England in India - Oct to Jan 2012/13

[Auwais]

I know he is way off the radar, but in all this talk of back-up England keepers, i always feel sorry for James Foster. Still the best glovesman in England (and arguably the world) - but due to circumstances and team balance he hasn't been able to be the main glovesman for England.

Hampshire's Bates has really impressed me this season, excellent soft hands for a young lad.

 

[SaiSrini]

I will change both side

Cook - Best England Batsman
Broad - Best England Bowler

Pujara - Best Indian Batsman
Ashwin - Best Indian bowler

As Gangully said that without KP, it will be surely 4-0 but when we come to real prediction it will be 2-1 for India.

What happened to Trott btw? Is he injured or something?

Beating England 4-0 would be a dream, even without KP... But I don't think India can sustain itself to whitewash England like that. I will be happy enough with a 2-1 win or a 2-0 win.

 

[Aalay]

Beating England 4-0 would be a dream, even without KP... But I don't think India can sustain itself to whitewash England like that. I will be happy enough with a 2-1 win or a 2-0 win.

That's what I am saying. I heard Gangully saying that in the studio 2 days ago when he was asked about the england series. He said that without KP, I surely think India has the chance of 4-0. But I still think that India has the tendency of falling down in at least one test in a long test series, no matter which team we are playing against. And yeah, hope we can win by 2-1

 

[War]

Hampshire's Bates has really impressed me this season, excellent soft hands for a young lad.

Yea Bates looked really good in the CB40 final.

 

[spooony]

Wonder how many of those saying Cook will be the top batsman for England have read this Numbers Game : The Numbers Game: England's problems in Asia | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[puddleduck]

I know he is way off the radar, but in all this talk of back-up England keepers, i always feel sorry for James Foster. Still the best glovesman in England (and arguably the world) - but due to circumstances and team balance he hasn't been able to be the main glovesman for England.

Seems somewhat strange when Chris Read has been the county circuits best keeper for about the last 8 years consistently. Especially unfair on Read when you consider his return to the team saw him score his highest test scores and promptly get dropped again haha

 

[SaiSrini]

Hope the curators at Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Mumbai and Kolkata listen to Dhoni's words and prepare the pitch that he wants. With England displaying the kind of technique against spin that they did today in the T20 game, 4-0 would definitely be possible if the curators dish out decent turning tracks where the ball turns quicker and has good bounce for spinners (not the slow turn ones).

And pick three spinners - Ashwin, Ojha and Harbhajan.

 

[War]

Seems somewhat strange when Chris Read has been the county circuits best keeper for about the last 8 years consistently. Especially unfair on Read when you consider his return to the team saw him score his highest test scores and promptly get dropped again haha

Well up to about 2004 i'd agree Read was the best pure glovesman. But when he came back for England circa 2004-2006, he wasn't that outstanding at international level. While his batting was below test standard still.

Foster stepped up better in the last few years and he was really special in the 2009 t20 world cup.

If Flintoff was more consistently fit and thus allowing England to pick him as a # 7 batsman and the 3rd quick in a 4-man attack. Instead of a # 6 batsman and the 4th quick in a 5-man attack, i reckon Foster could have played test batting @ # 8 for England consistently.

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Hope the curators at Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Mumbai and Kolkata listen to Dhoni's words and prepare the pitch that he wants. With England displaying the kind of technique against spin that they did today in the T20 game, 4-0 would definitely be possible if the curators dish out decent turning tracks where the ball turns quicker and has good bounce for spinners (not the slow turn ones).

And pick three spinners - Ashwin, Ojha and Harbhajan.

Oh yea this would be disaster for England if these scenario's happen, especially with no Pietersen in the batting line-up.

England have a lot of work to do.

 

[Aalay]

Hope the curators at Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Mumbai and Kolkata listen to Dhoni's words and prepare the pitch that he wants. With England displaying the kind of technique against spin that they did today in the T20 game, 4-0 would definitely be possible if the curators dish out decent turning tracks where the ball turns quicker and has good bounce for spinners (not the slow turn ones).

And pick three spinners - Ashwin, Ojha and Harbhajan.

Aah that would be so pleasing to watch.

 

[shravi]

Puddleduck's worst nightmare come true- dustbowls .

 

[Haarithan]

Really can't see anything barring the inevitable 4-0 whitewash. Flower to be sacked afterwards.

 

[War]

Really can't see anything barring the inevitable 4-0 whitewash. Flower to be sacked afterwards.

Another inept batting performance in the T20 world cup vs any team that throws spinners vs us, then i think calls a late call up for Pietersen will becoming deafening.

 

[puddleduck]

If England are going with a really young batting lineup, I almost hope India do produce some proper dustbowls so that the whole tour can be a learning experience for them.

@ War

Really? He barely dropped anything, was able to actually take stumpings and scored runs in his last test match against a good Pakistan bowling attack. To say that Foster has been more impressive circa 2008 seems a strange statement when Read has pretty much been the most consistent county wicket keeper with both bat and gloves for almost his entire career. To add, I'm not advocating him being in the England team as his time has passed, but he still outscores just about all keepers.

 

[War]

@ War

Really? He barely dropped anything, was able to actually take stumpings and scored runs in his last test match against a good Pakistan bowling attack. To say that Foster has been more impressive circa 2008 seems a strange statement when Read has pretty much been the most consistent county wicket keeper with both bat and gloves for almost his entire career. To add, I'm not advocating him being in the England team as his time has passed, but he still outscores just about all keepers.

I wasn't criticizing his keeping it was still good as its first stint, but his batting was still below par even though he showed slight improvement in the test vs PAK in 2006. Bad wording from me initially.

His batting still wasn't # 7 quality which at the time was imperative especially with Flintoff batting @ # 6 in those days.

Foster keeping though in 2009 T20 was some of best keeping i'd seen from a glovesman since Ian Healy retired and Jack Russell when Gloucestershire were winning domestic OD titles for fun in the early 2000s.

While although i'm not sure about his batting stats vs Read season by season in recent years. I'd say in my aforementioned scenario, with the keeper as a # 8 batsman in the England test side after 2007, his batting would have been more competent @ international level than Read IMO.

 

[barmyarmy]

Really can't see anything barring the inevitable 4-0 whitewash. Flower to be sacked afterwards.

Flower's job is safe on the basis this is now a "young and emerging" side...