Cricket: 2014 India tour of England, 9th July-7th September
Discussion
England can't drop Jimmy that is a little bit of the problem atm ...he is singlehandedly holding the bloody team together! The days of England being able to field the two best Test attacks resting who they want are gone. Guns is injured again, Finn is relearning himself, Swann has bowled himself into the ground, Monty has imploded. Onions? Jimmy and Broad are the only two constants. Jordan is a good find and Plunkers coming back is a welcome return. We really need Simon Kerrigan to step up another level and show some desire to avenge his Test performance.
Cook's media circus, the lack of KP's ego and Priors demise has robbed England of a leadership or inner rallying point. All that has been left of the senior core has been Jimmy. Leading the bowling attack and the Burnley Lara thing has been the central England rallying point. This is why we need a Chef ton more than anything, it gives us a leadership again. A one game ban for Jimmy would actually work for us because he will need a rest at some point and we need something in place by then.
Cook's media circus, the lack of KP's ego and Priors demise has robbed England of a leadership or inner rallying point. All that has been left of the senior core has been Jimmy. Leading the bowling attack and the Burnley Lara thing has been the central England rallying point. This is why we need a Chef ton more than anything, it gives us a leadership again. A one game ban for Jimmy would actually work for us because he will need a rest at some point and we need something in place by then.
spikeyhead said:
247/2 at the end of day one. Looks like another short sighted wicket to me, unless we can put on so many runs that scoreboard pressure affects the Indians then this will be one for the batsmen to make hay in the sun.
Looks like a road to bat on. Like you say, plenty of runs and limited wickets unrepentant said:
Less than 3 runs an over in test cricket is pretty pedestrian these days though. Was the wicket doing a lot?
It was a green top that was very very slow. The outfield at the Rosebowl is as big as any other English ground and also slow, so a lot of shots only get two or three that would have been four at Lords or the Oval.ESPNCricinfo had a Statto-esque bit today where it pointed out that England run rate was 7.37 against full bowling (43 off 35 balls) and was 8.66 off short bowling (65 off 45) yet was only 1.76 against bowling of good or just short of good length (134 off 456balls).
Could be India bowled with some control.
Could be India bowled with some control.
It was nice to see Cook get back in the runs, and was gutted for him not to get his 100, but as the commentators were saying he owes this team a lot more runs. I reckon he'll have made his mind up to bat before seeing the wicket himself, takes the pressure of captaincy off him first thing.
It's one of the newer grounds used for international cricket so I was interested how the wicket would play. There were stats bandied about saying how many draws there'd been at county level.
It's potentially as long of an England batting order as I've seen for a long time with Broad at 10 so I'd expect a good score, but with how they've been playing who knows? Bell looked a bit shaky for me, Ballance however looks like sticking around.
Boring draw predicted however.....
It's one of the newer grounds used for international cricket so I was interested how the wicket would play. There were stats bandied about saying how many draws there'd been at county level.
It's potentially as long of an England batting order as I've seen for a long time with Broad at 10 so I'd expect a good score, but with how they've been playing who knows? Bell looked a bit shaky for me, Ballance however looks like sticking around.
Boring draw predicted however.....
Far too early to call the draw, especially with some thundery humid weather coming in. They could be bowling hoops later today.
Bell is not himself at the moment, but if everyone else is making runs, then he usually does ok. Just like if everyone else is getting out cheap, Bell joins in.
Good to see Cook back in the runs, but we really should be going for 3.5 an over. Still no complaints. India's bowling unit is really under pressure with no Sharma, so a long day today could really tip things our way.
Bell is not himself at the moment, but if everyone else is making runs, then he usually does ok. Just like if everyone else is getting out cheap, Bell joins in.
Good to see Cook back in the runs, but we really should be going for 3.5 an over. Still no complaints. India's bowling unit is really under pressure with no Sharma, so a long day today could really tip things our way.
You cant argue about the kow amount of runs when one of the bats had been massively out of form and under serious pressure. Its not even an entertainment thing as not one member of the crowd would have swapped one run from Cooks total for one extra run on the England score. Nassars come back ton, Strauss comeback ton. An England crowd gets behind their man utterly when they know he needs it.
DJRC said:
You cant argue about the kow amount of runs when one of the bats had been massively out of form and under serious pressure. Its not even an entertainment thing as not one member of the crowd would have swapped one run from Cooks total for one extra run on the England score. Nassars come back ton, Strauss comeback ton. An England crowd gets behind their man utterly when they know he needs it.
Indeed, and I am not arguing, for many many reasons England need Cook. Plus he is Englands third highest ALL time run scorer, and has 26 Centuries, should pass the 35 mark easily in his career. I'd love him to grow into a Mike Brearley or hell even a Strauss. My feeling is he will develop, he has that kind of mentality. But part of me also strongly believes he needs to be his OWN MAN. And get the coaches and analysts and head people to butt out a little bit. The team like him, the path is right before him, he just needs a little more confidence and devil in his captaincy. He has been too analytical and percentage led.
Just now and again, back your instincts and see what happens.
I know I have slated Cook and suggested we won't win anything with him in charge, but I really hope he proves me wrong and becomes the Captain we need. It was great to see him playing his natural game again yesterday.
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