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.

alfie wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:That was a bloody awful innings by Stokes

Just highlights where for me Root is really good in this side...Bairstow's barely faced a ball for the 4/5 overs since Roy has got out now, when Root comes in and starts he's so adept at rotating the strike to get the set batsman on strike they can continue their momentum

Faced three out of 22 balls , in fact.  And more than that , he is probably feeling now that he needs to put away the power hitting for a while , after the two quick wickets - and near thing with Morgan.

Guess they can afford to throttle back for a bit , after the terrific opening stand. But the way Jonny was playing while Roy was in was threatening to finish this in quick time ... Now there's a touch of "steadying the ship " about his batting...

But Root does need the rest

Yes definitely not saying Root should be out there, he was out on his feet by the end of the tests.
Just highlighting that actually his role is both crucial and quite bloody difficult to execute for non-Joe Root's!

That passage of play from the Kohli drop was proper village

The closest to Root in 50 over cricket is Sam Hain but he's continually overlooked despite providing another option at three, strange that Malan hasn't been tried either.

Goodness, Bairstow doesn't get a ton. It wasn't a vintage innings from him, he wasn't timing his shots brilliantly and he benefited from some buffet bowling, but I still expected him to get a ton.

Three down and possibly the first fluttering of nerves for the English, though the RRR is still below 6.

Oh that's a pity...Bairstow got under that for once and caught in the deep. Innings rather deserved a hundred : and from the game point of view it gives India a big boost.

Lots of time left but they won't want to lose any more wickets just yet...

Still 140-odd adrift and the skipper's out. Billings batting, hopefully he's not hindered by the earlier incident.

Only Moeen, the Currans and the tail to come after this, so a partnership is sorely needed.

Oh dear, a harsh umpire's call goes against Buttler. India have turned it right around, England in trouble.

Well the middle order have rather chucked away the good work of Roy/Bairstow here with some very tame dismissals

Morgan gone...this game is changing rapidly. Billings coming out to bat so I presume he must be OK : but they now really need a solid partnership.

Only need five and a half an over so they still ought to fancy it. But any more wickets...

And it looks like Buttler is gone now - yes . Thakur is cleaning up. I reckon India are now firm favourites...

Knew I should have refrained from posting until the game was safe

Kind of highlights the mistake of not selecting an actual number three.

Time for Moeen to play one of his innings.but I am not holding my breath.
Odd that they've all struggled so much after that opening partnership. There really was no run rate pressure - all that was needed was steady accumulation. Bit like the last two t20 efforts : once the main partnership was broken - just a string of wickets. Disappointing they don't seem to be learning from their errors...

Have to say Thakur is making a habit of taking these vital wickets in the middle overs. Are England still taking him too lightly ?

I have been rooting for Shardul for a long time from the start of Aussie series

He is so mercurial with his variations...reads the batsman and game and keeps trying new things all the time...and can be brisk touching 140kph when he wants to

and a very handy lower order bat...should be more regularly played in tests also

Good news is the required rate is very manageable still, and it presents another good opportunity for Billings to continue his 2020 form, along with Moeen and the Currans a chance to further their cases in the white ball stuff. India get one of these two soon then I'd fancy it's curtains

Good strike rotation from these two. It's what England have required - and all that was needed! - since the first wicket fell, but until now has been lacking.

RRR is easily manageable. It's just about batting through the overs. Billings doesn't look hindered by his injury, which is further good news.

Not sure if you've got him where you are Alfie, but we've got Dinesh Karthik on the comms providing analysis here and I must say he's been very very good.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Not sure if you've got him where you are Alfie, but we've got Dinesh Karthik on the comms providing analysis here and I must say he's been very very good.

Yeah he's not bad at all. Better than Gavaskar

Twenty overs left to get 119. Most times you'd fancy that in an ODI ; but with all those wickets falling in a rush the momentum seems to be with India.

So far these two have played sensibly. And thankfully Billings seems to be feeling no pain...

Billings out, England teetering so much that they may fall over. 100 still to get.

I think England have, just about, got the batting to win this, but it's uphill from here.

