England's Winter of Cricket 2023/24

First topic message reminder :

After the disappointment of the World Cup, can England be the first away team in 11 years to win a test series in India?

Three ODIs v West Indies (3rd December-9th December)
Five T20s v West Indies (12th December-21st December)
Five Tests v India (25th January-11th March)

KP_fan wrote:

msp83 wrote:As for England, again the mistakes around their selections were yet again obvious. Joe Root has yet again proved that he's England's 2nd best spinner in the Post-Swann era, behind the underappreciated Moeen Ali.  

I think some whatsapp/ sms messages might have landed already in Moeen's inbox

It was whatsapp last time. Do we think Moeen has thrown away his smartphone because he was too addicted to it, and now he only has an old Nokia and faithful sms messages?

I'll tell you who's played a blinder in terms of avoiding a potentially rough tour. Chris Woakes. Jokingly retires from overseas Tests after a home Ashes where he gets player of the series from playing 3 Tests. When not picked mentions his disappointment whilst understanding the decision. Genius. Getting the best of every angle. That's a man who's seen England teams away from home crash and burn, but, still understands the wonders that being perceived as still up for the battle in the finest format of this ancient game.

If this goes as badly as I think a few of us might be fearing then trying to predict an XI for T5 is a hell of a game. Maybe they drag it back with a win somewhere, but, if they go 3-nil down after 3 Tests, then I'd bet on the BCCI preparing some absolute roads to get more days of revenue and allow the batters to score some tons. Combine that with disastrous tours often seeing players go home for various reasons and potential stragglers being dropped...

1.Crawley 2.Jennings 3.Lawrence 4.Root 5.Stokes 6.Bairstow (wk) 7.Surran 8.Dawson 9.Robinson 10.Bashir 11.Atkinson

Potential T5 XI? That's presuming the possibility of: Duckett getting Ashwin-ed. Pope Pope-ing himself. Leach struggling with fitness over a long series having just come back from the stress fracture. Wood's gone home for surgery. Jimmy's played 3 Tests on the bounce at 41 and needs a double lung transplant. Foakes has slipped on a cartoon banana and broken his hair. The road's being prepared with the series tied up requiring an extra bowler.

I was considering Jack Carson but that might be pushing it. Bashir might've already been selected, dropped and recalled by this stage though.

king_carlos wrote:Dear f***ing god, please don't start the Moeen debate guys. I beg you. I've already basically given up on the England rugby thread here because of their version of unending circular arguments. Please don't do it to 606v2 cricket. Just, please. I'd genuinely rather we go back over discussing whether KP should've been dropped after text-gate.

Did the Tennis board ever resolve if Djokovic, Federer or Nadal is the true GOAT?

VTR wrote:

king_carlos wrote:Dear f***ing god, please don't start the Moeen debate guys. I beg you. I've already basically given up on the England rugby thread here because of their version of unending circular arguments. Please don't do it to 606v2 cricket. Just, please. I'd genuinely rather we go back over discussing whether KP should've been dropped after text-gate.

Did the Tennis board ever resolve if Djokovic, Federer or Nadal is the true GOAT?

Maybe it got given to the golf drive show thread to figure it out?

I think Galted's questions about gym attire killed the weightlifting section...

England needn't a drastic change to maximize their possibilities. Get in a 2nd seamer in for Hartley, mostly Anderson then perhaps Robinson, and then perhaps a combination of the 2 when Wood's done. Then drop Pope until they reach the national highway, Play Lawrence who can even double up as the 4th spinner. Who else are the batting options available?

msp83 wrote:England needn't a drastic change to maximize their possibilities. Get in a 2nd seamer in for Hartley, mostly Anderson then perhaps Robinson, and then perhaps a combination of the 2 when Wood's done. Then drop Pope until they reach the national highway, Play Lawrence who can even double up as the 4th spinner. Who else are the batting options available?

