England's Summer of Cricket 2021

First topic message reminder :

Jacks, Crawley, Hain, Stokes, Salt (WK), Lawrence, Gregory, Overton, Saqib, Ball, Parkinson?

Will MacPherson suggests Hales won’t be picked, which is a bit odd given they hinted he would get a chance this summer.

You also have Vince, Duckett and keep an eye out for Harry Brook.

Oh that looks out.

A day of woeful reviews, this time from England and Lawrence is out.

Time for Jos, hope he can score a few as well.

It's poor batting from Bairstow and Lawrence. No application on a decent wicket and not playing the match scenario correctly.

3 wickets lost that session but 116 runs were scored and England looked much more positive. I think England are about 140-160 runs away from really putting the Indian batsmen under pressure.

Top-quality from Root.

Hasn't scored a test match hundred at home for almost three years, on the cusp of one here. A match-saving, possibly match-winning, innings and he's getting just enough support from the other end.

Another 60 runs and England should be safe, 110 more runs and it's locked in. After that it's just a case of whether or not England will get enough time to bowl India out.

i would think 250 to 300 would be the lead that England would feel slightly comfortable with. With a lot of time expected to be lost due to the weather conditions, i would expect a draw may still be the favourite result here though.

Quick runs from England after the break and that may change.

Time for the Lions though

Yeah, draw is still the favourite from here, I reckon. Some rain expected around 18:00, but hopefully it'll be like the earlier rain and won't be heavy enough to take the players from the field. Tomorrow's forecast in the balance.

Good bowling conditions in this final session. Cloud cover, lights on, new ball ten overs away - India will want and need to wrap this innings up swiftly.

Root has played a great inning.....and two good innings this game
Ind need to get one of Root or Butler before the new ball

Wow, that was awful from Jos. Savage leave.

Horrendous leave from Buttler. Thakur smashes the top of off stump with some outstanding accuracy.

The game turns again. What a close test match this is.

Shardul...my favorite...highly underrated...makes things happen

Those late runs from India's tail may still yet prove the deciding factor in this match...

3 absolutely awful reviews for India today. They may rue that.

Siraj talks Kohli into yet another abysmal review.  

Shouldn't Siraj shush?

Now Siraj is embarrassing himself so much with his behaviour that even Kohli is having to tell him to calm down. Lead over 150.

What a 100 for Root

Absolutely outstanding given the opposition, the situation and conditions.

Century for Root.

Fantastic innings. The difference between outright defeat and a decent shot at victory.

Since getting Crawley out, India haven't been able to take wickets in quick succession and spark a collapse. Partnership of 90ish when Sibley was there with Root, then two 40 partnerships with Bairstow and Lawrence, 25 with Buttler, another 25 odd and counting here between Root and Curran.

And the runs have kept flowing at the same time. India haven't been to exert proper control or pressure over England. It's Root's day and possibly Root's test (we'll ignore yesterday's drop!).

Lead up to 169 with four wickets left. Going to be very tough for England to lose from here.

Have been watching since Sibley got out and actually reckon it's been an intriguing game...batting really not easy with the ball moving around a bit ; but with Joe having taken Root England are edging towards setting India a target.

Pause to congratulate Joe on a vital and excellent hundred  



Note the debate between Duty and eirebilly re batting approaches (and Sibley- whose innings I didn't see but can imagine as I've seen it before).  Can see both sides. Yes better to not get out.  Wear 'em down , etc ... But it does put a bit of extra pressure on the skipper if he has to do all the scoring.
When Bairstow (who I thought played very well until he picked out Jadeja in the deep ) was scoring freely it definitely eased the load on Root. Lawrence was skittish but also kept the board ticking over ; and although Jos never looked comfortable against Bumrah in particular he was picking off anything loose. Result being they've managed to push this lead on quite quickly.

Obviously we'd rather they'd all gone on : but with the lead now over 160 and Sam playing his shots there is at least a possibility of giving India a hard time tomorrow. New ball in a few more overs though...

Truth is that apart from Root there aren't any top bats in this side. Probably best they all play the game that is natural to them in hopes of getting the best result possible rather than the best possible result ; if you see what I mean...

Duty281 wrote:Yeah, draw is still the favourite from here, I reckon. Some rain expected around 18:00, but hopefully it'll be like the earlier rain and won't be heavy enough to take the players from the field. Tomorrow's forecast in the balance.

