England's Summer of Cricket 2022 as Joe Root Steps Down

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Must be assuming Southee can't be as ineffective again.

Good contest since tea...plenty of runs ; but a few balls beating the bat too. No luck for the bowlers yet - and Potts is getting a bit expensive. Pant seems to fancy him.

Hundred partnership and I am definitely getting Blundell/Mitchell vibes

Tough spell for Potts since tea. Anything a bit full, or a bit wide, and Pant has crashed him to the boundary.

Pant really taking to Potts here. Bit of a test for the young man , who hasn't really been monstered much at all in his brief career so far. Stokes persevering with him - for now : he has worried Jadeja in between getting clobbered by Pant.

But I think a change is going to be needed soon , as India move rapidly on to 211/5.

Apart from Anderson , England have battled to restrain the run rate today.and it seems Pant is going after Jimmy too now...85 off 77 balls. Who's he think he is ? Bairstow ?

Stokes still refusing to blink and keeping these attacking field settings, three slips in. Makes it difficult to bowl economically.

Potts' figures taking a bruising. Never mind 300, India will be looking at 350 from here.

Duty281 wrote:Stokes still refusing to blink and keeping these attacking field settings, three slips in. Makes it difficult to bowl economically.

Potts' figures taking a bruising. Never mind 300, India will be looking at 350 from here.

I guess you could say "try boring them out instead ?" But the likes of Pant are pretty hard to contain anyway : and if these attacking efforts can bring a wicket England would still feel they have a shot at getting into the tail. Do think Potts has been guilty of a few too many loose deliveries in this spell.

224/5. Leach coming back on. Pant on 87. Stand by...

Pant's fifth test hundred and third against England.

Entertaining and game-changing. He also went past 2,000 test runs in the process.

Well played Rishabh Pant ! An excellent hundred and a great rescue job for his team...

Pretty handy for me in the Tipping Competition too

Great viewing for the spectators ...though Stuart Broad doesn't look to be enjoying it so much...

England wondering how they can ever get another wicket - as Jadeja's fifty and the 150 stand arrive together.

Another remarkable hundred from Rishabh. And Ravindra Jadeja, the most improved test batter in the last 4 years, on to another 50. Despite their remarkable performance, India still behind in the game.

Absolutely appalling over rate from England. Joe Root had accumulated some more demerit points for slow over rates in the West Indies didn't he? But with the change, Stokes might be starting off with a clean slate. Or did he get one during the New Zealand series?

Tidy knock at the other end as well from Jadeja. Quite slow by his standards, but he's held up an end and ensured Pant doesn't have to bat with the tail.

Um...400?

msp83 wrote:Absolutely appalling over rate from England. Joe Root had accumulated some more demerit points for slow over rates in the West Indies didn't he? But with the change, Stokes might be starting off with a clean slate. Or did he get one during the New Zealand series?

Yeah, England got a points deduction and fine after the Nottingham test v Trent Bridge New Zealand due to a slow over rate. Should get another here.

Stokes back...and so are his no balls. England currently looking totally helpless to either break through or stem the flow of runs.

Have to tip your hat to these two batsmen : they've really played splendidly , from a dangerous position when they came together. And apart from a brief period after tea when there were a few play-and-miss moments , they've not looked in any danger.

Going to be plenty on the board before that new ball arrives...especially if Stokes persists with this rubbish he's bowled in this over ! 264/5.

Stokes bowling like Steve Harmison...unfortunately, that's 2006 Steve Harmison.

OK...four overthrows. England have completely fallen apart. 22 off Leach's over. If there were a full 90 overs today, India would have been on for a 400+ day.

Pant slaughtering Leach now ... And the wheels coming off in the field too , with a horrible overthrow ...

Terrific batting ; but the limitations of this attack with an out of sorts Stokes and a spinner who just can't contain Indian left handers are being shown up in neon lights.

Not getting near that new ball tonight so may just have to bring Jimmy back ?

Oh, Rishabh seems to be having a bit of hamstring discomfort. Hope its nothing serious.

Haven't heard from guildford for a while...but I have a hunch he will be on at some point to suggest that Stokes has made a poor call at the toss today

In fairness , they did have India in heaps of trouble at 98/5 : but since the ball got soft around thirty five overs this has looked like party time for the batsmen. That's the problem with bowling first : if you don't finish the job it can come back to bite you...

At 310/5 off 65 they've been nastily bitten !

msp83 wrote:Another remarkable hundred from Rishabh. And Ravindra Jadeja, the most improved test batter in the last 4 years, on to another 50. Despite their remarkable performance, India still behind in the game.

