England vs India 4th Test Debate

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England line-up:

1) Andrew Strauss (C)
2) Alistair Cook
3) Ian Bell
4) Kevin Pietersen
5) Eoin Morgan
6) Ravi Bopara
7) Matt Prior (WK)
8) Tim Bresnan
9) Stuart Broad
10) Graeme Swann
11) James Anderson

India line up:

1) Gautam Gambhir
2) Virender Sehwag
3) Rahul Dravid
4) Sachin Tendulkar
5) VVS Laxman
6) Suresh Raina
7) MS Dhoni (C,WK)
8) Amit Mishra
9) Ishant Sharma
10) Sreesanth
11) RP Singh

And Swann gets his 5-for with the wicket of Gambhir!

5 wickets for 100 runs...not bad!

You have to wonder what Tendulkar and Mishra think about this "Old England" style capitulation after all their hard work.

eirebilly wrote:Already got the first beer in alfie

I'll have a wee drop of Scotch before bedtime ...

cricketfan90 wrote:player of the series has to be broad!

+1

alfie wrote:

eirebilly wrote:Already got the first beer in alfie

I'll have a wee drop of Scotch before bedtime ...

Man it must be well past whiskey hour there for you alfie

gambhir didnt look right at all in either innings, with his 'concussion'..

Sree doesn't look in the mood to hang around.

England's lead down to 12 now, but still a very good chance we won't have to bat again.

Sreesanth and batting don't really go together ...

Should give Bopara a go to get his Test bowling average down from 200

Hahha run out ...oh please ...review...

Who was the poster this morning who responded to my post about England possibly having a tricky little chase with "England will only need to chase 10"?

That may be a fine call

Nope, well done England

SIX for Swanny !

Whitewash Innings Win

Congratulations England

Conclusive .

4-0 and 2 by an innings. Wow.

Well done the lads, and well done everyone involved from the E&WCB down.

Broad has to be favourite.

Pietersen also had a fantastic series.

Anderson was very good, too.

Dravid for India, with an honorable mention to Praveen Kumar.

Fists of Fury wrote:Predictions for today?

India to be 250 all out. Tendulkar 75.

I wasn't too far out, I guess!

Bell deserves a mention for a lot of runs and fine catching.

I think that Broad had the most impact in the games. Those wickets and runs really dug England out of a hole. Did everything that was asked of him.

Dravid was the standout on a loosing team, he must get on the shortlist as well.

AND ENGLAND HAVE DONE IT!!!

Swann gets his 6th wicket, bowling Sreesanth for 6 as he attempts another huge hit. India all out for 283.

ENGLAND WIN BY AN INNINGS AND 8 RUNS, SECURING A 4-0 SERIES WIN!

Fantastic performance lads.

It was particularly great to see all the players stepping up at one point or another, when required, putting in good individual performances, to keep the momentum going and not giving India a break.

Think I'd go with Broad and Dravid.

Just wanted to mention Bell, because he does tend to fade into the background.

Bell was fantastic, cowshot, and definitely in a list of top 5 performers during this series.

Such a fine batsman, and a joy to watch.

Cowshot wrote:Think I'd go with Broad and Dravid.

Just wanted to mention Bell, because he does tend to fade into the background.

Spot on Cowshot

Bell gets M.O.M and Broad /Dravid will be series kings ...

All fair enough.

Series statistics:
Batting averages:
KP: 106.6
Bell: 84
Bresnan: 77
Dravid: 76.83
Prior: 67.75
Broad: 60.66
Cook: 58
Bopara: 51

Bowling, wickets and average:
Broad: 25 @ 13.84
Anderson: 21 @ 25.71
Bresnan: 16 @ 16.31
Kumar: 15 @ 29.53
Swann: 13 @ 40.69
Sharma: 11 @ 58.18

Dravid the only Indian batsman to average over 50, while 3 of England's top 5 managed it, as well as 2 of England's tail-enders chipping in. Bopara got 51 runs in 2 innings with a not out to make the list.

Kumar and Sharma were the only 2 Indian bowlers to take over 10 wickets, whereas all England's front-liners took over 10. Kumar's average is nothing to be ashamed of, Sharma's is though. Swann toiled hard and his average is higher than he would like, but all 3 England pacemen (not including Tremlett who took 4/124 in his one game) had a better average than Kumar, Broad and Bresnan in particular with phenomenal averages.

Fists: ...and we now have cover for no 3, which doesn't hurt.

Not sure how many of this side will be left when we go to India in 18 months, so perhaps the psychological effect of this crushing will not be that great. But I have never seen England crush a side so emphatically.

alfie: chuckle. Sounds good to me. Bell did get the TMS champagne moment for his catch, as well.

Broad's Man Of The Series award very deserved. Batted and bowled very well. Helped dig England out of a couple of holes and took the game away from India in others.

Having enforced the follow-on, we effectively bowled India 583-20 in 185 overs with 4 front-line bowlers on a flattish pitch. Emphatic.

Crikey!