Lawrence is the spare batter with the squad. Jennings is in India for the A tour though. Jennings should be in the side given the decks IMO. He's a better player of spin than Crawley, Pope or Lawrence. Maybe Duckett as well. I'd have him at 3 now that Brook has gone home. Horses for courses, same as you do with bowlers. I don't want to see Jennings play another Test in vaguely seam friendly conditions. He's better than most England have for this situation though.

king_carlos wrote:I'll tell you who's played a blinder in terms of avoiding a potentially rough tour. Chris Woakes. Jokingly retires from overseas Tests after a home Ashes where he gets player of the series from playing 3 Tests. When not picked mentions his disappointment whilst understanding the decision. Genius. Getting the best of every angle. That's a man who's seen England teams away from home crash and burn, but, still understands the wonders that being perceived as still up for the battle in the finest format of this ancient game.

If this goes as badly as I think a few of us might be fearing then trying to predict an XI for T5 is a hell of a game. Maybe they drag it back with a win somewhere, but, if they go 3-nil down after 3 Tests, then I'd bet on the BCCI preparing some absolute roads to get more days of revenue and allow the batters to score some tons. Combine that with disastrous tours often seeing players go home for various reasons and potential stragglers being dropped...

1.Crawley 2.Jennings 3.Lawrence 4.Root 5.Stokes 6.Bairstow (wk) 7.Surran 8.Dawson 9.Robinson 10.Bashir 11.Atkinson

Potential T5 XI? That's presuming the possibility of: Duckett getting Ashwin-ed. Pope Pope-ing himself. Leach struggling with fitness over a long series having just come back from the stress fracture. Wood's gone home for surgery. Jimmy's played 3 Tests on the bounce at 41 and needs a double lung transplant. Foakes has slipped on a cartoon banana and broken his hair. The road's being prepared with the series tied up requiring an extra bowler.

I was considering Jack Carson but that might be pushing it. Bashir might've already been selected, dropped and recalled by this stage though.

Carlos - that's very good although I'm a tad disappointed you couldn't find an opening for someone I believe is still involved with the England set up and so is probably on hand. Namely, Luke Wright.

msp83 wrote:England needn't a drastic change to maximize their possibilities. Get in a 2nd seamer in for Hartley, mostly Anderson then perhaps Robinson, and then perhaps a combination of the 2 when Wood's done. Then drop Pope until they reach the national highway, Play Lawrence who can even double up as the 4th spinner. Who else are the batting options available?

Matthew Pott, Matthew Fisher and Brydon Carse are all fast medium with Eng lions in India and have been in wickets
Callum Parkinson is a SLA also done OK

The main objective of a shadow A tour is to make an extended choice from an additional 16 boys available
If Leach's knee is dodgy, its a no brainer to retain Parkinson
and to give additional rotation cushion Pott and Carse should be retained in India

king_carlos wrote:

msp83 wrote:England needn't a drastic change to maximize their possibilities. Get in a 2nd seamer in for Hartley, mostly Anderson then perhaps Robinson, and then perhaps a combination of the 2 when Wood's done. Then drop Pope until they reach the national highway, Play Lawrence who can even double up as the 4th spinner. Who else are the batting options available?

Lawrence is the spare batter with the squad. Jennings is in India for the A tour though. Jennings should be in the side given the decks IMO. He's a better player of spin than Crawley, Pope or Lawrence. Maybe Duckett as well. I'd have him at 3 now that Brook has gone home. Horses for courses, same as you do with bowlers. I don't want to see Jennings play another Test in vaguely seam friendly conditions. He's better than most England have for this situation though.

Jennings in these conditions would be a fairly decent choice.

guildfordbat wrote:

king_carlos wrote:I'll tell you who's played a blinder in terms of avoiding a potentially rough tour. Chris Woakes. Jokingly retires from overseas Tests after a home Ashes where he gets player of the series from playing 3 Tests. When not picked mentions his disappointment whilst understanding the decision. Genius. Getting the best of every angle. That's a man who's seen England teams away from home crash and burn, but, still understands the wonders that being perceived as still up for the battle in the finest format of this ancient game.

