England vs India - Second Test - Lords

First topic message reminder :

Seeming as we have such a short turnaround thought I'd stick up a thread

England have added Simon Kerrigan to the squad interestingly. I'd imagine he must be in serious contention, or else what's the point of adding another body?

Stokes removes Shami, India all out for 295

Eng conquer first demon and get the last wicket quickly...pitch has shown bounce and movement in the 2 odd overs this morning an there is likeyl to be low bounce also.

lets see what Eng do with bat......they have all to lose at home in home conditions and Ind all to play for

Well that didn't take too long. 295 ...Stokes deserved a second wicket , I reckon.

England will be pleased the sun is out for the start of their innings.

Hopefully the pitch may flatten under the sun today.

Danger - Possible Innings collapse, please wear Hard Hats 

Kumar starting well with the ball...finding Robson's edge , nice movement.

Very professionally done by England, now please bat through the day.

two dangerous moments for Robson in over-1

Maybe Cook just really didn't want to bat last night?

Ball isn't doing as much as it was doing yesterday. A score of 295 was a good effort batting first on that track, but as the pitch is changing colour, England still very much retain the advantage.

RUBBISH.

Luck for Robson as Rahane shells one ...but none coming Cook's way as he nicks off the other end...

22/1

Ajinkya Rahane drops a dolly offered up by Sam Robson. This lad had a shocking technique for an opening batsman.

But Kumar gets walking wicket Alastair Cook caught by Dhoni for 6.

robson lucky, Cook's luck was all used up to win in India.

9 more to go

Not sure why he didn't just leave it.

DROP THIS COMPLETE MUPPET!!!

When you aren't playing well and feeling pressure you make bad decisions like that.

Poor shot, Cooky, poor shot.

Never mind, eh? Persevere!

NickisBHAFC wrote:Not sure why he didn't just leave it.

DROP THIS COMPLETE MUPPET!!!

Take it easy , Nick. The muppet has over 8000 Test runs and such players aren't discarded lightly...nor should they be. Better hope he gets his mojo back because the chances of replacing him with a player of comparable ability in the short or medium time are thin...

Robson gone ... Chased that one a bit. Thought this session would be a tricky one .
Someone needs to play patiently for a while. Bell could do with an innings.

Cook is in a hole at the moment.

Bhuvneshwar got Robson eventually as his luck didn't hold too long. He edged one to Dhoni who took the catch, Robson could have left that.......

Robson has had a mixed start to Test cricket . But his home ground has not been kind to him so far.

Kumar has bowled well . But that was an unnecessary shot. Think its's called pressure.

The England players need to play more County cricket imo.

Mixed bag from Ishant already, couple of testing ones in the middle of a lot of rubbish including a wide and a no-ball.

Alastair Cook in the CC 2014 - 35, 181, 39, 127, 4. Not sure how playing more will help Cook, as an example. Standard is just so different, certainly from Div 2.

msp83 wrote:Mixed bag from Ishant already, couple of testing ones in the middle of a lot of rubbish including a wide and a no-ball.

3 overs for 2 runs...and no runs of the bat

JDizzle wrote:Alastair Cook in the CC 2014 - 35, 181, 39, 127, 4. Not sure how playing more will help Cook, as an example. Standard is just so different, certainly from Div 2.

Because sometimes these guys look like they have forgotten how to play in British conditions.

Shane Warne wants England to pick a spinner who is keeping it tight and taking wickets on flat picthes that don't really help the spinner. Cheers Shane.

Scrumpy wrote:

JDizzle wrote:Alastair Cook in the CC 2014 - 35, 181, 39, 127, 4. Not sure how playing more will help Cook, as an example. Standard is just so different, certainly from Div 2.

Because sometimes these guys look like they have forgotten how to play in British conditions.

But Cook played three games this summer and smashed it everywhere, Ballance, Moeen and Robson (last year) are in on their weight of runs in the CC. I'm just not convinced it it of that much help.

somebody should tell the commnettaors to focus on the game.

India needs to give a few overs to Binny

Dhoni should try Binny for an over or 2 before lunch. He won't do too much on tracks that are not favorable for seamers, but here it is possible that he could find just a little bit of life.

Warne loves just rattling on and on and on and on about whatever his latest bug  bear is.

I really like him but in small doses!!

alfie wrote:

NickisBHAFC wrote:Not sure why he didn't just leave it.

DROP THIS COMPLETE MUPPET!!!

