England vs India 3rd Test Debate

First topic message reminder :

This is the official thread to discuss the 3rd Test between England and India to be played at Edgbaston.

Toss:England won the toss and chose to field first

Indian line up

Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
VVS Laxman
Suresh Raina
MS Dhoni(c & wk)
Amit Mishra
Praveen Kumar
Ishant Sharma
S Sreesanth

England Line up

Andrew Strauss(c)
Alastair Cook
Ian Bell
Kevin Pietersen
Eoin Morgan
Ravi Bopara
Matt Prior(wk)
Tim Bresnan
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
James Anderson


All the best to both the teams

Cheers

Good afternoon all another entertaining morning ...

Must confess after about 80 minutes I was wondering if Strauss might have been wishing he'd lost the toss...and then came Bresnan.

Not bad , beating two well-set batsmen on either edge and taking both out !

Looking a bit uphill for India now , though I guess England have recovered from similar early damage a couple of times in the series. Not sure this will be the same story , but we shall see...

Afternoon Alfie. This is a very important partnership for India, into the 2nd from last recognised pair, and then it's time for the tail end bunnies.

And another...

With Raina in , I'm a little surprised Broad wasn't on straight after lunch...

BUT not any more !!!

Great bowling Jimmy

Dhoni playing his longest innings of the last 3

Ha, brilliant.

Sounds like Raina was all at sea out there.

Laxman holes out!

India 100-6!!!

Are they Australia in disguise?

Another one, and Laxman at that!

Laxman gone too! Can't keep Bresnan out of it.

This is a bit like Pakistan last year...

Fists of Fury wrote:Shanky, please stop making these ludicrous comments.

Cook - a flat track bully? Ok, so against Sri Lanks when he averaged about 4,000 that was on a flat track was it? Wrong again, it was in England, the very same conditions that these Indians are falling like a pack of cards in.

Australia - flat track? No, plenty of pace and bounce. Again, he averaged about 3 million.

Gambhir is a very good player, but he is no better than many other openers of the top test sides.

With regard to Cook his home record is poor. His runs have come abvroad, which is very unusual for an England batsman. His technical probklems are exposed by the moving ball. But unlike many England players he can really cash in when it isnt. Ideally youd like a player who can do both, but he has an good enough test record despite the flaw.


Meanwhile India, what a joke...theya re a much better side than this. The tail is long, 200 is going to be a struggle.

alfie wrote:Laxman gone too! Can't keep Bresnan out of it.

This is a bit like Pakistan last year...

Except they gave us a game.

I'm not too sure that India are better than this in these conditions though...they've had numerous chances to prove it in this series, and failed every time.

In fairness to India , Fists , they've been cruelly chopped about by injury on this trip.

But they have been poor so far - or maybe England just very good?

alfie wrote:In fairness to India , Fists , they've been cruelly chopped about by injury on this trip.

But they have been poor so far - or maybe England just very good?

Whilst India have had injury troubles, England have too. I think the difference is the replacements have been better, more depth - especially in the bowling.

It is true that the Indians have had injuries to key players, but they should still be better than this.

another one

Jeez, India are a mess. 111-7.

I'm off to a festival for the next four days, no phone reception....might petition for a TMS Tent.

Get yourself a pocket DAB. They're awesome if there's reception! Battery on mine lasts about 20 hours or so as well. 5 live sports extra for TMS, no shipping forecast interruptions.

England should be batting by tea at this rate.
Wouldn't call this pitch a monster either. Just good bowling.

Dhoni might have a go now? No use fiddling about surely? Yes , two fours...

Dhoni and Kumar might as well start swinging the bat , no point trying to defend now.

