England's Indian Summer - T20s, ODIs & Tests

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guildfordbat wrote:

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:The toss has proven to be most significant factor in the entire series. Root was fortunate he won the toss in every match - despite he moronic decision to bowl in Nottingham. Had the tosses been the opposite way around we could easily be 0-4 down as Kohli would've batted in Nottingham anyway.

The side is clearly in decline once Anderson and Broad leave the scene we may well struggle to even win at home.

Curran has been a decent find more for his batting, bowling isn't anything to write home about yet.

Moeen a decent comeback but his issues are he's hopeless away from England.

Cook and Jennings need scores at the Oval or i would hope both are dropped for Sri Lanka.

Root has shown in this series he's not of the class of a Smith, Kohli or Williamson. His stock has fallen big time.

Dropping is easy. Replacing is less so.

Burns and Vince. Need someone to get after the bowling on the Sri Lankan sandpits and Vince is a decent player of spin. Burns the guy the try and hold up an end.

England go into lunch on 304 for 8. This 9th wicket partnership has put on 90. The test has a different complexion now.

Well. I did not expect that. At all.

No name Bertie wrote:

alfie wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:A score of 300+ now appearing ever nearer on the horizon. England 284 for 8.

Indeed.  I was hoping for a bit of a tail wag...but about 250 was the limit of my expectations. Especially when it was clear the ball was still doing things this morning.

Funny game really : 130/1 ...65/6...90/1...

You'd think this was being played on different grounds

Maybe The Indians took the new ball too early?  The old ball appeared to be swinging and turning.  Maybe the atmospheric conditions have changed - or the wicket is getting flatter?   England did quite well with the first new ball, less well when it got older.  Since the second new ball was taken England's fortunes have improved despite being 7 wickets down at the time.

It is odd. If anything , atmospheric conditions have changed in favour of the bowler. And the ball has moved more , if anything. Think a lot is down to bowler tiredness. And a bit of luck...swings and roundabouts...

CaledonianCraig wrote:This stand has done more than just beef up the total though. It has served to grind down the Indian bowlers and keep the Indian openers on edge about when they will bat. 300 up for England as lunch approaches. England's morning.

Bang on, Craig. Very much England's morning. Glad word is spreading about keeping the openers on edge - Olly also now sings from that sheet.

alfie wrote:Over 300 now coming up to lunch...

Wonder how India's batsmen will react to what is obviously going to be a unexpectedly poor morning in the field ?  When they get in , of course .

304/8.  Can they push it up to  350 after lunch ?

Alfie - I am reliably informed that the average first innings total at the Oval in Championship cricket this season is 329. I would settle now for anything above that.

Broad goes aerial and a fine diving catch in the deep by Rahul sees the 9th wicket partnership end on 98. England 312 for 9.

Superb catch by Rahul at long on to end Broad's spirited innings

Rahul's catching has almost made up for his very poor batting .

312/9... The 329 looking a bit further off now...

Broad out.
Buttler now England's highest run-scorer of this innings.

329 achieved!

India now going with the same tactic that England consistently use...generally without much success. Everyone on the fence.

Makes for dreary cricket sometimes : though it appears Buttler fancies his chances against Bumrah...two sixes and he's only 14 off another century...

Four for Jadeja... Buttler falls for 89 and it's 332.

Settling for that after last night...

Buttler in haste to get a single from the last ball edges a Jadeja delivery to first slip. England all out for 332. Buttler a fine knock of 89.

Fantastic innings for Buttler - top scores for England with 89. He came in with the score at 171-5 and formed partnerships that added 161 to the score.

332 all out. Probably a 100 more than most of us reckoned at 11 this morning plus the peripheral damage to India as per Craig's lunchtime post.

Can't properly judge at this stage but my gut feel is it's more than ok. More importantly, it should ensure a full day's play tomorrow when your's truly is at the Oval.

Hands up, completely wrong about Buttler. He's been excellent in different ways.

No name Bertie wrote:Fantastic innings for Buttler - top scores for England with 89.  He came in with the score at 171-5 and formed partnerships that added 161 to the score.

Just as well England had a referral up their sleeve late yesterday ...if he'd had to go off for eight we'd be looking at maybe 220 tops...

Deep batting list pays off again for England. Has basically won them this series already...may yet win them this match too.

One great injustice on that scorecard : Shami 0/72 . He was way better than that...

If a possible review was timed out there - as Atherton suspected - quite right. Took an absolute age.

Excellent start for Broad and England.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Hands up, completely wrong about Buttler. He's been excellent in different ways.

He's had a great summer , after a rather surprising recall. Now as long as they don't go silly and move him up to bat at three as some clown on BBC comments has already suggested...