If this goes as badly as I think a few of us might be fearing then trying to predict an XI for T5 is a hell of a game. Maybe they drag it back with a win somewhere, but, if they go 3-nil down after 3 Tests, then I'd bet on the BCCI preparing some absolute roads to get more days of revenue and allow the batters to score some tons. Combine that with disastrous tours often seeing players go home for various reasons and potential stragglers being dropped...

1.Crawley 2.Jennings 3.Lawrence 4.Root 5.Stokes 6.Bairstow (wk) 7.Surran 8.Dawson 9.Robinson 10.Bashir 11.Atkinson

Potential T5 XI? That's presuming the possibility of: Duckett getting Ashwin-ed. Pope Pope-ing himself. Leach struggling with fitness over a long series having just come back from the stress fracture. Wood's gone home for surgery. Jimmy's played 3 Tests on the bounce at 41 and needs a double lung transplant. Foakes has slipped on a cartoon banana and broken his hair. The road's being prepared with the series tied up requiring an extra bowler.

I was considering Jack Carson but that might be pushing it. Bashir might've already been selected, dropped and recalled by this stage though.

Carlos - that's very good although I'm a tad disappointed you couldn't find an opening for someone I believe is still involved with the England set up and so is probably on hand. Namely, Luke Wright.

Oooft, good shout. I did consider Pietersen but as an offie.

Jofra's meant to be able to bowl some tasty left-arm wrist-spin!

msp83 wrote:
KL also should remember the value of hundreds. In 2016-17 season, he used to get a lot of half-centuries and ended up missing out on the big one and didn't seem to show enough apitite  for the big runs even in his public interactions. Then when the inevitable bad patch came, not many remembered the 50s, and he got the chop... That Rahul was young and was a potential. Now he's a senior expected to deliver. People might wonder why would anyone want to say this on a day he played a very fine innings in lively conditions. But Rahul would do well to remember  that he needs to cash in on the good form well and proper.
Shubman Gill is another, might end up experiencing another spell on the test sidelines if he can't get a big one in the next test. Among India's top 6, he seemed the most unsettled and tentative at the crease, didn't know what tempo to go with, seemed like he was deliberately start slow, address the talks about the perceptions about his approach to test batting, rather than the playing the conditions and the bowling on merit. With KL getting runs and Shreyas considered a very good attacking option against spin, it'll be a tough selection call that Rohit and Dravid will have to make when Kohli returns, and those conversations could surely involve Gill at this rate.

I won't be too harsh on KL.....he has been India's most consistent batsman in Asia cup, world cup and 2 out of 3 tests since.
The real problem is one you identified.......who goes out when Kohli come in?
While Gill did not look the part even against a feeble attack like this.........Iyer blew away a golden chance to nail the spot.
The way this game is poised...there my be no second inning.

So it will be a shoot out between Gill & Iyer for elimination in T2 at Vizag.
OR
they could accommodate both and include Kohli by dropping Siraj.......a second seamer won't be needed if the Vizag pitch is similar to this one.

king_carlos wrote:Dear f***ing god, please don't start the Moeen debate guys. I beg you. I've already basically given up on the England rugby thread here because of their version of unending circular arguments. Please don't do it to 606v2 cricket. Just, please. I'd genuinely rather we go back over discussing whether KP should've been dropped after text-gate.

Oh come on , KC - you know the Moeen question is going to be brought up all over the place , either jocularly or in genuine unrealistic fantasy belief in some quarters...it is at least good for a bit of a laugh amidst the wrist slashing ...

The idea of throwing two such inexperienced bowlers in to the lion's den - in fairness they didn't anticipate Leach getting a seriously inhibiting knock - was always fraught with danger. I think they expected the pitch to be just a bit more of a crazy bunsen than it has been so far ; but given neither Hartley nor Ahmed could land the ball anywhere near the right length with any sort of consistency it may not have made much difference (we might have seen England out for 146 and India 271/7 instead , with the same end in sight). They presumably felt (a) IF one of the youngsters had made a great start to Test Cricket in India then the combination chosen represented their best chance for causing an upset ;  (b) Even if it didn't work the experience might be good for the future - on the theory that "what doesn't kill me , makes me stronger" ; and (c) They didn't see a useful alternative , given the pitch conditions they'd observed.

Well (a) didn't work ; (b) will be seen down the road in time - some players have indeed come back from chastening initial appearances - and some haven't (Kerrigan at least keeps getting name checked as some sort of legacy) As for (c) I lean towards agreeing with msp that Anderson should have played for his likely control factor at least ; but I'm not going to condemn them for trying something. Remember they commenced a tour of Pakistan (which nobody in his right mind suggested would end in a three nil success)by picking two untried part timers in Jacks and Livingstone , arguably mainly to boost the batting ... and even though neither has stayed the course they got a result anyway : not every gamble pays off.

I never pick teams for the next match until a game is over . There will be changes for sure. The options aren't all that appetising. But whatever they do it is a simple fact that England's spin resources are either too raw , too past it and/or no longer red ball fit , or just not really good enough : so tackling India at home is always likely to be an uphill battle. Have to hope someone will emerge in the not too far distant future ; but for now just have to do the best they can with what they have...

Jadeja a bit unlucky there to be given out on field - the review doesn't save him despite bat and pad being agonisingly close and umpires call on both impact and hitting . But Root was due some luck.

Gone for 87 , an excellent knock.

...and now Root is on a hat trick ! Clean bowls Bumrah with a ripping off break

Siraj survives.

Amusing to see six men crowding the bat with 436 on the board

Root has been head and shoulders above the rest of England's spinners : good to see him getting some decent reward

Rehan getting a shot at finishing this now...but not sure Axar is in any mood to quit yet.

Has to go though as Rehan gets one to keep low and bowls him for a handy 44. All out 436 after losing three for none...

Suspect they won't be too bothered given they lead by 190

England will,be relieved to get off the field. But as Basil Fawlty once said "Now comes the tricky bit"...

The way some of those balls behaved I fancy making India bat again might be a task. The Indian spinners will be looking forward to theirs.

No surprise to see Ashwin sharing the new ball with Bumrah...

Will be tough for Crawley and Duckett : wonder how they will try to play it ? Not too timidly , judging by Crawley's immediate reverse sweep for four.

Not sure how this will go , or for how long ; but might be entertaining...

VTR wrote:Very negative there, England are in a great position, Stokes has played a match winning innings and Harters is a great bloke (so it doesn't matter if his bowling is worse than Chris Schofield's). That's per Ben Duckett, who's not someone sat behind a keyboard, he's actually part of the game!

Bit late on this, but getting "we were happy to be bowled out" on the record is a classic positive/confident/delusional Bazball quote. If it all clicks on the pitch you take it as part of the process, but I'm finding it harder to root for them as a group in general when this is all we hear from them.

Ah , couldn't last , of course . Crawley very attractive for a rapid 30 in eight overs but ironically out to a defensive push, tickling Ashwin to slip. 45/1

Pope looks a bit frenetic already...clearly doesn't want to be a rabbit in the headlights this time. This is going to be some test for him.

I doubt it is going to turn this Test around - bit late for that ; but the approach by England's batsmen to this big deficit is arguably encouraging. They've all three so far set out to take the game to the Indian spinners - reverse sweeps , advancing down the pitch... So the runs have rattled along - 81/1 after 14 overs as we near lunch. Risky , sure : but probably better than cowering in a bunker.

I do think this game is gone , whatever they do. But just possibly this ultra positive method might flow on and enable better results in the later games (and yes , obviously that requires BIG improvement in the bowling !). Good to watch anyway

Lunch. 89/1

Not just England who can mess up review calls

Don't know why they didn't review that shout against Duckett ? Surely was going to be umpires call at worst... Unless they thought he hit it...would have been the break they are seeking.

Pope and Duckett continue to attack the bowling : 113/1 in the nineteenth.

But Bumrah has him now ...beats the drive and the stumps are rearranged. Forty seven from 52 . Good little knock ; but when you trail by 190 they need big hundreds...

