England vs India - Fifth Test, The Oval

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Well this morning England have named an unchanged squad for the fifth and final test of the season

Means Plunkett hasn't recovered from his injury, Broad will be assessed with Stokes/Finn waiting in the wings and Sam Robson gets one more test

Gambhir is having a shocker, and as I type Broady has got one, bowled through the gate

the walking wicket of Kohli comes in

Pujara not having a happy series...two down for peanuts in the first half hour...
Deja vu all over again   

Eng could be batting by tea time

I think the point of deja vu is that it does happen all over again

In years to come we'll remember with fondness days like this. Great bowling conditions, Anderson and Broad in action, taking wickets and looking world-class. We're lucky to be witnessing them.

liverbnz wrote:Is Hales ready for Test cricket? Never looked it to me from my limited experienece of him. I know he's supposed to have improved a bit but he looks no better than Robson.

I hate this premise of "is he ready for test cricket"


The only way to find out is if they play!! He's clearly got the talent to

Seriously poor shot selection from Kohli, you have a bat so bloody use it.

hampo171 wrote:Seriously poor shot selection from Kohli, you have a bat so bloody use it.

thats right...both Kohli and Pujara are evidences of Indecisive Indians....not sure whether to play positively ( their natural game) or "see off"

TheSecondComing wrote:I think the point of deja vu is that it does happen all over again

In years to come we'll remember with fondness days like this. Great bowling conditions, Anderson and Broad in action, taking wickets and looking world-class. We're lucky to be witnessing them.

Well yes . I was being facetious ...

Indeed nice to see the lads enjoying "English" conditions for a change after early season pitches which would have been at home in Sri Lanka !

Kohli's nightmare continues as Jordan joins in. Tight decision ; but he can't complain too much when he played no shot - you take a chance when you do that.

it was an OK decision...forget the DRS......not playing a short in itself is half the reason given to the umpire to give it.

and on replays it showed it was hitting stumps..even if marginally.....confirms ump got it right

Now if he was playing a stroke and ball had beaten the edge of bat and crashed into pads.....in exactly the same position he would have been not given out

pitch doesn't have as much bounce as manchester.....edges are falling short.....that seemingly were going to hand at comfortable height at Old Trafford

and same story with rahane.....twice in a row ct and bowled....shows he is in 2 minds not knowing whether to go through with his shot

Wow - an absolutely disastrous start for India. Can see this being another 2.5 - 3 dayer if they keep this up.

Will to play gone, knowing they can't win the series, or are they just fed up with being in England and want to get home ASAP?

KP_fan wrote:it was an OK decision...forget the DRS......not playing a short in itself is half the reason given to the umpire to give it.

and on replays it showed it was hitting stumps..even if marginally.....confirms ump got it right

Now if he was playing a stroke and ball had beaten the edge of bat and crashed into pads.....in exactly the same position he would have been not given out

You're right there KP_f : umpires are only human ; they tend to be more willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the batsman when he plays positively. Fair enough I guess.

Not much positivity from India this morning. All out to pretty feeble shots or non-shots...

Through 2 tests India outbattled England and showed real resilience to peg England back from positions of strengths.

In the last 2 tests and this one so far, theres only been some futile resistance with the ball. Very tame.

36-5, Woakes and Jordan have both looked good this morning and backing up Captain Cooks faith to keep them in the team.

5 down what a morning!!

I wouldn't say Woakes has looked good at all..he has bowled a handful of good deliveires, but on the whole his radar has been mediocre.

The question now becomes will India be batting at lunch.

Very well done to Jordan and woakes.. In the wickets..

Good bit of thinking having Root stood in a lot closer at fourth slip than the others. Reward for Woakes who has bowled well in this spell.

Woakes gets one ! Fine catch Root...

Glad to see the two back up bowlers contributing. Must have read my earlier critical post about their rather fortunate retained places in the XI.   

As usual Anderson set the tone, and good to see all the bowlers chipping in with wickets.

Wow, if Woakes is taking wickets there's hope for all of us.

freemo wrote:5 down what a morning!!

I wouldn't say Woakes has looked good at all..he has bowled a handful of good deliveires, but on the whole his radar has been mediocre.

Think you're being overly harsh, sometimes feel that because Anderson and Broad are so good that when the back up seamers aren't quite up to that level they get unfairly criticised. Got no problems with the way Jordan and Woakes have bowled personally, haven't leaked runs and kept the pressure built by the opening pair.

