England's Winter of Cricket 2020/21

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Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Wake up to hear Swann doing an Aussie impression. Can this be over in two days again?

Is that what it was? Couldn't fool me...

p.s. it was a 'nowhere in particular' accent.

So a win by 8 wickets with four and a half overs to spare. Complete domination from start to finish.

Highlights though one of the downsides of T20 - the relative lack of close matches. Basically, once India lost a couple of very early wickets they were behind the 8 ball, and never got back to even close. Their only chance would have been to reduce England to something similar (20/3), but it didn't happen aided by the lack of scoreboard pressure.

Excellent bowling performance and good for Roy to get back into the runs.

A T20 game is like a 100M dash
If you're even half a second late in getting off the block ....the race is over.then itself
That's what happened to India today.

Aside from the dominant display of their bowlers big thing for England today is a decent innings from Roy. Although it was a low pressure situation its a welcome relief to see him bring the good scores he made in BBL to England, last year was a bit of stinker for him but appears he's come through that dip and justifying a spot in that congested top order.

I guess also they will be pleased to see that a seam based attack can prosper on Asian pitches. If this series continues with them being able to take wickets and limit India it will give them a lot more confidence that the strategy of picking a side to their strength, rather than trying to force a second spinner in, can work here.

Certainly a dominant display from England. Opening up with Rashid worked beautifully and the pace bowlers were on it from the start.
Not going to read too much into one game though : probably aren't going to get Rahul and Kohli for nothing like that every time.
As KP_fan says , a rotten start in this format can wreck you immediately : though I would like to think England might have a little more reserve strength in their lineup to recover from early disasters. We may yet get to test that theory later in the series...

Different task for England today - India have won the toss and will field first. Tom Curran in for Wood, still no Rohit for India.

A niggle for Wood apparently

India only going with four bowlers plus Hardik - I’d imagine England will try to target him when he bowls later

A shame to lose Wood. Turran has been good for England in white ball cricket though.

Excited to see how England do batting first. Usually their tactics batting don't change too much so I'd expect Butter and Roy to try to just keep coming at India with Malan very good at consolidating if any early wicket falls then accelerating like crazy later on.

Buttler gone third ball, thought it was sneaking down leg-side in real time.

Buttler gone first over. It's been a really good start from Bhuvneshwar finding some swing and good areas.

Washington Sundar's bowling in the powerplay is really impressive. He looks like such a valuable cricketer for India going forwards.

This is well poised.

Decent PP for England in the face of some good Indian bowling.

Solid platform to make a good score, on what looks a v. slow pitch with some low bounce.

As seen in the last match the pitch will speed up a bit as the ball skids on more in the second innings.

I'd say honours just about even after the powerplay. I might narrowly put England ahead with wickets in hand but India bat deep.

England really needed that 6 off Chalal to keep the RR ticking though.

Malan gone for a slightly stuttering 24. I thought the LBW appeal before was plumb as well to be honest.

I reckon 170-ish will be par on this pitch. England will be looking for more than that from this platform though.

Roy gone for 46. Big wicket in the circumstances as new batsman to the crease have taken a bit of time to settle.

This looks to me a rather tricky surface for clean hitting. So anything around 170 - not there yet !) might be a pretty good score.

Of course there is the dew factor. And England may regret only having one spinner.

Pity to lose Morgan then...could really do with Sam Curran landing a couple of blows...

England have stuttered since Bairstow got out. It looks really tough for the new batsman.

We could really do with a big finish from these final two overs. A couple of maximums will put a good flourish on the innings.

I reckon England have got between 10 and 15 runs from some average fielding tonight. Not what you usually get from India under Kohli. They've improved massively in that regard.

Credit to the India bowlers they have been very good so far tonight.

England will need to bowl very well to defend this I reckon.

king_carlos wrote:I reckon England have got between 10 and 15 runs from some average fielding tonight. Not what you usually get from India under Kohli. They've improved massively in that regard.

That's true. Going to need those runs as it happens...Stokes holing out now has done for the 170 target.

Indian seamers have been good at the death. Boundary to finish from Sam C so it's 164. Would have liked a few more but fancy it might be enough.

That's a little better than par, I think. Really tough batting conditions. India's five bowled well, but the fielding let them down and probably cost them an over's worth of runs.

England should back themselves to defend this.

Interesting it is Curran with the first over tonight. Guess they just really liked Rashid bowling to Dhawan, with his googlies. Also, new ball + dew might be tough to grip for a leggie.

Perfect start Sam Curran ...wicket maiden

Really good bowling.

Archer got a wicket maiden in the first game, now Curran has one.

Perfect start.

Really good so far from the England bowlers. I prefer Surran opening the bowling in white ball. Dilly bowling in the powerplay is a great option to have but I'm glad they've looked to Sam early here.

If Jordan and Turran can use their variations as well as the India seamers did they should do well on this wicket.

Really good so far from the England bowlers. I prefer Surran opening the bowling in white ball. Dilly bowling in the powerplay is a great option to have but I'm glad they've looked to Sam early here.

If Jordan and Turran can use their variations as well as the India seamers did they should do well on this wicket.