Going downhill now though.... Root lbw , review shows umpires call but that is enough to do for him. 117/3 and a promising first session is being undermined , oddly enough , by pace rather than spin. Bumrah is a quality bowler , of course.

Really needed Root to play one of his big innings but not to be today , alas.

Got to go out soon...hope they haven't completely folded before I get back...

To be fair, our lead spinner shouldn't be batting so high

172/5 at tea. Probably 50 more already than many feared we would total in our second dig but still 18 short of parity and Alfie will be sorry to see Bairstow and Stokes in the hutch upon his return.

Jadeja really did for Jonny who was a ball behind. Beaten by one that turned and then shouldered arms to the next delivery that pitched on the same spot but didn't turn and went on to hit the stumps! Clever bowling but Jonny looked far from smart.

Stokes bowled by what I considered a beauty from Ashwin. Looped in and then turned to take off stump. Pietersen on comms was very critical of Ben suggesting he had been overly defensive and should have smashed what he described as ''a real half volley''. I felt that didn't do justice to the bowler and overlooked Stokes' success in the summer of a slow, slow starting approach before accelerating through the gears.

Anyway, the two Surrey guys at the crease now. On paper they should complement each other ....

Not sure it will be a challenging target, but some decent fight from England. Notable that Pope has been the best batsman this time, after his admittedly awful first innings effort, plenty on here seemed keen to drop him for Jennings, Moeen or Luke Wright

A couple of other points.

About 2 overs before Ashwin dismissed Stokes, there was a lengthy tv review for a stumping involving the same bowler and batter. Stokes was beaten and momentarily lost his balance as Bharat removed the bails. Stokes had a foot behind the line but it wasn't entirely clear if a part of it was always in contact with the ground. Fair enough that Stokes got the benefit of any doubt but I was surprised the camera didn't zoom in on the foot, instead just faffing about looking at the various angles.

During tea, I saw the 3 India wickets to fall today. The ball certainly kept low for two of them. Surprised that doesn't seem to have been a problem for us in our second dig.

Yeah disappointed those two wickets fell though not exactly astonished : Indian spinners on a helpful surface do tend to get even good batsmen out ... But pleased that the home team will at least have to bat again - wasn't over confident that would even happen , to be honest.

Pope was probably the last England bat anyone would have expected to be 77 no , after his miserable and brief first innings had done nothing to improve his record against quality spin : but he has played really well - used his feet and endeavoured to put the pressure back on the spinners to great effect
Proof that good players can learn ; and encouraging for the future.

In fact I am not unhappy with England's batting in this match. First game , no warm up (varying opinions on that plan , but that is another matter and done anyway now) and facing a very good and varied Indian attack in conditions they know and love... 246 and whatever this ends up at may not be brilliant but it really isn't too bad. Their big problem was India made at least 100 more than they should have been allowed : credit to the aggression of Jaiswal and Rahul but also I have to lament the generous ration of full tosses and long hops served up by England's novice spinners....

Six in front now and I can't see a Botham/Stokes type whirlwind taking this to a defendable total. But this is infinitely preferable to a totally meek surrender and does give me hope they can go to the next match with some belief that an improved performance- with one game under their belt - can enable them to compete seriously with this formidable opponent.

Hi Alfie - was anything said on comms about Leach at the start of today's play? There's been concern here as to how crocked he might be (again). A big issue if he misses T2 following your comments about our novice spinners.

Hey Guildford ...thanks for comments ...actually saw much of that either live or highlights. Wasn't sure about the stumping appeal either though I suppose the TV umpire needs to be absolutely sure the foot is raised to rule one of those out and no TV picture is going to provide that - look at how hard it is to deal with low catches.

As to the pitch and the variable bounce : it has surprised me a bit that the number of balls actually misbehaving seems to have gone up and down in frequency quite randomly over these three days . Day one I expected batting conditions to get steadily worse but the opposite seemed to occur as the ball got older...and when India batted the pitch was looking like a road at times - though the inability of the England spinners to land it in the right place had a bit to do with that Even so I thought there would be more for the bowlers ; and after Root and Ahmed got those quick wickets this morning I feared the worst for England's second knock. But although there is certainly turn on offer , batting really doesn't look like the sort of nightmare you often see on Indian pitches that start out as dry as this one...