Good bowling conditions in this final session. Cloud cover, lights on, new ball ten overs away - India will want and need to wrap this innings up swiftly.

?  Why are you backing a draw , Duty ? Is it going to rain most of Sunday ?

Only 170 on and lots of time left tonight still. Unless they bat into tomorrow surely India will have bags of time to hunt down their target - or get bowled out ?

If the weather holds I'd reckon there should be a result ... Not sure which way , as there seems to be a bit there for the bowlers and that probably won't change. India still favourite at the moment but they won't want the England tail to wag as well as theirs did yesterday...

There you go... New ball ends a wonderful captain's innings from Joe Root ...

Took a darned good ball ! But now I don't fancy the England tail against this Indian attack with a new rock and helpful conditions. Tourists definitely on top again.

Tremendous hundred by Root on his home ground.

Must be one of his best.

Useful runs added by Curran and Robinson...both playing their shots and the lead has reached 200...

But even as I type Sam has mishit one to mid on . Pity. Just misjudged the length and got it nearly on the splice , I think. And now Broad Yorker first ball...excellent bowling to the tail .

Looks as if 200 will be about it.

No hat trick. Lot of smiles out there ...

Ha . He actually bowled a no ball on the hat trick : not that it mattered as Jimmy blocked it nicely.

Time for Robinson to tee off I suppose. Can't see them adding many more ...though this five wides is helpful

game even.......or actually tilts in Eng's favor
200+ is always tricky...that said the 10mm grass cover has made this a pitch that got relatively flatter instead of deteriorations

Kohli gets the heaviest roller to flatten the pitch and Eng would do well to not burn out Anderson with new ball...but rather bring him after 10 overs when roller flattening has been undone

All done. India need 209.

Not a formality but I reckon they're strong favourites.

England will hope Jimmy has enough left in the tank (at least his first innings efforts were spread over three days) and he can find support from others apart from Robinson.

Worth noting that apart from Root (twice) only Rahul and Jadeja have passed fifty in the three innings. And only Rohit , Curran and Bairstow even got thirty. Suggests batting is never too assured on this pitch in the prevailing conditions. So early wickets could put a cat among the Indian pigeons...

Guess I will have to stay awake and see .

209, I see. England should be confident of defending anything north of 200 and they have reached that point, thanks largely to one of the best innings of Root's career. I do remember last summer and Blackwood's innings taking West Indies to a chase of around 200 after being 20-odd for four.

Favouring the draw because there is rain around tomorrow, but we may get lucky (hope so) and it misses or peters out into a thin drizzle, like today. Some rain might hit before stumps tonight and end proceedings prematurely, however.

And I've never known a roller to make one iota of difference.

Anderson starting wonderfully.

WinViz, which apparently takes into account the weather forecast, has India at 50%, England 32% and the Draw 18%. Seems about right to me as we will need 60 overs to get a result?

Would probably go for - 50% draw, 35% England, 15% India.

England will be hoping they get the full 55 minutes left of play this evening, but that looks unlikely. Oh dear, the light meter's coming out.

Opening for England, just as it appeared India had done the hard part. Still a good start for India though, England really need this to become 50-3 to have much of a chance

butler was saying I don't think so
Root felt compelled to call for a review.......in guilt more than conviction

Good breakthrough by Broad...beautiful ball.

But now they follow up by wasting a review : what is the matter with both sides in this match ? Umpires are generally getting it just right : captains not do much.

Would really like one more wicket tonight . Otherwise I think India will sleep much better.

Robinson bowling so well here.

52 knocked off and 157 needed
It was a tense batting session for India and they came winning it....
52-1 looks more comfortable then it was out there...mainly because of pressure of situation....
The ball did not do much....as it was an easier day for batting in general and especially so, 10 overs after the very heavy roller.
To India's credit they played strokes and got runs....instead of trying to eat balls and play out session
I hope India's top-5 knock off the runs and we do not have to go into Pant and downwards.
Pitch will nip a bit...but it hasn't deteriorated because of the 10mm grass cover ...and I see Ind much better placed to win...perhaps by about 6 to 7 wickets

(we need 60 overs of play though tomm)

England seemed to bowl better than the one wicket they ended up with, but that's the way it goes. Hopefully Anderson will grow into the innings like in the first. They'll know India have a long tail and a brittle middle-order susceptible to collapse, so they're still well in it.