I might be vice chairman of the Jos fan club, but he should have taken that. It wasn’t that far to move and he is normally good on them. Don’t want to give Kohli lives.

A more even game today
Although bet365 shows  ind as favourites

Ishant kishan was at one time.going neck and neck with Pant as a dashing WK batsman
Many rated him equal to Pant

Kohli is looking a touch ominous here.

JDizzle wrote:I might be vice chairman of the Jos fan club, but he should have taken that. It wasn’t that far to move and he is normally good on them. Don’t want to give Kohli lives.

From my (very amateur) wicket-keeping experience those can be tougher than they look. The angle Jordan bowled at then the slight nick means that the ball just seem to keep moving away from you and you're always playing catch up. I'd guess that might be why Jos went with both hands rather than the one handed grab.

More than a half chance I'd say but not straight forward. When those go down to a batsman such as Kohli it always amplifies it though.

Turran hasn't started great here.

England need a wicket to break this partnership up just as India needed to break apart Roy and Malan.

This new chap Kishan is looking rather handy...

Think we will see Rashid into action pretty soon. How he bowls might be key to this run chase. No Wood today and unfortunately Tom Curran has had a rough start ...India ahead of the asking rate.

England after powerplay 44-1

India after powerplay 50-1

With the pitch skidding on a bit more with the dew I'd say that puts India nicely on top. England need a wicket.

I am begining to fanatasIze
What is we get 2 Pants playing for us in the same  11

Issue of no Wood there, you don’t want two overs of Turran and Jordan in the power play, India took advantage beautifully.

Now a no ball from Stokes - poor showing from the support bowlers so far for England

KP_fan wrote:I am begining to fanatasIze
What is we get 2 Pants playing for us in the same  11

Kishan does look useful. And his main strength is vs spin! Still think they could afford to get one more gunslinger in rather than an anchor, with the batting depth they have.

Need a Rashid special to win this. T Curran and Jordan have missed the boat with their opening overs.

Beginning to get serious Dernbach at the end vibes from Tom Curran btw

Had a shocking IPL last year too...

Last two overs have really gone round the park...well ahead now , India : which will rather take the pressure off them should they lose a couple of wickets.
Here's Rashid. Not before time , I think.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Beginning to get serious Dernbach at the end vibes from Tom Curran btw

Had a shocking IPL last year too...

Has any bowler who relies mainly on slower balls been effective at the top level over a long period? Guys like Tye all got found out at the top level.

Oh Ben...

That was an awful drop by Stokes. Probably the game.

Stokes equalizes india's fielding blunders

Oh Ben. That's a stinker. England desperately needed that.

Oh dear...Stokes of all people dropping an outfield catch

This is running away fast. Have seen some good comebacks with the ball from England in the past but I'm no longer optimistic about this one...good over from Archer then...but wickets are needed.

Kishan now marmalizing Rashid...reaches his fifty in the grand manner ...

This is going to be over pretty quickly at this rate.Reality check for England after the easy win the other night ?

Wicket now. All too late though I think. Will give it a couple more overs in hopes of belated drama...

Despite the Stokes drop, it was still an excellent innings from Kishan to announce himself.

England need at least another two wickets in the next 2-3 overs to have a chance in this game.

Boy did England need that. India 11 runs ahead of where England were at the same stage and they bat deep.

And after his clone goes "The Pant" comes out

JDizzle wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Beginning to get serious Dernbach at the end vibes from Tom Curran btw

Had a shocking IPL last year too...

Has any bowler who relies mainly on slower balls been effective at the top level over a long period? Guys like Tye all got found out at the top level.

Oh Ben...

Think England need to start getting Saqib Mahmood games, as and when Wood is out/rested. Been improving recently, had a great start to the PSL.
Turran a backup for Jordan only, although definitely an argument for Topley too

54 more off 8 overs ...will be a walk in the park for them. Don't even have to hurry.
Sam Curran has been good. But he's on his last ; Archer just one left. The rest just haven't looked up to it tonight.

Expected India to come back well from that first match ; but this display from England is a bit disappointing.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

JDizzle wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Beginning to get serious Dernbach at the end vibes from Tom Curran btw

Had a shocking IPL last year too...

Has any bowler who relies mainly on slower balls been effective at the top level over a long period? Guys like Tye all got found out at the top level.

Oh Ben...

Think England need to start getting Saqib Mahmood games, as and when Wood is out/rested. Been improving recently, had a great start to the PSL.
Turran a backup for Jordan only, although definitely an argument for Topley too

Yeah, Saqib was impressive in the PSL. Took a lot of his wickets late in innings with reverse swing. Do wonder if he is a bit early Wood, where he looks faster than he actually is (late 80s rather than 90s).

Always thought Tymal Mills was discarded a bit quickly. Not idea if he is even fit though.

India has realized that T20 you cannot get set, and then accelerate later i.e Dhoni template is dated.
You need power hitters and across the line hitters
Rahul and dhwan too might be dated

Suryakumar is a power hitters as can be shreyas
Shreyas is actually a potential for tests also.

I would like to see the leggie Chahl flight more and show more googlies, else Jadeja will replace him.soon