I know you are sometimes pessimistic , msp : but I think we can say India are definitely ahead in the game now !

alfie wrote:

msp83 wrote:Another remarkable hundred from Rishabh. And Ravindra Jadeja, the most improved test batter in the last 4 years, on to another 50. Despite their remarkable performance, India still behind in the game.

I know you are sometimes pessimistic , msp : but I think we can say India are definitely ahead in the game now !

Will take 314-5 from 98-5 for sure. And India will surely have something to bowl at. But in line with the general trend this English summer, the tracks are more oriented towards the batters, and the game, despite losing lots of overs, have gone on at some serious pace. Proper contest now.

Now chance for England to first feel some relief, and regain some lost ground as Root gets Pant.

Amazed that happened. Thought Pant was going to swing his side up to 500. Still another 35 minutes to try to get India 8 down by stumps.

Even if that does happen, India are ahead in this game.

All good things must come to an end...Pant edges Root to slip and walks off after a magnificent 146 ...

At 320/6 India may be eyeing 400 or more - after once struggling to see 200 on the horizon !

Root the partnership breaker , eh ?

146 of 111 balls for Pant. Its Nelson striking for England. What an absolutely remarkable innings from Pant! He reached 50 at run a ball, gathered pace on his way to the hundred, and then went bonkers!

Duty281 wrote:Amazed that happened. Thought Pant was going to swing his side up to 500. Still another 35 minutes to try to get India 8 down by stumps.

Even if that does happen, India are ahead in this game.

Not sure about that. Look to be a lot of runs in this pitch ; so after that stand , India will want to cash in and go big tomorrow . If England can knock a couple more over quickly (IF !) I reckon they'd be well back in this.

Certainly 321/6 isn't what you want when you sent your opponent in though

Stokes has a serious no-ball issue since his return. Really not been able to work his way through this.

Hope this isn't a no ball ...

No...for once Ben has his heel behind the line...and has Thakur off cheaply. Good take by Billings.

Bit of a swing back to the home team...

And it turns out that those no-balls meant Stoke got an 8th crack at Shardul, managed to keep his foot behind the line, and Thakur, picked as the all-rounder at 8, fails to deliver with the bat. The collapse back on. Can they reach 350?

England on the receiving end of one of Bairstow's innings. Will be interesting to see how England get on batting. Have a feeling this might be the Test where they push the line too hard and then have to moderate the approach a bit. That won't be a bad thing in the long run

Three wickets left ; but it's gone all cat and mouse...Jadeja won't let Shami face many , and is passing up runs in the meantime.

Is this a leg side edge ? Trying the review... Billings seems keen.

No , nothing on it. Review lost.

Jadeja seems to have shut shop and playing for stumps. Also managing to keep Shami away from the strike to some extend. Think Stokes should have brought Anderson back on, as he's not going to do any new ball duty tonight. Think Jadeja should still look to put away the hittable ones, the new ball tomorrow morning, if they last up to that point, would finish this innings off rather quickly.

Think England are going to be 10 overs short even after accounting for the 6 overs lost. Beyond pathetic!

How many more offenses before Stokes get a 1 match ban? The skipper of course not helping his case by bowling an extra over of no-balls...

England saluting Jadeja's fine effort by gifting him a few runs in that last over for the day. He goes back on 83 not out, Shami doing his job for the day by not doing anything silly and competently defending. Stumps at India 338-7.
That's 11 overs lost for the day to pathetic over rate. Unacceptable!

I've just seen another sporting repeat, it's like the old ESPN Classic. England blow away the opposition's top order, 98/5 today, then hit a roadblock. The roadblock has usually been called 'Mitchell and Blundell', today it's 'Pant and Jadeja'.

Pant's innings was him at his explosive best, and he feasted on errant English bowling. Potts, he's had a great summer, but his wayward spell after tea set the tone for the last session. Stokes, though he got Thakur with a quality bouncer, has serious bowling issues. It's tough for him to bowl a normal six-ball over because his rhythm is so shot, and his radar is misfiring. Serious problems. Anderson and Broad were top-quality throughout. This is Broad's fourth straight test, quite a rarity for him these days! Leach was unsurprisingly dominated.