Soft dismissals continue - Billings just chipping up a half volley to cover. Middle order has completely crumbled...down to Moeen/Surran and the tail now

Aargh...the Curse of the Drink Break...

Another rather tame dismissal, Billings slaps it straight to cover.

Eighteen overs to make a hundred : but they're running out of wickets.

Wow, Moeen should have been run-out by a country mile. That could have been the game for India right there.

I'd bring the field right up if I were Kohli, plenty of easy singles out there for England at the moment.

No Pitch for spinners throughout the limited over leg
Ind need to use Hardik to finish off the balance overs of Kuldeep and drop him next game
bring a faster spinner like Washington

Good ball from Kumar to dismiss Moeen, who was looking in decent touch out there. That's probably the game, barring some fireworks from the Currans and Wood. I remember Tom Curran, before the World Cup, played a couple of decent innings where he scored 30-odd...desperately needed again.

It's been a shocking collapse from England, more down to poor batting than good bowling. A number of wickets, though not that one, have been gifted.

India's seam attack has stood up very well throughout the series , when there has been no help for spinners
and No Bumrah

Duty281 wrote:Good ball from Kumar to dismiss Moeen, who was looking in decent touch out there. That's probably the game, barring some fireworks from the Currans and Wood. I remember Tom Curran, before the World Cup, played a couple of decent innings where he scored 30-odd...desperately needed again.

It's been a shocking collapse from England, more down to poor batting than good bowling. A number of wickets, though not that one, have been gifted.

Yeah its shocking....but becoming predictable collapse of Eng's middle order after openers or atleast one of them goes ballistic

Pathetic collapse from England against a very ordinary Indian attack.

Soul Requiem wrote:Pathetic collapse from England against a very ordinary Indian attack.

Pressure of seeking redemption evident in Eng
desperate not to lose and to some how win....has choked the world champions in Limited over format

Bhuvi has been silently brilliant all throughout and not for the first time he is getting nip & seam in his second spell

Duty281 wrote:Good ball from Kumar to dismiss Moeen, who was looking in decent touch out there. That's probably the game, barring some fireworks from the Currans and Wood. I remember Tom Curran, before the World Cup, played a couple of decent innings where he scored 30-odd...desperately needed again.

It's been a shocking collapse from England, more down to poor batting than good bowling. A number of wickets, though not that one, have been gifted.

I think that is more than a little unfair to the Indian bowlers. Sure , some of the wickets were pretty poor shots : but the way the bowlers have come back from the hammering they got from Bairstow and Roy speaks a lot for their character. And their skills in varying pace ...a subtlety that seems to be escaping England's seamers of late.

England will (or should) be extremely disappointed with this display. The bowling in the last ten overs was frankly rubbish ; and the much vaunted batting lineup has made a horrible mess of a brilliant platform so not much in the way of "positives" to take from this , I'm afraid.

I'd play Livingstone , Topley and Parkinson in the next two games. Rest anyone who isn't 100% . Don't care about results as I'm afraid this whole tour has been a bit of a "good start , then downhill all the way " story.

If Morgan says anything about learning useful lessons I'm going to throw up...

KP_fan wrote:Bhuvi has been silently brilliant all throughout and not for the first time he is getting nip & seam in his second spell

Yes , he's been outstanding.

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Good ball from Kumar to dismiss Moeen, who was looking in decent touch out there. That's probably the game, barring some fireworks from the Currans and Wood. I remember Tom Curran, before the World Cup, played a couple of decent innings where he scored 30-odd...desperately needed again.

It's been a shocking collapse from England, more down to poor batting than good bowling. A number of wickets, though not that one, have been gifted.

I think that is more than a little unfair to the Indian bowlers. Sure , some of the wickets were pretty poor shots : but the way the bowlers have come back from the hammering they got from Bairstow and Roy speaks a lot for their character. And their skills in varying pace ...a subtlety that seems to be escaping England's seamers of late.

England will (or should) be extremely disappointed with this display. The bowling in the last ten overs was frankly rubbish ; and the much vaunted batting lineup has made a horrible mess of a brilliant platform so not much in the way of "positives" to take from this , I'm afraid.

