England's Winter of Cricket 2020/21

First topic message reminder :

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.

Eng win 4th toss and bat first again
India as I thought and would have liked go in with 4 seamers ....who do remarkbly better when dew falls

I have a feeling Rohit's gonna produce one of his trade mark single handed match winning inning

Rohit is batting beautifully. England could do with a breakthrough. They've only bowled their 3 best bowlers so far as well. After this over Dilly and Archer will have used half their overs.

Judging by the rest of this series if those three go for runs then the 8 final overs from Jordan, Stokes and Surran will be under a lot of pressure.

India took 3 games to crack Eng's formula
And also to get their balance right
On a 200 run trajectory today

60-0 from the powerplay. Perfect start for India. Going at 10 an over after 6 overs from Rashid, Archer and Wood.

That said it does look a very good batting wicket.

I have joined this late...see England are getting knocked around a bit this time...and have burned a review as well ?
This tactic of using up the main three bowlers in the power play seems to have backfired badly. Though I suppose they wouldn't normally expect Wood to be so expensive. 60/0 and India are off to a flyer...
I honestly do not understand why Sam Curran isn't used with the new ball...he bowled a wicket maiden the last time they did. Not sure he's going to be so useful later in the innings. Reckon they are going to be facing a very stiff chase tonight.

The review was an LBW first over to Rohit. Sliding well down leg. Buttler was adamant they went for it but a bit surprised that Rashid agreed given he'd have known it was bowled out the front of hand, hence not spinning and straightening.

I don't understand the use of Surran so far either. Surely you give him the ball whilst it's swinging that tiny bit. If he goes for runs in a couple of overs up top then Morgan has Stokes as a 6th option to take pressure off.

Rohit is batting beautifully though.

And the chance goes down. Rohit off Surran. A really tough chance for Wood but they need to be taken when you're under the cosh like this.

Fifty up for Rohit immediately after. Ominous.

Rohit in line for a 100
And that's rare in T20s

Eng need to get him quickly for if he bats until end
Rohit will put the chase beyond the realms of possible. For England

Rohit gone. Huge wicket for England.

They just need to squeeze the pressure on now. Maybe bring Dilly back for his final two overs.

Ah thanks   KC.  He's not in the Tim Paine class for overkeen reviews , but I'm not sure Buttler is all that good at judging lbw calls. In truth , not many current keepers are ...but I guess with the extra reviews on offer this year the temptation to try one against the top bats is always there.

Aha ..Stokes has done the trick as Rohit plays on...64 off 34 ! Guess that's why they like him in the side
Still on for plenty.

king_carlos wrote:Rohit gone. Huge wicket for England.

They just need to squeeze the pressure on now. Maybe bring Dilly back for his final two overs.

Morgan agreed. But it hasn't done much immediate good...

It does look a good batting track. But it will need to be : I can't see India getting much less than 220 from here. Lord help them if Kohli gets into top gear ! And they've picked an extra bowler this time too.

My Dilly idea went well then. I left the room for 5 minutes to chase the neighbours cat out the house and Suryakumar is on 14 from 4 balls with two sixes!

I've never been convinced of how good a view keepers get for LBWs up to the stumps to be honest alfie. Their view of LBWs in completely blocked by the batsman. Stood back I think keepers can get a really good view of height as they should judge that pretty instinctively from seeing where the ball pitches. From up to the stumps you so frequently have your view obscured by the batsman when the ball pitches near to inline with the stumps though.

Forgot this was on - not going well so far then?

England haven't been at their best but the India batsman have been superb to be fair Olly. Rohit and Suryakumar haven't missed out on a thing, Kohli has just put them back on strike and whacked a couple himself.

Getting worse for the fielding team...that over from Jordan was horrendous!
Maybe early to say it ; but I fear England will need a bit of a miracle to recover from this mauling. We know they can bat big but they couldn't chase 180 odd the other night so this is looking like becoming a real mountain to climb...

Stokes is bowling rather well in context.

