India in England Jun-Sept 2014

[SpitfiresKent]

Cook needs to hand over the captaincy to someone else, but who? Personally i'd give it to Broad. There's been talk of Morgan but who'd make way for him?

Also Buttler has to come in for Prior for the next match. Too many dropped catches and not enough runs.

 

[swacker]

Cook needs to hand over the captaincy to someone else, but who?

Wayne Rooney.

 

[used2bcool]

I still believe that presenting India with green seaming tracks is providing us unnecessary help.

Of course, flat tracks is not the solution. The wicket that's likely to get the most consistent results against India is the kind regularly produced in Australia -- hard, bouncy, fast, but offering little lateral movement, no swing, and no spin later. Minimize the skill aspect of bowling and maximize the physical aspect. That's where India will struggle, every time.

 

[Aravind.]

Finally Ishant & India did it.

 

[Shrimper]

Cook needs to hand over the captaincy to someone else, but who? Personally i'd give it to Broad. There's been talk of Morgan but who'd make way for him?

Also Buttler has to come in for Prior for the next match. Too many dropped catches and not enough runs.

Broad needs to be dropped as well.

There's a few players who could benefit from playing some stress free county cricket. Cook, Bell, Prior need to have a few games with Essex, Warwickshire and Sussex. Based on what Cook said after the game I don't expect many changes, maybe one or two bowling ones, but that is it. Even though much more is needed.

 

[SaiSrini]

I think England could be in some trouble here. They cant go back to flat pitches as the one at Trent Bridge received so much flak that the ICC has labelled that pitch as "poor" (rare to see flat pitches being labelled poor, as that's mostly reserved for pitches that behave abnormally in favor of bowlers). India have shown that they can compete and win on green wickets.

Only change I see for India for the third test is, discard Binny and bring in Ashwin. You get a guy who can bowl a lot more overs than Binny. You get a decent slip catcher (thereby reducing the need for the likes of the butter fingered Kohli to stand at slips). You get a batsman who can last longer than Binny when we bat. And we already have three seamers. An additional spinner will strengthen the side in case the wicket offers spin. And if it offers help for seamers, we can also turn to Virat Kohli's part time seamers if the need arises (most often, our three specialist seamers would be more than enough).

 

[Shrimper]

Matt Prior steps away from international duty after latest England defeat - Mirror Online

Prior not going to be at Southampton.

 

[War]

England news : Matt Prior steps aside for the summer | Cricket News | England v India ? Investec Test Series | ESPN Cricinfo

I don't mind if Buttler is picked, but i just feel he needs this season in county cricket to perfect his skills. James Foster would be the perfect stop gap measure.

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Dobell: Hapless England victims of failing system | Cricket News | England v India ? Investec Test Series | ESPN Cricinfo

How else to explain the post-match support for Matt Prior? Prior has undoubtedly been a fine player for England but, after equalling the record for the most byes conceded by an English keeper in a home Test for 80 years, he fell to a pull shot for the second time in the game as obligingly as if providing catching practice.

This is in stark contrast to the criticism of Kevin Pietersen following his dismissals in the Ashes. Whereas Pietersen was labelled selfish, Prior was informed by Alastair Cook that it was "up to him" if he wanted to continue playing. There is more than a sniff of hypocrisy about such inequitable treatment. But whereas "Matty" is one of the boys, Pietersen was an outsider. Merit hardly comes into the equation. The decision to dispense with Pietersen, England's highest runscorer in the Ashes, remember, remains weak and damaging.

It was, after all, in a team meeting in Australia in which the problems with Pietersen came to a head. Pietersen, asked for his opinions on the failings of the team, gave them only to find they were unpalatable to the sensitivities of some of those around him. And in English cricket, rocking the boat is a far worse sin than losing. Nick Compton was dropped as much due to the fact that a coterie of senior players did not like him as anything to do with his form; senior players who did nothing to make new faces feel comfortable and increased their fear of failure.

So it was that few of the current side developed the leadership skills they might have done. They learned long ago that they would progress more smoothly if they kept their mouths shut. The dominance of Andy Flower stunted the development of several in the England dressing room and instead of players learning to think for themselves, the relationship became prescriptive. More like teacher-pupil or parent-child. There is no place for free-thinkers like Pietersen or Compton.

The bull crap gets me so bloody man. This is England's problem in a nutshell UHHHHHHHHHHH!!

 

[s2sschan]

And if it offers help for seamers, we can also turn to Virat Kohli's part time seamers if the need arises (most often, our three specialist seamers would be more than enough).

We need four Seamers on a Green Pitch. What's the point in having two spinners on a GreenTop? Maybe give Varun Aaron a shot.

 

[barmyarmy]

Interesting call by Prior. I actually agree that in an inexperienced squad Foster is probably the best stop-gap. Then again how does Buttler get test experience if we refuse to pick him.

 

[T.J.Hooker]

He has to realise that it's prob the end of his career if someone comes in and succeeds, so he must really be feeling the pressure.

If he was keeping ok I think he'd have stuck it out, but as someone who has always had a question mark over his keeping the pressure when he's not scoring runs must be pretty overwhelming.

 

[SaiSrini]

We need four Seamers on a Green Pitch. What's the point in having two spinners on a GreenTop? Maybe give Varun Aaron a shot.

No no. You are not going to get a consistently green pitch. No ground in England would want a test match to end in 2-3 days and the ECB would also not want it. For that matter, no ground or cricket board in the world would want that. The best that we would see in this series is a pitch like the one that we just played on in Lord's. Pace, bounce and movement initially, good for batting on Days 2 and 3, then some help for spinners.

In such cases, there is absolutely no need to play 4 seamers. Three seamers with 2 spinners who can keep the seamers fresh enough by bowling tight spells would be more than enough.

 

[ferg512]

Is bringing Morgan back to captain a possibility? Had a look at his recent FC scores and he seems to have done decently this season, you're also bringing someone in whos had a lot of experience at international level. Given that their next test series is in like March next year or something, I suppose they may as well give Cook these last three tests but if they do I really don't see much changing in the result.

 

[abhi_jacko]

No no. You are not going to get a consistently green pitch. No ground in England would want a test match to end in 2-3 days and the ECB would also not want it. For that matter, no ground or cricket board in the world would want that. The best that we would see in this series is a pitch like the one that we just played on in Lord's. Pace, bounce and movement initially, good for batting on Days 2 and 3, then some help for spinners.

In such cases, there is absolutely no need to play 4 seamers. Three seamers with 2 spinners who can keep the seamers fresh enough by bowling tight spells would be more than enough.

Given how England capitulated under Ishant's fast, short-pitched deliveries I wouldnt mind playing Varun Aaron just for the pace factor. His pace mixed with helpful conditions could be a game changer

I dont mind Ashwin either for Binny. But he has to bring his recent attacking mode into the game and not the defensive, scared mode we saw in the last few overseas tours. Dhoni needs to back Ashwin like he has backed Ishant because Ashwin can be dangerous if he gains some momentum

Binny ofcourse has to go - not because he failed miserably in his first real test, but simply because Dhoni doesnt trust him enough.

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I would give Dhawan one more chance to string a big score. If he fails again, then might be worth it to give Gambhir a chance

 

[shravi]

I think Ashwin will come in for Binny (Dhoni has hinted at it). I also think Shami may be rested for this test. He looks shot.