England v India 2021 Cricket Test Series

Weather is shit for next 4 days, more than 50% chance of rain on all days for consistent period of time. Shame
 
England's batting is woeful. Back to the grim old days of the 90s/early 00s with the collapses.
I may have said this before but I really think we'd be in a better position if James Taylor hadn't had to retire. I know he only averaged twenty something in his seven matches but I'm convinced he would've become a really good player.

Not that losing one player is anywhere near enough to justify how bad we are.
 
I may have said this before but I really think we'd be in a better position if James Taylor hadn't had to retire. I know he only averaged twenty something in his seven matches but I'm convinced he would've become a really good player.

Not that losing one player is anywhere near enough to justify how bad we are.

I fully agree with you there, he had excellent potential. Ollie Pope also has excellent potential and we could have done with him here. I geninuely thought Ballance would be good enough but his technique let him down. We just have such a soft batting lineup and give cheap wickets away. No one to put pressure on the bowlers. Root and Bairstow did show glimpses today but it wasn't good enough. They need to look to keep the scoreboard ticking instead of just full defensive mode which then ends in getting out. There aren't really many great options in county cricket for the red ball game at the moment.
 
I made a prediction about a month ago that England could easily be whitewashed 10-0 by India and Australia (presuming The Ashes tour goes ahead). It's going to look increasingly like a rather obvious point.

Quite simply, this is the weakest England side I have ever seen, weaker even than the nineties line ups. Don't forget those batting orders contained the likes of Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart, Mike Atherton, and Nasser Hussain, who ranged from good to average but who were better batsmen than most of those in the top six (bar Root).

The batting is so fragile and they are hoping that white-ball players like Bairstow and Buttler will do a job, which smacks of desperation and exposes their lack of options.

When you remove Ben Stokes from their team it weakens them even further and they can't afford to be without him.
 
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India now has a fantastic bowling line-up to equal or better most Test teams. The best chance England will have to compete in this series is cold and cloudy weather.
 
I'm not sure ECB are prioritising Test cricket. It's all about wack a ball cricket these days which brings better financial gains. There has been no red-ball cricket for a number of weeks which has never happened in the past for players going into a test series. Not that it would have made much of a difference with lack of quality with a number of batsmen playing for England.
 
I'm not sure ECB are prioritising Test cricket. It's all about wack a ball cricket these days which brings better financial gains. There has been no red-ball cricket for a number of weeks which has never happened in the past for players going into a test series. Not that it would have made much of a difference with lack of quality with a number of batsmen playing for England.

The division between red and white ball cricket with separate governing bodies is inevitable and ulitimately necessary. Red ball cricket needs to market itself and appeal to its own audience, but the ECB are merely paying lip-service to it while setting up cash cows like The Hundred.

Red ball cricket needs to be marketed to an audience of its own. It also needs to be coached as a separate discipline to white ball cricket.

That's the only way forward for the longer form.
 
The division between red and white ball cricket with separate governing bodies is inevitable and ulitimately necessary. Red ball cricket needs to market itself and appeal to its own audience, but the ECB are merely paying lip-service to it while setting up cash cows like The Hundred.

Red ball cricket needs to be marketed to an audience of its own. It also needs to be coached as a separate discipline to white ball cricket.

That's the only way forward for the longer form.
There are not enough quality professional cricketers at present to treat red and white-ball cricket as separate disciplines/entities. You are right though with Test cricket taking a hit in the future with less frequent Test series, and giving those slots to the newly formed 100 and T20 becoming the main focus for the future due to financial priorities.
 
The division between red and white ball cricket with separate governing bodies is inevitable and ulitimately necessary. Red ball cricket needs to market itself and appeal to its own audience, but the ECB are merely paying lip-service to it while setting up cash cows like The Hundred.

Red ball cricket needs to be marketed to an audience of its own. It also needs to be coached as a separate discipline to white ball cricket.

That's the only way forward for the longer form.
Think it's an interesting idea.
 
I made a prediction about a month ago that England could easily be whitewashed 10-0 by India and Australia (presuming The Ashes tour goes ahead). It's going to look increasingly like a rather obvious point.

