India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[Adarsh]

RP Singh= Best Nightwatchman ever .

RP Singh to beat Gillispie's record as a nightwatchman ! No? Okay....

This game is evenly balanced now. Great day for India overall. England could have easily made 500. Ganguly and Laxman are key here. It'll be good if Dhoni can smash a few as well. I reckon India may get a lead of about 50.

 

[rabeta]

A typical day for England, a good all rounded performance from them batting wise yesterday, only hampered by the fall of the to quick wickets yesterday. Then, perhaps setting their targets too high, too early, they looking for 500+, they fell well short. Albeit Pietersen fell to a complete jaffer from Khan, the tail did not look determined to hang around. England picked the best bowlers and rightly so, but when you do that you ask that they give their all batting wise, though I am not doubting they tried, they didn't quite look up for the fight, somebody needed to stick with Bell. Sreesanth bowled well to the tail, pitching it up and getting a bit of late swing.

India's innings didn't get off to the greatest of starts, and it was very good to see Anderson in amongst the wickets he bowled very accurately and found that shape that adds to his effectiveness. Swinging the ball both ways, he looks a much improved bowler than he was in Australia, though few players played well out there. Perhaps the real positive though, was with how comfortable he was finding his action, he found some real rhythm and looked the best I have seen him since his action has been modified. Jaffer played well, but too negatively towards the end of the day, blocking will always put you under pressure and that was exactly what he did, well bowled Tremlett though. The delivery that got him shows exactly why Tremlett was picked, bounce, I have a feeling that many a wicket will come in this fashion against the Indians.

Day 3 should be an exiting one, England need to take wickets at regular intervals, but India need a big partnership.

 

[m_vaughan]

It was surely a day belonging to the bowlers. And despite so much talk about the bowling attacks being inexperienced and poor, it was they who took control of play today.

The match is dead even right now. Turning out to be a good test match this. I think Ganguly and Laxman are crucial here. They have played enough cricket to know how to handle such situations.

I too think India will take a first innings lead of about 50 odd, but then I also did say that England would make 500 yesterday and that the game would invariably end in a draw.:

 

[sohum]

As someone mentioned earlier, it is indeed ironic that the rain caused this game to fly open at the seams by giving the pitch a bit of life. This match seems to be evenly poised but I would give the advantage to England. If they can pick up the nightwatchman early tomorrow, I think they could rip us apart in the morning session. I'm of course assuming that the conditions will be overcast, because I do believe rain is predicted for tomorrow?

Overall, it was a good day of test cricket because it was nice to see some quality bowling from bowlers who do not come attached with accolades. I think India played a little negatively but no credit must be taken away from the English bowlers who stuck to their task impressively.

 

[Adarsh]

That's what I don't like about Jaffer. He does well against the new ball, but when it's older he doesn't take advantage. He still plays the same way. He should put away the bad balls but he doesn't do that. India could have easily got 30 more runs at least today.

 

[wolf]

I also have no hope on Dhoni.

Has he changed his batting approach since England toured India, and he played those awful strokes in the last test, one which Monty dropped and the other he caught?

Pleased with England's bowling, first time I have seen Tremlett in action and he looked impressive. Sidebottom bowled well early doors and Anderson took two crucial wickets. And his hair was as beautiful as ever.

Can't believe the inability of our tail to stick around though.

 

[sohum]

That's what I don't like about Jaffer. He does well against the new ball, but when it's older he doesn't take advantage. He still plays the same way. He should put away the bad balls but he doesn't do that. India could have easily got 30 more runs at least today.

Well, I think the gameplan was very simply to close up shop today and play for tomorrow. Sadly for him, it didn't work out too well. Normally, Jaffer does end up improving his scoring rate after having gotten in.

Has he changed his batting approach since England toured India, and he played those awful strokes in the last test, one which Monty dropped and the other he caught?

