Cricket

[catcherintherye]

All that panicking and complaining yesterday looking pretty daft now.

I certainly didn't criticise the tactics yesterday, but I can see why they could be criticised. People want England to play with the arrogance of the great Australian teams they probably grew up on, but in truth we are a long long way from that side eve with our best players, never mind with some of the squad rotation guys.

Hard though it is, you have to get that Australian team out of our mindset, but also some of the golden age thinking ideas of many commentators about scores in the 4th innings. Ironically with DRS it has led to 4th innings scores starting to drop again. However scoring rates can still go high. A lot of the older guys seem to take the view 3 runs an over keeps you safe, which in thne modern game it doesn't.

Likewise that Australian team had Warne, and Macgill in the sub continent, it had McGrath, Gillespie and Lee on seaming pitches. Just about every avenue covered. We have Leach and Bess, who are doing a good job for us, but are never going to be world class performers. Its doubtful they will even be at the level of a Greame Swann (who's levels below Macgill, who's leveler below Warne).

The only other criticism, wa sthat 2nd innings did look a bit confused at times. Like certain players pushing on for a quick declaration, others playing time. At the back end it was confused too, but what you get was they probably hadn't quite reached the target they wanted, and they got a bit stuck.

The overall plan is right though. England are underdogs, and India at home is probably as hard, if not harder than Australia away. The only big away series win in Australia, came on the back of scoring loads of runs, and giving them nothing. The pressure then ate away an Australia. From a strategic viewpoint, batting big, and trying to eliminate the option of an India win early in the series makes sense.

It will also help Leach and Bess. Having in the back of your head as a spinner that you ahve to have half an eye on the run rate is a very different feeling to knowing it doesn't matter. If he runs down the track and hits you for 6 thats fine, as runs aren't an issue and you are more likely to get him out as a result.

So well done to Root. I think he's underrated as a batsman and a captain to be honest. It's a really young team still Dan Lawrence is getting good experience, and though I'm not convinced on him, Sibley is improving. Crawley for Burns, and probably Bairstow for Lawrence wil improve us too.

 

[Chewbacca]

Nothing better (as a former fast bowler) than stumps cartwheeling out of the ground

 

[Chris O'Connor]

Famous victory, all that moaning about tactics yesterday......if only they'd declared an hour earlier they could have wrapped it all up an hour earlier.

The right tactics for me and Root fully vindicated.

The moaners are mostly cricketers from former era's, rent a quote self publicist Michael Vaughan and Shane Warne who wont waste any opportunity to be critical of England if he can possibly help it - you can just imagine the 'let's declare all the time' TMS crowd being apoplectic over it.

The result of this series could all depend on how lucky Joe is at the toss, the key action takes place before a ball is bowled - that toss is the key moment in the whole test match.

If Joe can call correctly two out of next three, England should win the series, if he is unlucky it'll be very hard.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

As I think I said in the summer, in all conditions Anderson is still a far superior bowler to Broad, he was just unlucky in the summer.

I've been a big fan of their rotation, but for me Anderson has to be the number 1 and Broad his understoody. I also think, if he's fit he plays the next match. Sorry Stuart, but you will have to wait your turn.

To be fair, in 9 tests since the start of 2020, Broad has got 41 wickets at 14.5 and had match figures of 3-34 from 26 overs in his test against Sri Lanka. Harsh to keep either out of the side really.

 

[Lanolin]

I certainly didn't criticise the tactics yesterday, but I can see why they could be criticised. People want England to play with the arrogance of the great Australian teams they probably grew up on, but in truth we are a long long way from that side eve with our best players, never mind with some of the squad rotation guys.

Hard though it is, you have to get that Australian team out of our mindset, but also some of the golden age thinking ideas of many commentators about scores in the 4th innings. Ironically with DRS it has led to 4th innings scores starting to drop again. However scoring rates can still go high. A lot of the older guys seem to take the view 3 runs an over keeps you safe, which in thne modern game it doesn't.

Likewise that Australian team had Warne, and Macgill in the sub continent, it had McGrath, Gillespie and Lee on seaming pitches. Just about every avenue covered. We have Leach and Bess, who are doing a good job for us, but are never going to be world class performers. Its doubtful they will even be at the level of a Greame Swann (who's levels below Macgill, who's leveler below Warne).

The only other criticism, wa sthat 2nd innings did look a bit confused at times. Like certain players pushing on for a quick declaration, others playing time. At the back end it was confused too, but what you get was they probably hadn't quite reached the target they wanted, and they got a bit stuck.

The overall plan is right though. England are underdogs, and India at home is probably as hard, if not harder than Australia away. The only big away series win in Australia, came on the back of scoring loads of runs, and giving them nothing. The pressure then ate away an Australia. From a strategic viewpoint, batting big, and trying to eliminate the option of an India win early in the series makes sense.