Actually think this is quite a good pitch for a Test Match. Even good pace bowling can play a part , though only Bumrah has really been able to achieve anything. If we see a couple more such pitches I don't think we can complain about home advantage being overdone. And we might see proper matches going four or five days which is surely what we all want ?

I didn't hear anything too detailed about Leach ( haven't always had sound on , and a bit of hopping across to Brisbane at times so may have missed something. England 37 ahead now so we might yet see whether he can bowl unhindered later , eh ?

Crossing my fingers and toes for Pope as he tries to negotiate the nineties...this Surrey pairing is doing a handy job : rather unexpected as neither player looked remotely likely to lay bat on ball in the first innings !

Well done Ollie Pope

Terrific hundred, for him and his team ; and great timing , as I suspect half the Internet was probably ready to call for his omission from the next Test after his first innings here

One of the reasons why I never pick the next team before a match is finished ...

alfie wrote:I didn't hear anything too detailed about Leach ( haven't always had sound on , and a bit of hopping across to Brisbane at times so may have missed something. England 37 ahead now so we might yet see whether he can bowl unhindered later , eh ?

Crossing my fingers and toes for Pope as he tries to negotiate the nineties...this Surrey pairing is doing a handy job : rather unexpected as neither player looked remotely likely to lay bat on ball in the first innings !

Cheers anyway about Leach, Alfie.

A very well crafted century for Pope.

A solid and important partnership of 80 odd so far with the orthodox Foakes. I've seen them bat like this before - but never in such conditions or against such quality opposition!

Lead now 55. Encouraging but clearly a long way off even being challenging. Another 100 and we can at least hope. Important these two stay together as numbers 8 to 11 could easily and quickly be skittled.

alfie wrote:Well done Ollie Pope

Terrific hundred, for him and his team ; and great timing , as I suspect half the Internet was probably ready to call for his omission from the next Test after his first innings here

One of the reasons why I never pick the next team before a match is finished ...

My line usually but you're welcome to it.

Ha these two must have managed to convince themselves this is actually an Oval featherbed...and they're facing Glamorgan

No question a bit of confidence makes a huge difference in facing this challenging attack ; and they've grown in confidence as the score has mounted. At the same time the Indian bowlers are now starting to serve up their share of rubbish (maybe not quite Hartley/Ahmed frequency , but still) and the fielding is getting distinctly ragged.

Hundred stand

guildfordbat wrote:

alfie wrote:Well done Ollie Pope

Terrific hundred, for him and his team ; and great timing , as I suspect half the Internet was probably ready to call for his omission from the next Test after his first innings here

One of the reasons why I never pick the next team before a match is finished ...

My line usually but you're welcome to it.

Hey I know you have similar view but I thought I had the patent on it

Guess we can agree to share ?

Aah....

All good things must come to an end

Axar gets one to creep low and does for Foakes to end a really determined and vital support innings of 34. Not much he could have done about that one I'm afraid.

Lead is up to 87 so this would be a great time for one of the bowlers to emulate Jadeja and Axar with the bat and help Pope to really turn the screws on the home team...

alfie wrote:Ha these two must have managed to convince themselves this is actually an Oval featherbed...and they're facing Glamorgan

No question a bit of confidence makes a huge difference in facing this challenging attack ; and they've grown in confidence as the score has mounted. At the same time the Indian bowlers are now starting to serve up their share of rubbish (maybe not quite Hartley/Ahmed frequency , but still) and the fielding is getting distinctly ragged.

Hundred stand

And then ...Aaaaagggghhhh!!! Foakes bowled by Axar. That one did keep low.

I was about to suggest that maybe Rohit give Siraj a go. He's only bowled 7 overs in the match. Could see him and Bumrah blowing away our tail although probably no immediate need to change things now.

