England in India

[puddleduck]

The majority of fans, in the hierachy, establisment, and players all consider test the pinacle of the game in places like England and Australia that is just a fact Sai. One day cricket is a fun side attraction that often acts as a way of blooding players in international cricket before using them in test cricket. It is why someone like Warne or Lara retires from Odi cricket to try and prolong their test careers. That is what matters to them most. This will never happen to a Sachin or Jayasaria as the odi arena is just as important to them.

I understand it is different in the sub-continent, there is no right or wrong, it is just different. Just because you think Odi cricket is important doesn't mean I have to, my opinions are that is played far too often and has long since been devalued, in my opinion India should have won the Odi series 3-0, after whatever happened in the 4th test decided whether England, India or a draw was the correct result. Englands players would then be on their way home and I would not be on the verge of getting seriously bored of Odis.

 

[newzolt]

Today the manner in which Collingwood played was admirable.
But overall Indians had a better game.
I wonder what is Batty doing in the reserves!Maybe Plunkett can be rested.

 

[SaiSrini]

Today the manner in which Collingwood played was admirable.
But overall Indians had a better game.
I wonder what is Batty doing in the reserves!Maybe Plunkett can be rested.

I didnt watch the latter half of the England innings (right from 115/6 till end). Did the Indians take it too easy till the end? I mean, I felt that 93 by Collingwood was more than what the Indians should have restricted him to and they are capable of restricting him to well below that score!

Complacency can destroy you and I hope Indians stay away from that dreaded disease!

 

[puddleduck]

I wouldn't take it too seriously Sai, it was a good time for India to give their less experienced players a bowl, and considering it was extremely hot and essentially game over, they may as well have conserved energy for the next Odi.

 

[SaiSrini]

I wouldn't take it too seriously Sai, it was a good time for India to give their less experienced players a bowl, and considering it was extremely hot and essentially game over, they may as well have conserved energy for the next Odi.

but from 115/6, winning by just 49 runs looked average to me.. though i dont devalue the win, which is the most comprehensive of the 3 efforts so far this serie!

 

[Bala]

Its highly ironic that England (where their fans care more about tests, or rather should I say only about tests) are the pioneers behind twenty/20 (internationals or not!) whereas countries like India and Pakistan are pretty much satisfied with the ODIs.

 

[puddleduck]

Its highly ironic that England (where their fans care more about tests, or rather should I say only about tests) are the pioneers behind twenty/20 (internationals or not!) whereas countries like India and Pakistan are pretty much satisfied with the ODIs.

The guy behind it is a marketing chap, not even a cricketer or ex-cricketer. As he has himself said, "It is an ends to a means." Ie, it makes counties money therefore they play it.

The success of the format internationally is just a nice extra, but the point of its creation in England was to bring "new fans" into the game. They spent a long time surveying people who do not watch cricket or who do not attend cricket, and came to the conclusion that a game that could fit in after work, with attractions like music and essentially an evening out would attract more of those people to the game and in the process depart with their hard-earned cash. This is all because one day cricket just wasn't appealing enough to people, so there you go

 

[Gyaan_Guru]

ODIs suck, Tests will always be the priority.

Grapes are sour.........
Again, a great match for the Indians.England looked miserable today and in Cochin where its more hot and humid than in Goa things dont look bright for the 'chaps' .By the way,things are going 7-0 is a possibility!

 

[Bala]

The guy behind it is a marketing chap, not even a cricketer or ex-cricketer. As he has himself said, "It is an ends to a means." Ie, it makes counties money therefore they play it.

The success of the format internationally is just a nice extra, but the point of its creation in England was to bring "new fans" into the game. They spent a long time surveying people who do not watch cricket or who do not attend cricket, and came to the conclusion that a game that could fit in after work, with attractions like music and essentially an evening out would attract more of those people to the game and in the process depart with their hard-earned cash. This is all because one day cricket just wasn't appealing enough to people, so there you go

Off Topic: But has Twenty/20 brought in new viewers, like the hardcore football fans who would just do anything for a ticket for the local derby. My friend would even pass up a world cup cricket match to see his favorite team in action (Sheffield United)

 

[puddleduck]

Off Topic: But has Twenty/20 brought in new viewers, like the hardcore football fans who would just do anything for a ticket for the local derby. My friend would even pass up a world cup cricket match to see his favorite team in action (Sheffield United)

Yes matey it has, financially the 20-20 concept in England has been a god-send for most of the counties. The attendances last year increased from the year before, which were good to start with.

They really try to aim it at families and kids, and it has brought in a lot of them. I even took a mate or two that aren't massive cricket fans in the slightest and they loved the evening out had a great laugh.

