*Official* Second Test at Trent Bridge

[Bun]

England's match to lose.

 

[GIMH]

What's the weather like in Notts? Bright blue sky here, hope it's not nationwide

 

[vic_orthdox]

Broad and Swann would have been eaten alive against the Indian bowling in the afternoon session, they were only able to counter because the fast bowlers had been bowling for two straight sessions. If conditions are the same as they were yesterday India should be looking to battle through the first few salvos and cash in when the bowling tires.

Also a bit of "go hard or go home" about it. They're not going to be good enough to edge a lot of balls, and swing hard at those in their arc, which a proper batsman doesn't have license to do.

Or Haddin tries to do, and nicks off.

 

[wpdavid]

England's match to lose.

Impressive attempt at reverse jinx there, but you're not fooling anybody.

 

[hang on]

220 is a competitive score.....about 60 more than the indians would have liked given the state of the game at tea. but if u had given the indians a sniff of 'rolling' england for less than 300 at the start of the day, they'd have bitten your arm off! since they bat last, they need to get a lead of about 80 to a 100 to feel safeish. otherwise, it will be bum squeaking level pegging all the way till the end.

 

[centurymaker]

I think everyone agrees it's well below par - I'd say about 40-50 runs - but we're just commenting that 220 keeps us in the game.

given that indian batting line-up isn't as strong as it normally is, it's probably par.

yuvraj, dhoni and the tailenders are hopeless against swing/seam.

 

[BoyBrumby]

India are in the box seat here. It's disingenuous to claim otherwise. Current odds have India at 20/21 (1.95) & England at 33/19 (2.74).

I think if Laxman and Dravid can take their stand past 50 and the shine off the ball India could well be looking at a substantial lead, especially if the sun burns off the cloud cover.

Also reckon this could be the ideal situation for Harbhajan, Dhoni or Yuvraj to shine; Broad and Swann showed attack is maybe the best form of defence for the lower middle order so if one hangs around for a while they might well take the game away from us.

 

[hang on]

What's the weather like in Notts? Bright blue sky here, hope it's not nationwide

even if the swing is somewhat reduced by the lack of cloud cover, the pitch is a very seam friendly one. there should still be a lot in it for the bowlers. it will take some excellent batting for the indians to get a lead.

 

[wpdavid]

Broad and Swann would have been eaten alive against the Indian bowling in the afternoon session, they were only able to counter because the fast bowlers had been bowling for two straight sessions. If conditions are the same as they were yesterday India should be looking to battle through the first few salvos and cash in when the bowling tires.

Which they're good enough to do, unless one or two of the England quicks get it 100% right straight away. For all the playing and missing last night, there was also a lot of leaving. The ball's already 15 overs old, so they need to make the most of it ASAP.

Going back to Broad, even allowing for your point above, surely he's being wasted at number 9. I know he made his one test ton there last summer, but you can't bank on a 300+ 8th wicket partnership more than once in a lifetime. Going back to the Broad vs Bresnan discussion yesterday, I think that Broad has shown enough to suggest that he could eventually be a test number 7, whereas no such conclusion can be drawn about Bres at this stage. Number 8 is about right at the moment, but I don't see the point in relegating him one place over what is at best a marginal call between him and TB.

 

[Bun]

Impressive attempt at reverse jinx there, but you're not fooling anybody.

England batting lineup with Anderson at 11 cannot be expected to be rolled over by our poor bowling lineup 2 times in 5 days

 

[Uppercut]

Which they're good enough to do, unless one or two of the England quicks get it 100% right straight away. For all the playing and missing last night, there was also a lot of leaving. The ball's already 15 overs old, so they need to make the most of it ASAP.

Without wanting to sound trollish, I think they were mainly just lucky last night. The bowling was quite a bit better than it was at Lord's and they played a ridiculous number of false shots.

You'd still be backing them to get a first innings lead but ideally they'll want 300+ having chosen to bowl first. The most awkward innings for batting will be the first and last so they need to push home the advantage early on. A bit of sunshine will make a big difference but they'll need to really step it up from Lord's, I think rolling over for 250~ again makes England favourites.

 

[Bun]

James Lawton: Resilience of Broad and Swann has hallmark of world champions - Cricket, Sport - The Independent

@ the headline...

 

[wpdavid]

Without wanting to sound trollish, I think they were mainly just lucky last night. The bowling was quite a bit better than it was at Lord's and they played a ridiculous number of false shots.

You'd still be backing them to get a first innings lead but ideally they'll want 300+ having chosen to bowl first. The most awkward innings for batting will be the first and last so they need to push home the advantage early on. A bit of sunshine will make a big difference but they'll need to really step it up from Lord's, I think rolling over for 250~ again makes England favourites.

Not trollish at all -simply a slightly different take on the situation to mine. They certainly had moments of luck, and I think we all agree that the first hour today is absolutely vital. Looks set for a daddy from one of their galacticos imo.

 

[wpdavid]

James Lawton: Resilience of Broad and Swann has hallmark of world champions - Cricket, Sport - The Independent

@ the headline...

The headline was probably not written by Lawton, I suppose.

However, the article is full of Lawton's usual failings, especially when it comes to cricket.

 

[silentstriker]

They used to show field maps a lot butit really seems to have gone out of fashion. Doesn't show off the latest piece of technology enough I guess.

Yea I really don't get why they don't show those anymore. Half the time a batsman hits the ball and I have no idea if a fielder is there or not until the camera shows it. Surely it wouldn't take much to flash the field map once in a while?

 

[Bun]

The headline was probably not written by Lawton, I suppose.

However, the article is full of Lawton's usual failings, especially when it comes to cricket.

Yep, the following quote

It is a mood which India need to capture with some speed if they are to hold on to their mythic crown.

had me thinking whether we indeed did roll England all out for 220...

 

[BoyBrumby]

The headline was probably not written by Lawton, I suppose.

However, the article is full of Lawton's usual failings, especially when it comes to cricket.

Lawton was the only member of the Independent's cricket writing staff to back the Indians beforehand & I think there's been an element of the jilted lover about his writing on the series so far.

 

[hang on]

weaver of the guardian gives lawton a good run for his money when it comes to bad cricket writing. his belaboured swing metaphor article of last evening is rather cringeworthy.

 

[wpdavid]

Yep, the following quote

had me thinking whether we indeed did roll England all out for 220...

Well there you go, it never happened, which comes as quite a relief to me.

Lawton usually has a single unswerving 'fact' when writing about cricket, and any circumstances that don't suit that fact are simply airbrushed.

 

[Bun]

Volatile Sreesanth ignores crowd's boos to win acclaim for fiery talent - Cricket, Sport - The Independent

This time from Bumble,

True, he did think about appealing for a caught and bowled against Ian Bell – and actually threw the ball in the air – but he was quickly calmed down by Dhoni, who pointed out that first- bounce catches do not count at this level.

:facepalm: