India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[Adarsh]

To be fair to Collingwood, and giving a bit of credit to Kumble, it was the googly and he got deceived.

 

[RoboRocks]

Well he should look to pick Kumble as he doesn't disguise it too well as he uses his thumb and finger.
Collingwood being a good player of spin and someone who has made runs on the subcontient should be able to pick Kumble's googly.

 

[Almost_Austwick]

I missed those late wickets, thought we were still 2 down. Oh well, hopefully the weather will hold out tomorrow and we can push on to 400 plus.

I think India will be very happy to have England 4 down, lets see how Bell and Prior cope tomorrow.

 

[Adarsh]

Well he should look to pick Kumble as he doesn't disguise it too well as he uses his thumb and finger.
Collingwood being a good player of spin and someone who has made runs on the subcontient should be able to pick Kumble's googly.

His googly is harder to pick than most people think. He gets a lot of wickets from it, and it's not like he bowls it that often. Hussain keeps going on about the fact that there's a gap in his hand. He's got out to Kumble's googly before. Also, it isn't easy to notice a tiny gap from 21 yards away, given that the arm rolls over in less than a second.

 

[Animator!]

It can go either way now. Whoever gets the best of the morning session wil be crucial.

 

[evertonfan]

I can see one of three things happening tomorrow;

Scenario 1;

England get past 500 and declare, effectivley ruling out the chance of a defeat. Meanwhile, India are under pressure to bat well right from the start

Scenario 2;

We only just manage 400 or less and come Saturday the Indians will have lead of more than a 100; England will struggle second time around leaving India a victory target of about 150-200 which they chase succesfully.

Scenario 3;

It rains all day. Practically ruining the chance of a positive outcome for either side.

 

[sohum]

That is ridiculous, Karthik seems to be inable to catch without the gloves and needs to be hidden in the field it seems, not put at backward point.

He only needs to be hidden away when the balls traveling in the air. He's not been that bad, to be honest, but that catch was an absolute, absolute shocker.

One of the few times in my life I've shouted at the screen. He better get a 100 or get him out of the team !!

I didn't shout quite as much as during the ABdV incident. :

But surely this is just an overreaction... right?

India could really do with a 6"6 pace bowler to hit the deck hard.

We could really do with a pace bowler, forget a 6'6" one.

 

[evertonfan]

Knowing England's luck, when Karthik comes into bat he'll be dropped first ball and go on to score 200.

 

[sohum]

I read somewhere that munaf patel had real pace on him once was that true

He was once hyped as the fastest in India just as others like VRV, Nehra, Abid Nabi and many have been hyped. I guess everyone gets excited when someone gets a decent pace at domestic level, but it seems to be all washed out into "line-and-length"-edness by the time they reach international cricket.

Knowing England's luck, when Karthik comes into bat he'll be dropped first ball and go on to score 200.

You have been playing with the future, I know. Your pessimism is fueling England's performance!

Scenario 3;

It rains all day. Practically ruining the chance of a positive outcome for either side.

This is my prediction.

I'm going to take a leaf out of your book and predict that we can rule out an Indian victory. But seriously, if England go on to make 500+, I think we Indians will fail under pressure. I'm pretty certain that by the time we come into bat it will be fairly overcast and Jimmy will have a ball with our opening batsmen. Let's see, though.

 

[evertonfan]

I do have a genuinely bad feeling about this Test match though...

Err...I mean, Come on Jim!

It's down to Bell and Pietersen to build a massive partnership tomorrow. That's unless Sidey hangs around for a bit.

 

[manee]

I can see one of three things happening tomorrow;

Scenario 1;

England get past 500 and declare, effectivley ruling out the chance of a defeat. Meanwhile, India are under pressure to bat well right from the start

Scenario 2;

We only just manage 400 or less and come Saturday the Indians will have lead of more than a 100; England will struggle second time around leaving India a victory target of about 150-200 which they chase succesfully.

Scenario 3;

It rains all day. Practically ruining the chance of a positive outcome for either side.

I could not be more sure that three will occur.

BBC Weather say: Heavy rain
Yahoo Weather say: Heavy rain
Met Office Weather say: Heavy rain starting at 6am and easing up (but not stopping) at night.

 

[sohum]

It's down to Bell and Pietersen to build a massive partnership tomorrow. That's unless Sidey hangs around for a bit.

Sidey to score his first test half-century against India. Bell and Pietersen to strike a century and a fifty respectively and England to declare with 5 wickets down.

I will be offering my services on a pay-by-prediction scheme later this summer.

I could not be more sure that three will occur.

BBC Weather say: Heavy rain
Yahoo Weather say: Heavy rain
Met Office Weather say: Heavy rain starting at 6am and easing up (but not stopping) at night.