Chances of rain tomorrow? Yes, unfortunately. With any luck there'll still be a proper conclusion to this game and the worst will be avoided.

Overall a great day of test cricket in terms of gripping entertainment.

Hi chaps just popping back in to remind everyone that Root is a coward and pathetic

A finely balanced match at the end of day 4. Spectacular innings from Joe Root. His first test record against India is just incredible! Sibley, regardless of the frustration his approach has created among some, is the best bet England have to open the innings at the moment, and did a good job. Had he departed 10 overs early, things could have been rather different for Bairstow and the rest.
It was the best batting day of the game so far. But unlike in recent times, the Indian bowling lacked a bit of discipline, and offered too many loose balls. Even in the first test of the home series back home when England scored nearly 600, they really had to work hard for their runs. By allowing England to score rather quickly, India ended up conceding a lot more ground than they would have liked.
Despite the decent start, think its slight advantage England. Cheteshwar Pujara waltzed along to 12 of 13 balls when you look at the scorecard. He hit 3 boundaries, 2 of them excellently played. But other than those 2 balls, he looked rather shaky on every other ball. He just hasn't looked comfortable in either innings.
Kohli hasn't been scoring big runs of late. Rahane has been far too inconsistent in recent times. And if they lose an early wicket tomorrow, it may just turn into a rapid collapse.
The weather will be crucial, not just in terms of how much overs will we get in, but also in terms of the general overheads conditions. If its a dry day, then not expecting the track to be too difficult. But if its very cloudy throughout, Anderson and co won't mind that at all, and the batters will find it difficult and demanding.

India should win from here but this has been a good fightback by England with Root's magnificent hundred at the heart of it.

Now just a few runs short of Gooch's Test total, Root's century is surely his finest in Tests.

After his incredible sequence in SL and at the start of the India away series, Root had had a lean spell with the bat.

I don't think England quite got enough runs today. But even if they go 1-0 down they've regained some pride.

It was a fine return to normal for Jasprit Bumrah. Deserved his 5for. Both Shami and Siraj were not on top of their games, and Shardul, though he broke open the game for India in the middle of the innings, hasn't been very disciplined. Jadeja did manage to trouble Root a couple of times, but wasn't as disciplined as he usually is, and didn't have as much tricks in his bag as Ashwin would have to do the batters in the air.
And the reviews? Terrible! Mohammed Siraj seems to be from the same club where Stuart Broad is the president, Everything has to be out! Kohli should be careful...

msp83 wrote:It was a fine return to normal for Jasprit Bumrah. Deserved his 5for. Both Shami and Siraj were not on top of their games, and Shardul, though he broke open the game for India in the middle of the innings, hasn't been very disciplined. Jadeja did manage to trouble Root a couple of times, but wasn't as disciplined as he usually is, and didn't have as much tricks in his bag as Ashwin would have to do the batters in the air.
And the reviews? Terrible! Mohammed Siraj seems to be from the same club where Stuart Broad is the president, Everything has to be out! Kohli should be careful...

Jadeja's problem is that he is trying to take wickets
Bowling coaches should ask him to focus on discipline and hold one end.....these pitches are not for aggressive wkt taking line or variations  from him.
Shami didn't bowl well and allowed Eng to score freely...Shardul is being under utilized by Kohli I think

Ind should win from here they only need 30s and 40s from their top 5....and I think they will deliver...they are all too good to all fail twice in a match

Inspite of Root's 2 super innings Eng look  more likely to lose
Inspite of India's big 3 failing........Ind look more likely to win.
over last 3 series s no one is scoring really big for India......but the entire top 7 ( or 8) has been pulling their weights with averages of 35plus

For England to win tomorrow they need at least four wickets in the morning session.

Presuming no rain, I think the best India can realistically hope to be is 60 runs short of victory by lunch (that's a RR of around 3.5 for the session, assuming around 27 overs are bowled). To be 60 short of victory and five down in that scenario, one away from the tail, would be very dicey for India. And their RR could, of course, be slower than that 3.5 which would put them further away from victory.

