England's Winter of Cricket 2020/21

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Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Wake up to hear Swann doing an Aussie impression. Can this be over in two days again?

Is that what it was? Couldn't fool me...

p.s. it was a 'nowhere in particular' accent.

Both bats looking to get after Rashid ...now... Moeen out of mothballs - hope he remembers how to bowl

Oh dear...he seems to have forgotten how to catch

135/1 off 28 and that miss might come back to haunt England.

That's a terrible drop from Moeen, almost as bad as Stokes' in one of the T20s, could be very costly.

Think India are away now...Moeen getting battered. I'm off for a bit...hope someone can bag some wickets or this could get ugly...

Eng floundering under pressure
Pressure of not wanting to fail in ODIs too

159/1 after 30 overs. India will be disappointed not to make 320 from this position, and maybe a score as high as 350 is 'on' from here.

Don't think England's bowling has been poor, quite the opposite, and the fielding has been mostly top-quality - until very recently when Moeen spilled a chance that a hungover village cricketer would have taken, and Stokes clumsily mis-fielded which cost four runs.

Would bring Wood back for a couple of overs because England desperately need a breakthrough to check India's advance.

No dropping that one from Moeen! A real nothing shot from Kohli.

Sam Billings appears to have injured himself after an effort in the field. Hopefully he'll be alright. Never been a fan of players diving around riskily to save one run - often surprised we don't actually see more injuries from it.

Killing yourself to save a single on the boundary is not worth the risk...I have always said.....especially so for bowlers.
Hope Billing here has not dislocated his shoulder in vain

A pair of brothers on each side....that's a rarity

Ah man hopefully Billings isn't hurt too badly, would be just brutal luck for him coming off the good summer he had in 2020 in the ODIs.

Build the pressure, force the false shot, take the catch. Good wicket for England, another for Wood. Getting right back into it.

Ind at a risk of collapsing now.....specialists batting is lean
and 300 is par
Dhawan needs to bat thru here

Dhawan out, rather surprisingly, a sharp take by Morgan. This has been a strong effort from England with the ball and in the field, now they need to finish well and keep India beneath 300.

batting is lean
and 300 is par
Rahul has to deliver a 50 to justify faith in him

Sprained his Collar Bone Billings
never knew one could sprain the Bone

Hmm...what have I missed ? A few wickets , 205 off forty - trimming it back a bit , eh ?
Guess India will want this pair to bat most of the last ten . Only bowlers to come though I suppose one or two of them can bat a bit...

Stokes seems to have done a good job so far ?


Better , even...he's done for Pandya !

Another one! Stokes has served up a few lollipops, but there's been plenty of good balls as well, like that one. Good captaincy as well to keep the slip in, field settings have been nice and attacking through the innings.

India ain't getting to 300 now

Duty281 wrote:Another one! Stokes has served up a few lollipops, but there's been plenty of good balls as well, like that one. Good captaincy as well to keep the slip in, field settings have been nice and attacking through the innings.

Was just about to note - slip still in in over 41, good work by Morgan!

Billings sounds like there is a chance he might be able to bat...albeit you'd think he'd be restricted if he does

Wood showing his worth again getting Kohli and Shreyas, so pleased to see him performing well after so many injury setbacks. Getting Kohli when he did has allowed Morgan to keep attacking with Stokes.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Ah man hopefully Billings isn't hurt too badly, would be just brutal luck for him coming off the good summer he had in 2020 in the ODIs.

Bad luck for him indeed. Suppose it will give Livingstone his chance at least. They're going to be missing his batting later on though.

Sounds like an unlucky injury. Modern players really do throw themselves around anywhere on the field - and I suppose injuries are always possible. But that is just part of the game now at this level.

Krunal can hit boundaries well enough , it seems...

Krunal is surprising me

Took a few off Sam Curran's last over but he had done pretty well until then. Stokes bowling a fairly full quota means Moeen won't have to be used again ; but England will still need Tom C and Wood to finish well - don't want to let India off the hook now.

Useful partnership this... Krunal has come out smoking !

Not the best day for Rashid. That last over was a bit ragged.

Could still get close to 300 if these two stay in...

KP_fan wrote:India ain't getting to 300 now

Reckon they will. This Krunal chap is making a big difference : 36 off 21 !

Obviously Krunal's batting skills have improved a lot since I last saw him in IPL a few seasons back
Obviously selectors have taken note of that

Look at how debutants Surya, Ishan and now Krunal have performed
I am amazed...largely because I don't watch IPL anymore for last two seasons

KP_fan wrote:Obviously Krunal's batting skills have improved a lot since I last saw him in IPL a few seasons back
Obviously selectors have taken note of that

A remarkable effort from him ! Could well be a match winning innings : has made the difference between a probable 275 or so and what is now looking like well over 300...

Fifty on debut for Krunal

England struggling to get their death bowling right .

Fifty each for these two

Hundred stand in just nine overs : just when England thought they had control - and now they've been completely shredded by this pair.

Looks a good deck for batting ; but with Billings and Morgan injured you kind of get the feeling this ain't going to be England's day...