It's a feast or a Carnage so far depending om which side you support
Eng need to bowl a lot more slower ones

Chris Jordan good lord that is brilliant. He's right up there with Colly for title of best England fielder I've seen.

India still going brilliant obviously but important to keep taking wickets to get new batsman to the crease.

Two good overs for Eng in a row
Ind need to go at 12 plus from.here

Amongst all that carnage Rashid has 31-1 from his 4 overs. Less than 8 runs an over. He's so good in white ball cricket these days.

king_carlos wrote:My Dilly idea went well then. I left the room for 5 minutes to chase the neighbours cat out the house and Suryakumar is on 14 from 4 balls with two sixes!

I've never been convinced of how good a view keepers get for LBWs up to the stumps to be honest alfie. Their view of LBWs in completely blocked by the batsman. Stood back I think keepers can get a really good view of height as they should judge that pretty instinctively from seeing where the ball pitches. From up to the stumps you so frequently have your view obscured by the batsman when the ball pitches near to inline with the stumps though.

Yeah you might have a point there. It is probably with the spinners on that most of the poor calls are made...though I guess that suggests they should take the bowler's opinions over the keeper's At least Broad doesn't bowl spin...

That was some boundary catch by Jordan ! Well ,Roy , in the end...but you know what I mean. One reason they want him in the team ; though his bowling hasn't been too flash lately.

Jordan is very athletic even in this age
Would have liked to see him play more test cricket
I sense Archer consider Jordan his idol and going down the same path....of playing limited overs cricket only

Jason Roy's reaction summed it up. Superb.

So far this series:

SCurran - 10-78-2 - Ave 39.00, Econ 7.80
Stokes - 12-106-3 - Ave 35.33, Econ 8.83
Jordan - 16.5-170-4 - Ave 42.50, Econ 10.09

There is a problem.

KP_fan wrote:Jordan is very athletic even in this age
Would have liked to see him play more test cricket
I  sense Archer consider Jordan his idol and going down the same path....of playing limited overs cricket only

According to the Telegraph in the UK today, Jofra is considering skipping the IPL to make sure his body is right for England's year of Tests culminating in the Ashes.

Rashid's figures rather standing out ...unfortunately none of the Pacers is having a very good night.
If Sam Curran is going to bowl just one over - and that not in the early overs - I cannot see why they are picking him. Surely would make more sense to have the extra batsman ? And Moeen would be a bowling option anyway...

Have to say the England fast bowling is looking a bit too formulaic : too much reliance on the short ball - and it just hasn't worked tonight.

And yes : some very good batting from India

KP_fan wrote:Jordan is very athletic even in this age
Would have liked to see him play more test cricket
I  sense Archer consider Jordan his idol and going down the same path....of playing limited overs cricket only

Bit soon to be retiring Jofra from Tests

Think he has rather more aptitude for the long game than Jordan , even if the white ball game ends up being his best strength.

It's an interesting knock this from Kohli (53* off 41) - I think it is probably fine, and I don't think the pitch is as easy as Rohit and Surya have made it look. So it was worth him anchoring for a bit. It's time to run yourself out now though Virat!

And now he hits two fours in a row, I take it back Virat!

This is definitely closer to India's best batting line up though. Much better balance between anchors and hitters - although obviously it helps when Rohit plays one of his worldie knocks.

JDizzle wrote:

KP_fan wrote:Jordan is very athletic even in this age
Would have liked to see him play more test cricket
I  sense Archer consider Jordan his idol and going down the same path....of playing limited overs cricket only

According to the Telegraph in the UK today, Jofra is considering skipping the IPL to make sure his body is right for England's year of Tests culminating in the Ashes.

The big question is what would Michael Vaughan's ghost written column pieces whine about if Jof does that?

Jordan has had a pretty dire series with the ball all round.

He hasn't bowled in the power play much either so there isn't the usual caveat that he bowls with the field restrictions and at the death.

I would have liked to see Topley during this series.

Jordan took a great catch but he will want to forget his bowling spell...

I am a bit surprised he was given a fourth over tonight. It just wasn't working for him - while Stokes had been good for three overs , and could hardly have done worse if he had been allowed to bowl out.

