England's Summer of Cricket 2021

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Siraj will have a couple of deliveries at Anderson. The lead is already a nice 25.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:I think both captains will want to bowl first, though I could be proven wrong. The Met Office says plenty of dark clouds around for the first few hours of play, and I doubt Kohli will want to expose his batting order (victim of two collapses in the last test) to that. Equally Root should be seeing a chance of knocking India over cheaply again.

That said, it is supposed to be a good batting wicket and perhaps Root won't want his side to bat fourth v Ashwin?

Yes I tend to think you have to bat first at The Oval - overheads might say otherwise, but the pitch is usually good for batting, and good for turn later in the game. I wouldn't want to be giving Ashwin the advantage of a last innings wicket (if he does play!)

This boy knows the Oval - and Ashwin who ran through Somerset in their second dig there in his only game for Surrey the other month.

Always far more nervous in home Tests after England have won than after they've lost. Still think the series can finish 2-2 with India winning here at The Oval and England winning at OT.

Both captains said they will have bowled first...interesting.

Still no Ashwin for India - baffling, absolutely baffling

Well...Root choosing to bowl first. England's team is as expected with Woakes (Sir Chris to some!) and Pope coming in.

Kohli would have also bowled first. Sharma and Shami out, Thakur and Yadav in, but no Ashwin selected which is a surprise.

Good attacking captaincy from Root, I feel. Hopefully Anderson and Robinson pitch the ball up from the off, like the last test, and heap the pressure on India.

India have done England a massive solid in this series by leaving Ashwin out

Wonder why captains who lose the toss say what they would have done. If I was Kohli I would have said India would have batted had they won the toss.

As it is, it tells Root that India don't fancy batting. OK. England still have to take the wickets, but it doesn't strike me as a very confident statement from Kohli.

I still think India will win here although if you look at the England batting line-up it is far, far stronger than the XI who took the field in the first Test.

I would suggest that this is England's best batting side for some time - although that's not saying much. It's just my natural pessimism and gut feeling, though, that India will fight back here.

The series has shown, team that has won the toss has made the wrong choise and has gone on to lose ( or nearly lose) the last 3 tests

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Both captains said they will have bowled first...interesting.

Still no Ashwin for India - baffling, absolutely baffling

Completely with you, Olly. Obviously you and I know the Oval and Ashwin better than Root and Kohli.

Although I disagree strongly about leaving Ashwin out, I'm not astounded. I got the impression from Kohli's comments immediately after the last Test that his definite preference continued to be four seamers and Jadeja.

As well as missing Ashwin's proven matchwinning ability, India's balance seems very wrong with him not playing. Kohli dismissed that last factor in his earlier comments by putting the emphasis on his batters to get more runs.

Maybe we should start talking about 'Maligned Ashwin', instead.

No Ashwin ? Colour me astonished...

Kohli clearly reckons a pace heavy attack is the way to go. Thakur is a better bat than Shami but still the batting looks a bit short...we shall see.

Root likes the send in option , it seems. Hope it pays off today or he might have reason to regret it later as I am still not overconfident of England chasing. Big first session , eh ?

Considering that India want Jadeja batting at seven i'm not surprised that Ashwin is missing out, dual spinners hasn't been a legitimate selection thus far. It's a case of either or.

The England attack looks a bit one paced and samey but right arm medium fast is the way to go in this country.

Meanwhile, Sky have wheeled out Mark Butcher for this Test.

One of the few things that KP-f and I agree strongly about is how dreadful Butcher is. As he's not as noisy as Warne, Butcher tends to go under the radar but his knowledge really is poor and his humour feeble.

This already looks a promising track for the English bowlers. Woakes will have some success here i feel.

Good toss to lose, and challenge for Indian batting unit to come back from the humiliation that they inflicted on the team in the last game.
But poor team selection from Virat again. This surely was the ground that Ashwin should have been played at. Particularly, since your 2nd best seamer is out injured, and your third best lost it in terms of rhythem, besides being injured too. Umesh is a quality bowler. But he's far more suited to the home pitches. In away tests, actually his record isn't that good. He's at bestis a 3rd seamer. Will young Siraj be able to step up to back Bumrah up? Shardul is a decent cricketer, can bat a bit, is a decent backup bowler. But even in these conditions, Ashwin's a better bowler, and a better bat too. Don't mind Rahane selectin, I am really hoping he'll play a vintage Rahane innings here, but wouldn't have minded had Suryakumar been brought in.

Hmm. Ball hasn't done anything in the first four overs. Indian openers untroubled so far.

