England in India

[barmyarmy]

Below strength England attack? You mean below strength England side just because Vaughan and Trescothick are not playing? Well, Cook played well for his 60 and I think he's a great player and he can play spin pretty well. And, if players like Sachin and Laxman failed then what could you expect from Vaughan? I don't think this is a below strength England side at all, they're still strong. All of their main bowlers are playing expect for Jones. Well, Hoggard and other English bowlers also bowled well, so why do they need Jones for? Believe me it's still a very good England team.

It is still a very good England attack but, as the commentators were saying today, it was lacking variety. Not just Simon Jones but both our spinners from the last tour who were actually relatively successful; Ashley Giles and Micheal Vaughan.
The worry for me as an England fan is two-fold. A weakened batting lineup whih was shakey already and can leave us 250/7 on a great pitch batting first and also a bowling attack which tends to overbowl Flintoff and Hoggard because it's short of ideas. If Giles or Jones was playing instead of Blackwell and we had Vaughan in as well it would be a much better balanced and more potent attack imo.

 

[SaiSrini]

But no one expected the English to score runs. Everyone expected India to thrash England. Aussie batsmen are playing ODI completly different and off topic. We are talking about the Indian batsmen failing against a below strength England attack.

Oh come on! What below strength england attack? Flintoff, Harmison and Hoggard all have been the great architects of the Ashes victory! Yes, you missed Simon Jones but these bowlers are much more experienced than Simon Jones is! Regarding spinners, yes you missed Ashley Giles. But you never expected Ashley Giles to make the Indian batsmen break a sweat, did you?

I dont think this is necessarily the below strength England attack!

 

[aussie1st]

Below strength England attack? You mean below strength England side just because Vaughan and Trescothick are not playing? Well, Cook played well for his 60 and I think he's a great player and he can play spin pretty well. And, if players like Sachin and Laxman failed then what could you expect from Vaughan? I don't think this is a below strength England side at all, they're still strong. All of their main bowlers are playing expect for Jones. Well, Hoggard and other English bowlers also bowled well, so why do they need Jones for? Believe me it's still a very good England team.

Forget their batting as batting has been poor from both sides. Jones and Giles () are missing from the Ashes winning lineup. Jones could have ripped through the Indian tail and kept India to below 300. That would have made a huge difference in the match.

 

[Dhoni]

Forget their batting as batting has been poor from both sides. Jones and Giles () are missing from the Ashes winning lineup. Jones could have ripped through the Indian tail and kept India to below 300. That would have made a huge difference in the match.

Come on man! It's easy to say Jones could have ripped through the Indian tail. Now tell me, is Jones better and experienced than Flintoff, Hoggard or Harmison? No, right? Just because he had one great Ashes series and probably ripped through the Aussie Line-up, it doesn't mean he could have done the same in this test. If bowlers like Flintoff, Hoggard, Harmision or Monty couldn't do it so how could Jones have done it. I agree he's a beautiful bowler but you can't expect him to have a great series he had like Ashes all the time. Even the best bowler McGrath fails sometimes.

 

[JamesyJames3]

Come on man! It's easy to say Jones could have ripped through the India tail. Now tell me, is Jones better and experienced than Flintoff, Hoggard or Harmison? No, right? Just because he had one great Ashes series and probably ripped through the Aussie Line-up, it doesn't mean he could have done the same in this test. If bowlers like Flintoff, Hoggard, Harmision or Monty couldn't do it so how could Jones have done it. I agree he's a beautiful bowler but you can't expect him to have s good series like Ashes all the time. Even the best bowler McGrath fails sometimes.

LOL!!! I have never seen a person contradict themselves like this. Take not off what you just said, and go back and correct your posts where you said "The Indians cant fail twice in a match" etc etc!"

 

[barmyarmy]

Come on man! It's easy to say Jones could have ripped through the India tail. Now tell me, is Jones better and experienced than Flintoff, Hoggard or Harmison? No, right? Just because he had one great Ashes series and probably ripped through the Aussie Line-up, it doesn't mean he could have done the same in this test. If bowlers like Flintoff, Hoggard, Harmision or Monty couldn't do it so how could Jones have done it. I agree he's a beautiful bowler but you can't expect him to have a great series he had like Ashes all the time. Even the best bowler McGrath fails sometimes.

To go back to the point I made, it's to do with style of bowling. The attack is better balanced with Jones in it because he can reverse swing it better than anyone else.
Harmison and Flintoff are best on fast, bouncy pitches.