It will also help Leach and Bess. Having in the back of your head as a spinner that you ahve to have half an eye on the run rate is a very different feeling to knowing it doesn't matter. If he runs down the track and hits you for 6 thats fine, as runs aren't an issue and you are more likely to get him out as a result.

So well done to Root. I think he's underrated as a batsman and a captain to be honest. It's a really young team still Dan Lawrence is getting good experience, and though I'm not convinced on him, Sibley is improving. Crawley for Burns, and probably Bairstow for Lawrence wil improve us too.

I just don’t agree with the criticism. They won very easily in the end, people were just wrong. Whatever the reasons for not declaring were are totally irrelevant, it was not necessary to declare, simple as that.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I certainly didn't criticise the tactics yesterday, but I can see why they could be criticised. People want England to play with the arrogance of the great Australian teams they probably grew up on, but in truth we are a long long way from that side eve with our best players, never mind with some of the squad rotation guys.

Hard though it is, you have to get that Australian team out of our mindset, but also some of the golden age thinking ideas of many commentators about scores in the 4th innings. Ironically with DRS it has led to 4th innings scores starting to drop again. However scoring rates can still go high. A lot of the older guys seem to take the view 3 runs an over keeps you safe, which in thne modern game it doesn't.

Likewise that Australian team had Warne, and Macgill in the sub continent, it had McGrath, Gillespie and Lee on seaming pitches. Just about every avenue covered. We have Leach and Bess, who are doing a good job for us, but are never going to be world class performers. Its doubtful they will even be at the level of a Greame Swann (who's levels below Macgill, who's leveler below Warne).

The only other criticism, wa sthat 2nd innings did look a bit confused at times. Like certain players pushing on for a quick declaration, others playing time. At the back end it was confused too, but what you get was they probably hadn't quite reached the target they wanted, and they got a bit stuck.

The overall plan is right though. England are underdogs, and India at home is probably as hard, if not harder than Australia away. The only big away series win in Australia, came on the back of scoring loads of runs, and giving them nothing. The pressure then ate away an Australia. From a strategic viewpoint, batting big, and trying to eliminate the option of an India win early in the series makes sense.

It will also help Leach and Bess. Having in the back of your head as a spinner that you ahve to have half an eye on the run rate is a very different feeling to knowing it doesn't matter. If he runs down the track and hits you for 6 thats fine, as runs aren't an issue and you are more likely to get him out as a result.

So well done to Root. I think he's underrated as a batsman and a captain to be honest. It's a really young team still Dan Lawrence is getting good experience, and though I'm not convinced on him, Sibley is improving. Crawley for Burns, and probably Bairstow for Lawrence wil improve us too.

When you have a player scoring the weight of runs Root is then it papers over a bloody lot of cracks. If you've got a guy getting 150 every test match, you only need a couple of the other batsmen to contribute and you've got a competitive score that gives the bowlers something to attack.

We've got a couple of world class batsmen and a couple of world class seamers and if they're on form then it goes a long way towards getting results against most teams.

 

[ToffeeTim]

To be fair, in 9 tests since the start of 2020, Broad has got 41 wickets at 14.5 and had match figures of 3-34 from 26 overs in his test against Sri Lanka. Harsh to keep either out of the side really.

It's very harsh on Broad, but I think it's the right call in these conditions. He will play at least one test in the series because Anderson shouldn't be playing all 4. More than likely they've already planned to play Anderson 1 & 3, and Broad the other 2 matches.

They will both need to be managed so they can extend their careers. Having at least one of them in the side for as long as possible can only be a good thing. They will probably only play together in home matches moving forward. Hopefully Anderson can still be fit for the Ashes next year because having him rotating with Broad will be a big boost. If they can play maybe 3 games each out of 5, then I fancy England's chances.

 

[Chris O'Connor]

I certainly didn't criticise the tactics yesterday, but I can see why they could be criticised. People want England to play with the arrogance of the great Australian teams they probably grew up on, but in truth we are a long long way from that side eve with our best players, never mind with some of the squad rotation guys.

Hard though it is, you have to get that Australian team out of our mindset, but also some of the golden age thinking ideas of many commentators about scores in the 4th innings. Ironically with DRS it has led to 4th innings scores starting to drop again. However scoring rates can still go high. A lot of the older guys seem to take the view 3 runs an over keeps you safe, which in thne modern game it doesn't.

Likewise that Australian team had Warne, and Macgill in the sub continent, it had McGrath, Gillespie and Lee on seaming pitches. Just about every avenue covered. We have Leach and Bess, who are doing a good job for us, but are never going to be world class performers. Its doubtful they will even be at the level of a Greame Swann (who's levels below Macgill, who's leveler below Warne).

The only other criticism, wa sthat 2nd innings did look a bit confused at times. Like certain players pushing on for a quick declaration, others playing time. At the back end it was confused too, but what you get was they probably hadn't quite reached the target they wanted, and they got a bit stuck.