I've preferred Stokes' captaincy to Root's, but he needs to find a balance. Winning the toss and sticking the opposition in is not the right play the majority of the time, and it wasn't the right play today. And his field settings were too aggressive once Pant and Jadeja settled, and England again bowled too many over-pitched deliveries (boundary balls). There was a warning of that v New Zealand. Conceding runs at a rate of over 4.5 when you've sent the opposition in is extremely poor. Balance. It's something that is lacking in 'Bazball' as England are too attacking with bat and ball and field placings and toss decisions. If it carries on it should be renamed 'Keeganball'.

Over rate embarrassing. England fell 11 short today and that included the extra half-hour. The ICC need to be stricter on this and hand out suspensions. Stokes should be banned from the next test. If England still don't sort it out, then it's a two-game ban next time, then a three-game ban etc. You'd be amazed how quickly England would up the pace if these sort of threats were meted out and delivered on.

338/7. I think India are ahead in the game and they'll be feeling confident if they reach 400+ tomorrow. Plus England will be batting last, which should be advantageous to India, though they might regret not picking Ashwin. Ashwin in the squad for all five tests, but not picked for a single one.

Oh and India have just started a T20 v Derbyshire as part of the warm-up for the limited-overs stuff. I love cricket scheduling.

Regarding Ashwin, think I would have picked him, but understand the decision. Jadeja's presence means that India do have a quality spinner in their ranks in the top 7. Then Ashwin has to compete with the 4th seamer to make it to the side. He will have to do something extraordinary to force his way into the combination really. In unhelpful South African conditions wherein India picked him as the only spinner in the injury-enforced absence of Jadeja, Ashwin couldn't do anything extraordinary. And Shardul had his spell of his career in one of the games, outbowling Bumrah and Shami by a country mile even! But after the earlier part of this England series, he hasn't done anything with the bat... And that might eventually make the case for Ashwin, as he has started rediscovering his touch with the bat since the England home series last year, and none of the other seamers are anything close to a number 8 or even number 9 for that matter. Not Umesh, not Prasidh...

I had envisaged a script for D1...
That Eng will win toss...Put Ind in...and in seaming conditions Indian top order loaded with 2 past expiry date scratchers will be blown away...and then after 30 odd overs when Eng's "Put the ball there" seamers will become less effective  one of Jadeja / Pant will bat thru the 40 to 80 over window....and flourish and taje Ind to a workable total ( 270ish)

It turned out to be just that ....and then even better
Both Jadeja and Pant fired ....and Eng was found a bit more listless than I thought having all "put the ball there" seamers

I was reading about Pott thru the NZ series and what I saw of him today he is not much more than Robinson, Overton, Woakes types
As I remarked thru the Indian and most part of Ashes tour...Eng often lacks an enforcer or two....Wood, Stone, Archer Mahmood types...they need consistently
Stokes probably can be ana enforcer as he showed in taking out Shardul...but he has too much on his body and mind to play that role
Leach was shown his  place by nimble feet spin experts on a D1 pitch.

Ind will end up 100 runs more than what I thought they need to be competitive with their bowling.

Ind's bowling will have much more teeth even after 30 overs are done and varnish off.
Even the 4th seamer Shardul inspite of his 80mph is one of the most canny exploiters of reverse with a 45 over old ball
Jadeja will control one end better than Leach....Bumrah has 90mph pace with which he turned the last test......and Shami will get the ball to seam all day long at 135-140kph

270ish for Eng is my prognostication & script for D2

I'm going to wait until about 8pm tomorrow to post my Day 2 predictions, then declare how right I got it all

Day 2 predictions:

India either will or will not be bowled out

If England bat they will score more than 11 runs but less than 927 runs

Jadeja will get between 83* and 242

A bowler might take a wicket

It will rain unless it doesn't

Think VTR and KC are spot on with their predictions

India will be delighted to have recovered from their early dire situation to such a handy total. A splendid partnership from Pant and Jadeja : sensible aggression , exploited the very easy batting conditions that have generally manifested in all these Test Matches once these slightly sub-standard Dukes balls have lost their hardness. Surely no coincidence that Mitchell/Blundell regularly scored big runs , Bairstow & various companions dominated NZ at similar stages of games ?

All of which suggests to me that whatever India score (new ball might end things quickly ; or Jadeja might shepherd the tail to more useful runs - who knows ?) a lot will then depend on how many England wickets can be taken before the magic 30-35 over mark. I do agree with KP_fan that India has a more varied and very capable attack : but I'm not sure that will enable them to control the game if they are stuck bowling to top order players with an old ball.

Certainly rather be in India's shoes at the moment though. Runs on the board , scoreboard pressure ...all the old (but tried and true) cliches... Another varied and thoroughly entertaining day. Hope for more of the same over the next few days...

