Cricket 2018

[Crinklyfox]

7 hours ago, Max Wall said:

No, it isn't the first time. They seem to have found a diamond with Curran. Hopefully they don't keep dropping him and ruin his confidence. His innings today makes it harder for them to do that. It will be interesting to see what he does with the ball as that's the primary reason he's been picked. Chipping in with innings like this and his one in the 2nd test are quite a bonus.

Curran has had the benefit of batting against an older ball that didn't move as much as in the first 30 overs but he has still impressed.  I doubt that he would be picked as a specialist batsman until he demonstrates consistent prowess against the new ball.  If he can pick up regular wickets he'll become a fixture as bowlers who can bat are a valuable commodity.  As for getting left out I don't think he should take it too hard, Jimmy Anderson was in and out of the team at the start of his international career and now he's undroppable.

Edited 31 August 2018 by Crinklyfox

[surrifox]

3 hours ago, Crinklyfox said:

You're quite right, our top order hasn't been up to the required standard in recent times, possibly with the exception of Root whom I believe is a class player going through a bad patch.  But who would you replace them with?  Keaton Jennings scored a century on debut but has disappointed since, but have Burns or Hameed, or others, truly shown that they have the class required yet?  I wouldn't want to be a selector right now.

Ok we don't know if Burns is up to it -all we know is he is captaining his side to the county championship and scoring loads of runs in domestic cricket which is all that he has been asked to do .

Jennings? Batting average for England in the 20s and looks to me like he's a CC div 2 player at the very best but probably gets the nod because being of south  African background the selectors assume he is the next big thing 

[Max Wall]

With such a small total on the board, it's imperative that Kohli and Pujara don't get a partnership going as they could take the game away from England on day two. Anything around 300 for India would be manageable, over 300 and I think England are in trouble. The third day may well be the best one to bat on too.

[StanSP]

8 minutes ago, Max Wall said:

With such a small total on the board, it's imperative that Kohli and Pujara don't get a partnership going as they could take the game away from England on day two. Anything around 300 for India would be manageable, over 300 and I think England are in trouble. The third day may well be the best one to bat on too.

I think given you managed 250, we need to target getting 400 for best chance to win and add pressure. Hitting 350ish only gives a lead of 100ish which I think is too low from our point of view. For a neutral, a similar score to your first innings is perfect! 

Not been able to watch any cricket this morning though

Gonna miss tomorrow as well cos of travelling to and from the game! 

[Guest MattP]

This is the problem when we have two spinners, we are bowling Jennings before 1pm.

[surrifox]

16 minutes ago, MattP said:

This is the problem when we have two spinners, we are bowling Jennings before 1pm.

Everything about the England set up looks  poor ATM - management, selection , leadership . This series is slipping away and we are powerless to do anything 

[fuchsntf]

6 hours ago, Crinklyfox said:

You're quite right, our top order hasn't been up to the required standard in recent times, possibly with the exception of Root whom I believe is a class player going through a bad patch.  But who would you replace them with?  Keaton Jennings scored a century on debut but has disappointed since, but have Burns or Hameed, or others, truly shown that they have the class required yet?  I wouldn't want to be a selector right now.

That's it really...

There isn't a top pool,to draw from.But a change,one of two position changes and switches,are the only alternatives..but I believe in such circumstances

Protect with switching  positions,might help,Then again Root at 3 isn't helping. So put him ,your captain in his best position,is change no1.

No3,is our,and always has been an England problem,since I was a kid (1960s) We have  filled it occasionally. So imaginative thinking,with

Luck thrown in,is the call of the moment..I would go with 2 ideas...

1..Either Ali,or Bairstow,playing deliberate aggressive cricket from n03.

2..Drop Cook down to 3. To hold the innings.

   Still use Jennings,but give him 3-4 games,to chase the ball.

   Hameed or Burns,to play their game

England need the first 3 batsman ,to ( hoping to improve) chase / commit to forgetting that 80-90runs  mark.

Then Root and following batsman can afford to play their real and actual game. Criticising Stokes/Butler/a.n.other,

For loose shots,when coming in at 30-60 for 3 or 4,so continuously..is unfair,because they are being asked to find new skills, to

their  approach, coming in so early again.. continuously. A batters natural skills,are different in every 2nd batting position,because

we can't hold our own up front,our strong tail is easily got at....

 

 

 

 

 

[Bobby Hundreds]

Kohli gone!

