England Cricket Team Thread

[Lord Rother]

Re the crap state of our spinning resources - this is going to be a long-term issue unfortunately. The County season starts so early the pitches are completely unsuitable for spinners. Once the weather turns and enables more spin conducive surfaces to be prepared it's a month of one day cricket where a spinner's role is more one of containment rather than attacking to take wickets.

So then they have a month or 2 at the end of the season to find a rhythm and demonstrate the art.

I can't remember the exact stats but when Tufnell was playing in County cricket he would have expected to have bowled about 1000 overs over the course of the season. I appreciate that being an international cricketer took Moeen out of circulation for much of the season but he, Batty, Ansari and Rashid didn't manage 1000 overs between them last season, so they just don't have the opportunity to practice the art, experiment a bit, and truly get in the groove in preparation for Test cricket. Hence the nerves and inconsistencies when they do finally step up.

[Lord Rother]

That's fair enough - at 25 he is clearly very callow and immature compared to, say, that spinner who just took 19 wickets in the two games for Bangladesh. Hang on...

[borofan]

That's fair enough - at 25 he is clearly very callow and immature compared to, say, that spinner who just took 19 wickets in the two games for Bangladesh. Hang on...

The Bangladeshi lad has been playing representative cricket since he was 15, and captained the U-19 side at the last world cup. Jack Leach, on the other hand, has just finished his first full season. If guys like Marcus Trescothick and Chris Rogers says he's not ready, then I'm prepared to believe them.

[Lord Rother]

Following up on the point I made earlier, in his entire career (shorter than Gareth Batty's) Tufnell bowled more than double the number of overs that Batty has in FC cricket.

[WG Kaspar]

Once in a generation? There'll be a lot more to follow of that I am sure.

In answer to the Q as to why not Leach - apparently they felt he was not yet mature / developed enough and that chucking him in before he is ready could do "a Kerrigan" to him. His club agree with that.

What I meant was that it was their first victory in Test cricket against a top 6 side. It's only their ninth test win and since it's going to take a few years till a new member is admitted to the fold, if ever, it's an extremely important one for the game of cricket.

[Diamond Dog]

Hameed will open tomorrow :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/37907096

[Lord Rother]

And just how good does he look...?

The boy is going to break a lot of records over the next 20 years.

[borofan]

And just how good does he look...?

The boy is going to break a lot of records over the next 20 years.

Don't get giddy. A promising start, for sure, but far too early to jump to conclusions.

Have to wonder why they didn't blood him in Bangladesh though.

[Lord Rother]

Mark my words....

Thing is, Baylis had only ever seen him play once in the warm up match and Cook had never seen him play so I guess they decided to see whether Ballance was going to shape up, whilst observing Hameed in nets and around the team and see what he was made of.

Muddled thinking in my view but I would imagine that was it.

[borofan]

Excellent final day. Good to put some pressure on the Indian batting, with Rashid having easily his best game with the ball so far in tests. Maybe the pitch didn't deteriorate quite enough, but no doubt that will be remedied for the next game on Thursday. Expect a raging bunsen.

[Penk!]

Looks like this match may well be decided by India's far superior spinners, and the runs that Kohli and Pujara made on day one. If only Cook had been more daring and aggressive on the final day of the first test...

I would say something about the way Joe Root so often looks like he's playing a totally different game to the rest of England's scratchy, fumbling batsmen, but I don't want to jinx him.

[Penk!]

I would say something about the way Joe Root so often looks like he's playing a totally different game to the rest of England's scratchy, fumbling batsmen, but I don't want to jinx him.

Literally the very next ball. Jesus Christ.

[Penk!]

The problem with test cricket sometimes is that it goes on for four or five days when really, you could just have awarded the win to whoever won the toss.

[Lord Rother]

Super job from England today.

Anyone still thinking it is too early days to make judgement on Hameed should stop thinking about it now.

At 19 what he is doing is remarkable.

[andymacandy]

The problem with test cricket sometimes is that it goes on for four or five days when really, you could just have awarded the win to whoever won the toss.

Yes-I dont mind teams preparing pitches that suit them, but a pitch should last into Day 4, to give each a fair chance of batting on it.
I dont think the toss/pitch element had such an influence on the first test. England certainly made the most of it, but India had a decent go at batting on the same pitch. This one started to go before the India innings had finished!
Mind you, win or lose, England need to glean some experience from batting these next two days.

[andymacandy]

Super job from England today.

Anyone still thinking it is too early days to make judgement on Hameed should stop thinking about it now.

At 19 what he is doing is remarkable.

He's got it, hasn't he. A proper test opener, not a one dayer pressed into service.
A fifty on this pitch, now, is worth a century on any other. Cook will be a good model though.

[andymacandy]

Super job from England today.

Anyone still thinking it is too early days to make judgement on Hameed should stop thinking about it now.

At 19 what he is doing is remarkable.

He's got it, hasn't he. A proper test opener, not a one dayer pressed into service.
A fifty on this pitch, now, is worth a century on any other. Cook will be a good model though.

And within minutes, he's gone!

[Lord Rother]

Shame. But these balls regularly keeping so low are likely to be our undoing in the end.

[Lord Rother]

Alastair Cook has faced 8,273 of spin in his Test career and been bowled 3 times. (It was the 4,944th that got him the 1st time.)

Duckett has faced 172 and also been bowled 3 times.

and

[Lord Rother]

Poor poor stuff from England again today.

Hameed blameless having got a total snorter but the rest of them all falling to injudicious shots.

Bairstow and Buttler repairing the damage. A bit.

But we won't reach 400 which looks to be a minimum 1st innings requirement to me.