England cricket 2023 & 2024
Discussion
PhilkSVR said:
How about they are just better than us….
I think the whole BazBall thing has for some people created this expectation that we are unbeatable. India are a better team playing in their home conditions. Yes we've made mistakes and could have done better in places but ultimately the better team has won. Magikarp said:
Yeah, but we showed them that aggressive play is the way forward. Without England there would be no attacking shots. By any team.
In a less facetious tone, an entirely dismal, characterless capitulation.
Agreed, England do like to put on a good show and play aggressively. Never underestimate how important that is in attracting new audiences. In a less facetious tone, an entirely dismal, characterless capitulation.
Blackpuddin said:
Tufnell on the BBC: 'India's spinners have spun a web. That's the great thing about it, that's why I loved doing it. Once you get batsmen not quite sure where it's going or what it's doing, they start playing down the wrong line and it's smoke and mirrors.'
It’s not just the Indian spinners they have bowled superbly as a unit…the two seamers today bowled some absolutely unplayable balls. Plenty of balls beat the bat and quite a few that the best in the world wouldn’t have done any better with.I’ve only watched brief highlights, from the little I saw Wood was bowling too short which is just plain daft after the amount India extracted from conditions.
Bashir and Hartley have been incredible given experience but they’ve both bowled a few 4 balls which is totally understandable…at this level that just releases the pressure on the batsmen.
As good as the Indian bowling has been England’s batting has just not been good enough,..Bairstow and Stokes averaging in the 20’s with Root not much more. Crawley has been the best by a long way, averaging 45 despite not getting a ton. Stokes pinned LBW playing back behind his crease again (for a duck)…shambolic. Pope and Bairstow won’t want to see replays either.
There’s been a lot said about it could have been 2-2 coming in to this test which it definitely could have been but India have been very consistent and performed at higher levels for longer than England.
Edited by Cheib on Thursday 7th March 22:37
Gargamel said:
Murph7355 said:
PhilkSVR said:
How about they are just better than us….
No s
t sherlock 
Ergo all the "bazball" jibber jabber needs canning.
The over confidence needs to be dialled back and they need to learn smart cricket, even if it's not "exciting".
All of the players have shown talent, but the amount of brain farts has been incredible throughout. That will stop them ever reaching their potential. It stopped them winning an Ashes series. It's stopped them getting much closer against the other great side.
(Let's not also forget this wasn't a full strength India side).
At what point should Stokes be dropped? He can’t bowl despite his unconvincing assurances he’s on the mend, his batting is dreadful, and his captaincy doesn’t bear even vague scrutiny. I’m trying to think of a less positive way to signal intent than the way we started the session today.
When things are working and they can intimidate second rate teams he’s lauded as a genius but when the pressure is on, either to knuckle down or to work things out, he struggles.
The positivity is great (when it doesn’t balloon into simple priapic arrogance), the faith in the new bowlers laudable, if inevitable seeing as he has no other options, but the rest is all a bit dismal.
When things are working and they can intimidate second rate teams he’s lauded as a genius but when the pressure is on, either to knuckle down or to work things out, he struggles.
The positivity is great (when it doesn’t balloon into simple priapic arrogance), the faith in the new bowlers laudable, if inevitable seeing as he has no other options, but the rest is all a bit dismal.
Sat here in the ground and it’s dreadful. We are getting ripped apart. Does anyone have any insight into why Root hasn’t bowled yet ? or have we just given this up and letting Hartley and Bashir use this match as a practice opportunity as the pitches won’t be like this when they get home. Very disappointing.
At the end of all this, there will be "lessons have been learnt", still the way to go, we have discovered some new spin bowlers [apart from being smashed all over the park], the lads did a jolly good job. Not a bad vibe amongst it.
Onwards to the next test of "bazball" and how to not bowl or bat in a test
Onwards to the next test of "bazball" and how to not bowl or bat in a test
The simple fact is that you can't hope to compete with the best teams in the world when you're posting pathetic first innings totals consistently. On the few occasions that we have won in India and Australia we batted long and had scoreboard pressure on our side.
Batting for 60 overs just won't cut it, it gives the opposition 2 days of batting to pile up the runs.
Batting for 60 overs just won't cut it, it gives the opposition 2 days of batting to pile up the runs.
Gordon Hill said:
The simple fact is that you can't hope to compete with the best teams in the world when you're posting pathetic first innings totals consistently. On the few occasions that we have won in India and Australia we batted long and had scoreboard pressure on our side.
Batting for 60 overs just won't cut it, it gives the opposition 2 days of batting to pile up the runs.
Indeed. Crawley did the business yesterday, but no-one else was able to produce the goods. The pitch didn't change, the ball got a bit older, and the spin bowlers bowled very well. But our batsmen ought to be able to deal with all of that.Batting for 60 overs just won't cut it, it gives the opposition 2 days of batting to pile up the runs.
Leithen said:
On the positive side, we have found a couple of spinners this series.
Especially Bashir. Yes he has been hit for some runs, but so has everyone this session. His economy is still better than Wood or Andersons and hes taken the lions share of the wickets.Just want Jimmy to get one more and bring up that magic 700 before this game is over
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