[Max Wall]

2 hours ago, surrifox said:

Everything about the England set up looks  poor ATM - management, selection , leadership . This series is slipping away and we are powerless to do anything 

It's easy to be critical of management and, most of the time, I try not to be, but I'm struggling to see what the extremely well remunerated Bayliss has added to the England set up. He isn't in control of batting collapses so I'm not saying that's his fault but, if you're apportioning responsibility for poor management and leadership, he has to catch a lot of the flak.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I wouldn't be against splitting the formats into different coaching set ups. We've done very well in progressing the way we play in limited overs but seemingly at a detriment to our test skills. 

[Max Wall]

Enter Moeen.

[Guest MattP]

Moeen bowling the best he has for a while here, bizarre how he's often better in this country than on spinning pitches around the World.

[RowlattsFox]

Yes Moeen. 

[Osavo]

Moeen on fire here. 

[AKCJ]

80 for 6 and we'll probably have a first innings lead  

[surrifox]

52 minutes ago, Max Wall said:

It's easy to be critical of management and, most of the time, I try not to be, but I'm struggling to see what the extremely well remunerated Bayliss has added to the England set up. He isn't in control of batting collapses so I'm not saying that's his fault but, if you're apportioning responsibility for poor management and leadership, he has to catch a lot of the flak.

It's not only Baylis though . The batting coach Ramprakash has failed to communicate that Ishant cannot bring the ball in and the challenges faced by the left handers  from him bowling round the wicket to them needs a plan . I see no evidence of any approach to negate this line of attack . 

[leicsmac]

Fear the Beard once again!

[Max Wall]

11 minutes ago, surrifox said:

It's not only Baylis though . The batting coach Ramprakash has failed to communicate that Ishant cannot bring the ball in and the challenges faced by the left handers  from him bowling round the wicket to them needs a plan . I see no evidence of any approach to negate this line of attack . 

I agree that it's not only Bayliss. However, he's the man at the top. If Ramprakash isn't doing his job then Bayliss should intervene and instruct him to. As it happens, our bowlers seemed to have bailed us out a bit again anyway and the test is back on an even keel. However, regardless of mitigating factors, our lack of improvement overall in tests is ultimately the responsibility of Bayliss.

[Max Wall]

Post update

Jonathan Agnew

BBC cricket correspondent on Test Match Special

That was ambitious. And horrible. And out.

What on earth possessed Ravichandran Ashwin to do that?

 

 

You have to love Aggers. Missed Ashwin's wicket earlier but that perfectly sums it up. Wtf was he doing?

 

[StanSP]

Ashwin can be a proper pleb sometimes batting like that. One of the worst shots I've seen attempted and made a terrible meal of it .

Hope Pujara gets his century even if we do end up behind at the end of this innings. Not satisfied that we've ended up in this position. Seems like England love a top-order collapse and we love a post-Kohli collapse  

[StanSP]

Pujara 

Never understood the 'playing a shot' rule when it comes to LBW appeals. Confuses me for some reason . Pujara goes to defend that so deemed as playing a shot, but England players didn't seem to agree? 

[Max Wall]

1 hour ago, StanSP said:

Pujara 

Never understood the 'playing a shot' rule when it comes to LBW appeals. Confuses me for some reason . Pujara goes to defend that so deemed as playing a shot, but England players didn't seem to agree? 

Great innings by Pujara. He's always been capable of that. certainly kept India in the test.

The 'no shot' rule, don't you think that's a remnant of the days before technology of ball tracking and the like? Batsmen used to 'pad up' regularly as a way of defence, relying on the umpires giving the benefit of doubt to the batsmen, There were decades where batsmen played the bat behind a thrust forward pad therefore 'playing a shot' and getting away with it. Reviews and ball tracking really put paid to that. That's not mentioning the years before neutral umpires, where someone could virtually 'pad up' all day long with little risk of being lbw.

India will be delighted to have eeked out a lead from where they were earlier. Important couple of overs for England now.

Edited 31 August 2018 by Max Wall

[ealingfox]

Think that Stokes wicket has probably won the Test for India. New ball in 10 overs and I think we'll need 250+ to defend given Kohli's form and the batting India have and if these two don't get to stumps that won't happen. Wouldn't instantly trust us to defend anything even under 300 at the moment.

[StanSP]

5 hours ago, ealingfox said:

Think that Stokes wicket has probably won the Test for India. New ball in 10 overs and I think we'll need 250+ to defend given Kohli's form and the batting India have and if these two don't get to stumps that won't happen. Wouldn't instantly trust us to defend anything even under 300 at the moment.

I'm not confident we could chase 250 on a wicket like this heading in to the final 2 days...

[Guest MattP]

Pitch is turning, we should be able to defend this.

 

No more excuses from Rashid now, great conditions for him, this is where you are paid to win matches as a leg spinner.