England Cricket Team Thread

[Lord Rother]

That was pathetic from England today.

260-8 might not sound TOO bad but really, it was terrible from most of them, amateurish in the extreme.

Root playing all across a straight one, 1st ball after drinks break when he should have been concentrating and playing straight.

Cook cutting too close to his body to Ashwin's 1st ball in the match - again, when he should have been concentrating and working out how the pitch was going to take spin.

Moeen, brainless top edged hook when 2 men had been put out deep on leg side.

Stokes, well, yes, he'd done well in reaching 29 but there was no need to come running down the pitch. Another giveaway wicket.

Buttler had also done well but drove in the air straight to the fielder.

The underlying instruction in India should be, if we win the toss we bat 1st and stay in for best part of 150 over some minimum, so don't take silly chances. Take your time. Don't get frustrated at any stage. By day 3 the pitch will have deteriorated significantly and will be tough for them. Do not worry about scoring rates, 2 an over is absolutely fine - just don't give the opposition a chance to bat before Tea on Day 2.

[borofan]

That was pathetic from England today.

260-8 might not sound TOO bad but really, it was terrible from most of them, amateurish in the extreme.

Root playing all across a straight one, 1st ball after drinks break when he should have been concentrating and playing straight.

Cook cutting too close to his body to Ashwin's 1st ball in the match - again, when he should have been concentrating and working out how the pitch was going to take spin.

Moeen, brainless top edged hook when 2 men had been put out deep on leg side.

Stokes, well, yes, he'd done well in reaching 29 but there was no need to come running down the pitch. Another giveaway wicket.

Buttler had also done well but drove in the air straight to the fielder.

The underlying instruction in India should be, if we win the toss we bat 1st and stay in for best part of 150 over some minimum, so don't take silly chances. Take your time. Don't get frustrated at any stage. By day 3 the pitch will have deteriorated significantly and will be tough for them. Do not worry about scoring rates, 2 an over is absolutely fine - just don't give the opposition a chance to bat before Tea on Day 2.

What he said. The accepted mantra has been 'win the toss, win the match'. Misses out the fairly important 'bat well'. Only Hameed and Woakes were really got out by the bowlers. The rest did it for themselves.

[Penk!]

Astonishing from England since tea! Now if they can just work out how the hell you get rid of Kohli...

[borofan]

Astonishing from England since tea! Now if they can just work out how the hell you get rid of Kohli...

Managed that. Now how to get rid of bloody Ashwin. He's been better with bat than ball so far this series.

[Penk!]

Stat time!

Conversion rate, 50s to 100s, last two years:

South Africa, 18 of 41 - 44%
Australia, 35 of 93 - 38%
Zimbabwe, 3 of 11 - 38%
India, 29 of 78 - 37%
Sri Lanka, 20 of 60 - 33%
Pakistan, 19 of 61 - 31%
New Zealand, 19 of 65 - 29%
West Indies, 10 of 42 - 24%
England, 23 of 109 - 21%
Bangladesh, 3 of 17 - 18%

Cook has converted 3 of his last 16 50s. Root 3 of his last 15. Bairstow 3 of 16.

Telling figures, I think.

[Spec]

Losing to India is no disgrace, especially in India. But the quality of the play in the last two tests has been so poor. Every ball India bowl feels like it is going to be a wicket. Real rabbits in the headlights stuff. India however look rarely bothered.

The team look physically and mentally shattered and like they want to be back home. Will be interesting to see if there is any improvement in the next two matches.

[Penk!]

The gulf in class between India and England's spinners is quite embarrassing; likewise the batsmen's respective abilities to deal with spin.

[Lord Rother]

And as I pointed out a couple of months ago, that is unlikely to change while the County season is structured as it is currently.

The season starts too early - spin really doesn't work too well on soft green strips. When summer kicks in, just when baked dry pitches start appearing it's mid season break for the bish bash stuff where spinners are employed to fire it in and cramp the batters up.

When the 4 day game kicks in again the spinners are stuck in containment mode and find it hard to find the rhythm and guile needed to toss the ball up with loop and turn to take wickets....

Then the season is over and they've bowled 400 overs and taken 30 or 40 wickets if they're lucky. Nowhere near enough on either count.

If Jack Leach is showing promise sufficient for him to be considered a potential Test Match spinner he should kept well away from limited overs cricket. It'll ruin him.

[borofan]

As far as I can make out, Somerset play Jack Leach in the 50 over stuff, but don't use him in the hit and giggle nonsense. Hopefully they will keep it that way.
I still cannot understand why they called up Dawson when a replacement left arm spinner was needed - he's just another batsman that bowls a bit. Not that Ansari should have been there in the first place - I reckon he was only there to keep up the seemingly compulsory Surrey presence.

[Penk!]

Ashwin took twice as many wickets in half an hour this morning as Moeen has taken in the last two test matches combined.

[borofan]

Ashwin took twice as many wickets in half an hour this morning as Moeen has taken in the last two test matches combined.

Ashwin is the best spin bowler in the world at present. Moeen is a batsman with a secondary sideline in bowling. Futile to compare them. With more practice, Joe Root would just as effective an off spinner as Moeen.

[Penk!]

You know that and I know that.

And yet Moeen still went on tour in India as a frontline spinner.

it just illustrates the key difference between the teams in this series (other than Kohli hitting obscene form).

[mentalist (slight return)]

Ashwin is the best spin bowler in the world at present

I'd say Herath is.

[Lord Rother]

Herath has taken loads of wickets recently but against 2 of the weakest Test nations.

[Penk!]

Ouch!

[mentalist (slight return)]

Baiting aside, Herath is a great bowler.

And y'all (well most of you) are being way too harsh on England. A tour to India currently should come with the expectations that you will lose. England have competed reasonably well from what I've watched. There was a moment in the 1st Test where Cook should have probably declared a bit more aggressively. But essentially India are better at home all round, batting, spin, pace. I expect there was no magical combination that would have changed this result. Maybe picking more right handed batsmen would help as Ashwin devours lefties in India. But yeah, nup. Same for Australia when we tour in a few months.

[Penk!]

One wonders, perhaps from a position smelling a little of sour grapes, whether it would benefit India more to prepare less friendly pitches at home? That way they would get a bit more practice in different conditions and would make the series more competitive and engaging for viewers, while giving them a team better able to adapt when playing away, so that they wouldn't have such a wonky home-away record.

The same goes for many teams but they do seem to be the ones with the biggest difference between their home and away performances. Look at how well Pakistan adapted to English conditions this summer compared to India a couple of years ago.

[borofan]

One wonders, perhaps from a position smelling a little of sour grapes, whether it would benefit India more to prepare less friendly pitches at home? That way they would get a bit more practice in different conditions and would make the series more competitive and engaging for viewers, while giving them a team better able to adapt when playing away, so that they wouldn't have such a wonky home-away record.

Pitches for this series have been roads compared to the ones they served up in recent series against NZ and the Saffers.

[Penk!]

Much better batting performance from England but I can't see them taking 20 wickets here.

[Lord Rother]

Moeen is a frustrating player. Oodles of talent and I like the fact that he's a gentle laid back soul, but....

If only he showed a bit more aggression in his bowling instead of just delivering it. Threat doesn't just come from the ball delivered by the bowler but also from the body language and the mind games. He poses zero threat with the latter 2.

And as a batsman - huge talent but so often just gives his wicket away carelessly. Top edges, chips in the air, wafts at wide balls, airy fairy hooks straight down fine leg's throat etc.

It will be interesting to see how Dawson applies himself in India's innings. On the face of it an identikit cricketer.