25 wickets at less than 14 apiece and averaging over 60 with the bat. A truly top-class all-rounder's performance from Broad.

dyre: And many were calling for him to be dropped before this series. With some reason, too! From the ridiculous to the sublime in four games.

Flower giving all the credit to the players in interview on TMS. A real gentleman.

He deserves great praise for what he's done. A superb manager as well as a very fine cricketer.

I can honestly say that i was one that suggested that Broad should be dropped for this series.

Thank Mary i am not a selector

I called for him to be dropped after his abject and utterly ineffective displays against Sri Lanka...however I am more than happy to be proved wrong. Well done Broady, and may there be many more.

eirebilly: As I said, there was a case for dropping him.

By gum I'm glad they didn't! If he doesn't break, he's going to get better, imo.

Just goes to show that Englands selectors know a hell of a lot more than archair critics like me

It's armchair critics like us that have kept the selectors on their toes



Darren Pattinson ? whataretheylike !!

Mind you, it's only in the last few years they have got noticeably better than we armchair types.

I'm nervous about saying the admin looks sound, because I thought that about English Rugby until the last mess blew up. But it does look sound. And the money has been well spent, even if I can't watch the games on tv as a result of the deal.

We've got a fine set of players with back up, and young talent emerging.

It all looks so promising I can't help wondering where the catch is!

Stellar Key wrote:
It's armchair critics like us that have kept the selectors on their toes



Darren Pattinson ? whataretheylike !!

Still think they made a slight (but not crucial) mistake not bringing in Taylor for Trott. But then again I was in the "Drop Broad" camp, and while a bowling attack of Bresnan, Tremlett, Anderson and Swann wouldn't have been terrible (all 4 are in the top 11 in the ICC Rankings), Broad has been something special in this series, putting in at least one match-winning performance and returning World Class figures.

Well there should be an opportunity with the one day games for Taylor, Give him a chance england and see what he does !

I was definitely in the drop Broad if he didn't play well at Lords mainly as Bresnan was showing some of his ashes tour form . As it turned out Tremlett had an injury later and everyone who played in the series then did well.

come on england, we dominated from the first test to the last!

to sum up the series

england been class india been awful!

I missed all of this but followed the score updates from afar on my hols.

What a fantastic win and an amazing crushing this series has been.

We can be sure India will be a different prospect in the ODI's.

It looked like they put up some good fight in this one, good to see it last into a fifth day. Impressive also to see Eng declare with wickets left and maybe a ton short of what they could get and still win by an innings.

Don't know about that Trebs, quite a few of them have gone home.

Believe!

trebellbobaggins wrote:I missed all of this but followed the score updates from afar on my hols.

What a fantastic win and an amazing crushing this series has been.

We can be sure India will be a different prospect in the ODI's.

It looked like they put up some good fight in this one, good to see it last into a fifth day. Impressive also to see Eng declare with wickets left and maybe a ton short of what they could get and still win by an innings.

We did lose 2 sessions to rain though and India were still bowled out for 300 and under 300 on a fairly flat pitch. There was a bit of fight when Tendulkar and Mishra got together, but the collapse should really worry India.

Oh right, so it was better but still much to improve for them.

I think maybe this will signal that it is time to break up this great team and rebuild for the future.

Linebreaker wrote:Don't know about that Trebs, quite a few of them have gone home.

Believe!

oh, a much changed side from the world cup for both teams then?

How are they going today v Ireland? Maybe a similar team to that one?

Linebreaker wrote:How are they going today v Ireland? Maybe a similar team to that one?

This team today looks all about experimenting with second choice and youth.

It'll contain a few of them i'd think.

morgan is in the side, with dernbach, finn and trott

yep, so two first choice there and one of the others could probably be a first choice ODI now too.

India showing Sussex that they prefer this form today. They must be big favourites to win, best side in the world in that form.

india were #1 in tests and what happend

They got well and truly whipped. A remarkable achievement and a comprehensive victory.

I reckon this 4-0 whitewash was even more convincing than the 5-0 one in 2006/7. At least back then - some of those Tests seemed more closely contested.

england were quality, india must frustrate,duncan fletcher, because they have so much talent and were smashed.

In getting on for forty years of following cricket, I cannot remember us ever crushing a side so completely in all aspects of the game.

Particularly not one that was expected by many (me included) to beat us. I didn't think we were bad, I thought the Indian batting was that good.

The 5-0 in Aus 06/7 must count as right up with it, but that's the only one I can think of between supposedly roughly equal sides.

I've seen so many false dawns in English Cricket I feel like a Welsh Rugby supporter. But the horrible things we did to Linebacker's fellow Aussies last winter (apart from Perth...) make me hope that THIS dawn is a real one. Honest...

We're number 1 according to the rankings. Woohoo. Well done lads.

But number 1 in the rankings is not the same as the best side in the world at any given moment. If this E&W side has a weakness, it seems it is against good fast bowling on a fast pitch. At present, the South Africans are the only side that really offers that. That, and winning in the subcontinent are the challenges for this side now.