India v England 2008

[.Mob]

Jeez, why can't people just be content with a series win? There was no way even if we had declared going Lunch that we would have won on that pitch.

 

[evertonfan]

Jeez, why can't people just be content with a series win? There was no way even if we had declared going Lunch that we would have won on that pitch.

Yeah i'm surprised with the negative reaction of some of the Indian supporters as well. You'd have all been well pissed off if Dhoni went for the win and lost.

 

[The_gas]

Bell is an annoying cricketer, and no its not just because he is flame haired.

The guy clearly has talent, but he looks like he will never fulfil it.

Its like a regen from football manager who has a high potential ability but because of poor training facilities and a lack of competitive football at a young age he will never reach that potential.

I want to see Shah and Rashid in the side. Time to spice things up and look to the future a bit more.

I also feel dirty for saying this, but Rob Key/joe denly anyone?

 

[evertonfan]

I'd have the fatman because you know hes a real fighter. Plus he's fat. We need more fat cricketers back.

 

[.Mob]

Aye, Rob Key's a legend. Was loving how Croft and he were both owning Colville, althought I like all three guys. All humourous and friendly after all, so no problems.

Colville's reaction to that one email asking for Ian Ward was priceless.

 

[aditya123]

It did turn out to be an absolute farce of a day to end what has been a really successful home season starting from the Bangalore test match.It has been our best year for quite sometime.To England`s credit,bigger crowds turned up at both Mohali and the Chennai test was watched by about 100,000 people over the 5 days.Full credit to the Englishmen for returning to India and of course playing a big part in that classic at Chennai.

India will end the year at No.2 after starting the year at No.2 as well.So life has come a full circle.The whole team has contributed to the side`s success .Four batsmen (Sehwag,Sachin,VVS and Gambhir) scored over 1000 runs this year and that would mostly indicate that the side is having a decent time.Our pacemen were good as well and it may not reflect in their stats but they played a major part by picking up the big wickets at the right times.Harbhajan had a better year and Mishra has been quite a find.

India`s big challenge will be to carry this into the next season and top it up with another successful season.From what I see, we do not have a lot of test cricket lined up next year.So our quest for being No.1 in tests will have to wait.The NZ series is actually quite a while away! What will we fans do till then ? We`ll be starved of cricket Naa, the Aus-SA series will keep us busy.A tour to Pakistan would`ve been good for the side to keep the momentum going.Its a pity that has been called off.Still hoping for some series to be scheduled in the meantime.

Coming back to the English side`s efforts, I still maintain that they have one of the better bowling attacks in world cricket right now(even better than the Aussies).They would still be a handful in England and I would rate them as favorites to win the Ashes back,especially with the Aussies looking like making some big changes.Hayden may retire by the end of this series against SA and their bowling looks far from settled.England would start off as favorites f they sort their batting issues out.

aditya123 added 9 Minutes and 3 Seconds later...

Jeez, why can't people just be content with a series win? There was no way even if we had declared going Lunch that we would have won on that pitch.

There was no way England would have chased down 366 in 2 sessions.Heck,they would not even have chased down 300 in 2 sessions!
It was the attitude that I was disappointed with and not the result.Had we tried to win by going for an early declaration and not place that extra emphasis on personal milestones, I would`ve been satisfied(even if it had ended in a draw).

Mob, this is a side which is trying to reach the top of the world rankings.We must stop thinking and acting like a mid-table side.We must learn to make our victory margins bigger while we are in his winning momentum.
Now that this side has become a top-3 material side, we must think and play like one.These over obsession with hundreds must go and team`s interest must take priority over all that.Indian sides of the past could`ve been happy with things like that but this side must have higher benchmarks.

 

[evertonfan]

Colville's reaction to that one email asking for Ian Ward was priceless.

Lol I missed that. What happened?

 

[aditya123]

Yeah i'm surprised with the negative reaction of some of the Indian supporters as well. You'd have all been well pissed off if Dhoni went for the win and lost.

But the probability of England scoring 300 runs in 2 sessions was as big as that of Anderson scoring a triple hundred...............i.e is quite small.

 

[Deleted member 11215]

My prediction was almost right, we lost, yuvi didnt get hit and pietersen didn't bat. However Ian Bell basically played the best innings ever so ill give myself the benefit out the doubt. Bell's secured his place for the next year, quality player.

 

[Themer]

We really do have to have a look at alternatives to Bell as he is just not good enough.
Serious contenders would have to be:
Shah: Intergral part of the ODI team, great against both spin and pace.
Denly: Decent if not extraordinary record with alot of potential, can open too.
Key: Proven performer at domestic level, did averagely in his forays into the internation team can open aswell.
Samit Patel: Has proven himself over the last few season at Notts, can bowl and is in the ODI squad aswell.
Horton: Has done exceedingly well for Lancashire in the past few season and can open
Vaughan: Modest Test record and former captain but is in no form at all.
Ramprakash: Poor test record is very old now at 38 but has been the king of the domestic circuit constantly for years now.

Can't think of any others but I'm sure there is more I can't remember.

Out of those I think that the two that deserve it most are probably Shah and Horton out of the two I'd plump for Horton I feel he would fit in the squad reall well and although Shah's been knocking on the door for along time I feel that Horton's probably better in First Class cricket.

 

[Will_NA]

This is why 2-Test series are pathetic. If one team win the first, they can bat time the second and kill the contest. 7 ODIs? What's the point?

 

[Leicester Fox]

I think you can add Bopara to that list and he would probably be only behind Shah and Vaughan in the selectors minds.

 

[Sureshot]

We really do have to have a look at alternatives to Bell as he is just not good enough.
Serious contenders would have to be:
Shah: Intergral part of the ODI team, great against both spin and pace.
Denly: Decent if not extraordinary record with alot of potential, can open too.
Key: Proven performer at domestic level, did averagely in his forays into the internation team can open aswell.
Samit Patel: Has proven himself over the last few season at Notts, can bowl and is in the ODI squad aswell.
Horton: Has done exceedingly well for Lancashire in the past few season and can open
Vaughan: Modest Test record and former captain but is in no form at all.
Ramprakash: Poor test record is very old now at 38 but has been the king of the domestic circuit constantly for years now.

Can't think of any others but I'm sure there is more I can't remember.

Out of those I think that the two that deserve it most are probably Shah and Horton out of the two I'd plump for Horton I feel he would fit in the squad reall well and although Shah's been knocking on the door for along time I feel that Horton's probably better in First Class cricket.

Can't consider Denly, Horton or Ramprakash as serious contenders. Latter is too old, and from the times I've seen him Horton doesn't match Bopara, Shah, Patel or Key. Denly needs more time to work on his game. Good talent, not ready for international cricket.

 

[evertonfan]

Paul Horton should easily be in the side but he has the misfortune of not being Ian Bell.

 

[nikhil_99]

One thing i would like to say here,England came after Mumbai blasts so

Thanks to :

1:ECB
2:England Players
3:Cops (Security Police)

Otherwise the series was almost called-off,due to security reasons.