I'd play Livingstone , Topley and Parkinson in the next two games. Rest anyone who isn't 100% . Don't care about results as I'm afraid this whole tour has been a bit of a "good start , then downhill all the way " story.

If Morgan says anything about learning useful lessons I'm going to throw up...

I agree that the Indians have shown strong character and resolve to bounce back, but (Kumar apart, he's been excellent again) the bowling has rarely exceeded ordinary. England have mostly shot themselves in the foot after a stupendous opening partnership. Strike rotation from the likes of Stokes and Morgan was lacking. No team should ever lose from the position England were in after 14 overs.

I think England's performance in the field was, overall, decent on a pitch offering little, but I agree they let it slide in the final ten overs.

Overall another disappointing result in the ODI arena post World Cup.

and Prasidh caps it with best bowling figures for an Indian on debut

135 off 89 balls ...and then they lose all ten for just 116. That is about as crazy as you can imagine , on a generally easy pitch.

No wonder the players all look pretty glum watching from the bench.

Have to hand it to India as they have just kept coming back from poor starts in all formats ...dominated the last three Tests , then the same with the last two t20 s : and back from the dead in this match , both with late order batting and then in the field. England just don't seem to have any answers at the moment.

The prioritising of the white ball squad in this tour has to be seen as a bit of a poor choice as it certainly hasn't achieved anything. Two games to go and I've a suspicion some of the players might be mentally on the plane home already...

Shreyas Iyer subluxated (partially dislocated) his left shoulder in the 8th over while fielding.
He has been taken for further scans and won't take any further part in the game," said the BCCI in a medical update

Eoin Morgan and Sam Billings are in doubt to play in Friday's second ODI against India after picking up injuries in the series opener

Well I guess these would be bigger loss to Eng then Iyer to India

Morgan in particular would be massive losses with Root already absent. Their usually calm heads at 3 and 4 are important parts of that ODI machine.

Livingstone is the only spare batsman in the squad with Malan in the reserves.

1.Roy
2.Bairstow
3.Stokes
4.Malan
5.Buttler (wk)
6.Livingstone
7.Moeen

Something like that the only option then with the batting order anyone's guess.

Not ideal - though Morgan hasn't been in any great form with the bat . Will miss him in the field : his being off in the later overs yesterday probably didn't help - he often seems to have a calming effect on the bowlers in tight spots.

Will give Malan a chance at 50 overs. Not sure I'd persist with Stokes at three though.

Livingstone gives a bowling option too. Chance to get Topley in for a bowl , perhaps : they aren't winning much anyway so may as well trial people...

alfie wrote: Chance to get Topley in for a bowl

Toppers should have been in the side since the start of the white ball stuff. Kohli averages around 18 against left arm pace over the last couple of years. There was some graphic on Sky a week or so ago showing that the great man averages something insane like 150 against left arm spin but 18 against left arm pace.

He is Toppers bunny and he doesn't even know it.

For India Rohit generally delivers one match winning knock per series and I am hoping he would do so in one of the next two games.

Shreyas injury would force India to play Surya.......a like for like replacement .....and I am almost certain Kuldeep will be dropped.....hope they bring Washington instead...but they might bring Chahal

Roy and Bairstow - the most destructive ODI opening partnership in cricket history.



Between them, Roy and Bairstow have combined for 12 opening stands worth a century or more, which is the 5th highest in the history of ODI cricket, and has been made from a total of 42 matches. The highest in ODI history is Ganguly and Tendulkar who made 21 opening stands worth a century or more in 136 matches. The next highest, below Roy and Bairstow, from an England perspective is Knight and Trescothick (3), who are tied with Hales and Roy (also 3).

We must temper comparisons to the past, somewhat, by recognising that the game currently is more skewed towards batsmen than in the past but, even so, there is no doubt that Roy and Bairstow are the best opening pair in ODI cricket today, and that they will stand out for decades to come in ODI cricket history.

(Thanks to the Telegraph and Cricviz for the statistics)

Morgan out of this series and Billings misses tomorrow. It’s been a long winter! Livingstone and Malan will play tomorrow now.