Take it easy , Nick.   The muppet has over 8000 Test runs and such players aren't discarded lightly...nor should they be. Better hope he gets his mojo back because the chances of replacing him with a player of comparable ability in the short or medium time are thin...

Maybe not but they can't bat or lead worse than he is right now and if he continues to put himself through the grinder he won't magically get back on form- it's better to send him off to get his confidence and form back elsewhere without the pressure of opening and captaining a failing England and at least blood another player even if they aren't in Cook's class

A captains first job is to win the test..

If we win this he has to stay.

if he keeps losing. then that's a different matter

ChequeredJersey wrote:

alfie wrote:

NickisBHAFC wrote:Not sure why he didn't just leave it.

DROP THIS COMPLETE MUPPET!!!

Take it easy , Nick.   The muppet has over 8000 Test runs and such players aren't discarded lightly...nor should they be. Better hope he gets his mojo back because the chances of replacing him with a player of comparable ability in the short or medium time are thin...

Maybe not but they can't bat or lead worse than he is right now and if he continues to put himself through the grinder he won't magically get back on form- it's better to send him off to get his confidence and form back elsewhere without the pressure of opening and captaining a failing England and at least blood another player even if they aren't in Cook's class

He played county cricket earlier in the season and scored two tons I believe, so sending him back is unlikely to change anything upon his return.

every captain who does the job long enough will go through a dip. Worse than normal player dips, because they really don't have the time to fix their errors. Sending your captain down is not the way forward. It's the antithesis of the way forward.

What if it's clearly affecting his ability to be captain too?

Whos a realistic option to step in?

Broad for me only.

bell is a bit to introvert and Prior isnt a long term England player

ChequeredJersey wrote:What if it's clearly affecting his ability to be captain too?

I don't think that's the case here, his captaincy isn't any different to a summer ago when he went 5-0 vs Australia.

Still far from convinced about Robson, looks a strong LBW candidate and just got out playing at a ball that wouldn't have hit another set. For an opening batsman (for any batsman really) that's a massive concern.

Whole Cook situation is coming to a head I feel. I agree with those doubting the benefits of a spell back at Essex, however he can't simply go on Test after Test failing. With the short turnaround to the Rosebowl, I am sure nothing will happen before the 4th Test. But if England are still not winning and he fails again, change has to happen.

Credit to the Indian bowlers, they have bowled far better than England did with the new ball yesterday. Thankfully for England conditions were not so bowler friendly this morning.

So far this summer, by and large the England seamers have been out bowled by both their sub-continental counterparts.

"So far this summer, by and large the England seamers have been out bowled by both their sub-continental counterparts"




they really havent

Of course maybe if the other batsmen got us a decent score it might take the pressure off Cook for next innings? Blame has to be shared and the bowlers should take more initiative

Can Broad manage being integral to our attack, an important source if runs and captain?

Suspect it is more a case of the captaincy affecting his batting. Bit of chicken and egg , perhaps : his early games as captain produced runs and victories...lately the team has suffered a string of losses , shed some very good players and is struggling to get back to winning ways - hardly surprising if the concerns of leadership are adversely impacting his concentration at the crease. Being an opener makes this even harder.

He's a tough lad ; won't be wanting to quit the job , especially with the team having to really battle. I would really like to see him come through this successfully , though I accept it can't go on indefinitely. But it will probably only take one big score - or one big win - to turn it around ; this game is played to a huge extent between the ears.

GSC wrote:Whos a realistic option to step in?

Would be probably the best of a poor bunch. They aren't going to draft in a player from outside the current squad who is an experienced captain.

Joe Root seems to be seen as a future captain. Throw him in and see if he sinks or swims?

ChequeredJersey wrote:Can Broad manage being integral to our attack, an important source if runs and captain?

Plus plays all three formats of the game!

ChequeredJersey wrote:Can Broad manage being integral to our attack, an important source if runs and captain?

I doubt it. His t20 leadership hasn't been startling anyway. And captaincy is tough for a fast bowler ...apart from which his occasional injury issues are likely to see him miss the odd game , which is far from ideal.
He'd be OK as a one-off replacement , but I don't see him as a long term prospect.

Well If we win this one and bring our form back up in the future- we have no question to answer(cook stays on irrespective of batting form). So lets hope for that first and foremost

GSC wrote:Whos a realistic option to step in?

I share the same view as Boycott on that one, it's irrelevant when talking about whether Cook should stay as Captain.