I’ll be really busy over the next few days (bloody work!) so rather than doing individual daily reports I’ll give updates and opinion here. Please add your own insights in the comments section below as the game progresses. Thanks.
Day Four
Well, we’re still fighting hard. It’s not over yet. There’s still a mountain to climb but at least we’re making India work hard. Could we pull off an unlikely draw? Stranger things have happened. Albeit not much stranger.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to watch the first two sessions today so I can’t really comment on England’s battling performance in the field. I’ve heard that Broad and Rashid were excellent, and obviously I’ve seen replays of Ben Stokes’ incredible diving catch, but I can’t provide any insight I’m afraid.
I did, however, watch the enthralling last session. It was test cricket at its best in my opinion. Who cares if the run rate was 1.5 an over (or less at times)? I thought it was gripping stuff.
Massive credit should go to Cook and Hameed. The circumstances enabled them to play their natural games – grim survival – and India looked exasperated at times. Amazingly the pitch still looked relatively ok – it seems ages since Nasser Hussain and others predicted the surface would break up and become a minefield by lunch on day 2 – until Hameed got a risible shooter that trapped him in front. There really was nothing the poor kid could do.
The worry now, of course, is that the surface is spinning naturally. It hasn’t broken up as expected but there’s large patches of rough outside the left handers’ off-stump. We might need to rely on our right handers tomorrow. I’m looking at you Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow.
My concern is that Cook played extremely well initially but really began to struggle in the last hour. He could have been lbw twice, but was saved by umpire’s call on each occasion, and a number of bat / pad chances squeezed just wide of the fielder. If a batsman as skilful and experienced as Cook eventually struggled when the pitch started doing a little more, I don’t hold out much hope for the likes of Duckett.
There’s no doubt that tomorrow is going to be an enormously tense affair. Had Cook survived until the close then I’d be slightly more optimistic about our chances. His demise, off the last ball of the day, was a real kick in the goooglies.
Having said that, although the pitch seems to be getting trickier, it does look easier once batsmen get set. If we can put a couple of decent partnerships together then we might, in the words of Gloria Gaynor, survive.
Day Three
Good news! The game is still going and England haven’t lost yet. Excellent stuff! It’s good to see us showing some fight.
After the last session yesterday, when it looked like the pitch was going to disintegrate and give us no chance at all, I assumed all was lost. However, this morning Stokes and Barstow played out of their skins and proved that England could, and perhaps should, have got closer to India’s 455.
The bottom line is that although the pitch is getting trickier to bat on, and scoring has become very hard indeed, it has held up a lot better than everyone (including me!) expected. Everyone keeps saying those plates between the cracks are about to collapse with catastrophic consequences but it hasn’t quite happened yet. Batting is getting trickier but it’s still technically feasible at this point.
Now for the bad news. I’m afraid we’re still going to lose. All this resistance is probably going to be futile. The best case scenario is that we knock India over cheaply tomorrow morning and end up chasing 350. Hands up who thinks we’ll chase that? History is firmly against us. Ultimately, the fact we have to bat last is going to kick us in the crotch. That bloody toss is still going to play a big part in the outcome of this game.
Having said that, the fact the surface hasn’t completely crumbled yet opens up a whole new can of worms – one which several of our readers have already opened judging by the comments below. Had England showed a bit more fight and skill with the bat on day 2, then we would have reduced the first innings deficit and possibly even given ourselves an outside chance of victory in the 4th innings. In other words we’re firmly into ‘England played crap and someone’s got to take the blame’ territory.
Although I still think the toss has been just as important as England’s poor performance – when India batted on the first day the pitch was very flat, much easier to score on, and had none of the inconsistent bounce we’re seeing now – we can’t ignore Cook’s captaincy in the first innings, which again left a great deal to be desired, any more. What’s more, it’s probably necessary to revisit Joe Root’s running between the wickets and shot selection yesterday. Yes circumstances have conspired against England to a large extent, but we’ve definitely contributed to our own downfall too.
Anyway, it’s time to go back to the future now. What do you see happening tomorrow? My personal opinion is that England are still completely dooooooomed. The doom index has probably moved in our favour for the first time in the match – I’d say we’re now Martin McCague doomed rather than Gary Ballance doomed – but ultimately, when one strips everything back, we’re still doomed.
My best guess is that England will probably end up chasing something around 400 (or more) and I think that’s far, far too many. Having said that, it all depends on this bloody pitch, doesn’t it. I don’t think anyone can predict what’s going to happen there.
To be honest, I can’t remember a surface that has caused more debate and argument. The commentators seem to change their minds about it every five minutes. Ravi The Tracer Bullet amused me the most. When talking to Ian Ward at tea, he kept saying how the pitch looks terrible but its actually good for batting. Then as soon as India lost a couple of quick wickets he backtracked and started talking about how tricky it is.