India has had a tough time with injury, but this just has been terrible.
You can't just turn up and expect to beat a quality side like England without enough preparation.
This was in fact a long time coming, but the players somehow found a way to get out of a dificult situation more often than not. A lot of us thought may be they could do it this time round as well, but England are a quality outfit, and its not easy.
The Indian boys may have it in them the surprise us yet again, as including this one, there are 2 more tests. But it just does not seem possible, and a thumping is on the cards.
The players have some tough questions to ask themselves, particularly someone like Sachin Tendulkar who have set lofty standards for themselves.
More importantly, the BCCI have to introspect, long and hard, whether this is the way they facilitate the team in their quest to retain the number 1 position as a test playing country.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

Fists of Fury wrote:Shanky, please stop making these ludicrous comments.

Cook - a flat track bully? Ok, so against Sri Lanks when he averaged about 4,000 that was on a flat track was it? Wrong again, it was in England, the very same conditions that these Indians are falling like a pack of cards in.

Australia - flat track? No, plenty of pace and bounce. Again, he averaged about 3 million.

Gambhir is a very good player, but he is no better than many other openers of the top test sides.

With regard to Cook his home record is poor. His runs have come abvroad, which is very unusual for an England batsman. His technical probklems are exposed by the moving ball. But unlike many England players he can really cash in when it isnt. Ideally youd like a player who can do both, but he has an good enough test record despite the flaw.

Cook still averages 40+ at home. His record isn't poor - it's good enough. It's just not as good as his excellent away record which was somewhat boosted by Australia's completely lacklustre (bar 1 Test) bowling attack in the winter. Moreover, there's hardly a player in world cricket who doesn't struggle against the moving ball. 'The best batting line-up in the world' are looking amatuer against it.

Is this a reverse of the first test?

I have to say, I don't like the taste of our own medecine!

We've lost our way a bit here, but I'm not worrying too much, it is still a very low total.

Afternoon lads, just got in from work. Pretty impressive day for England so far.

Ain't bad, was 111-7 though, now 195-7.

Can anyone tell me how Jimmy has bowled today?

Edged, 195-8.

Cheers EnglishReign. At 111-7 you would have hoped to skittle them out for under 200.
Are Dhoni and Praveen doing a Broad and Prior?

This partnership is angering me now, I know there's not a lot more we can do but it's still annoying!

Wicket :-D

Finally!!!

Jimmy has gone for some runs at times, but has seen prodigious swing both ways, slightly unlucky at times also.

Well my last post did the trick! Is it too soon to say that this partnership is annoying me?

It is such a difficult situation for the bowling team when counter attacks like this happen, it's easy to say keep bowling how you have been all innings but everything on a normal length is being thumped over the ropes so you can't keep bowling it there.

Cheers Fists, i have been a bit worried about Jimmy this series. He just hasnt been the same bowler he was in my eyes.

Nice fightback lead by Dhoni , England boys not quite in control as they would have liked.

Still 200 - 8 is not good for India.

That is true carrotdude, though I do think there should be more use of the yorker, and more educated use of the short ball during these stands, as opposed to the other way round.

A good yorker = a wicket to a slogging tail ender.

Yeah, I agree it got a bit undisciplined during the last hour or so, a bit too obsessed with roughing up Kumar when he was on the back foot so a well directed orker would have done the trick. Dhoni however looks capable of hitting everything to the boundary now which isn't good for us for the rest of the series!

I reckon we'll be able to total 450 on this wicket so am not too worried...yet.

450 is a big total without Trott and with Bopara in the side

Yep, this partnership is annoying now. Dhoni has turned back into a superstar right in front of our eyes, doesn't look in the slightest bit of trouble and this Indian total could end up being pretty good by the time he's finished.

Nice trebbs impersonation carrotdude

Didn't work this time

Keep trying

Oh wait, yes it did!

Actually it did lol

FINALLY!

India don't reach 300 again!

Testing little hour coming up for England's short of runs in the series openers.

At last MS Dhoni played his natural game in test cricket, and he got some important runs.
Now India can at least hope, Strauss and Cook had a poor series so far, and England has Morgan and Bopara at 5 and 6. Of course they do have Prior at 7, and the best lower order batting unit in the world at the moment. But India should come out with a positive mindset.