The Cricket Thread

[die hard doonhamer]

2 hours ago, FuzzyBear said:

Pant was very lucky with the lbw shout. Very surprised the onfield umpire gave it not out - it just looked plumb. Saved by umpires call on review.

Couldn't get my head round that. The bails aren't included in the area DRS uses to calculate umpires call for hitting, but if it was clipping just the bails it wouldn't be classed as missing. Had the width of the bails been included it would have been out.

 

Anyway, top quality innings from him. England need a miracle.

[Boo Khaki]

Thought Stokes' comment after day 1 pretty much sums up England's problem right now.

"we should have been aiming for 300 on that pitch' or somesuch

Err no... batting first in India on a nothing pitch, you should be batting for two days more or less and making 500-600. 

[peasy23]

Sundar runs out of partners and ends up stranded on 96 as India lose their last 3 wickets for 0 in 5 balls. England start their second innings 160 behind.

[Mark Connolly]

I'm not suggesting shenanigans, but did anyone else find it ridiculous that we got about 10 replays from different angles of the "never a 4", but just one of the stumping where the the keeper was juggling the ball?

[peasy23]

That first test feels a very long time ago now, and as I posted after the second test it was a strange choice to tour India with a weaker team than was available, Sri Lanka was the time to be resting players. Not saying that Burns, Buttler and Moeen would have fared a lot better, but there are a few players who might never play again after this. The Indians have destroyed Bess at this level, and Bairstow must surely have run out of chances now.

[jaggyness]

On Bairstow, the fact he was looking so good in Sri Lanka says a huge amount more about the quality of opposition than his abilities with the bat in red ball.

[Arthur Orton]

4 minutes ago, jaggyness said:

On Bairstow, the fact he was looking so good in Sri Lanka says a huge amount more about the quality of opposition than his abilities with the bat in red ball.

To be honest he didn't even look that good over there and let's be frank Sri Lanka are honking,   he scored 28,29,47 and 35 No.     He has now played 73 tests with an average of 34.  Quite simply he is not good enough to be a top order batsman.  You can get away playing him as a WK option only but Buttler has that role nailed on.

The entire England batting line up is quite simply not good enough excluding Root and Stokes.  There is nobody apart from Root averaging over 40 which in today's climate is pathetic. Stokes average is 37 then the rest are 34 and under.  Even the great hope that is Pope only has 31 and that is after 17 tests so hardly a rookie.

This shower of batsman are quite simply rotten, their technique is awful, they have no plan of how to play on difficult surfaces,  that balloon Bairstow being the perfect example of brainless cricket.  Burns looks like an Octopus at the crease, Sibley is a grafter but incredibly limited, Crawley great knock against Pakistan but one swallow does not make a summer.  Pope seems to be the new Ramprakash, Buttler limited in test matches, Stokes isn't playing his natural game due to the shite around him and this is affecting him, Root can't keep doing it every game and once Root goes the rest topple with the odd exception when Stokes fires.

As for the spinners, deary deary me, Bess is picked because he can bat a bit, maybe get someone who can actually fucing bowl, Leach is bang average and if that's the best they have then fucking hell bring back Derek Underwood who at 75 could bowl better.   The quicks, can't see how much longer Broad/Anderson can keep going.  Wood is injury prone and doesn't have much variation, Archer f**k knows what's going on with him, doesn't seem overly interested in Test match cricket, IPl bound soon I reckon, Stone regularly injured, Woakes well Root just doesn't fancy him.

England are in a right pickle ahead of going to Australia in the winter where the Aussie quicks will demolish this lot of inefective gutless cowards.

[peasy23]

Lawrence seemed to be the only player learning as he went along with his scores getting better thru his 4 innings (9, 26, 46 & 50).

Even taking into account that this was a first trip to India for a lot of the squad, there were a lot of truly dismal performances. Biggest criticism for me is that there seemed to be no clear strategy as to whether to attack or defend against the bowling, and that criticism has to include the coaching staff.

[FuzzyBear]

36 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

To be honest he didn't even look that good over there and let's be frank Sri Lanka are honking,   he scored 28,29,47 and 35 No.     He has now played 73 tests with an average of 34.  Quite simply he is not good enough to be a top order batsman.  You can get away playing him as a WK option only but Buttler has that role nailed on.

The entire England batting line up is quite simply not good enough excluding Root and Stokes.  There is nobody apart from Root averaging over 40 which in today's climate is pathetic. Stokes average is 37 then the rest are 34 and under.  Even the great hope that is Pope only has 31 and that is after 17 tests so hardly a rookie.

This shower of batsman are quite simply rotten, their technique is awful, they have no plan of how to play on difficult surfaces,  that balloon Bairstow being the perfect example of brainless cricket.  Burns looks like an Octopus at the crease, Sibley is a grafter but incredibly limited, Crawley great knock against Pakistan but one swallow does not make a summer.  Pope seems to be the new Ramprakash, Buttler limited in test matches, Stokes isn't playing his natural game due to the shite around him and this is affecting him, Root can't keep doing it every game and once Root goes the rest topple with the odd exception when Stokes fires.

As for the spinners, deary deary me, Bess is picked because he can bat a bit, maybe get someone who can actually fucing bowl, Leach is bang average and if that's the best they have then fucking hell bring back Derek Underwood who at 75 could bowl better.   The quicks, can't see how much longer Broad/Anderson can keep going.  Wood is injury prone and doesn't have much variation, Archer f**k knows what's going on with him, doesn't seem overly interested in Test match cricket, IPl bound soon I reckon, Stone regularly injured, Woakes well Root just doesn't fancy him.

England are in a right pickle ahead of going to Australia in the winter where the Aussie quicks will demolish this lot of inefective gutless cowards.

Aye but apart from that ......

[Moomintroll]

1 hour ago, peasy23 said:

That first test feels a very long time ago now, and as I posted after the second test it was a strange choice to tour India with a weaker team than was available, Sri Lanka was the time to be resting players. Not saying that Burns, Buttler and Moeen would have fared a lot better, but there are a few players who might never play again after this. The Indians have destroyed Bess at this level, and Bairstow must surely have run out of chances now.
 

It just seems that all they are interested in is the T20 World Cup & The Ashes, anything else is low priority & they will take any victory as a bonus.

Tynie has eviscerated the underperformers & the never will bes better than I ever could but even at full strength you would put a lot of money on the Aussies strolling it 4-1 in the winter, the exception being the one time someone supports Root & Stokes with the bat & Broad has one of his wee spells.

They have become almost Windies like in Test Cricket v ODI/T20 but at least they have the excuse that their best players are constantly chasing the T20 money as their base pay for Tests is pitiful in comparison to the big 3.

[peasy23]

It just seems that all they are interested in is the T20 World Cup & The Ashes, anything else is low priority & they will take any victory as a bonus.
Tynie has eviscerated the underperformers & the never will bes better than I ever could but even at full strength you would put a lot of money on the Aussies strolling it 4-1 in the winter, the exception being the one time someone supports Root & Stokes with the bat & Broad has one of his wee spells.
They have become almost Windies like in Test Cricket v ODI/T20 but at least they have the excuse that their best players are constantly chasing the T20 money as their base pay for Tests is pitiful in comparison to the big 3.

We could have the situation for the first NZ test in the summer that players are missing because they are playing in the final of the IPL. The ECB need to back up their talk about how important test cricket is with contracts to match.

[Arthur Orton]

10 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

16 minutes ago, Perkin Flump said:

It just seems that all they are interested in is the T20 World Cup & The Ashes, anything else is low priority & they will take any victory as a bonus.
Tynie has eviscerated the underperformers & the never will bes better than I ever could but even at full strength you would put a lot of money on the Aussies strolling it 4-1 in the winter, the exception being the one time someone supports Root & Stokes with the bat & Broad has one of his wee spells.
They have become almost Windies like in Test Cricket v ODI/T20 but at least they have the excuse that their best players are constantly chasing the T20 money as their base pay for Tests is pitiful in comparison to the big 3.

We could have the situation for the first NZ test in the summer that players are missing because they are playing in the final of the IPL. The ECB need to back up their talk about how important test cricket is with contracts to match.

According to Sangakkarra it is agreed with the ECB that Stokes Archer and Buttler will be staying for full tournament if their team makes it that far.

This will mean that they will miss the NZ tests which is a disgrace.

For an England VC to miss tests for a shitty franchise in another country is appalling.   

I can't see them beating Kiwis this summer or India, never mind the Aussies in winter.

[Moomintroll]

6 minutes ago, peasy23 said:

12 minutes ago, Perkin Flump said:

It just seems that all they are interested in is the T20 World Cup & The Ashes, anything else is low priority & they will take any victory as a bonus.
Tynie has eviscerated the underperformers & the never will bes better than I ever could but even at full strength you would put a lot of money on the Aussies strolling it 4-1 in the winter, the exception being the one time someone supports Root & Stokes with the bat & Broad has one of his wee spells.
They have become almost Windies like in Test Cricket v ODI/T20 but at least they have the excuse that their best players are constantly chasing the T20 money as their base pay for Tests is pitiful in comparison to the big 3.

