India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[Animator!]

What a partnership.

Absolutely sensational. After the shambles of our top order, barring a solid, good performance from Collingwood. The two youngest and brightest hopes in English cricket show us what they're made of.

Hopefully this will shove down our selectors, captain and coaches throat that Freddie Flintoff should not in a month of Sunday's be batting above Ravi Bopara or Owais Shah, or even Stuart Broad.

 

[King Pietersen]

Lol, Broad is good but shouldnt be batting above Freddie. Imagine if we had been left with Fred and Broad at the end, we wouldnt have won. Ravi does very very well batting where he does, it shouldnt change.

Fantastic game though, shame that i missed about an hour of England's innings due to a net session. Great result for England though, should win the series now. Get in !!.

 

[irottev]

Thats pathetic really. It really shows India's lack of an aggressive bowler. If they had someone quick and accurate maybe those batsmen wouldn't have made it home. Brous and Bopara with those scores is a bit embarrassing.

I agree with the Flintoff comment. I've never rated his batting. He's never been a genuine all-rounder in my eyes. Always a bowler who can bat a little.

 

[BigCrickNan]

Thats pathetic really. It really shows India's lack of an aggressive bowler. If they had someone quick and accurate maybe those batsmen wouldn't have made it home. Brous and Bopara with those scores is a bit embarrassing.

I agree with the Flintoff comment. I've never rated his batting. He's never been a genuine all-rounder in my eyes. Always a bowler who can bat a little.

Didn't watch him in 2003 then, where he averaged 50 with bat and ball...his bowling came on massively only in 2004.

 

[evertonfan]

Lol...I'm still not happy about that Broad decision though. Plumb in front off Chawla, not given.

We could always play the 'Sreesanth was plumb at Lords' card too you know.

Take rough with the smooth, what goes around comes around etc etc.

Great work from Broad and Bopara. If Flintoff doesn't shape up soon it won't be long before he's batting at 8.

 

[Animator!]

Exactly. Since his comeback, Flintoff has shown absolutely no sign that he can regain the batting form he did show in 2003. With two players progressing as much as Broad and Bopara are why hinder them by continually shoving them down in favour of somebody who cannot buy a run and looks outclassed by the bowling when he's batting?

 

[evertonfan]

It's the typial English mentality though. No one's denying that Flintoff's batting between 2003 and 2004 was world class, but the England staff are sticking him higher up the order on the basis that "he's done it before so he's still capable". He's 29, if he isn't showing that form now then he's not going to show it again. It's exactly the same with Beckham in the football arena. He's clearly past his best yet McLaren lacks the testicular fortitude to just tell him to sod off and stay in America.

I'm in no way comparing Flintoff to Beckham. Flintoff is still one of the best bowlers in the world whereas Beckham is just turd.

 

[Justcrazy]

HAHA what a match! Good win for England... I think this should be 6-1 to England....Great series win for England....should celebrate after the 5th match...no chance for England unless someone plays 3 great last innings for INdia to win the series...

 

[PhilD123]

Fantastic partnership there from Broad and Bopara, the maturity they showed at only 21 and 22 was exceptional. They've both got big futures ahead of them, Broad's back foot drive for four was fantastic!

It was the most nervous I've felt in an England game since listening to the SL game in the world cup. Joe kept telling me that we'd won with like 50 runs left to get, I was having none of it, reminding him that this is England. I only really believed we'd done it when the scores were level!

Yeah, Broad should have been out LBW, but whatever comes around goes around, England will probably have a costly decision go against them later in the series.

On to the Flintoff debate, he's in pretty damn awful nick at the moment, but, I wouldn't bet against him returning to form later in the series. He certainly shouldn't have batted at 6 tonight, should have put Shah ahead of him. I'd still keep Bopara at 8 for a situation like tonight.

Once again, Pete Marron prepares a belter of a pitch and despite the concert ruining the pitch, OT hosts another cracker

 

[evertonfan]

It's not a concert it's a gig! Pop bands do concerts, Indie rock and roll supremos do gigs.

 

[Leggie]

i am so angry at india's bowlers. i mean how can you lose from having england 114-7? simply ridiculous....

 

[Eddie]

i am so angry at india's bowlers. i mean how can you lose from having england 114-7? simply ridiculous....

cos england bat all the way to 9..

and we were 7 down thru our own making..over aggressive throwing wkt away..

once they stopped and actually batted.. they won easily in the end

 

[SaiSrini]

i am so angry at india's bowlers. i mean how can you lose from having england 114-7? simply ridiculous....

The team is low on fitness and doesnt have an inspirational captain. When it was coming down to 36 runs or so, the look in Dravid's face summed it all up. There will be players in the opposition who will fight for their side. If they inch close, doesnt mean you have to express like that. In the end, the body language looked pathetic and the fielding as usual got back to the idiocracy.

India seriously need to find some good players for the ODI's. I was very impressed with what I saw of Rohit Sharma today on the field. Even in the end when England were coasting, he made a great stop and showed his potential. Want to see what he has on offer.

Agarkar's 4 wickets will secure him another game or two. Zaheer's fitness is quite poor. He was struggling on the field in the end. Chawla and Powar bowled superbly today and if they had a total of 20+ more runs, they would have won this match for India. But Powar's fielding cant be discounted. We have to choose - is Powar's bowling that brilliant that we can carry him on the field? Its a pity that we have only RP and Munaf in the fast bowling department. RP had economical figures, but didnt look like getting a wicket at all.

It all looks dangerous right now. But I still wont rule India out of it. I still expect them to fight back. If we can win the next two, we can try to set up a great finish at Lord's. It all depends on the team and our captain. I have never been a fan of Rahul Dravid's captaincy and I am waiting for the day he vacates that chair. He is a great batsman and is losing all the reputation and respect because of his 'not good' captaincy,

Lol...I'm still not happy about that Broad decision though. Plumb in front off Chawla, not given.

What about Sreesanth at Lords? That would have robbed India of a series win. You got to take it in your stride. These bad decisions do not make you a bad team. If you get a bad decision, very soon you are to get a bad decision in your favor in even things out. Our initial reaction would be of anger, but finally this is what counts.

 

[.Mob]

Thats pathetic really. It really shows India's lack of an aggressive bowler. If they had someone quick and accurate maybe those batsmen wouldn't have made it home.

Sreesanth was that aggressive bowler, to be honest.


They were fired up for about 20 mins and when the wicket wouldn't fall, everyone fell into a hunch again, pathetic.

 

[m_vaughan]

It all depends on the team and our captain. I have never been a fan of Rahul Dravid's captaincy and I am waiting for the day he vacates that chair. He is a great batsman and is losing all the reputation and respect because of his 'not good' captaincy,

Although I too am not a big fan of Dravid as captain (never was), I think its a bit too harsh to blame the defeat on him. England showed a lot of character in the end to get the win and full credit to Bopara and Broad.


Btw, what is this I am seeing??.....England are actually winning ODIs.