It’s perhaps unfair to single out Shastri, as Athers’ view has also oscillated dramatically. Last night he seemed to agree that England were ‘doomed’ (yes, he actually used that word!) although he stopped short of saying so explicitly. Then today he seemed to insinuate that batting looked easier. Five minutes later, Nasser Hussain strolls into the commentary box, claims the pitch is now beginning to disintegrate entirely, and suggests that batting is about to become all but impossible. Make up your mind fellas!
It seems to me that the pitch behaves for a couple of overs, so everyone thinks it’s playing ok, but then one shoots through alarmingly and suddenly everyone decides its a minefield again. As always with these things, the truth is probably somewhere in between. Last night I agreed wholeheartedly with Bob Willis that is was a ‘win the toss, win the game’ type surface – the kind that really grinds my gears – but after absorbing today’s evidence I no longer think it’s so clear cut. The contribution from Kohli, for example, has been absolutely crucial to his team’s cause. What a player he is in these conditions.
Having said that, however, I still think batting last is going to be a massive contributing factor to England’s impending demise. Although not many wickets have been taken off balls that misbehaved, it can really play on a batsman’s mind when it’s shooting through at shin high with some regularity. It creates uncertainty and definitely impacts fluency and confidence. I just hope England don’t use the pitch as an excuse. I did that yesterday and it’s somewhat lazy analysis. The bottom line is that England haven’t played well enough either.
Day Two
It’s the hope that kills you. After England’s slightly better morning and early afternoon, in which we managed to dismiss India for a paltry (ahem) 455, you might’ve been fooled into thinking England were still in this test match. We weren’t. Not really anyway. The pitch might have held up slightly better than expected – in other words, it started ragging after tea rather than at lunchtime – but in reality we still had an almighty mountain to climb. What country is mount Everest in again?
No doubt some will say that England still had hope, and that bad batting is the main reason why we’re currently staring into the abyss at 103-5 (still a ridiculous 352 behind!), but I’m in the camp that firmly believes the game was effectively over as soon as India won the toss and batted well yesterday. Why? Because no matter how well a batsman plays on a pitch like this, where it’s already shooting through at shin high on day 2, eventually they’re going to get a ball with their name on it.
So yes, although Root was a complete donut for running out Haseeb, and played a poor shot to hole out in the deep, I fear an extended innings would’ve simply delayed the inevitable. This pitch is just going to get worse and worse. It might not last three or four days, let alone five.
Although it would’ve been nice if we’d shown a bit more gumption, I’ve seen enough cricket to know that the side batting last is generally screwed once the surface starts disintegrating. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that if England had won the toss, and got bowled out for an average total of say 350 at lunch, I would’ve fancied us strongly to win – even with our spinners.
Once bounce becomes erratic, and the ball starts ragging, it’s extremely difficult for even accomplished players of spin to keep a clear head and ride their luck. Batting last becomes an almost insurmountable disadvantage. I don’t like test matches where the toss is all important. This pitch has deteriorated far too quickly for there to be a level playing field.
Now I appreciate that some might think the analysis above does India a disservice, whilst basically excusing England of any culpability; therefore I’m going to give credit and criticism where it’s due. I’ll start with the ball that set the tone of England’s demise: the rip-snorter Shami produced to break Cook’s off-stump in half.
Yes, it was an excellent delivery, and I’ve been very impressed with India’s seamers actually. However, Cook must also take some blame. He doesn’t have the greatest technique (by his own admission) so Alastair is always going to be vulnerable to the moving ball. This delivery moved back into him deliciously but he was stuck on the crease, left a gaping hole between bat and pad, and his bat wasn’t quite perpendicular either.
From that moment on India smelt blood and England were, well, if they weren’t totally ****ed before …
As mentioned earlier, Joe Root also had a bit of a nightmare. Although he played extremely well to make 50 in testing circumstances – and at one point he looked like the only thing standing between England and imminent dooooooom – there was no excuse for the run out. However, I can understand his attempt to hit the spinner over the top. England were going absolutely nowhere at the time and something had to give.
Finally a word, alas, about poor Ben Duckett – whose surname sounds an awful lot like the expletive he muttered as he trudged back to the pavilion. I don’t really understand (a) why he’s planting his front foot outside leg-stump, and (b) why Mark Ramprakash hasn’t sorted this out yet. It seems like a very simple flaw to me.
Anyway, I’d best get back to proper work now. I’ll be back tomorrow with what I expect will be the last daily report of the test match. I fear we’re going to regret our conservatism on day five at Rajkot.