We could have the situation for the first NZ test in the summer that players are missing because they are playing in the final of the IPL. The ECB need to back up their talk about how important test cricket is with contracts to match.

Agreed, if Rajahstan  & Delhi reach the finals, which I think they will, then you can write off Stokes, Buttler, Archer & Tom Curran. Bairstow & Woakes could also be missing, which in English conditions is a loss & leaves the batting & tail very sparse. 

New Zealand will potentially lose a few as well but they look stronger overall.

[btb]

Congratulations to India in coming from behind to win the Test series 3-1 - excellent exercise in "headology" with that 2nd Test pitch which freaked England right out - must be close run whether England managed as many runs in the last three Tests as the first.

Edited March 6, 2021 by btb

[Moomintroll]

13 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

According to Sangakkarra it is agreed with the ECB that Stokes Archer and Buttler will be staying for full tournament if their team makes it that far.

This will mean that they will miss the NZ tests which is a disgrace.

For an England VC to miss tests for a shitty franchise in another country is appalling.   

I can't see them beating Kiwis this summer or India, never mind the Aussies in winter.

Yes, No Objection Certificates have been issued on both sides. It is shocking but unsurprising, at least Ben Foakes will get some more game time because of it.

[Mark Connolly]

1 hour ago, btb said:

Congratulations to India in coming from behind to win the Test series 3-1 - excellent exercise in "headology" with that 2nd Test pitch which freaked England right out - must be close run whether England managed as many runs in the last three Tests as the first.

They scored 756 in the first Test, then a total of 831 across the remaining 6 innings.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Tynie's Reynard-esque summary of England's test team is absolutely bang on. I assume Root will have to trot out the "no excuses" and "learn lessons" pish after this debacle, doubtless before mentioning the pitches. The spin situation is curious. Surely to f**k there are better spinners than Jack fucking Leach in county cricket? I don't attach much blame to Bess, he's been managed atrociously here. England will probably win the reverse series comfortably and everything will be rosy again, however Australia will indeed go through that line up of utter shitebags like a dose of salts.

Off topic, but I was just remembering the heady days of someone thinking Jason Roy as a test opener was a sensible idea [emoji23]

[Mark Connolly]

26 minutes ago, Day of the Lords said:

Tynie's Reynard-esque summary
 

Wait a minute...

[peasy23]

Tynie's Reynard-esque summary of England's test team is absolutely bang on. I assume Root will have to trot out the "no excuses" and "learn lessons" pish after this debacle, doubtless before mentioning the pitches. The spin situation is curious. Surely to f**k there are better spinners than Jack fucking Leach in county cricket? I don't attach much blame to Bess, he's been managed atrociously here. England will probably win the reverse series comfortably and everything will be rosy again, however Australia will indeed go through that line up of utter shitebags like a dose of salts.

Off topic, but I was just remembering the heady days of someone thinking Jason Roy as a test opener was a sensible idea [emoji23]

To sum up the 4 match series in India for Dom Bess.

First test - Plays in a winning side taking 5 wickets, albeit at a slightly expensive run rate.

Second test - left out as part of the rotation policy to allow Moeen to play.

Between the 2nd and 3rd tests, story breaks that Moeen has asked to return home. It then turns out to be bollocks and that was the point where it had been agreed beforehand that he was to leave the tour, and it was in fact the management who were asking Moeen to stay. Sent a clear message that they preferred Moeen over Bess, with the latter left out of the pink ball test as England go with the expected seamer heavy line up.

Fourth test - Bess is completely shorn of any confidence and can't bowl with any sort of rhythm or consistency, and it gets to the point where Root feels he can't bowl him as he is getting whacked all around the ground.

I don't think Bess is great tbh, but he has been handled dreadfully on this leg of the tour.

[Jimi Shandrix]

A thoroughly enjoyable series which went pretty much as expected. Only surprise for me was that it finished 3-1, not 4-0. This England team will give the Aussies a decent game in the next Ashes series. Both are light years behind this India side. Patel was superb. The greatest compliment you could give him was that Jadeja wasn't missed at all. Pant for me was player of the series. Kohli and Pujara pretty ordinary by their very high standards. As for England, Foakes looked excellent behind the stumps but he didn't really offer what Buttler does with the bat. Both openers must be on a shoogly peg and as for Bairstow, in the test arena, that's got to be that shirley. On to the one dayers, should be fun. Two well matched one day sides.