English & Irish Cricket Summer 2018

Hephaestus said:
Delighted for Rashid. Feel sorry for Kohli and Rahane, both batted really well only to miss out on centuries.
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Yeah Rashid may have bowled poorly today but the great plus is that he can occasionally produce real quality. And he gets tail-enders out: tomorrow he might skittle the Indian lower order and get them out for 350. None of our other spinners is any better, so we should stick with him.

Always liked Rahane, he seems like a decent guy so happy for him to do well today. Don't feel too sorry for Kohli given all the centuries he's scored though!

India very much on top at this stage I'd say. Some balls misbehaving already and Ashwin will be bowling last.
 
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ArmchairCritic said:
As a slight aside, is this basically saying we don't think we can win here so we won't send our veterans?



http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/24407333/england-ponder-resting-anderson-broad-sri-lanka-tour

Of all the places I feel you are going to learn nothing about your fast bowlers, Sri Lanka is up there. Be interesting to see if Ali, Rashid and Leach all play.
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No I'd say the opposite. Our recent form in Asia has been appalling. Broad has been ok at times but Anderson has been innocuous.

I'd say we'll have more joy by sending a bunch of quick bowlers who may be less accurate than Anderson and Broad, but can blast batsmen out on flat pitches. We've got a few alternatives - Wood, J Overton, Stone, Garton - and it might be time to take a punt on them even though they haven't done much in the county game.
 
Di Maria's angel said:
It's weird, technically, he should be our best player in these conditions but he's been really poor since our tour of SA in 13/14 where he looked a class above the rest.
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NinjaFletch said:
He's too passive for me. He simply looks to survive rather than score runs. He can dead beat the ball in swinging conditions for hours, but eventually you'll get a jaffa and your 17 off 105 is worth just as much as an edgy 17 off 10. You need to be compact but proactive, but the bad ball away, look to block into gaps and run well (lol) to put pressure on the fielding side.

You don't wanna go too far the other way, but if you keep the scoreboard moving and start to look to actual put on runs you force the opposition to react and move fielders. England (and even county sides) I don't think think Pujara is good enough to hurt them in these conditions so they just set him attacking fields, bowl a nagging line and wait for a mistake or unplayable ball.
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He did play for Yorkshire in preparation for these tests but had a horrendous time in County games however did make some scores in the one day games.
 
NinjaFletch said:
He's too passive for me. He simply looks to survive rather than score runs. He can dead beat the ball in swinging conditions for hours, but eventually you'll get a jaffa and your 17 off 105 is worth just as much as an edgy 17 off 10. You need to be compact but proactive, but the bad ball away, look to block into gaps and run well (lol) to put pressure on the fielding side.

You don't wanna go too far the other way, but if you keep the scoreboard moving and start to look to actual put on runs you force the opposition to react and move fielders. England (and even county sides) I don't think think Pujara is good enough to hurt them in these conditions so they just set him attacking fields, bowl a nagging line and wait for a mistake or unplayable ball.
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That's a wrong interpretation IMO. In swinging conditions like England, 17 off 105 is worth a lot more than an edge 17 off 10 particularly from a number three batsman due to the fact that killing off balls makes it easier for the batsmen coming after him to play.

I don't rate Pujara that much and think he should be replaced btw.
 
KM said:
That's a wrong interpretation IMO. In swinging conditions like England, 17 off 105 is worth a lot more than an edge 17 off 10 particularly from a number three batsman due to the fact that killing off balls makes it easier for the batsmen coming after him to play.

I don't rate Pujara that much and think he should be replaced btw.
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Obviously that's true, but we were talking about Pujara individually, and I was taking the literal meaning of worth i.e. 17 runs are 17 runs. I do think that defence of him has two problems though a) it damns with faint praise ('well at least he can survive!') as number 3 batsmen should be held to higher standards and b) underestimates the effect having a person soaking up balls not scoring has on the person at the non-strikers end. Most batsmen like to see the scoreboard ticking over and will get antsy if it isn't, especially if they're being starved of the strike.

I also think most teams don't mind a player dead batting it in swinging conditions. You know he's not going to hurt you and is struggling to rotate the strike, so you can basically lock an end down and go hard at the batsman at the other end without having to worry about the game getting away from you.

I don't think Pujara needs to make wholesale changes, and I think he probably should score runs in these conditions looking at his technique, but he needs to think about where he's going to score his runs and perhaps try and go through the gears a touch when he does get himself in.
 
Need India to win this test to keep interest in the series.

No need to be too harsh on the Indian batsmen. Soon as the Series started we have had the worst weather conditions of the summer for batsmen from SE Asia. If anything, historical Test match results prove too much favouring the home nations.
 
Sultan said:
Need India to win this test to keep interest in the series.

No need to be too harsh on the Indian batsmen. Soon as the Series started we have had the worst weather conditions of the summer for batsmen from SE Asia. If anything, historical Test match results prove too much favouring the home nations.
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Yeah but if India were as good as some of their fans suggest, they'd have made a better fist of it than they have so far.

Not sure who the best test team is right now tbh. Maybe Australia when they get Smith and Warner back? At least they have the pace attack to take wickets anywhere. It's wide open for someone to rise up and dominate.
 
JohnnyKills said:
Yeah but if India were as good as some of their fans suggest, they'd have made a better fist of it than they have so far.

Not sure who the best test team is right now tbh. Maybe Australia when they get Smith and Warner back? At least they have the pace attack to take wickets anywhere. It's wide open for someone to rise up and dominate.
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Almost won the first test match and are now giving ourselves a great chance of winning this one. Remind me how competitive other teams have been away from home?
 
You could argue preparations weren't good for the tour. Should have played a few more red ball games. You can see in this match batting technique is improving as their getting more game time. I still think India has the best test side. England seamers are toothless away from home conditions and spinners are non-existent.
 
If Indian seamers pitch the ball up and let conditions do the work it should make for an interesting day.
 
Predictable. The openers do just enough to make me think they might get us off to a good start and then both of them get out in the most pathetic manner. Jennings especially, what the hell was that.
 
England desperately need to just get to over 40, it will get much easier to bat after that.
 
Agree with Sangakarra, third umpire should make the conclusive call. Soft signals on catches are always very tough in real time and tend to go off of fielder reactions.
 
Have to say Bumrah has looked good today. Not a GOAT-in-waiting (as some suggest on here ;)) but has some decent pace and could be a real handful in Australia. Wonder how long he can last with that run-up and action though.

Pressure must be growing on Jennings now. He's a decent player but the selectors tend to get itchy if you go four games without a big score.
 
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