England tour of India (5 Tests)

[wasteyouryouth]

We should've called up Rehan's younger brother

 

[Bevab]

Also it's not even two days into the series.

Once they start using Leach and Root as their primary spinners I expect more competitiveness from the side even if Hartley hasn’t been as abject as yesterday.

 

[Till Valhalla]

For some reason, this series jsut hasn;t captured the fever that usually surrounds a Ind-Aus series. Feels quite drab!

Because it's India England.

 

[Aislabie]

Once they start using Leach and Root as their primary spinners I expect more competitiveness from the side even if Hartley hasn’t been as abject as yesterday.

I wasn't able to watch today. Could anyone who did let me know whether Hartley and Rehan bowled as poorly as their figures?

Update: I have now watched the highlights and it doesn't look good.

 

[Aislabie]

Okay so now that I have at least watched highlights, I do have a couple of thoughts about the England XI and the series as a whole.

Firstly, the England team. Even if pace is not likely to be super effective on these surfaces, it would definitely benefit the spinners to sometimes have a quick at the other end so that the batters have to at least adjust between different bowling styles. It seemed apparent that the Indian batters were easily able to settle into a rhythm as they faced 88 km/h finger spin for hours at a time - with the exception of the 88 km/h wrist spin of Rehan.

Secondly, no-one was really able to hold an end up. Apparently this was at least partly to do with Leach going over on his knee and having a reduced workload as a result (major red flag, hope it's nothing serious), but being able to have somebody like an Anderson or a Robinson just come on and bowl six overs for ten would be quite nice, rather than Rehan or Hartley being liable at any moment to bowl two balls for ten.

Thirdly, holy over rate Batman. Mark Wood was only really visible in the highlights as the most energetic fielder, and yet England still managed to lose overs? Absolutely absurd state of affairs, even if they were having to wait for the ball to come back from the stands pretty often.

Fourthly, India's batters go right forward or they get right back. Some of England's do as well in all fairness, but it does make for a particularly glaring comparison with Ollie Pope being caught on the crease so much.

Fifthly, the presence of genuine all-rounders adds so much to the Indian team. I know that Ben Stokes would be that if his body could still do it, but it can't and we have to get used to thinking of him as a specialist batter. Liam Dawson would have added hugely to this side, and I think that if they can get Brydon Carse in from the Lions then he should also play.

And finally, this is a really excellent Test wicket. It rewards good bowling and it rewards good batting. It also punishes bad bowling and rewards bad batting. I know that many fans and pundits get a lot of grief when they complain about excessively turning pitches, but this is what we have in mind when we are complaining. Really impressed, 10/10 job by this set of ground staff.

If I were England, this is the side I would be looking to put out for the next Test:

1. Zak Crawley
2. Ben Duckett
3. Dan Lawrence - I simply don't trust Pope's game right now.
4. Joe Root
5. Jonny Bairstow
6. Ben Stokes
7. Ben Foakes
8. Mark Wood or Gus Atkinson
9. Jack Leach
10. Jimmy Anderson or Ollie Robinson
11. Shoaib Bashir because he can't do any worse than those already tried

It is proper deckchairs on the Titanic stuff though.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Okay so now that I have at least watched highlights, I do have a couple of thoughts about the England XI and the series as a whole.

Firstly, the England team. Even if pace is not likely to be super effective on these surfaces, it would definitely benefit the spinners to sometimes have a quick at the other end so that the batters have to at least adjust between different bowling styles. It seemed apparent that the Indian batters were easily able to settle into a rhythm as they faced 88 km/h finger spin for hours at a time - with the exception of the 88 km/h wrist spin of Rehan.

Secondly, no-one was really able to hold an end up. Apparently this was at least partly to do with Leach going over on his knee and having a reduced workload as a result (major red flag, hope it's nothing serious), but being able to have somebody like an Anderson or a Robinson just come on and bowl six overs for ten would be quite nice, rather than Rehan or Hartley being liable at any moment to bowl two balls for ten.

Thirdly, holy over rate Batman. Mark Wood was only really visible in the highlights as the most energetic fielder, and yet England still managed to lose overs? Absolutely absurd state of affairs, even if they were having to wait for the ball to come back from the stands pretty often.

Fourthly, India's batters go right forward or they get right back. Some of England's do as well in all fairness, but it does make for a particularly glaring comparison with Ollie Pope being caught on the crease so much.

Fifthly, the presence of genuine all-rounders adds so much to the Indian team. I know that Ben Stokes would be that if his body could still do it, but it can't and we have to get used to thinking of him as a specialist batter. Liam Dawson would have added hugely to this side, and I think that if they can get Brydon Carse in from the Lions then he should also play.