Regardless of what they do with the bat later , this innings ought to have England doing a bit of thinking re their bowling choices and tactics for next year...

1 over for Surran when I thought he bowled pretty well in that over. Ho hum.

Remarkable as it is England dragged that back a little bit. India were looking set for around 240 when Rohit was flying.

It looks a good batting wicket but that is a mammoth total. England will need one of their gun bats to play an innings that steals the MOM award from Rohit to win pull one out the bag here.

This match highlights everything wrong with T20 cricket, nothing more than a senseless slogathon.

Target 225. They chased something similar once in SA ; but it's asking a lot against this revved up Indian team.

Not often Kohli ends up playing the "anchor" role : though 80 off 52 isn't too shabby

king_carlos wrote:1 over for Surran when I thought he bowled pretty well in that over. Ho hum.

Remarkable as it is England dragged that back a little bit. India were looking set for around 240 when Rohit was flying.

It looks a good batting wicket but that is a mammoth total. England will need one of their gun bats to play an innings that steals the MOM award from Rohit to win pull one out the bag here.

Yes. Does rather suggest they have a preconceived plan and won't deviate from it : which surprises me as I thought Morgan was more ready than most captains to change plans to suit the occasion. Same with Stokes not bowling out.

Dragged it back ? I suppose given the way they were going you could say that but it seems absurd to call that anything short of slaughter. In a transparent attempt at reverse cursing I give England about 1% chance of chasing this down

Make that 0.5% as Roy departs second ball...

Ooft. That is not a pretty shot from Roy!

When England chased 230 vs SA in the WT20, Root top scored with 83 off 44. Time for Malan to show he has that gear in his locker.

Handy start from Malan at least. Pandya not watching what happened to the England pacers when they banged it in short ? Bhuvi really has been the standout new ball bowler ...

alfie wrote:Handy start from Malan at least. Pandya not watching what happened to the England pacers when they banged it in short ? Bhuvi really has been the standout new ball bowler ...

Bhuvi showing the benefits of swinging the new ball still in T20s. Makes it even weirder Sam Curran doesn’t even get just one over in the PP.

Decent power play for England. But India just kept powering on ...can they emulate that ?

62-1 after the powerplay. India were 60-1. Honours about even thus far then.

England's issue is if a wicket goes down they will need the next batsman in to just keep going as Suryakumar did when Rohit went.

Well poised.

Game On
Ind needs wickets
They took their score for granted

That change run up from Chahar just looks painful! Not quite Paul Adams style contortions to get himself into his bowling position but not something I would like to try!

Fallen nicely for England since the PP ended. Feels like Malan has faced more of the pace on and Buttler has faced the spin. Both facing their strengths. India need to try and reverse that and get a few consecutive balls of spin at Malan somehow - England just need to keep rotating well. Good game brewing.

Malan so far is having the innings he needed to show in these conditions.

91-1 from 9 overs. England so far going along at 10 runs an over so under the RRR but keeping wickets in hand for a big push.

Chasing such a big score one wicket throws the pressure back onto the batting side though.

That great catch by JordanRoy on the boundary could turn out to be pivotal.

Some partnership , this...

Actually ahead of India at the corresponding stage. But still a long way to go.

Think Malan has probably already stilled the voices calling for his head

Brilliant this from Bhuvi. Ratcheted the pressure up and now has Buttler. Huge wicket.

Is it too funky to promote Jofra? Probably, would love to try it though..

Not for no reason is bhuvi india's best limited over bowler
And with Bumrah the best new ball duo probably.

This is the worst type of T20, but looks like we're set for a close finish. Did think at the time India's score was only marginally better than par. Little in it for the bowlers, huge advantage for the batsmen. A dull procession of runs. Reminds me of the India/England WC game from 2011.

Buttler gone now, swings it toward India, but plenty of batting for England to come.

Aah... Bhuvi might just have won this for India...tight over and got the big wicket of Buttler.

Seven left to get 95 looks tough...