The overall plan is right though. England are underdogs, and India at home is probably as hard, if not harder than Australia away. The only big away series win in Australia, came on the back of scoring loads of runs, and giving them nothing. The pressure then ate away an Australia. From a strategic viewpoint, batting big, and trying to eliminate the option of an India win early in the series makes sense.

It will also help Leach and Bess. Having in the back of your head as a spinner that you ahve to have half an eye on the run rate is a very different feeling to knowing it doesn't matter. If he runs down the track and hits you for 6 thats fine, as runs aren't an issue and you are more likely to get him out as a result.

So well done to Root. I think he's underrated as a batsman and a captain to be honest. It's a really young team still Dan Lawrence is getting good experience, and though I'm not convinced on him, Sibley is improving. Crawley for Burns, and probably Bairstow for Lawrence wil improve us too.

Agree with 99% of that, but Graeme Swann was truly world class and while MacGill was too, the Aussie wickets like Sydney are far more receptive than the typically English wickets. Panesar was mistakenly picked ahead of Swann for some time when Swann was ready for test cricket which meant he was relatively old when he started his test career.

Swann and MacGill have test averages of 29 per wicket which for a spinner bowling predominantly on seaming wickets in England is excellent. Swann was also a very good one day cricketer - add to that his more than useful batting and for me Swann is not just arguably the better bowler but certainly the better player of the two

 

[JimmyJeffers]

Anyone got a video of the Anderson over or highlights please?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Agree with 99% of that, but Graeme Swann was truly world class and while MacGill was too, the Aussie wickets like Sydney are far more receptive than the typically English wickets. Panesar was mistakenly picked ahead of Swann for some time when Swann was ready for test cricket which meant he was relatively old when he started his test career.

Swann and MacGill have test averages of 29 per wicket which for a spinner bowling predominantly on seaming wickets in England is excellent. Swann was also a very good one day cricketer - add to that his more than useful batting and for me Swann is not just arguably the better bowler but certainly the better player of the two

Add Swann to this bowling lineup and it's very good indeed. He averaged 25 on the sub-continent, which is more than decent for a spinner, especially as there's no guarantee of success there (Warne for instance did poorly and averaged over 40 in India).

 

[arch stanton]

Nothing better (as a former fast bowler) than stumps cartwheeling out of the ground

I'd say that plus breaking the said stump is pretty good, as is making a gobby batsman wear one or two too. That was fun.

 

[summerisle]

Anyone got a video of the Anderson over or highlights please?

IND vs ENG 2021, 1st Test, Day 5: Match Highlights

IND vs ENG 2021, 1st Test, Day 5: Match Highlights

www.bcci.tv

 

[BigMick]

Regarding England declaring, it has always made me laugh how many ex-players become advocates of declaring early as soon as they enter the commentary box, having been ultra-cautious when they played.

Meanwhile, Joe Root has explained that they changed plans during the 2nd innings due to the changing conditions, dropping the plan to chase quick runs.

"The most important thing was making sure India winning was out of the equation and then creating 10 chances and that worked out well today. As a bowling group we didn’t want to worry about the run-rate with how fast the outfield is and how small the ground is. It was about just wanting to take 10 wickets."

I want to give a mention to Jos Buttler and his excellent wicketkeeping, both in this game and in Sri Lanka. He took a couple of fine catches off the spinners, exactly the sort that would have bounced off his gloves, or even his chest, in the past.

His form, though, only increases the pressure on Ben Foakes to find his best form immediately in the 2nd test.

 

[Chewbacca]

I'd say that plus breaking the said stump is pretty good, as is making a gobby batsman wear one or two too. That was fun.

My missus couldn’t watch me play. I’m a very placid 6’5” archetypal gentle giant until I play cricket. Then people get hurt. Club cricket is brutal.

 

[catcherintherye]

Agree with 99% of that, but Graeme Swann was truly world class and while MacGill was too, the Aussie wickets like Sydney are far more receptive than the typically English wickets. Panesar was mistakenly picked ahead of Swann for some time when Swann was ready for test cricket which meant he was relatively old when he started his test career.

Swann and MacGill have test averages of 29 per wicket which for a spinner bowling predominantly on seaming wickets in England is excellent. Swann was also a very good one day cricketer - add to that his more than useful batting and for me Swann is not just arguably the better bowler but certainly the better player of the two

Yes well corrected there mate. I actually felt Macgill was a bit better than that, I thought he was nearer the mid 20's. A quick glance says Macgill has the better average, and strike rate, but Swann the better economy, but yes, both very fine bowlers and I will take it back that Macgill is levels above Swann, they are very similar (as bowlers).

The wider point, that Leach and Bess (and I appreciate Bess is young) they are a fair bit behind both bowlers. So I can completely understand without having a Swann (never mind a Warne and a Macgill) why the captain has to be more cautious with his declarations, and give his bowlers every chance.

As for Swann, it was very odd why he wasn't picked. Not just ahead of Panesar, but also Giles. Rumours had it something with Fletcher, but not sure what. He was an excellent cricketer for England though.