And finally, this is a really excellent Test wicket. It rewards good bowling and it rewards good batting. It also punishes bad bowling and rewards bad batting. I know that many fans and pundits get a lot of grief when they complain about excessively turning pitches, but this is what we have in mind when we are complaining. Really impressed, 10/10 job by this set of ground staff.

If I were England, this is the side I would be looking to put out for the next Test:

1. Zak Crawley
2. Ben Duckett
3. Dan Lawrence - I simply don't trust Pope's game right now.
4. Joe Root
5. Jonny Bairstow
6. Ben Stokes
7. Ben Foakes
8. Mark Wood or Gus Atkinson
9. Jack Leach
10. Jimmy Anderson or Ollie Robinson
11. Shoaib Bashir because he can't do any worse than those already tried

It is proper deckchairs on the Titanic stuff though.

Was always worried with the XI and the lack of someone to tie up an end. Even if Anderson doesn't take wickets I'd back him to bowl 15-20 in a day for 40. Puts more pressure on scoring at the other end. As it has been there's too many bad balls to allow batters to score easily.

At the end of the day Stokes can't really work much in the field when the bowlers can't bowl a consistent line and length.

India have batted very well though. The depth of the side's batting, at home, just makes it so difficult for an away side.

 

[Aislabie]

Was always worried with the XI and the lack of someone to tie up an end. Even if Anderson doesn't take wickets I'd back him to bowl 15-20 in a day for 40. Puts more pressure on scoring at the other end. As it has been there's too many bad balls to allow batters to score easily.

Yeah, definitely.

It's not sexy by any means, but Nathan Lyon bowling 30 overs, one for 70 on day two of a Test match is a huge part of why Australia are such a good side. And Jack Leach is supposed to be England's version of that (which is fine) but he's also being asked to be the main strike bowler. And he's apparently carrying an injury (knee, per BBC and Cricinfo feeds), despite just coming back from an injury. It's not ideal.

At the end of the day Stokes can't really work much in the field when the bowlers can't bowl a consistent line and length.

India have batted very well though. The depth of the side's batting, at home, just makes it so difficult for an away side.

Fully agreed with this as well. For all the armchair analysis I put out, the biggest reason India are winning this game is because they are better at cricket.

 

[Bevab]

Is there a concern over Leach’s fitness record? I don’t think he’s struggled with workload in games when available but he seems to be injured far too often for a spinner or missing games.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Is there a concern over Leach’s fitness record? I don’t think he’s struggled with workload in games when available but he seems to be injured far too often for a spinner or missing games.

He's got a long term health condition which I think has caused him to miss some matches. I think he's just been unlucky with a stress fracture last year and then has picked up a knee injury this match.

 

[Aislabie]

Is there a concern over Leach’s fitness record? I don’t think he’s struggled with workload in games when available but he seems to be injured far too often for a spinner or missing games.

Yeah, honestly I think he's just really unfortunate.

Looking at the reasons he's missed games off the top of my head:

• Banned from bowling until he fixed his action (something that is definitely a risk of happening again if he's been compensating for back stiffness but anyway)
• Concussion after landing on his head while diving for a ball on the boundary
• Sepsis following Crohn's-related complications
• Back stress fracture

And now he's wrenched his knee while diving for a ball on the boundary, but hasn't missed games as a result of it.

Honestly, I think it's really impressive he's missed as little cricket as he has done. The only recurring category of injury is "lands in a crumpled heap after diving on the boundary". Perhaps if England could turn him into a full-time infielder?

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Yeah, honestly I think he's just really unfortunate.

Looking at the reasons he's missed games off the top of my head:

• Banned from bowling until he fixed his action (something that is definitely a risk of happening again if he's been compensating for back stiffness but anyway)
• Concussion after landing on his head while diving for a ball on the boundary
• Sepsis following Crohn's-related complications
• Back stress fracture

And now he's wrenched his knee while diving for a ball on the boundary, but hasn't missed games as a result of it.

Honestly, I think it's really impressive he's missed as little cricket as he has done. The only recurring category of injury is "lands in a crumpled heap after diving on the boundary". Perhaps if England could turn him into a full-time infielder?

Was thinking his fielding could be a consequence of the lack of his limited overs cricket.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Unnecessarily selfish knock comes to an end from Jadeja.

Glad he missed out on his century .

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Early Predictions - Root to take a fifer.

Takes a four Wicket haul and the best England bowler.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Bazball successfully updated for top order players.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Burmah strikes right in the next over after being denied a lbw call which was not taken by India.