He has definitely improved his temperament quite a bit and looks to be a much more mature batsman. However, I'm not so much concerned with the way he plays than I am with his technique. I'm not sure if he's got a good enough technique to deal with the moving ball. He plays with a straight bat, which is good, but he also plays with stiff hands, so he would be susceptible to plenty of edges if the ball was bowled in the correct areas.

Oh, and I updated couch potato again. That's twice in two days and I'm hoping I can keep it up!

 

[Sureshot]

Interesting day, never thought we'd have that much play, incredible drainage at Lords though.

Onto the action...,.

The collapse was poor, but everyone knows we have to have our collapse in the summer, tbf though the Indians bowled well today, I wouldn't say any of our batsmen played horrible shots, some iffy ones but nothing that's really deplorable. I thought Prior was a bit unlucky (Note Nasser Hussain saying that was out yet an Indian batsmen was wrapped on the pads, given not out despite hawkeye saying it would've hit the stumps...). Forget Sreesanths first 6 overs and he was the pick of the bowlers.

The Indian innings....

Well it got a good start with Sidebottom getting Karthik and Anderson getting the gigantic wicket of Dravid for 2, with a gem of a delivery. Jaffer and Tendulkar came back welll though, playing solid if not flashing cricket. Anderson got his 2nd wicket of the day and another big one too with the little master gone LBW. Ganguly and Jaffer continued the dogged effort and intent on playing out the days play, but Tremlett got his 1st test wicket with his good bounce certainly proving a factor. I thought his spell at the end of the day was very good.

Tomorrow I expect to see Tremlett around the wicket to Ganguly and Anderson on at the other end. Should be a thriller!

 

[Skater]

It was the most impressive mop-up I had ever seen.

This was the scene at 12:30

They opened up a bit of the outfield and swept the water in

Play started at 1:50 and we still got 5hrs 10mins of play.

 

[wolf]

No the batsmen didn't really play any 'bad shots', but their footwork was a bit iffy don't you think? Like Bell playing away from his body and then dragging on. And they seemed to get their pad in front of their bat a lot.

 

[Sureshot]

Bell wasn't batting under normal conditions though, was he? He was a bit rushed as he had no other batsman left to bat with him.

 

[Vcassano]

That's what I don't like about Jaffer. He does well against the new ball, but when it's older he doesn't take advantage. He still plays the same way. He should put away the bad balls but he doesn't do that. India could have easily got 30 more runs at least today.

This is what I don't understand - Jaffer does pretty well in difficult conditions yet is criticised, Karthik fails to brave the storm (which Jaffer managed to do) and yet there's scant reference to it. This blatant favouritism shows exactly the problem with fans judging selection. Obviously nobody is completely neutral (although I am perfect in judgement , but seriously, see: Cook)but fans often get caught up by the flavour of the month. Incidentally I am not just talking about Indian fans - England too...

 

[rabeta]

This is what I don't understand - Jaffer does pretty well in difficult conditions yet is criticised, Karthik fails to brave the storm (which Jaffer managed to do) and yet there's scant reference to it. This blatant favouritism shows exactly the problem with fans judging selection. Obviously nobody is completely neutral (although I am perfect in judgement , but seriously, see: Cook)but fans often get caught up by the flavour of the month. Incidentally I am not just talking about Indian fans - England too...

I have to agree. To much goes into how runs are scored and not the obvious fact that they were scored, Jaffer should be praised for the fact he got to 50 but then criticized for the way he played towards the end of the day.

 

[Vcassano]

I have to agree. To much goes into how runs are scored and not the obvious fact that they were scored, Jaffer should be praised for the fact he got to 50 but then criticized for the way he played towards the end of the day.

Precisely - runs accrued are always better than potential to get runs. Obviously he can be criticised for getting out but it was not as if he was going berserk and playing and missing every time.

 

[Stephen Bailey]

Most impressed by Tremlett from what I saw, seems to have a bit more about him than he did in the ODI's in Australia. Anderson bowled really well too and looked to be getting the ball through at an impressive pace. Sidebottom very unlucky not to have got a couple more wickets early on. All in all, an impressive effort with the ball.