As to criticism of various players : Indian top order bats unsurprisingly found things tough. Missing their best openers , Pujara and Kohli both probably getting towards their sell by dates (don't sue me if they prove that totally wrong : have utmost respect for both !) and Anderson and Potts both bowled really well in conditions that gave them just enough assistance.

But later in the day I was disappointed by the England effort - if not altogether surprised. The three seamers all worked their socks off early to nearly wreck the innings (had that "maybe" slip catch of Root's been given out we would all be singing different songs , I think) and hadn't enough left in the tank to break up the Pant/Jadeja juggernaut ...and once again Leach showed that for all his fine efforts against NZ last week he really isn't a good enough bowler to hold down the spinner's role in a four man attack in bland conditions - not against batsmen of that quality anyway. Not that there is another spinner handy who might step in : but nine overs and going at 8 per left Stokes with nowhere to go - except his own (currently pretty woeful) stuff. Stokes' loss of bowling form is the big minus for me this season : he needs to recover some rhythm or team balance issues are going to be an issue going forward.

Not bothered about Potts having one poor session. He has hardly put a foot wrong up to now and I forgive him a few bad overs - however inconveniently timed . The lad can bowl.

Should Stokes have tried to dial back the attack at all costs plan and try to dry up the runs ?Maybe . But for all we know (even if he had the resources to do so) such a plan may have seen a stumps total of , say , 290/5 : would that have been any better for England ?

Not going to judge this cake until it's had a bit more time to bake.

Having watched some, but not all of this English summer, you have to start to wonder how many careers "batting properly" has wrecked. It never made sense to me when people were upset at players getting out to wide balls. Like if you're not scoring off bad balls, how are you planning on scoring? You're basically giving the bowler carte blanche at that point.

Duty281 wrote:I've just seen another sporting repeat, it's like the old ESPN Classic. England blow away the opposition's top order, 98/5 today, then hit a roadblock. The roadblock has usually been called 'Mitchell and Blundell', today it's 'Pant and Jadeja'.

Pant's innings was him at his explosive best, and he feasted on errant English bowling. Potts, he's had a great summer, but his wayward spell after tea set the tone for the last session. Stokes, though he got Thakur with a quality bouncer, has serious bowling issues. It's tough for him to bowl a normal six-ball over because his rhythm is so shot, and his radar is misfiring. Serious problems. Anderson and Broad were top-quality throughout. This is Broad's fourth straight test, quite a rarity for him these days! Leach was unsurprisingly dominated.

I've preferred Stokes' captaincy to Root's, but he needs to find a balance. Winning the toss and sticking the opposition in is not the right play the majority of the time, and it wasn't the right play today. And his field settings were too aggressive once Pant and Jadeja settled, and England again bowled too many over-pitched deliveries (boundary balls). There was a warning of that v New Zealand. Conceding runs at a rate of over 4.5 when you've sent the opposition in is extremely poor. Balance. It's something that is lacking in 'Bazball' as England are too attacking with bat and ball and field placings and toss decisions. If it carries on it should be renamed 'Keeganball'.

Over rate embarrassing. England fell 11 short today and that included the extra half-hour. The ICC need to be stricter on this and hand out suspensions. Stokes should be banned from the next test. If England still don't sort it out, then it's a two-game ban next time, then a three-game ban etc. You'd be amazed how quickly England would up the pace if these sort of threats were meted out and delivered on.

338/7. I think India are ahead in the game and they'll be feeling confident if they reach 400+ tomorrow. Plus England will be batting last, which should be advantageous to India, though they might regret not picking Ashwin. Ashwin in the squad for all five tests, but not picked for a single one.

Oh and India have just started a T20 v Derbyshire as part of the warm-up for the limited-overs stuff. I love cricket scheduling.

Don't disagree with that sentiment and sort of sanction for a moment. As always, my greatest sympathy is for the spectator at the ground who has shelled out a lot of dosh and is being short changed and poorly treated. I also noted Carlos' point the other day that the batting side can also sometimes be at fault here and so would retain a discretion for the match referee to penalise them. 

Most of all though, I would fine the umpires (unless there are truly extenuating circumstances). It is their job to keep the game moving and they are blatantly failing in that if a day ends 11 overs short even with the extra half-hour. Hit them in the pocket where it hurts! That would soon put a stop to all those extra drinks breaks and innumerable requests for a ball change.

Glad you made it back safely, Guildford.