Pant, Rohit and Jadeja are the ones who can score swiftly and erode the target quickly. Root will have to be clever with his field placings for those three. Pujara, Kohli and Rahane are the ones capable of holding an end and frustrating England - though given their recent form England would be hopeful of getting Pujara and Rahane out cheaply. The long tail, though it chipped in crucial runs in the first innings, could still prove to be India's undoing.

England's undoing might be those dreadful drops in the first innings. I hope there's no more of those tomorrow!

Just watched the highlights and caught up on the chatter on here - firstly Root was utterly superb, what a year he is having with the bat. So many levels above everyone else in an England shirt, one of the best to ever pickup the willow for England. Basically single handedly kept us in this with the bat!

I personally have no issue with Sibley’s style…it kinda is what it is. Ideally he would be able to up his strike rate once in, but he’s just not that type of player. Interesting note from Cricviz is that since his debut, nobody in world cricket has faced 100+ balls in a test innings more than him. Whilst it’s not the greatest stat (runs are!), considering the issues england have had for many years with being 30-3 off 13 overs, having an opener who actually can get the new ball seen off is a good thing, and he averages around the same as most others we’ve tried. It’s not exactly like he’s keeping Cook and Strauss on the sidelines either…

JDizzle’s note on Bairstow’s technical switch was well observed. As many know, I’m not his biggest fan in the red ball stuff but he’s actually looked in decent form to me, and today can be slightly aggrieved to pick out the one fielder absolutely perfectly.

For India - Bumrah is bloody good isn’t he! Looked like Pant kept well too.
In fact Bumrah’s ability to the tail is pretty crucial. Broad for example, over the last year has done fairly alright at those swashbuckling 20/30s, which are handy for a tailender…but Bumrah is going to clean him up everytime with that Yorker!

Struggle to see England winning tomorrow bar a blitz in the first hour of play. Looked like they were a touch unlucky to not get one or two more tonight, but think they really did need to have India 2/3 down to have a real chance. Going to need a special spell from one of the seamers to cause any serious danger for India.

Not looking like the weather is going to save India today Joking aside, it's looking very likely the game will be able to finish. Very hard to see beyond an Indian win

Rain set to fall over Nottingham from 10:00 to around 12:30. Certainly makes an on-time start look unlikely. Should be good bowling conditions when/if they do get on.

Seems there was quite a bit of overnight rain as well leaving the outfield rather wet.

I reckon there won't be any play until at least 14:00, that's a best case scenario.

There will probably be issues with light and possible further rain after that as well, so things aren't looking promising at the moment.

Looks like the rain will produce a draw. England will be far happier to escape defeat than India, with the home side well behind for most of the match.

Sometimes draws can almost seem like victories. Two that spring to mind are the Test England saved against S.Africa in 1998 and the Jimmy-Monty heroics at Cardiff v Aus in 2009.

Both those narrow escapes led to series victories. I'm not convinced that England can win this current series but they will go to Lord's with more heart than seemed possible after the first three days at Nottingham.

I'm not calling the draw yet, India might only need 30 overs to get this done

The rain has intensified to the point where I'd now be surprised if they got on before 15:00.

I reckon India will need a minimum of 40 overs if they were to win - it'll be very tough to bat out there - but will probably need around 50. For 40 overs to happen there will need to be a minimum of three hours of play, but prospects of that are looking fairly remote when you consider that bad light will probably enter into the equation at some point.

Well if they get only a fairly short session for India to chase the win they might actually be advantaged : they would be able to try for quick runs (the likes of Rohit , Kohli and Pant ideal for this ) and then bed down if they were to lose a few wickets with limited time to be bowled out.

Bit of a pain this late start business as I don't know whether to assume no play and turn in or hang around  - perhaps pointlessly - for hours waiting... If I believe Duty's forecast ...

Can't really complain : have had two weeks of wall to wall Olympic action in my own time zone . Back to sleep deprivation for cricket

For those looking for something to listen/do in the interim, the cricviz podcast for day four is very good on the Sibley debate (Freddie Wilde and Ben Jones, rarely disagree with each other!).
Freddie did bring up an interesting point that Sibley’s style is much more likely to be effective against the Kookaburra than the Duke’s ball - the Duke’s doesn’t really stop swinging/seaming but Sibley could very much see off the period where the Kookaburra is dangerous to the point it goes dead