India in England/Ireland/Scotland

[zub2005]

India have got the draw, the need to fight hard in this series

 

[irottev]

Well done weather and also India for hanging in there. Bad luck to England, I think they were due something like this though.

Must suck for the players, to put in the effort and come up 1 wicket short.

 

[manee]

India have scraped a draw but this match has revealed many things.

Indian Batting
-Both openers showed that after surviving the early start they can make fifties
-VVS Laxman can fight for innings and yet, his sublime strokeplay remains in tact.
-Ganguly is not a 'bunny' to the short ball but more finds it uncomfortable.
-The big four are not unstoppable but remain at large.
-Dhoni can fight for innings and is not clueless outside India.
-RP Singh has no common sense with the bat and is not a nightwatchman.

Indian Bowling
-Zaheer Khan is a daisy bowler (some days 'e does, some days 'e doesn't) even within a Test match.
-Sreesanth can prove quite ineffective when he bowls too straight and when not bowling full pace.
-RP Singh is very accurate.

England Batting
-The England openers punish anything on the leg side (full, medium or short)
-Vaughan is back in form
-Kevin Pietersen does not like the ball going across him but still punishes most deliveries and is still the biggest batting prospect.
-Prior's form continues.

England Bowling
-Anderson has returned to his 'stress fracture' action and with it an ability to swing the ball both ways at Right Arm Fast pace.
-Sidebottom adds experience to the attack with his inswing bowling
-Tremlett is a changed bowler from a few years ago with a shortened run up, more pace and steeper bouncer
-Monty magic troubles even Indian batsmen.

 

[Sureshot]

Floodlights don't work for Tests. Any time a ground in Australia resorts to the lights, the batsmen will soon be offered the light or, probably more likely, rain strikes (as it did today, mind you). Floodlights aren't very bright compared to the Sun, even through good cloud cover and the dark red ball is simply not suited to low-light conditions.

At lower levels or informally, one might be happy to play until they can barely see (evidently they're trialling this in the World Cup), but at the top level, even though it might be safe to play, it eventually becomes quite unfair.

But if they can produce enough light for ODIs to play Day/Night games then surely they are suitable for Tests?

The rules suck and annoy us, but it won us the 2005 ashes. Fair play to the umpires.

Bad Light > Bradman in my team anyday

 

[AbBh]

Vaughan is back in form

I am not surprised, it was bound to happen against India. I have noticed many times that batsmen who have been out of form, score well against India and regain their form.

 

[Master Khan]

If only There was a rain proof pitch but Still Rain can be good sometime

 

[Sureshot]

Indian Batting
-RP Singh has no common sense with the bat and is not a nightwatchman.

Indian Bowling
-Zaheer Khan is a daisy bowler (some days 'e does, some days 'e doesn't) even within a Test match.

England Batting
-Prior's form continues.

England Bowling
-Anderson has returned to his 'stress fracture' action and with it an ability to swing the ball both ways at Right Arm Fast pace.
-Monty magic troubles even Indian batsmen.

Just pick up on these points....

Point 1) Watching him bat is funny, like watching a tortoise trying to roll over
Point 2) I know what you mean, but I don't think you'd spell it like that. Unless we put a Daisy behind his ear and put Hawaiian dresses on him.
Point 3) It sure does, though his keeping hasn't been as good as at the start, but a vital partnership with KP.
Point 4) He's still bowling with his new action, Manee...
Point 5) Yup, the little Montster keeps on producing, was unlucky not to get Dhoni today.

Ratings:

India

Jaffer - 6.5, it was nearly a 7 but I thought he didn't play the right kind of play at the time required and he could be deemed responsible for the India collapse.
Karthik - 7, good second innings display, I like his style, plenty of work to do, comical piece of 'catching' too.
Dravid - 5.5, two failures from someone who rarely fails in both innings of a test, unlucky second innings though, a gem in the first innings. Captaincy was hard when KP took the game away from India, but showed a stern face when challenged by poor bowling.
Tendulkar - 6, showed signs of getting back into form, didn't quite perform, maybe he will be another legend to fail at Lords.
Ganguly - 6.5, good batting efforts both time around and a wicket with his dibble dobbles, needs to wake up in the field
Laxman - 7, vital role in the 2nd innings to help save the game, a big series for him.
Dhoni - 8, despite a shocking time around in the first innings, he kept well and saved the game for India
Kumble - 6, not an awful game but wasn't that effective and was outbowled by the other spinner in the game (not Vaughan ) will surely have an impact at some point though.
Zaheer Khan - 7, I thought he bowled well and he well throughout the other two tests imo. Could prove to be Mr Consistency.
Sreesanth - 7.5, take out the first 6 overs in the first innings and he was excellent, didn't have the same effect second time around. Needs to find that consistency.
RP Singh - 8.5, bowled well, really well infact. Cause the Man of the Match problems and bowled with fire. Good talent imo, comical batsman though!

England

Strauss - 7.5, the glue of the first innings, not in best form by any means but the more scores he gets the better.
Cook - 5.5, took advantage of loose bowling in the first innings, rare double failure at Lords though.
Vaughan - 7, 109 runs, a good first innings and a decent second one. Captained well but got frustrated by the weather.
KP - 9, simply stunning, his rut of 3 games out of form ends (), deserved MOTM
Colly - 5, has some work to do and points to prove in the next two tests.
Bell - 5, a decent 20 in the first innings, poor shot second time around.
Prior - 6.5, kept well and played a big innings (albeit 40 odd) with KP to help get us in a winning position.
Tremlett - 8, impressive bowling, could be really effective at The Oval. A pair but he is better than that.
Sidebottom - 8.5, I expect him to be consistent this series, and will set a good tone at the start. A classical LFM.
Anderson, - 9, pick of all the bowlers, 4 big wickets first time around, not quite as good second time around, but much more accurate than he was just a few months ago.
Panesar, - 7, bowled well, a bit unlucky to not get a wicket or two more. Could be more effective this series than I thought.

Give me feedback on those ratings, some where borderline ratings.

 

[manee]

You rated Bell a little bit highly (for a 20) and Dravid lowly, ignoring his captaincy which fought well in the face of poor bowling. Dhoni and RP Singh both deserve 8 in my opinion. Dhoni's duck in the first innings really screwed India up and RP Singh's batting was shocking at best. The rest were spot on.

As for Anderson, I see some of the twisting of the old action but there definately is an effort to get a bit more front on and transfer weight towards the batsman, which can only mean good things for accuracy. It is also good he gets the arm nice and high which helps him swing it both ways.

 

[rabeta]

Ratings:

India

Jaffer - 6.5, it was nearly a 7 but I thought he didn't play the right kind of play at the time required and he could be deemed responsible for the India collapse.
Karthik - 7, good second innings display, I like his style, plenty of work to do, comical piece of 'catching' too.
Dravid - 5, two failures from someone who rarely fails in both innings of a test, unlucky second innings though, a gem in the first innings.
Tendulkar - 6, showed signs of getting back into form, didn't quite perform, maybe he will be another legend to fail at Lords.
Ganguly - 6.5, good batting efforts both time around and a wicket with his dibble dobbles, needs to wake up in the field
Laxman - 7, vital role in the 2nd innings to help save the game, a big series for him.
Dhoni - 8.5, despite a shocking time around in the first innings, he kept well and saved the game for India
Kumble - 6, not an awful game but wasn't that effective and was outbowled by the other spinner in the game (not Vaughan ) will surely have an impact at some point though.
Zaheer Khan - 7, I thought he bowled well and he well throughout the other two tests imo. Could prove to be Mr Consistency.
Sreesanth - 7.5, take out the first 6 overs in the first innings and he was excellent, didn't have the same effect second time around. Needs to find that consistency.
RP Singh - 8.5, bowled well, really well infact. Cause the Man of the Match problems and bowled with fire. Good talent imo, comical batsman though!