Malan has the chance to go for the record of being the first Englishman to score hundreds in all three formats - with the ODI century, the one he is missing, probably the ‘easiest’. A nerdy side plot to keep an eye on.

So teams much as expected...Malan and Livingstone in for the injured pair , Topley plays as Wood is rested : allowing the unusual sight of an England opening attack of two left arm seamers...

Pant in for India. England win the toss as usual and elect to bowl first. No surprises yet.

Eng opening the bowling with two bowlers operating gently at 125 kph
Commentators are harping over....you don't need speed.

These commentators know not what they say

Ah well , KP_fan : the "gentle" Topley has quickly done for Dhawan courtesy of a nice Stokes catch at second slip...

Perhaps the commentators had a point ?

Similar quiet start by India - although this time they've lost an early wicket.
Topley quite impressive first few overs. Actually mainly operating in the mid 130s , though he's varied his pace a bit. Has troubled them with the bounce he achieves from his height .

Rohit has got at him in this his fourth over though...three nicely struck boundaries getting the score moving. 36/1 from 8. Mostly from Rohit.

Kiss of death for Rohit as he chips Sam Curran to Rashid at short fine leg...

37/2.

42/2 from the power play. Good effort from the England seamers ; but you'd think they might miss the pace of Wood later in the innings (not that it did them much good in the death overs the other day !)

Will hope for some good contributions from the spinners today. Though this pitch didn't offer them much on Tursday and probably won't today either. Wonder if Moeen will be entrusted with the ball much ?

alfie wrote:Ah well , KP_fan : the "gentle" Topley has quickly done for Dhawan courtesy of a nice Stokes catch at second slip...

Perhaps the commentators had a point ?

The pitch is offering bounce off a length...and there was some movement with the new ball in first 8 odd overs.
Faster bowlers would get much more out of the new ball and pitch I think

Kohli and Rahul ticking it along nicely now...thirty added off the last six from Stokes and Tom C without any drama or fierce aggression.

Time for some spin , methinks .

alfie wrote:Kohli and Rahul ticking it along nicely now...thirty added off the last six from Stokes and Tom C without any drama or fierce aggression.

Time for some spin , methinks .

I still think Ind is batsman short......the next 3 are "hitters" i.e Pant and Pandya brothers...then we have Shardul and Bhuvi who can hold the bat....but we are short on one "proper" batsman
300 will be par......actually I would say seeing the bounce in the pitch 285ish might be the par

KP_fan wrote:

alfie wrote:Ah well , KP_fan : the "gentle" Topley has quickly done for Dhawan courtesy of a nice Stokes catch at second slip...

Perhaps the commentators had a point ?

The pitch is offering bounce off a length...and there was some movement with the new ball in first 8 odd overs.
Faster bowlers would get much more out of the new ball and pitch I think

Well maybe ...but we will never know. Taking two for 42 is a reasonable return anyway . In any case the quicker bowlers aren't there so all rather irrelevant...
As a general rule I think pure pace often tends to be overrated. The top class express bowlers are a terrific weapon , of course. But a lot of the most successful bowlers - in all formats - operate at a bit less than that.
In this series of white ball matches , Bhuvi has been the standout across both teams...

Tom Curran has been tidy across five overs. Presume he has death duties later...will be interesting to see how the others are used in the last ten.
Moeen (pleased to see he's been brought on early) has started neatly enough , just conceding singles. But you get the feeling these two are just biding their time , collecting pressure free runs , and preparing to launch a serious assault later on.

Here's Rashid now...

alfie wrote:
As a general rule I think pure pace often tends to be overrated. The top class express bowlers are a terrific weapon , of course. But a lot of the most successful bowlers - in all formats - operate at a bit less than that.
In this series of white ball matches , Bhuvi has been the standout across both teams...

I think when making that underlined statement, people assume that its pace without control and movement.
Pace with control and movement is better than medium pace with control.
and Fast medium that Bhuvi and Shardul and Anderson are is better than medium pace.

Medium Pace is lowest in potency