Taken my younger brother a few times and he loves it too, although he plays a lot of cricket he never really watches it, but being quite young and with a short attention span he loves the 20-20 cricket. Helps that at his age group that is what kids play in England, so nice for him to see professionals playing the same format he plays.

 

[vizard]

Go on India, beat the Poms 6-1, maybe7-0 even.. by all means this hasnt been anywhere near best indian performances , take away 1 brill spell by Harbhan Singh & 2 innings from Yuvraj and Suresh Raina yet you Poms are getting thrashed. England's or sureshot or anyone saying we don't care about ODI's isnt worth an argument, we'll know the truth that fact is they simply aint good enough. Why is Flintoff captaining and bowling his arse off in extreme heat.. Might as well 'expirement' and ask him to put his feet up on Goa beach and drink his sponsor's free beer . And all the talk about 4-5 players missing hmm..well noone has said that Hoggard has to be a drinks-man. You can't complain about missing players when you don't field the ones that are good enough available.

I think our Board has missed a trick here...Imagine the VB series played before the Ashes and England having to play 10 or so ODI's throughout the country, some gruesome double-headers on consecutive days and getting beaten, hammered most of the times.. they woudlve been so demoralised before even playing the 1st Test..

 

[ronny_kingsley]

I am very happy with the selection of Uthapa. I got the feeling Kaif will be saved because of today's display and the fact that Raina is consistent, Yuvraj is also consistent (I mean he looked dangerous at faridabad before he tried to get cute!), Dravid is ever reliable, Pathan bats superbly whenever he comes to No.3, etc. So Kaif can keep working in the rest of the four matches for his form. I feel now India need to work on Kaif and Sehwag and let them play the rest of the games to have them get back to form. Here is my team for the next game

V.Sehwag
R.Utthapa
Md. Kaif
Y.Singh
R.Dravid
S.Raina
MS Dhoni
I Pathan
R Powar
H Singh
M Patel

Would be a great team! Watching Sehwag and Utthapa together will be a delight. Both hard hitters!

There is a saying in Hindi that "Thali Ka Baingan wahi mud jaata hai jaha thali mude"

Same is the case with you mate.You seem to change your sign just every match day depending on who MOM is.

Also may I ask why should Kaif and Sehwag be persisted with and Agarkar dropped even after a good performance ?????

 

[sohum]

I think Gambhir being dropped for Uthappa was slightly unfair. Gambhir did look like getting runs, unlike Sehwag. If they had to change someone, they should have changed Sehwag. I, too, am starting to worry about Sehwag. Earlier he used to at least get into the 30's before getting out. Now he is hardly reaching 20. Hopefully he's got a big innings under his belt this series.

I prefer test cricket, myself, though that may have something to do with India's test revival under Ganguly. Now it's seeming to fall apart, if only slightly, and I don't know what the future will hold for my preference. Fair enough that England are playing highly imbalanced sides, but I still think that they should play the best team they can field. If they are so desperate to find their fifth bowler they might as well play all the bowlers in the squad. And why write off Hoggard as the fifth bowler?

Many cricketers have come to India and had their careers revived. One prime example is Matthew Hayden's tour of 2001.

 

[puddleduck]

They were actually going to play Hoggard but he joined Pietersen on the day of the match as yet more players who were unavailable through fitness reasons lol A lot of Indian fans seem to be getting quite worked up when us English fans talk about our own team. Are we not allowed to discuss the various things going wrong with Englands setup?

If it makes you all feel better none of it changes the fact that India are outplaying England and have deserved to win every Odi. Even if the normal regulars had been fit, or they have picked the team most suited to win these odis instead of experimenting they would most likely still have lost, India are a very good odi side, England even at best are mediocre.

It is because they are mediocre that they desperately need to use the current injury crisis as a time to experiment, if they learn from it, and come the World Cup have a settled team with a couple of backup players with useful experience then it will have been worthwhile. If they don't learn and continue to get thumped, then as an England fan it is a bit on the worrying side

Vizard you asked why Flintoff is not putting his feet up on a beach - that one is easy to answer, if you remember Vaughan and Trescothick both went home, and so instead of returning for the birth of his child Flintoff became England captain, if he was going to be anywhere else other than captaining his country when needed he would be at home with his new baby.

 

[rituraj]

This english team mentality isnt right. After winning ashes, they think all the other series are of zero value. They are just turning up & without any intention of fight or ambition. I will also blame english public, who think that ashes is all imp & other series are useless. Instead of building of ashes success, they are going backwards bigtime.