Hmm. Time to call my witch doctor contact in London. Speaking of which, anyone remember when one of India's opponents actually accused them of using witch doctors to influence the weather?

 

[evertonfan]

Hey, your not allowed to take the stance of the pessimist; That's my job!

I don't mind if it does rain tomorrow. It'll mean that Sky show a Test match from the last time you guys toured England; Hopefully the one were Vaughan bowled Tendulkar. :laugh

 

[manee]

He was once hyped as the fastest in India just as others like VRV, Nehra, Abid Nabi and many have been hyped. I guess everyone gets excited when someone gets a decent pace at domestic level, but it seems to be all washed out into "line-and-length"-edness by the time they reach international cricket.

The thing is that many have promised pace and they are all still young.

Here is a list of potential pace bowlers...

Abid Nabi is 21 years old and accoring to Nabi when he spoke to Cricinfo touches "140 km per hour regularly in the domestic circuit but I know I lack in discipline".

VRV Singh is 22 (almost 23) and "promises never to compromise on pace" and has hit 90mph in a game against the West Indies in 2006.

Munaf Patel turned 24 just seven days ago and has shown glimpses of pace and the Sky Sports commentary team still appreciates him as India's quickest bowler

Irfan Pathan is 22, see my article on him . He hits mid 80s when on song. He noticed the flaw in his action in the Pakistan tour of 2004 where his pace dropped to 80mph and he says it is now solved, so I remain optimistic.

Shanthakumaran Sreesanth is only 24 and shows he has pace and outswing when in rhythm. In Sri Lanka, he hit 90mph consistantly but sadly he has not been in such rhythm since.

But I am not stupid and know that it is likely that none will become truly quick

 

[sohum]

I don't mind if it does rain tomorrow. It'll mean that Sky show a Test match from the last time you guys toured England; Hopefully the one were Vaughan bowled Tendulkar. :laugh

Star Cricket has been building up Indian viewers' confidence by showing the few matches that we managed to draw/win on our previous tours. They particularly like showing Tendulkar's century at, I think, Nottinghampshire.

The thing is that many have promised pace and they are all still young.

Here is a list of potential pace bowlers...

I think our drought of fast bowlers is based around the fact that we are not healthy enough or strong enough to sustain the actions. While all these bowlers may have the potential to hit high speeds, they have all put in indifferent performances at international level, if given the chance.

Abid Nabi is 21 years old and accoring to Nabi when he spoke to Cricinfo touches "140 km per hour regularly in the domestic circuit but I know I lack in discipline".

140 kph is decent but I think our current crop manage that. I think most fast bowlers around the world who aren't super-accurate have to sustain that sort of speed at the bare minimum. Our fastest bowlers bowl at speeds that first- or second-changers for other teams bowl at!

VRV Singh is 22 (almost 23) and "promises never to compromise on pace" and has hit 90mph in a game against the West Indies in 2006.

VRV has not impressed me at all. For all his pace, he has never really looked like he has the ability to take wickets. Apart from that, he is likely to break a finger or two on his bowling hand sooner or later given the regularity with which he hits the stumps at the umpire's end during his delivery stride.

Munaf Patel turned 24 just seven days ago and has shown glimpses of pace and the Sky Sports commentary team still appreciates him as India's quickest bowler

Munaf Patel was supposed to be a really aggressive and really fast bowler. He was really the first in the list of hyped fast bowlers in the country and accordingly was exported to Mumbai where he would play with a bunch of quality teammates. Since his inception in international cricket, he has seemingly morphed into a line-length and military-medium bowlers. I, of course, hope that this was just due to fitness, but it remains to be seen whether he regains and then gains any sort of threatening speed.

Irfan Pathan is 22, see my article on him . He hits mid 80s when on song. He noticed the flaw in his action in the Pakistan tour of 2004 where his pace dropped to 80mph and he says it is now solved, so I remain optimistic.

During India's last tour in England, where we played the Natwest Challenge (the 3-ODI tournament), it was rumored that Pathan was bowling as fast as he had ever been. The commentary team then was actually surprised at his improvement in speed. But apart from that, Pathan has said many times in the past that his speed is back, his swing is back, etc.

Shanthakumaran Sreesanth is only 24 and shows he has pace and outswing when in rhythm. In Sri Lanka, he hit 90mph consistantly but sadly he has not been in such rhythm since.

Sreesanth is the most promising of the bunch, in my opinion, but he is never going to develop into the fast bowler we want because his primary weapon is swing. If you look at some of the premier fast bowlers--Lee and Akthar, for example--their primary weapon is pace. At their pace, even a little bit of swing is enough to cause problems.

EDIT: Oh and I also updated couch potato with a summary of the day's play. I'm hoping I can make this somewhat of a regular feature given that I still have a month's worth of summer holidays remaining.