(Just where he should bat we can maybe discuss after seasons end. Arguably he could be higher than seven ; but not too much , I think)

And now Broad strikes immediately to continue Dhawan's rotten summer...

guildfordbat wrote:If a possible review was timed out there - as Atherton suspected - quite right. Took an absolute age.

Excellent start for Broad and England.

Nice to see umpires enforcing the 15 seconds rule ... They often seem to ignore it , especially for fielding team referrals .
Wouldn't actually have made any difference this time : still out , umpires call...but saved a couple of minutes

Hasn't exactly been swinging around corners...and now England have succeeded in getting the ball changed.
Must be hoping to get one like the the one India were using after tea yesterday ! In truth , that one had been moving all day...just started finding edges instead of just missing...
Rahul got away with a couple of loose shots early on : looks to have settled now. India would love a partnership from these two so the skipper can come in with a platform already established. Hasn't happened much this summer...

guildfordbat wrote:

alfie wrote:Have to say India have bowled well today...and starting to reap the rewards , a little belatedly.
But disappointing from England with that good platform. In trouble now.

Hopefully Curran will do his usual rescue act

Alfie - hopefully so as you say although Sam has too often struggled for runs at the Oval this season ...

Guildfordbat you called it with Sam Curran , but fortunately Buttler stepped in to do the job.  Cook, Moeen, Butler and Broad all batted well = 1 batsman, 1 wicket keeper and 2 bowlers.

Meanwhile India have begun their innings in 50 overs mode - attack, but are one down.

Pretty good first batting session for India. Could have easily lost several wickets after that early loss of Dhawan...but Rahul and Pujara have made it to tea just one down .
Moeen looking dangerous though : nearly a reflex catch by Cook at short leg , and some other balls threatening...he will do a bit of bowling this evening...
Wonder if the evening session will provide a string of wickets like yesterday ?

No runs for Sam Curran yesterday...but he's in the game this evening bowling Rahul for 37 : a welcome break for England after a handy partnership with Pujara. 70/2

Kohli up now...

Game a bit quieter than many days in this series...

Partly being a "dead" rubber , I guess. But somehow doesn't seem to be as tense as usual. Batting neither dominant nor overly fraught with peril at the moment.

Might just be my imagination ,of course Curran is bowling well but nobody else seems to be commenting ...even the pigeons are looking relaxed...94/2

India would hope to turn this into 190 for two or three by the close. Anderson - coming back now - will have other ideas...

Review for lbw against Kohli...will be umpires call and safe , I think...yes : Kohli survives by a centimeter or two on impact.

Jimmy has had no luck against Kohli this series . At least they don't lose the review...

Was just about to turn off for tonight but Jimmy has snared Pujara with a lovely piece of bowling...Rahane coming in at 101/3

Might see if there are any more fireworks to come : if England bag one of these two now they'll be feeling pleased with the day...

Rahane gone for a duck ! Excellent from Anderson ...Cook safe at slip.

103/4 . England taking a grip...

Beginning to parallel England's batting performance. Batting is becoming more difficult as the ball begins to swing.

Vihari a lucky lad...would have been gone for a debut duck if England had reviewed that.
But Stuart Broad - astonishingly ! - wasn't pushing for it

Always looked out to me. But they've been burned a few times this series and seem to be saving their reviews for Kohli...

Charmed life , Vihari...

First the No-review ; then he gets given and reprieved on his own review...finally gets off the mark. Had to scamper to beat the throw , too.

Relief !

Tough time to come in and he's getting a good working over from Broad and Anderson. If he survives this spell he will feel he belongs in Test Cricket...

guildfordbat wrote:332 all out. Probably a 100 more than most of us reckoned at 11 this morning plus the peripheral damage to India as per Craig's lunchtime post.

Can't properly judge at this stage but my gut feel is it's more than ok. More importantly, it should ensure a full day's play tomorrow when your's truly is at the Oval.

Enjoy your day tomorrow , guildford. That 332 looking quite good at the moment...

Indian younger cricketers are on the field. I want them to execute the patience. However India is gonna lose this test by more than 250 runs.

alfie wrote:

guildfordbat wrote:332 all out. Probably a 100 more than most of us reckoned at 11 this morning plus the peripheral damage to India as per Craig's lunchtime post.

Can't properly judge at this stage but my gut feel is it's more than ok. More importantly, it should ensure a full day's play tomorrow when your's truly is at the Oval.

Enjoy your day tomorrow , guildford.  That 332 looking quite good at the moment...

Thanks, Alfie. At risk of being accused of stealing one of Craig's maps, I'm looking* for India to be all out shortly before or after lunch to give us a lead of around 90 and for us to then push on in the last two sessions (forecast is sunnier and warmer than today) to about 180/4.

I was fearful Mr Kohli was already looking that he might blow that out of the water this evening but Stokes has just got him to cement England's advantage, at least for now.

*Plus a couple of  s during the day with a couple of friends.

