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England are entertaining India for a four test series between possibly the two of the top Test cricket teams at the moment. I'm looking forward to seeing England go against the best.
Of more importance is going to be how UDRS, or the lack of it, may impact the series. It's going to be used for catches, but not for lbws. I guess India really are concerned about Swannie then. :P
First test starts at Lords tomorrow. Looking forward to see if Tendulkar can finally get his name on the board.
Good testing opening day all round until the rain came.
Shame to see Zaheer stopped due to hamstring trouble again, India really need him as their frontline bowler. Shades of McGrath in 2005 almost.
Weather looks better today, here's hoping England can put some decent runs on the board, although 250-300 looks a par score for the innings.
You will be happy with 474, then? Pietersen not out on 202 and England declares on him.
It's been a good few days cricket, looking forward to the final day, hoping England can bowl India out. It's still possible for India to get the remaining runs, but highly unlikely.
Excellent century from Prior after the kind of England collapse that hasn't been seen for a few years.
Talking of the review system not being applicable to LBWs, Tendulkar got something of a reprieve today and Cricinfo saw some slightly scathing comments. As it happens Tendulkar got out not too long afterwards even though Strauss shelled one at slip - a rarity for him. It's hard to believe Sachin has been about the place for twenty years and he has been a key performer almost from his first Test onwards so from a purely altruistic viewpoint it's sad to see him go.
So, one up to England but there's plenty left to come. Broad was looking like a dubious choice after his first-baller in the first innings but he has weighed in with a third of the wickets and a priceless 74 to boot; his stand with Prior was absolutely crucial at the time. Well done all!
Excellent match all round for England. They bowled them out twice on a fairly flat deck and were deserved winners.
I think Strauss should get more plaudits because they were pretty strong declarations to make against, what is supposed to be, the number 1 batting side in the world.
India will say that anything that could go wrong did, but they came in woefully underprepared. But they do have a very good record of bouncing back, so Trent Bridge should be good to watch. Zaheer is really doubtful, so they will need to replace him, but who knows who with....Sreesanth perhaps?
Somehow I think this series is going to have a lot of greentop pitches for the English bowlers and that is likely going to be the deciding factor.
I just UDRS doesn't wind up ruining one of the tests, although it would be highly amusing to see multiple correct LBW decisions turned down against India. The suggested reason they didn't want to use it, is because they play a lot more with the pad given the nature of their home pitches.
Looking forward to tomorrow, although Tremlett may have a hamstring issue, which means Bresnan will play. Not a bad swap if its required.
Second test has started, India winning the toss again and putting England in to bat. They really need to up their over rate though or Dhoni is going to miss the next match.
A couple of early wickets, Cook and Trott looking more fallible than they have done in ages. Looks like being another cracker of a match.
Oh my, England have just posted their third highest score ever (and the only higher scores were both made in matches with no time limit). Shame Cook couldn't quite manage 300 but it's Sehwag who will be feeling sick; he is by a large margin the best batsman ever to be out first ball in both innings of a Test.
Wow, that's a record few will be eager to share. Sehwag's made two 300s and a 290+ - previously only Bradman managed that, and though Bradman had a number of ducks (amazingly) and even at least one first-baller, I don't believe he ever had a pair, still less a "king".
Gooch's 333 in 1990 was the twelfth 300+ in over a hundred years of Tests. Since then there have been twelve more in only 21 years, but none for England. Hanif Mohammed remains the only triple centurion in a second innings, though.
That's probably about as good as it gets to win a test match.
Put the opposition in, bowl them out by end of Day 1, Spend 2 days batting, run up a huge score and bowl them out again in a Day, having the fifth off to relax.
For anyone following TMS, and wanting to play along with Boycott Bingo, here's the card.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/...a32f964aa4.jpg
And finally, England mop up the Indian tale and win the match.
A 4-0 whitewash against the former no.1 team. Two of them won by an innings.
Happy Days indeed.
And quite simply, England beat the shit out of India in this series. Notable was India's collapse in the 2nd innings - needing only about 30 to make England bat again, and with seven wickets still in hand, India still fell eight runs short. That's more the kind of thing England used to be notorious for.
Imma get this printed out :sci:Quote:
Originally posted by CatInASuit
We have the one-off 20-20 match tonight between England and India with Stuart Broad as captain, but the biggest surprise being that Dravid is playing. Class is class, I guess and so much for it being a young man's game.
Sri Lanka have also started their test series against the Aussies in the battle for 4/5th place in the rankings. Should be interesting to see if the Aussies can recover from their Ashes defeat on some tricky pitches.
Wot, Dad's Army? Strange, the oldest batsman makes the higest score, the next oldest makes the next highest and so on down the ages. 8/250. 270, if Hussey stays in.Quote:
Originally posted by CatInASuit
Good 20-20 match last night, India putting down a respectable 160 and then England managing to beat it in the last over.
Nice to see a bit more vibrancy from the Indian team, which bodes well for the ODI series. Should be a little more compelling then the Test series.
ION, Hussey's 90 in the Aus first innings looks to be the major difference between the two sides. Sri Lanka collapsing to 105a.o. with Lyon getting his 5-for. I wonder how many bowlers pick up wickets with their first and last ball in their debut innings.
Looks like Tendulkar is out for the rest of the ODI series with a damaged toe. No 100th 100 in England for him. It's almost becoming bradmanesque.
A close-run thing today! India were in terrible shape to begin with, rallied to post a respectable total, England hurried out of the blocks then were pegged back, and finally Swann and Broad finished the job with just over an over to spare. Good to see India make a fight of it, and also England hold their nerve in a crisis. The one-day series cannot be lost now.
And England take the ODI series in bizarre fashion - with seven balls to go, ten runs behind and two wickets to fall, play is rained out. If only Bopara had taken a single off his last ball instead of being caught on the boundary. Still, two up with one to play means England have won it.
That really was one of the more "interesting" ways to end an ODI. Somehow I think a tie was the right result as well, as momentum had swung both ways. A couple of boundaries and England wins, a couple of wickets and India wins. In fact, the rain won.
In some ways I feel sorry for India, that's the second time the rain has played a part when they looked good for the win. Maybe, they will win the last one to gain some pride back. Of course, it does bear remembering that India are above England in the ODI rankings.
England's new boy Bairstow chips in with 41 at nearly two runs a ball and that's India sent home without a win against England in any form of cricket all tour. A splendid display by the host country!
A good way to end the tour indeed, winning the Tests, 20-20 and the ODIs.
Looks like there is a lot of upcoming compettion for places in the England squad. A lot of people are not going to want to get injured as it could be a while before they get their place back.