Ah well ... if one of Pope and Foakes had to go, definitely preferable for England that it was the latter. Pope pushing the score along with boundaries, reverse sweeps and rotating the strike in a way that is alien to the classical style of Foakes.

Well well. I've looked at the score for the first time today and this definitely will be an innings I'll watch back ball by ball. Fair play to Pope. I've been advocate of his in other conditions and felt his average would catch up with the aesthetics. I really did not think he could bat against spin well enough to do something like this, in India, against this attack though.

If you squint at it a bit then there's almost a cricket match taking shape. These last 4 wickets will need to negotiate the new ball and somehow scrape together another 100 runs or so. This pitch on D4 should see more deliveries spitting and going through the surface though.

guildfordbat wrote:Ah well ... if one of Pope and Foakes had to go, definitely preferable for England that it was the latter. Pope pushing the score along with boundaries, reverse sweeps and rotating the strike in a way that is alien to the classical style of Foakes.

Yes need Pope to make 200 here... He's got away with some outrageous stull lately but such enterprise deserves the odd bit of good fortune...

Strikes me that Foakes is often pretty effective playing a supporting role to a top order batsman , but seems to get a bit lost when stuck with the tail. Possibly a confidence issue ; similar to his apparent lack of willingness to take command of reviews when keeping ?

Can safely call that England's day. Trouble for them being they were so far behind after two days that even with this excellent fightback they still have a lot to do to set India a real challenge in the fourth innings...

Although : a fourth day pitch just might start to produce some serious devilry as the day goes on ; and the pressure of having to chase a respectable total (up to 200 , possibly ?) could induce some nerves.

Odds still firmly on India , sure.  But at least the game is alive into day four , contrary to most peoples' expectations after even the first day. And even a clear Indian win here isn't likely to destroy the morale of this rather resilient England party , in the light of their efforts to battle back from such an adverse position.

Pope's best Test innings by a street - big highlight for the day

Great knock by Pope - really excellent to watch that evening session in particular, and a great fight back by England today. Often seen them crumble for 130 all out in similar scenarios in the past!
Still firmly in India’s favour this match, but we are about 50 odd runs away from giving ourselves a proper punchers chance. Although if Leach can’t bowl then it probably is a formality anyways.

England the first opposing team to make 200+ runs in both innings of a test vs India, in the last 21 tests played against them at home. Sri Lanka the last team to do so in 2017. Wild!

The play of the day as it transpired was essential on many counts
-For the self respect & pride of Eng team
-For people to believe that the series will remain relevant
- wake up call for India, to not think they will just appear on field and Eng will roll over
& to ponder if they can afford the arrogant luxury to carry Siraj and announce we are good enuf to win with 10 players for Siraj is not needed with the ball, does not bat.

I would put the match situation somewhere between 90-10 to 70-30 in India's favor....depending on how much longer Eng inning lasts.

Inspite of their remarkable performance today Eng remains far behind because they lost 4 out of 6 sessions and importantly pitch has slowed significantly. Bounce is variable but slowness gives batsmen time to adjust.
And the trajectory is for the pitch to get more and more dead.

With benefit of hindsight it was good toss to lose and bowl first and make use of the pitch when it was "Zippier and Bouncier"

KP_fan wrote:The play of the day as it transpired  was essential on many counts
-For the self respect & pride of Eng team
-For people to believe that the series will remain relevant
- wake up call for India,  to not think they will just appear on field and Eng will roll over
& to ponder if they can afford the arrogant  luxury to carry Siraj and announce we are good enuf to win with 10 players for Siraj is not needed with the ball, does not bat.

I would put the match situation somewhere between 90-10 to 70-30 in India's favor....depending on how much longer Eng inning lasts.

Inspite  of their remarkable performance today Eng remains far behind because they lost 4 out of 6 sessions and importantly pitch has slowed significantly. Bounce is variable but slowness gives batsmen time to adjust.
And the trajectory is for the pitch to get more and more dead.

With benefit of hindsight it was good toss to lose and bowl first and make use of the pitch when it was "Zippier and Bouncier"

Nailed it there in bold , I think , KP_fan. And no it won't get any quicker tomorrow - guess England must hope they can produce a few more like the one Axar did to get poor Foakes !