My road map days are over since I was told they were pointless.

England are well on top now and unless there is stern resistance in the Indian tail then they will concede a sizeable first innings lead to England.

On Stokes late two wickets (Kohli & Pant), on both balls, the ball was heading towards the stumps but seemed to deviate away in both cases on the bounce, causing Kohli and Pant to edge and give catches. The wicket looks a bit "frayed".

guildfordbat wrote:Not for the first time, I go along with Key. Vihari's solitary over as first change looking more and more odd.

I Wonder what the betting odds were on Vihari being the first change bowler?

a travel day and didn't watch
saw the score-card and it's not what I wanted to see

hope to catch highlights and figure what went on and went wrong

Glad to see Buttler scoring again - Mr Smith may have made some muddled selections, but he’s got it bang on bringing Jos back into the fold - heck of a talent and glad to see him finally harnessing that in the test arena. Argument to be made he’s England’s most important player across all three formats now

KP_fan wrote:a travel day and didn't watch
saw the score-card and it's not what I wanted to see

hope to catch highlights and figure what went on and went wrong

Even With jio sim in every mobile, this excuse for every Indian fan including me during this test series is quite justified.

Buttler was, to some, an extraordinary selection at the beginning of the summer. But he's now played FIVE key innings in the seven Tests.
England could well end up winning this series 4-1. Doubt there's ever been a side that has achieved a result like that having played, at times, really poorly.

sirfredperry wrote:Buttler was, to some, an extraordinary selection at the beginning of the summer. But he's now played FIVE key innings in the seven Tests.
  England could well end up winning this series 4-1. Doubt there's ever been a side that has achieved a result like that having played, at times, really poorly.

The poorness has been there but it is the same in every team who has weaknesses. England's poor spells has been at the opening of a batting innings with early dismissals galore due to loose shots. Their other poor moments you can put down to glaring drops in the slips. However, lets not overlook what they have done excellently which is to have a middle order to tail that has shown great resilience in times of great need and also the seamers and spin attack has done a great job limiting India's scoring for most of the summer despite those dropped catches. Also they have managed to find that little bit more when tests have got tight and found a way to win against an Indian side with a pace attack recognised as the best they have ever had and the genius of Kohli batting.

CaledonianCraig wrote: Also they have managed to find that little bit more when tests have got tight and found a way to win against an Indian side with a pace attack recognised as the best they have ever had and the genius of Kohli batting.

Quite ironic given how much task there was of his previous struggles in England till the series got going.

It really has been a funny series ... theres been big positives for both teams, and their known strengths and weaknesses have been shown.

One thing thats quite evident though is that modern batsmen simply cannot cope with extreme English conditions. The pitches and weather have really suited attacking bowling.



Remarkable how this innings is apeing England so closely with the lower order finding the second day of the innings much easier than the batsman did the previous one.

Jennings drops Bumrah first ball off Rashid - easy chance. India trailed by 75. Lead down to 51 now as Jadeja is teeing off...

I see that India's premier all rounder took four wickets and has registered a dashing half century. It's funny how a guy with three first class triple hundreds gets ridiculed for his batting. Putting that into context Indian legends Gavaskar, Tendulkar and Dravid managed one between themselves. Kohli might well become India's greatest ever batsman but his ineptitude at selecting India's best side has hindered them.

Been out and just got home in time to see that run out...seems England made heavy weather of taking the last four wickets ?

Don't tell me , let me guess : they started giving Jadeja singles and just trying to get the rabbits out ? Never mind...stumps on day one an England fan would have killed for a forty run lead on first innings...

Last innings for Chef coming up :

And yes , not surprised Jadeja has done well. I have been really puzzled at his previous non- selection. Think they got carried away with the Kuldeep fantasy at the start and sort of forgot about him..

Advantage England with India batting last again ; but we still have a contest

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Jennings drops Bumrah first ball off Rashid - easy chance. India trailed by 75. Lead down to 51 now as Jadeja is teeing off...

Not had a great catching record , has he ? Owes them a few runs one way or another , no ? If he's on the plane to Sri Lanka he owes a lot to the lack of alternatives...

I think Jennings is guaranteed selection for Sri Lanka. If he wasn't they would have axed him for this test to have a look at alternative openers. Also it is said he plays spin well which there will be a lot of in Sri Lanka. On top of that Cook retiring helps Jennings cause.

England would have thought they would have a bigger first innings lead than they ended up with but they are still in command here on effectively 57 for 0.

CaledonianCraig wrote:England would have thought they would have a bigger first innings lead than they ended up with but they are still in command here on effectively 57 for 0.

Well you never know with England...they are capable of losing ten wickets in a session

But you'd think this is the best day for batting. And that modest first innings lead gives a little more comfort.

I hope guildford is enjoying his day in the sunshine...