batting in the WI team than anything else.

Nor is it quite what I said about Sam neither. But anyway - yeah Sam Curran does bat well, and I expect his batting stats to continue to improve over the course of his career and become a legitimate allrounder. I've seen some fine innings from him already.

But is he upto the bowling task of #3 seam bowler, especially when there's no swing or pronounced seam around? Because I have seen him seriously spray it around, and his E/R for FC is high.

I really don't get Sam Curran's leapfrogging of the Overtons myself. So unless Curran can swing the ball better (which I havn't seen) - he seems like a liability to me despite his county numbers (and his batting ability which will imo make him an allrounder one day - he is definitely very talented with the bat for a "bowler"). All I have seen in Sam Curran is a short bustling pacer who despite his great physical efforts, sprays the ball around a bit.

Craig Overton showed promise in Aus. His faster twin Jamie is in form.

Woakes must be injured again. Woakes was already dropped for Toby Roland Jones, who must be injured again. Wood is crap.

This is pretty dire already for England if either Broad or Anderson get injured or even a major niggle this series.

Of course, he will probably bowl beautiful swing this series with a Dukes ball and look like Wasim Akram (but shorter).

I would tear strips off his selection, but he did do this:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/...only-unofficial-test-india-a-in-england-2018/

So he must have something more to him than I've seen him deliver, and all I can think it would be is swinging the Dukes.

Tbf, he'd probably be batting at 1st drop for them as a teenager by now, and probably thinking about only bowling part time with Brendon Taylor trying to convince him otherwise. [This is a comment about the weaknesses of Zimbabwe Cricket as much as Sam's batting talents]

He has some serious batting talent (as an allrounder- not as a batsman per se), and if he could stop spraying the ball around, be a more than useful all-rounder. But #3 seamer? Big challenge for the short sprayer.

Lets see how close he gets to being the next Trent Boult. I've seen him bowl a lot of pies. And his E/R in county suggests it is more than common. But his average and S/R suggest if its swinging with a Dukes ball, those pies become jaffas.

His bowling with the kookaburra was horrid. But that batting was impressive.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

This is a freaking 650 pitch to say the least. England effed up.

 

[Starfighter]

England gotta England. Try actually taking advantage of a decent position for once you ****s.

 

[Mr Miyagi]

This is a freaking 650 pitch to say the least. England effed up.

England effed up after getting through the first session well placed. But 650? I was watching Shami and Ishant regularly beat the bat and Ashwin get a ball to grip and bowl Cook in the 9th over.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

England effed up after getting through the first session well placed. But 650? I was watching Shami and Ishant regularly beat the bat and Ashwin get a ball to grip and bowl Cook in the 9th over.

I watched the game also. The English batsmen were lackadaisical. The way they lost their wicket. Absurd!

 

[BSM]

Was he really that far out in the end? My own sense, quick highlights check, was that if Kohli took a fraction longer to throw in the ball, didn’t get the direct hit or if Root didn’t hesitate that little bit, he was home.

50/50, though. At that stage of game, will cop to it being an unnecessary risk.

If the throw was later then he would have likely made it.With the quickness in which Kohli let go of the ball, I tihnk Ashwin had loads of time to take the bowls off if it wasn't a direct hit. Watching it live I could see Root was going to be run out from the moment the ball had left his hand. He had hardly started his run if I remember correctly

 

[Mr Miyagi]

I watched the game also. The English batsmen were lackadaisical. The way they lost their wicket. Absurd!

Oh I didn't watch it all. I'm just saying what I did see early wasn't saying bat first and score 650. Maybe it flattened out in the afternoon.

 

[Starfighter]

Oh I didn't watch it all. I'm just saying what I did see early wasn't saying bat first and score 650. Maybe it flattened out in the afternoon.

It's in no way at all a 650 pitch. 350 would be a 'par' score if you like IMO.


I think I should mention the direness of Stokes' dismissal. Turning a long hop back to the bowler is not a brilliant thing to do.

 

[TheJediBrah]

It's in no way at all a 650 pitch. 350 would be a 'par' score if you like IMO.


I think I should mention the direness of Stokes' dismissal. Turning a long hop back to the bowler is not a brilliant thing to do.

That was criminal from Stokes


so pretty standard really