As for Siraj : he did take a nice catch in the first innings ; but apart from that he's getting a match fee for a bit of ambling around in a nice grassy field...

Not sure I'd call his selection down to arrogance though : reckon they were not quite certain that the pitch would be so useless for pace bowlers not called Bumrah - and they hardly needed a fourth spinner , or to have Axar bat at ten to squeeze in another middle order bat.

One team should've played another seamer the other team picked too many

Unable to follow today's play, but I look at the scorecard to see a jaw-dropping knock of 148* from Pope. No idea how that's happened, but I shall recant my call for him to be dropped. I think he's earned another test...

In all 9 previous innings from Pope in India, he managed to score 154 runs, with a high score of 34. Never showed any sign or indication that he could play in India. Now he has almost doubled that tally in one innings and kept England afloat. The mystery and surprise of sport is why we love it. And that's one of the great England innings.

It's strange, also, that in a match of nearly 1,000 runs, Pope is the only centurion thus far.

Suppose England do have a chance if they scrape together another 80 runs. Get Rehan and Wood to swing for the fences, hopefully get a quick 30 or so from them, and Hartley and Leach can try to hold an end when it's their turn to allow Pope to tick along.

Just finished catching up with the action. General thoughts other than the Pope knock:

- The pitch has certainly slowed down
- England were much smarter with trying to bowl dry this morning
- Crawley and Duckett again batted really well
- Ashwin is such a master at working batters over, it's a joy to watch, the Stokes ball is a beauty
- Bumrah is quietly the best all format bowler of his generation
- Foakes is far more assured against spin
- Rehan batted sensibly for the circumstances considering his inexperience

On Pope's remarkable innings that I frankly didn't think he had in him against quality spin:

- The first 20 or so runs were still very scratch considering what then came. He really is a nervy starter.
- His intercept points either being well back or well forward is the complete opposite of what Pope has done against spin before and really promising to see
- The Dil-scoop x 2 to Jadeja was ridiculous
- His "let's randomly run down the wicket for no real reason" tactic seemed to more sparing and with more reason

Looking forward to this - though of course the batsmen have to start again , new ball is nearly due and it could all unravel quickly : just hoping we see more resistance.

Agree with KC's comments above about the Pope knock. Certainly did start off shakily - though on this occasion more from slightly overdoing the aggression than looking all at sea : but I thought his footwork was markedly better than I've previously seen from him against the spinners - and it just got better as the innings progressed. Couple of miscues late in the day which fell safely (one really should have been caught by Axar) but generally inspired a lot of confidence. If he can get started again today he might well be able to push the score to an interesting level - provided of course the tail can offer similar support to that which they gave Stokes on day one. A breezy forty from Wood would be nice
Hope Leach is feeling closer to optimum health and fitness today

Liking the way these two have started this morning... Plenty of intent , turning over the strike with some brisk singles , Rehan actually the more aggressive so far ...and 22 added in five overs without alarm.

Counterpoint is there hasn't been much in the way of balls misbehaving yet...as defending anything will surely require help from the surface.

Break comes now though...Bumrah draws the edge from Rehan with skilful reverse . Decision to keep going with the old ball vindicated

Was a fine knock by the young player , ended at 28. Lead of 149 as Hartley arrives...

The bad news for England fans is that it seems Leach is going to be seriously handicapped bowling today. Haven't seen him myself but reports of observers that he's not moving too well are a bit concerning. Hopefully he will warm up when batting

Still the old ball. 347/7 after 85 overs and Ashwin replaces Jadeja...

...though in fact Jadeja has just changed ends. India have gone up for stumpings three times already but the batsmen have been keeping their back foot anchored. Think they are getting a bit frustrated- understandably I guess. Field setting allowing singles fairly easily ; Pope has only found the boundary once so far but he's seemingly happy enough to trust his partner and take ones and twos.
Hartley repaying the trust by lofting Ashwin for four ...361/7