England v India 4th Test, Old Trafford

First topic message reminder :

With the Anderson/Jadeja spat in the rear view mirror, we can all move on.

England name an unchanged squad, I'd be surprised if Plunkett didn't play, whether its at the expense of Jordan or Broad is the biggest question. Imagine they'll have planned on resting Broad at some stage.

I do properly love watching Buttler bat, such a talent

 *cue buttler's dismissal*

Warne taking the pessimistic stance, Strauss the positive. Kind of surreal really.

Yes Strauss is right ..

We can forget the dreams of a 250 lead now. They should try to quickly knock off 50 more if possible. 200 would look decent.

trebellbobaggins wrote:We can forget the dreams of a 250 lead now.  They should try to quickly knock off 50 more if possible.  200 would look decent.

Maybe. Though if Buttler bats for an hour after lunch the lead will be easily 250.

Why would we want to bat an hour after lunch.

We are only wasting time.

Good another wicket for pank. Just what we need

Ah well played Jos, you utterly beautiful man

England have enough, they need to declare at the interval, and then set about dismissing India for 273 or less.

Batting any longer will just eat away at the time.

Ah Buttler gone for a sparkling 70.

Time to declare.

Rats. I've hexed Buttler...out on the stroke of lunch.

Oh well ...they'll likely be bowled out some time after lunch now , which will stop roakey complaining   

That's the hour after lunch out of the window.

Shame to fall short of the 200 lead though, would have been a nice marker having lost the toss to get that sort of lead.

I don't think it's too easy out there though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2643123?day=2

Just in case we are in any doubt as to the severity of the forecast.

Yes Alfie exactly. Every wicket is helping us now. We will hit that 350 I said all we need.

It will be impossible to lose at that point but it will give us a better chance of the win

88 in 26 . Not bad. Pity Buttler got out ; but if Woakes and Broad get stuck in after the interval they are still going to get the lead up where they want it pretty quickly.
Nice to see Pankaj get a couple of scalps at last.

I hope Gerry is watching the under 19's game.   

Rather ironically Pankaj taking wickets could be scuppering India's chances of a draw here

mystiroakey wrote:Yes Alfie exactly. Every wicket is helping us now. We will hit that 350 I said all we need.

It will be impossible to lose at that point but it will give us a better chance of the win

Been no real chance of losing since tea yesterday. But I would still prefer quick easy runs in this innings than possibly having to bat again ...would still like another fifty if possible.

Not all that bothered exactly how they time it , to be honest : I think there is enough in the pitch that they can bowl India out again within a normal days play . And if they can't get that much time in between the weather then there's not much can be done about it.
If they skittle them in 46 overs again of course it doesn't matter at all...

The advantages to batting on any further are so meagre that they should not even be seriously considered. Batting for another half-hour or so will be exactly what India want.

Declare now with seventy overs left in the day. England can wipe the floor with India tonight, if they be so bold as to try.

I would go with that as well duty. But I think the best we can hope for is to hit out after lunch. I can't see root declaring.

Duty281 wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2643123?day=2

Just in case we are in any doubt as to the severity of the forecast.

Yeah I saw that earlier. Certainly looks as if Sunday is a lost day. Still leaves another 70 overs today plus whatever they can manage Monday.
And of course they can have extra overs/time Monday to make up for the lost hours.

Still think England have plenty of time to force a win , unless the weather goes totally awry Monday as well.

mystiroakey wrote:I would go with that as well duty. But I think the best we can hope for is to hit out after lunch. I can't see root declaring.

Think Cook is still in charge for now   

Blimey I do have a deep rooted love for the baby faced assassin....

One day.. But for now cook is doing a good job again.

Swing the bat Broad, sixer!

Two in a row!

Ooo we got an issue here

Yeah Broad's in trouble here, gotta be a broken nose at least

Jesus that's not good

oh dear.. there's the man that might have won the match gone.

Jadeja gets Anderson. Probably for the best that England are out, as will probably have to bowl India out in the 65 overs today looking at the weather forecast.

Should be a fair bit of play on Monday, say at least half a day. Tomorrow, could be a washout

ChequeredJersey wrote:Should be a fair bit of play on Monday, say at least half a day. Tomorrow, could be a washout

If you're right , that means at least 110 overs. Should be enough to get a result , unless India really dig in.

Got'im! Well done Chris Woakes, gets one to come back into Vijay and traps him LBW. Vijay doesn't like it, but that's pretty plumb. Vijay hit his pad, maybe he thought he'd got an inside-edge?

Lovely stuff Christopher

Woakes has a wicket at last !

Took Erasmus an eternity to raise his finger ; but raise it he did and Vijay is on his way.
Pretty plumb , actually.

Well bowled Woakes   

Broad should be able to bowl with a broken nose. Maybe not at 100% . But once the pain killers kick in. It should be an issue . Hopefully he will back on soon

If he's not concussed that is of course

Yep it depends what it is

saw Broad's hit on replays...shame he got it on his nose inspite of the visor.
Hope he can bowl.....he is a fierce competitor...and I am sure he will go throuhg the pain barrier and discomfort and come back, especially if there is a break tomm.

Meanwhile oportunity for Jordan and Woakes to stand up and be counted

He's gone for an xray so don't expect to see him again today

The loss of broad looks to have handed this to India.

Jordan's radar still looks a little off to me, he seems to be struggling with the LH/RH combination at the moment. No great swing out there, but Jimmy just gets one to nip off the seam there to beat Pujara's (attempted) drive.

well that came out of nowhere. Gambhir never really looked comfortable, and a good short ball from Anderson produces the glove down the leg-side through to Buttler. Good wicket for England that .

two-in-two for England. Moeen gets one to spin back, and traps Pujara LBW. Did he get outside the line? Hill doesn't think so, up goes the finger!

well it's hit him in line, but doing a bit too much, turn and bounce taking it over the top. Pujara a bit unlucky there.

And now Moeen strikes !

Three down and England are right on top.

Decent.

Imagine if they had allowed a review system. Perish the thought.

MOALITHARAN

The demon of mystery himself.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:well it's hit him in line, but doing a bit too much, turn and bounce taking it over the top. Pujara a bit unlucky there.

Yeah a bit unlucky ...though I thought it looked OK live , so not surprised he gave it. More bounce than I'd have thought.

Had an idea Moeen might play a part in this innings. Might have more to say yet...

Another one.

Plan on to wrap it up today...

As I was saying   

Rahane c&b Ali ...and India are sinking fast.