Quite simply, this is the weakest England side I have ever seen, weaker even than the nineties line ups. Don't forget those batting orders contained the likes of Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart, Mike Atherton, and Nasser Hussain, who ranged from good to average but who were better batsmen than most of those in the top six (bar Root).

The batting is so fragile and they are hoping that white-ball players like Bairstow and Buttler will do a job, which smacks of desperation and exposes their lack of options.

When you remove Ben Stokes from their team it weakens them even further and they can't afford to be without him.
Seriously??

We've beaten Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka and drawn with Australia in the last two years.

We're not great but to claim this is our weakest-ever team is just nonsense.
 
Picking those four medium-pacers looks like a great option now doesn't it...
 
Archer out of the T20 WC and the Ashes with another stress fracture to his right elbow.

I think at this point he should retire from test and ODI cricket and give himself a chance at a decent T20 career. Though whether his body can even manage that who knows.

Really sad for him. Injuries ruin so many talented players chances.

EDIT - Technically wrong thread but I can't be arsed to move it.
 
Archer out of the T20 WC and the Ashes with another stress fracture to his right elbow.

I think at this point he should retire from test and ODI cricket and give himself a chance at a decent T20 career. Though whether his body can even manage that who knows.

Really sad for him. Injuries ruin so many talented players chances.

Using him as he should be used for 3 or 4 over spells to intimidate the opposition rather than using him like a medium pacer to fill out the overs would probably help too.
 
Using him as he should be used for 3 or 4 over spells to intimidate the opposition rather than using him like a medium pacer to fill out the overs would probably help too.
I agree. He does always say in interviews how he's used to bowling 20 a day for Sussex and enjoys it but maybe that's just him talking nonsense to shut people up. Regardless, even if he wanted to do it doesn't mean the England management should've let him.
 
I haven't seen the morning session so unsure how we bowled other than BBC live text - but this England line up looked pretty horrid on paper.

So one paced. I really dont think you can start Broad AND Anderson anymore. There magic days are getting rarer by the month.

Edit: Jimmy gets two in two :lol:
 
I haven't seen the morning session so unsure how we bowled other than BBC live text - but this England line up looked pretty horrid on paper.

So one paced. I really dont think you can start Broad AND Anderson anymore. There magic days are getting rarer by the month.

Edit: Jimmy gets two in two :lol:
Thank you.
 
Anderson's blown it open

Pujara doing absolute feck all in English conditions once again.
 
Well guys, this is exactly I didn't think much of the calls of it being an easy series win. Our batting has been woeful for multiple years now. I think none of the top 5 average above 30 or so for last 3 years.
 
Rain imminent. Could still be a result in this game even with so much weather around.
 
Holding and Strauss were embarrassing themselves with the Pant commentary before the stoppage came , clearly neither of them has seen him play much in test cricket
 
2.30pm in early August - off for bad light.

Class.

I said it earlier in the summer, but they need to start using the pink ball for all Tests. Going off for bad light in modern cricket is inexcusable.
 
I said it earlier in the summer, but they need to start using the pink ball for all Tests. Going off for bad light in modern cricket is inexcusable.

You lose ten overs a day from slow over rates and now this crap.

Test cricket needs to wake up quick, full house in today FFS
 
Holding and Strauss were embarrassing themselves with the Pant commentary before the stoppage came , clearly neither of them has seen him play much in test cricket
Strauss was trying to sound like he was predicting Anderson going around the wicket after the umpire could clearly be heared to declare around the wicket earlier.
 
Pujara and Rahane have been putting mediocre show for some time now. Surely someone must say enough is enough and start grooming new middle order players.
 
Had a work meeting from 1.30-2.30 and of course I missed the only decent hour of the match from an England perspective.
 
For those not in England it has been a pretty miserable summer. One of the wettest on record.

Hopefully means we get a decent late August / early September for this series.
 
For those not in England it has been a pretty miserable summer. One of the wettest on record.

Hopefully means we get a decent late August / early September for this series.

Your first rodeo?

That week of sun at the end of July was our summer.