You don't suppose there's any funny business going on and they're deliberately throwing the game, do you?

How else do you explain such shocking play?

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EDIT: apparently the delivery from Woakes that got Vijay was a beauty...so maybe I should take the tinfoil hat off...

Thought both Woakes and Jordan have been good for their wickets this morning. Jordan has sprayed a few - think he always will - but reckon they've both stepped up today. More in the danger area , in good bowling conditions.
England will be delighted : don't have to flatten Jimmy and Broad.

Yes Wolfe, take the tinfoil off.

England are still a very good bowling unit in these conditions. Form is temporary. Class is perminant

Perhaps we should've played the Womens team instead

43/5 off 25 !

Good bowling conditions , but still...

And the Big Two have not been overworked yet.  Good day for Cook from the toss onwards  

This is pretty pathetic stuff from India. No fight whatsoever, attitude stinks. They are aware they can draw the series if they win this game right? Alright conditions haven't exactly been perfect for batting but they've batted like a team looking to get back on the plane.

Indian needed to be like a 110 runs if they were throwing down so many wicket.....OR they should have been no more than 2 wickets down

well there are such a big list of " what Indian should have done list......" I can create

But as I noted at the end of last test....Eng have to simply turn up and Indian will roll over......they are mentally finished

Perhaps looking forward a bit to the ODI series.

I think I'd give Jimmy a rest, at least for a few games. Broads obviously gone for surgery. Probably give Cook time off ahead of next years schedule.

The Indians need to look at some new players if these are mentally finished. They won a test match, they are showing no fight and haven't done since they won that test match. England however have responded to the kick up the back side, the bowling unit is now getting it right and the improvements that Ali has made have been fantastic.

hampo171 wrote:The Indians need to look at some new players if these are mentally finished. They won a test match, they are showing no fight and haven't done since they won that test match. England however have responded to the kick up the back side, the bowling unit is now getting it right and the improvements that Ali has made have been fantastic.

India needs a new captain and new coach for tests...problem is in mindset for tests at the top in the leader.

as players.....
--a second openers has to be brought in the Mix ...KL Rahul or Jiwanjot.....dhawan still has something to offer.
--if Dhoni retires from tests Samson and /Ojha are pretty decent WK batsmen
--Pujara / Kohli will serve India in the long term....but can be kept honest by throwing in Tiwary, Rohit is not test match material.
--a proper spinner has to be the back up for Aswhin......most likely Karn Sharma the leggie who has a chance to impress in ODis
--and a bowling allrounder in Rishi Dhawan as a seamer and Akshar Patel / Rasool as spin bowling allroudners

Anderson just set up Binny like an absolute dream, lovely swing bowling.

India continue to fall into a pit that has no bottom...from bad to worse to more worse......

Ashwin gets so lucky with his first ball, he didn't have a clue where that ball was.

Binny gone for 5 and India 44-6 - that Cook and Anderson combo doing the trick again.

Reckon England could have matched, if not overtaken, India's total by close of play (assuming the rain holds off).

Good catch that by Root diving forwards, and Woakes gets another.

In fairness to Dhoni hes stuck around the last 2 games when everyone else gave up.

well in Ageas bowl India got 190 and then 150odd in each inning at manchester and now no way will we cross 150.....even 100 looks far away now

GSC wrote:In fairness to Dhoni hes stuck around the last 2 games when everyone else gave up.

he makes plans on how to see-off / defend that only he understands   

Absolutely pathetic from India once more. They have been an embarrassment on this tour.

England moving to three consecutive series wins over the visitors; like I said, beating India is Cook's hobby!

Yikes! Kumar nearly gone first ball, but Root just couldn't reach the ball to take the catch.

Are we sure this isn't the Japanese Test team in disguise? They're certainly folding like origami...



...I'll get me coat...

Dear god, that shot is everything that has been wrong with this innings.

Theres no fight left in the Indian side.

Well, before we get too critical of India, lets just see how we fare in our first innings.

I'm slightly worried England may get complacent and find daft ways to get out themselves.

That said, they'd have to go some to match India...

Happy for Woakes, decent figures 3-19.

Disappointed I didn't go up to Old Trafford today, forecast was rain all afternoon but it's sunny at the moment!

You have to feel sorry for Dhoni - trying to carry the team almost single-handedly the last couple of matches.

Just as well Hampo, probably would've gotten bored at Old Trafford