Was a top effort by England in the first 40 overs, but Krunal's gone berserk on debut, assisted by Rahul, and England have wavered under pressure. 317/5 in the end. If you offered India that after 30 overs, they'd have been disappointed; after 40 overs, delighted.

This score is right in the fun-zone. It's an excellent batting wicket, and dew will be a potentially big factor. I reckon England are slender favourites, but that could be altered if it transpires that Billings can't bat.

Bookmakers offering 2/1 on England...generous considering England's chances are no worse than 50-50.

Wood has been superb in the powerplay and middle overs of both ODIs/T20s for a while...but he's really not a death overs bowler I don't think.
Of course with Archer out someone has to do it here...but in an ideal world I think he's finished before the final 5-10 overs

Can't see England as favourites here , Duty . Certainly a chance - we know they like chasing. But going to need a couple of bats to really turn it on. Even if Billings can bat he's unlikely to do so with normal efficiency; and Morgan is apparently going to be handicapped too.

Might be a day for Moeen to come up the order and perform ? He was a non contributor with the ball...

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Wood has been superb in the powerplay and middle overs of both ODIs/T20s for a while...but he's really not a death overs bowler I don't think.
Of course with Archer out someone has to do it here...but in an ideal world I think he's finished before the final 5-10 overs

I'd agree with that. He did do a good job late in one of the t20s ; but in general it isn't his strong suit. No Woakes , no Archer , so not a lot of choice this time I guess. With perfect hindsight it would perhaps have been better had he bowled around the 44/45 mark and let Sam C or Stokes finish .

Mind you : the way those two were smashing everyone today it might not have made much difference who was bowling !

It's slightly above par, the score but well within the reach of Eng
They are world champions....they know how to chase 300+ ish totals , have done it , relish chasing.

So if not 50-50....it's only marginally like 55-45 in India's favor
and a lot will depend on how much or how little Ind's perpetual thorn in the flesh Roy, hurts them

Ind have picked an EXPRESS pacer in Prasidh.
Haven't seen him....but in this series other than Nadeem selectors have gotten most of their calls right.
I hope first of all he is fast i.e 145+...and then can he be accurate at those speeds

Prasidh's opening two overs have been sub-standard. Help yourself time for Jason Roy to a couple of those deliveries.

And then Bairstow demolishes Prasidh with 20 runs off the quick's third over, topped off with two overthrows at the end to make it 22. Rollicking start now for England, but Kumar's a big danger at the other end.

The tactic of bowling floaty half volleys at 140kph is maybe unsurprisingly not working for Prasidh

I don't think Kohli should have thrown the debutant pacer to open.

OR maybe that's the role they are looking to fill in ....an express pacer to open
Didn't go down well.....crushed his confidence and in the immediate context....gave Eng the momentum

Horrible-looking injury to Iyer after he made a superb fielding intervention. Hopefully not as serious as it looks (dislocated shoulder?), but probably the last we'll see of him today.

89/0 after ten. The perfect start from Roy and Bairstow. Kumar apart, some fairly ordinary bowling from India, getting the lengths wrong too often. Difficult to build pressure when the RR is so high, so it's going to take a mammoth effort for India to wrest this one back.

Who upset Jonny this time?

Sensational hitting.

Bairstow and Roy average over 60 batting together at an economy of over 7 an over per CricViz. Getting those sort of starts is useful in winning cricket matches IMO!

https://twitter.com/cricvizanalyst/status/1374355210160734210?s=21

Boy did India need that wicket !  Some relief for Prasidh after the battering he took in his first spell...

135 in 14.2 overs a pretty decent start for England

Now we will see Stokes at three...

That’s Roy’s fourth score between 40 and 50 in 6 innings? You do get the feeling one of his monster scores is just round the corner...

That was a bloody awful innings by Stokes

another Indian debutant on FIRE

Two quick wickets and then Morgan dozed off, should have been a run-out! He didn't realise Kohli dropped it. High farce.

The game suddenly has a bit of life, but with the RRR being so relatively low Morgan has time to play himself in...if he stays awake.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:That was a bloody awful innings by Stokes

Just highlights where for me Root is really good in this side...Bairstow's barely faced a ball for the 4/5 overs since Roy has got out now, when Root comes in and starts he's so adept at rotating the strike to get the set batsman on strike they can continue their momentum

kuldeep finding his flight and landing it right
stumping or hold out in the deep coming up

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:That was a bloody awful innings by Stokes

Just highlights where for me Root is really good in this side...Bairstow's barely faced a ball for the 4/5 overs since Roy has got out now, when Root comes in and starts he's so adept at rotating the strike to get the set batsman on strike they can continue their momentum

Faced three out of 22 balls , in fact. And more than that , he is probably feeling now that he needs to put away the power hitting for a while , after the two quick wickets - and near thing with Morgan.

Guess they can afford to throttle back for a bit , after the terrific opening stand. But the way Jonny was playing while Roy was in was threatening to finish this in quick time ... Now there's a touch of "steadying the ship " about his batting...

But Root does need the rest

Nice of Kuldeep to alleviate the pressure with a generous full toss and a loose one down the leg-side.