Early yet. But I suspect this might have been one of these "good tosses to lose".

17/0 off five.

The ball is doing things both in the air and off the track. Rahul is playing too many shots for my liking. He started this in the last test, should go back to what worked for him and Rohit in the first 2 tests.

I would have Woakes bowling soon myself... May have been out for a while but this looks like the perfect conditions for him.

Rohit and Rahul are not exuding that sense of calm out there in the middle. Look a touch too eager...

eirebilly wrote:This already looks a promising track for the English bowlers. Woakes will have some success here i feel.

Looks dead to me, could be a long day in the field.

India going nearly at 4 an over. But neither Rohit, nor Rahul in particular, really looked in much control.

England could do with an early introduction of Woakes. Will get him into the game after that long layoff, and though Robinson and Anderson haven't done much wrong, the latter in particular might do well to have shorter spells.

Anderson's fourth over was a bit more interesting - produced a couple of false shots : but really it looks pretty good for batting. Runs are flowing and neither batsman looks bothered.

And Robinson also a good fourth over.

Wicket might change things but there hasn't really been a sniff of one yet. I'm inclined to agree with Soul that this could be tough for England . Next few overs , as the ball starts to move a bit more with
the lacquer wearing off , may be crucial.

And here comes Woakes...

Another poor opening spell from Anderson, often the case with him in this series. Wouldn't be too concerned from an England perspective at this early stage, the openers have been the toughest to shift.

Time for Woakes.

Sir Christopher. How lovely to see him back

And Woakes has an instant impact

Oh that's a beautiful ball from Woakes ! Rohit had no chance...

The break England needed. Boy that one took off...

Soul Requiem wrote:

eirebilly wrote:This already looks a promising track for the English bowlers. Woakes will have some success here i feel.

Looks dead to me, could be a long day in the field.

Not as dead if ye have the right bowler

Rohit had looked more assured than Rahul, but Woakes, replacing Anderson after a 4 over spell, got him with a good. That was in general, a good over.
Think the ball is doing enough to make life challenging for batters. Perhaps its the fresh pitch and the new ball, but not a flat track by the look of things.

Soul Requiem wrote:

eirebilly wrote:This already looks a promising track for the English bowlers. Woakes will have some success here i feel.

Looks dead to me, could be a long day in the field.

Fair play Billy, Woakes looked far more threatening than the opening pair and grabs the wicket of Rohit.

Cheteshwar Pujara got a score on the board in the last in what wsas the only takeaway for India in that test. He did get a few easy scoring opportunities in that innings, but he was in a mindset to really look to score. Hope he continues on that same mode here... And hope Rahul would focus back on discipline. Rohit's was a bit of a poor shot to a good ball. Perhaps the previous 2 overs made him do what he hasn't been doing all series. Think its the first time in the series he has got out that way.

Was a good bowling change

To be honest I'd have opened with Woakes ; but he's come on at a good time anyway. Reckon Anderson was at the wrong end too so this change could be good all round. No need to make any of the bowlers work bowl long spells today ; expect a bit of switching around this morning.

Pujara got runs on Friday : England won't want him settling in today.

Incidentally a nice take by Jonny which should give him some
confidence- has been a while since he kept in a Test Match.

4 straight maidens, building up a bit of pressure now

This should be Robinson's last over I feel.

After a good initial flow, the runs have dried up for India. Don't think Rahul should bother too much. Pujara doesn't get faced by it in any case.

Might be filed as one of England's hopeful appeals

Another dismal review.

Root himself didn't even seem like he believed in it

That was a terrible review from England. Never seemed out at the outset, and was missing everything in the end.

Who knew Broad was actually the voice of reason in Englands review system.

They do need to look at it after the series, they consistently waste reviews on pointless appeals, and in this series have turned down good appeals after burning them.

Woakes definitely the most threatening of the bowlers : basically because he's bowled that bit quicker than the other two. Just getting more out of the pitch early on.
Ball hasn't swung extravagantly but he's troubled them with the ball moving a bit off the pitch.

Now England waste a review : nothing new there

The amusing aspect is that the commentators are quick to suggest it might be Bairstow to blame because he's "emotional" and might have talked Root into it ...well I don't know who said what in the discussions there : but the "calm" Buttler has been keeping for the last few matches and England's lbw reviews have been largely awful ...
The common factor is Root. Perhaps we might hold off bagging the keepers ?

A decent first hour from England, despite a sloppy beginning from Anderson. They've restricted India well, strangled the scoring rate, now they need a couple more in this next hour to assert control.

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