 

[aussie1st]

McGrath is only failing now due to his age.

Jones is one of the most deadly bowlers with reverse swing. It is a proven fact that most of his wickets come in his 2nd or 3rd spell due to the reverse swing.

 

[Dhoni]

McGrath is only failing now due to his age.

Jones is one of the most deadly bowlers with reverse swing. It is a proven fact that most of his wickets come in his 2nd or 3rd spell due to the reverse swing.

Ok! Thank you for your information, sir.

Back to the topic- I'm very excited to watch the Day 4. Hope there will be no rain. Is any PC member in Nagpur and likes to tell how is the current weather there coz I don't trust the forecast anymore as Sai said in his post on previous page that the forecast yesterday was mentioned rain, but actually it didn't. So I hope it?ll be the same. Any information?

 

[siddharth2002]

Hello everybody, been away from this part of PC cause only now something interesting has happened.
I think India has blown it away. They are not good 4th innings chasers, neither defenders so yeah this match is truly over for me or unless English still know ways to batting collapses. (Probably a spicy curry or hot vindaloo can do the job)

 

[SaiSrini]

Ok! Thank you for your information, sir.

Back to the topic- I'm very excited to watch the Day 4. Hope there will be no rain. Is any PC member in Nagpur and likes to tell how is the current weather there coz I don't trust the forecast anymore as Sai said in his post on previous page that the forecast yesterday was mentioned rain, but actually it didn't. So I hope it?ll be the same. Any information?

Well yeah,

I prefer the game to go on for the next two days and even if we lose, that would be much much better than the game getting rain truncated and the England team ending up with a moral victory!

I still wont lose hope like some pessimistic Indian supporters who cling on to history to support their argument that this game is over for India! I would go with Saurav Ganguly who during his captaincy days used history to his advantage (i.e. using it as an inspiration to break it if its against him or to use it to his advantage if its behind him!). History just gives us a picture of what is the most likely thing to happen! It does not say that it will definitely happen!

Hello everybody, been away from this part of PC cause only now something interesting has happened.
I think India has blown it away. They are not good 4th innings chasers, neither defenders so yeah this match is truly over for me or unless English still know ways to batting collapses. (Probably a spicy curry or hot vindaloo can do the job)

We were the first team to successfully chase a total of 400+. We have been the first team after England to win after following on!

 

[Dhoni]

We were the first team to successfully chase a total of 400+. We have been the first team after England to win after following on!

And, we're going to be the first team to bowl England all out for 60+. lolz...

 

[Stephen Bailey]

60+ eh? Well in that case we could make 400...

I'm being picky, ignore me.

 

[siddharth2002]

Well yeah,

I prefer the game to go on for the next two days and even if we lose, that would be much much better than the game getting rain truncated and the England team ending up with a moral victory!

I still wont lose hope like some pessimistic Indian supporters who cling on to history to support their argument that this game is over for India! I would go with Saurav Ganguly who during his captaincy days used history to his advantage (i.e. using it as an inspiration to break it if its against him or to use it to his advantage if its behind him!). History just gives us a picture of what is the most likely thing to happen! It does not say that it will definitely happen!



We were the first team to successfully chase a total of 400+. We have been the first team after England to win after following on!

Laul , I said the same thing in Pak tour but reality is afterall a reality, don't expect Sachin and co. pull-off anything against the likes of Flintoff and Harmison and don't forget Hoggy who is a better bowler on Indian pitches, his first innings exploits demonstrating that.
Had it been Pakistan, I'd have given a second thought that India might chase it but naa, not here I think. At best they might play out a draw thanks to English's knack loosing it all when then real killing moment comes.

 

[SaiSrini]

And, we're going to be the first team to bowl England all out for 60+. lolz...

That sounds a case of being over optimistic!

First, lets see how much of the England lead India are able to eat up! Predicting is going to be tough here!

Laul , I said the same thing in Pak tour but reality is afterall a reality, don't expect Sachin and co. pull-off anything against the likes of Flintoff and Harmison and don't forget Hoggy who is a better bowler on Indian pitches, his first innings exploits demonstrating that.
Had it been Pakistan, I'd have given a second thought that India might chase it but naa, not here I think. At best they might play out a draw thanks to English's knack loosing it all when then real killing moment comes.

Ok man, lets see.

 

[Dhoni]

That sounds a case of being over optimistic!

First, lets see how much of the England lead India are able to eat up! Predicting is going to be tough here!

I think it's going to be first ball duck for Sreesanth.