I take it the "dinosaur" remark was in reference to the aircraft. The look... not the age I hope. I had memories of flying in a TU-154 back in the 70s. Now that was a real dinosaur. I remember seeing steel rods moving horizontally in the gaps on the inside of the plane underneath the windows.

Interesting day of cricket ahead if weather permits. My phone app saying the rain should diminish around 1-2pm. Anyone closer to the ground?

alfie wrote:As to criticism of various players : Indian top order bats unsurprisingly found things tough. Missing their best openers , Pujara and Kohli both probably getting towards their sell by dates (don't sue me if they prove that totally wrong : have utmost respect for both !) and Anderson and Potts both bowled really well in conditions that gave them just enough assistance.

But later in the day I was disappointed by the England effort - if not altogether surprised. The three seamers all worked their socks off early to nearly wreck the innings (had that "maybe" slip catch of Root's been given out we would all be singing different songs , I think) and hadn't enough left in the tank to break up the Pant/Jadeja juggernaut ...and once again Leach showed that for all his fine efforts against NZ last week he really isn't a good enough bowler to hold down the spinner's role in a four man attack in bland conditions - not against batsmen of that quality anyway. Not that there is another spinner handy who might step in : but nine overs and going at 8 per left Stokes with nowhere to go - except his own (currently pretty woeful) stuff. Stokes' loss of bowling form is the big minus for me this season : he needs to recover some rhythm or team balance issues are going to be an issue going forward.

Not bothered about Potts having one poor session. He has hardly put a foot wrong up to now and I forgive him a few bad overs - however inconveniently timed . The lad can bowl.

Should Stokes have tried to dial back the attack at all costs plan and try to dry up the runs ?Maybe . But for all we know (even if he had the resources to do so) such a plan may have seen a stumps total of , say , 290/5 : would that have been any better for England ?

Not going to judge this cake until it's had a bit more time to bake.

Wise words to finish on as ever, Alfie.

Whilst Duty puts India ahead, I understand that but am a little more upbeat. Mainly because I didn't see any play yesterday!! From the score being 38/1 after the first hour shortly before setting off for Blighty with Pterodactyl Airways - and the state of play being ''even'' then, as you said - I was rather downcast and quite fearful to read India were 320/5 soon after landing. Fortunately, Boycottasaurus came to my and England's aid by devouring a couple almost immediately.

Thus, purely on occasional scorecard readings, whilst we're not in the most wonderful of places with our visitors closing the day on 338/7, it could be a lot worse. Furthermore, hard if not impossible to judge anything after the NZ series!

PS  I haven't cheated by reading KP-f's post in any depth. I gather that summarises the scorecards of every Test for the next decade.

Interesting point guildford raises there about the umpires and their part in slow over rates. One case on this day was quite obvious.

Leach I think it was , tried to field on the boundary but knew he had stepped on the ropes - so signalled "four" himself : that should surely have been enough. But no : the umpire proceeded to hold up play while he requested the TV umpire to examine the footage and adjudicate

Total waste of , maybe a minute or so , to confirm the bleeding obvious

It really doesn't help when people just don't use their brains.

Also - off topic - but interesting to see England are clearly looking to expand their whiteball squad options as they face fixture congestion going forward : Richard Gleeson probably never expected a call up ! And Jos Buttler seemed to imply that all his attention - at least for the time being - is firmly focused on building on Morgan's legacy rather than worrying about making a push to get back in the Test team. It does seem likely that the "first choice XI" is unlikely to be assembled until just before the t20 WC so a surfeit of options makes good sense

Stokes to start, that's intriguing. New ball seven overs away. Think they'll be aiming for 96 overs today.

Start on time despite the dodgy looking weather , I'm pleased to see.

Stokes kicking it off : hope he's in better rhythm today. Figures weren't awful yesterday , but he didn't exactly lift the threat level...

Don't want them to just try to mark time until the new ball. But if Jadeja is looking to farm the strike that may be the way it goes.

Thnk Jadeja is not quite playing this right. He is just building his innings now on singles of the 3rd or 4th balls of the over. Not taking on the bowling, neither is he taking all the available singles on offer. Yes, Shami is a position too high at 9, but with the new ball not too far away, can't expect things to be easy for too long. Some make it count in the next 4 overs... Nothing reckless, but trust Shami a bit more and play normal cricket.

Oh good, looks like England are deciding to try the old short-ball tactic to the tail.

Shami says thanks and takes a couple of boundaries.

Jadeja deciding to take the single on offer of the first ball, and Shami telling him to trust him a bit more, back-to-back boundaries bringing up India's 350.