England

Strauss - 7.5, the glue of the first innings, not in best form by any means but the more scores he gets the better.
Cook - 5.5, took advantage of loose bowling in the first innings, rare double failure at Lords though.
Vaughan - 7, 109 runs, a good first innings and a decent second one. Captained well but got frustrated by the weather.
KP - 9, simply stunning, his rut of 3 games out of form ends (), deserved MOTM
Colly - 5, has some work to do and points to prove in the next two tests.
Bell - 5.5, a decent 20 in the first innings, poor shot second time around.
Prior - 6.5, kept well and played a big innings (albeit 40 odd) with KP to help get us in a winning position.
Tremlett - 8, impressive bowling, could be really effective at The Oval. A pair but he is better than that.
Sidebottom - 8.5, I expect him to be consistent this series, and will set a good tone at the start. A classical LFM.
Anderson, - 9, pick of all the bowlers, 4 big wickets first time around, not quite as good second time around, but much more accurate than he was just a few months ago.
Panesar, - 7, bowled well, a bit unlucky to not get a wicket or two more. Could be more effective this series than I thought.

Give me feedback on those ratings, some where borderline ratings.

Good ratings. However, I think Zaheer Khan bowled better than Sreesanth, he posed the biggest threat imo to our best batsmen, and picked up a number of valuable wickets, picked up more than Sreesanth in this Test Match. I think Vaughan should be 7.5, he batted well, adn looked in good nick, shame he didn't go on though. Tremlett also deserved the same as Sidebottom as well, considering it was his debut, he bowled brilliantly, especially in the first innings, only slightly too short though. His pear shouldn't count against his rating, his bowling was the main worry for me, but he passed this test exquisitely, and showed that he has worked very hard on, his action, run-up, fitness and hunger.

Very annoyed with the result but England can take a lot of heart with this, we bowled very well, and batted capably in the match, bowling is always our main worry though, our batting will come through. However, yet again we show the need for ruthlessness, we lacked it towards the end, this match should have been ours, Dhoni was looking terrible early on, and we should have got him. We missed out on his wicket, and he saved the Test Match.

The 2nd Test is very intriguing now, if England had have one this one, India would not have come back. As it is, the whole thing is wide open.

 

[Sureshot]

I agree with Dravid, Dhoni and Bell. I think I'll leave RP at that though. Even though his batting was terrible, I don't think we should rate him for doing the batsmans job, I was amazed that Kumble wasn't nightwatchman.

 

[evertonfan]

Time to look ahead to the next test. I would really like Broad to play (Hoggard is doubtful for this Test as well remember) but it would be unfair to drop Tremlett. Anderson and Sidebottom should have penciled themselves in for the rest of the series now. Hoggard should come straight back in to the team if fit; If they struggled against Anderson's swing then they'll be clueless against Hoggard's.

 

[rabeta]

You rated Bell a little bit highly (for a 20) and Dravid lowly, ignoring his captaincy which fought well in the face of poor bowling.

I thought Dravid captained poorly, he was very re-active rather than pro-active. A nick would go through 3rd slip for example, next ball, a 3rd slip would move in. This was the difference between Vaughan's captaincy and Dravid's. Albeit, Dravid did get the best out of a slightly weak bowling attack.

Dhoni and RP Singh both deserve 8 in my opinion. Dhoni's duck in the first innings really screwed India up and RP Singh's batting was shocking at best. The rest were spot on.

Good points

 

[Sureshot]

What was Dravid doing with the leg slip to Vaughan (I'm pretty sure it was Vaughan) when his bowler was bowling outside the off stump?

 

[Skater]

Time to look ahead to the next test. I would really like Broad to play (Hoggard is doubtful for this Test as well remember) but it would be unfair to drop Tremlett. Anderson and Sidebottom should have penciled themselves in for the rest of the series now. Hoggard should come straight back in to the team if fit; If they struggled against Anderson's swing then they'll be clueless against Hoggard's.

Well, Matthew Hoggard isn't even in the squad for the 2nd test, his injury is still troubling him.

Andrew Strauss
Alastair Cook
Michael Vaughan
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Ian Bell
Matt Prior
Chris Tremlett
Ryan Sidebottom
Monty Panesar
James Anderson
Stuart Broad

That is the squad for the Trent Bridge game. I would keep it the same as the 1st test, I thought our bowling was very good.

 

[BigCrickNan]

What was Dravid doing with the fly slip to Vaughan (I'm pretty sure it was Vaughan) when his bowler was bowling outside the off stump?

Wasn't that a leg slip? Isn't a fly slip like a third man?