India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[sohum]

Still a win. Plus, India had higher expectations since they are a better team.

Well if they were a better team then, they are a better team than England now, so to counter evertonfan, this team should be good enough, regardless of how we performed in the World Cup, isn't it?

That said, I don't think India will go in with this squad for the ODI series. And I also think the ODI series will get close: 4-3 or 5-2, imo.

Back on the topic of the deciding test match, the much hyped Indian batting line up who won the game for India (with the aid of Zaheer Khan) will simply have to score runs to bat England out of the test in what will no doubt be a flat Oval pitch.

Has the Oval pitch been traditionally a batsman's paradise? If it isn't, I think it is a large lack of trust in the current squad to get the job done, to prepare a flat track. When does the match start, by the way?

 

[Will_NA]

Well if they were a better team then, they are a better team than England now, so to counter evertonfan, this team should be good enough, regardless of how we performed in the World Cup, isn't it?

That said, I don't think India will go in with this squad for the ODI series. And I also think the ODI series will get close: 4-3 or 5-2, imo.


Has the Oval pitch been traditionally a batsman's paradise? If it isn't, I think it is a large lack of trust in the current squad to get the job done, to prepare a flat track. When does the match start, by the way?

Better team or not, you can be beaten by lesser teams. Windies showed that by beating 4-1. Bangladesh showed that. So, England could beat you.

 

[Sureshot]

That's Prior's problem. He probably doesn't know his role. Cook is the innings builder but what is Prior? Does he get quick 30s and 40s? Or does he bat through and get hundreds?

That's another problem, Cook, what does he do? So far he has looked incredibly uncomfortable.

As others have said Prior has to get the quick start, but if Cook falls and the situation requires taking less risks then so be it. Prior will still score at a fair rate anyway.

 

[sohum]

Better team or not, you can be beaten by lesser teams. Windies showed that by beating 4-1. Bangladesh showed that. So, England could beat you.

Of course you can get beaten by a better team. But Bangladesh cannot beat us in an ODI series composing of 7 games--at this juncture. They may win an odd ODI here and there, but not too many.

West Indies were always a decent ODI side. India were expected to beat them especially after winning almost 20 games chasing, but they just didn't have the luck go with them. After three games, the scoreline could well have been 3-0 to India rather than 1-2. The games were competitive and tight--whereas Bangla games are mostly blowouts.

My conclusion is based on the assumption that the Indian team that wasn't good enough in the 2 real games they played at the World Cup is not good enough against England and your claim that India was better than England. By these two premises (which I may both disagree with), it follows that this Indian team should be good enough against England. However, if England pull off a victory in the ODI series, I don't think it's because they get lucky at beating a better team at least 4 times--it is because they are actually better than they are assumed to be.

 

[Sureshot]

Sureshot

turning the stump mics down, i dont think that should happen. you need to hear these things, it make it entartaining and if some player says he has been sledged racially etc.. you can check the stump mics.

india's odi squad is also to be selected tomorrow i think.

To the viewing/listening public they should be turned down. I have no objections with the match referee having them. I also feel that having stump mics turned up for his makes it harder for the umpires. Because the mics pick up noises from the bat that an umpire won't hear 22 yards away, yet he still get's berated for it. I'm not too fussed about the words coming from the fielders as I trust the players (all teams not just England) to stay within the boundaries.

 

[manee]

To the viewing/listening public they should be turned down. I have no objections with the match referee having them. I also feel that having stump mics turned up for his makes it harder for the umpires. Because the mics pick up noises from the bat that an umpire won't hear 22 yards away, yet he still get's berated for it. I'm not too fussed about the words coming from the fielders as I trust the players (all teams not just England) to stay within the boundaries.

I think that being shown the altercations (as long as not violent) on TV is adequate and that stump mics should perhaps be turned down to the viewing public in the risk of a young child hearing something that he maybe shouldn't.

 

[Sureshot]

Absolutely. I still can't get over "Good ball Gilo!". Nightmares.

 

[evertonfan]

Woah wait a minute, you saw a good ball from Gilo?

 

[Adarsh]

Stump mikes should be turned on during all times, in my opinion, not just when the ball's live. That way, we don't miss out on anything. However the current situation is a good compromise.

 

[Animator!]

Sledging should stay on the field frankly.
It's a fantastic mental element to that game. Years ago players were barraged with abuse about their Mothers/Wives/Kids. It made the game more personal and a bit more testing, now we're complaining about Prior telling Karthik Dhoni would have done something better? Absolute joke.

 

[irottev]

People who say stump mics should be turned off, are the ones saying questionable things. These guys are professionals and I believe, anything they say on the field should be allowed to be heard by the public. If they can't help themselves maybe they need disciplining.

It isn't a problem with teams who play with fairplay and respect.

 

[harishankar]

I agree with Irottev. If sledging is deemed acceptable (a debatable point), then it should be acceptable to the rest of the world too. I don't see the need for censorship here.

The issue is simple: either .a. It's acceptable or .b. It's not acceptable.

Censoring the stump mike is akin to sweeping the issue under the carpet. Let cricketers who want to "sledge" on the field of play be bold enough to accept that their words are indeed broadcast to the rest of the world. Otherwise they're cowards who cannot face up to their own behaviour...

 

[sachinisgod]

Hilarious

I haven't visited the forums for quite a while now, but after reading this hilarious quote couldn't stop myself from sharing it with you all... hope it lightens the debate ...

"What we are striving to do in the 50-over game is have more consistency. We can beat the best on our day but we can also put in some pretty substandard performances and that is what we are looking to do."

cheers

 

[smssia0112]

I am looking in the present. The team you are presently using is the same team that was used in the world cup whereby they didn't do very well.

No we didn't do well. That's very perceptive of you. Shame we got through to the Super 8's though isn't it?

I think that it's fair (and obvious) to say that for starters, it is a different series now, though England certainly performed better than India based on expectations.

But on overall ODI reputation, I wouldn't be discounting India at all. David Graveney is kind of right because as he says, you need consistency. England beat Australia in Australia and based on that they should be capable of matching it with the world, certainly at home. For a 2nd best Test side, they are underperfoming in that aspect as well.

They sorely need a kick in the butt at the moment, certainly it is a very different team to the one that won the Ashes, but it is the current England side now, and it has been going for a year or so now, if they want to be called the 2nd best team they need to start beating the teams below them. Scraping in against India will do nothing to change my view that they are half the side that upset Australia in 2005.

That said, I don't particularly rate India either.

 

[Vcassano]

Cook should be.

One Domestic One-Day hundred does not show he has the ability to score 100's in ODI's.