Day One
Things couldn’t have gone much worse today really. Disaster one: the groundsman prepared a pitch that’s tailor made for India’s spinners. Disaster two: we lost the toss. Disaster three: India compiled a mammoth 317-4. Disaster four: said groundsman admits he expects the surface to break up and spin like a top by lunch on the second day. Brilliant. If he’s right we’ve basically lost already.
I guess we’ve got to give Kohli and Pujara enormous credit for rescuing India from Richie Benaud’s favourite score (chew for twenty-chew) but I’m not feeling particularly gracious today. I absolutely hate it when pitches all but decide the outcome of matches, and there’s a good chance that England will be on the receiving end of such an eventuality here.
The silver lining, I guess, is that this surface doesn’t have as much bounce as Rajkot. Maybe the ball will turn but turn slowly? Batsmen hate it when the ball spits at them and wraps the gloves. At least a lack of bounce might enable our batsmen to lunge forward with a little more certainty.
The second positive of the day was the return of Jimmy Anderson who proved, yet again, that good seam bowlers can be quite effective in Indian conditions. Jimmy’s 3-43 was by far the best return of the day. He also had the best economy rate. The next most economical bowler (and the only other wicket taker) was Stuart Broad. Hmmmm.
Unfortunately our spinners bowled a combined 49 overs, 2 maidens, no wickets for 180. I don’t need to tell anyone just how poor that is. Rashid was probably the best of a bad lot, but even he bowled quite a few long-hops from what I saw. I would say they’ll need to perform a lot better in the second innings but at this rate there might not actually be an second Indian innings.
I don’t want to be too critical of our bowlers though because the pitch looked extremely flat from what I saw. It’s just a shame that it looks set to disintegrate at any moment. The soil on the top looks extremely dry and it could end up looking like the surface pictured above. I imagine India’s lower order will all bat in spikes (wink, wink).
As for Kohli and Pujara. Yes, I guess we should say ‘well played’. They’re both class acts in home conditions and they were far too good for us. Thank heavens Chris Woakes was ‘rotated’ and Anderson was able to play. Otherwise the damage would have been even worse.
James Morgan
I think we do have to say “well played” to Kohli and Pujara. India were in trouble when they came together. Kohli over the last 2-3 years has become a class act anywhere (although he’s yet to prove himself in England). I liked Pujara’s attitude after the 2014 tour (where he had poor returns), when he signed with Derbyshire (and later Yorkshire) to give himself practice batting in England.
Unfortunately (and as you say) the spin bowling was poor. There is an expectation that the pitch will disintegrate at some point, but it’s worth remembering that England won their last 6 tests in India after losing the toss.
It’s definitely not looking good, but it’s day 1 of 5. Anything can happen, (gulp!) and let’s hope it turns out ok for us in the end. (See what I did there!) ?
Very good Jenny. Ever considered a career as a cricket blogger? Hopefully the predictions re: the pitch will be proved wrong and it won’t break up until day 4 rather than day 2!
The one hope for England is that a couple of early wickets exposes the India tail and that the tail could be rapped up for say not much more than 50 more bowling them out for say 360 or so. That would bring England into the game. The problem is that it looks like Jimmy and possible Rashid, but no-one else given Broad’s injury, Stokes having been wild and the other two spinners looking rather innocuous.
I can tell you’re unhappy. The groundsman prepared a pitch for spinners and, if we still had Monty and Swann, everything would look different. Sadly, Flowers’ last Ashes put paid to that. Mind you, this is not the first time India have come up with a spinning pitch.
I don’t mind India preparing spinning pitches at all. But I don’t like it when the toss is so crucial. The pitches in Bangladesh turned but they spun from the outset; therefore the team batting first didn’t get such a big advantage.
just maybe england didn’t bowl well, pretty sure Ashwin and Jadeja would have gotten more out of the pitch.
You want a rank turner in India.. it tests yoUr batsmen.. hence the name ‘TEST cricket. Last test was boring as it was pure run fest stats filler.
I’d prefer it spinning on day one though to negate the toss as being crucial.
That’s my point. If India get to bat on a flat pitch, but then England have to bat on a minefield, it’s not a level playing field. I just hope the surface holds together longer than the pundits think.
It is the Indian roulette. The toss decides everything. I too hate such matches where toss decides the result 80% of the time.
yeah that explain why india are so dominant at home when the toss decides the game.
English fans are embarrassing them selves in this test match.
Fella, as anyone here will attest too I’m harsh on team ECB. It’s got too many white ball batters who are over rated and mince meat on anything but a road (let alone inconsistent).. however, Indian fans do my nut in.
This Indian team isn’t anything special as the first test proved when both sides were equal batting wise and both sides were equally crap bowling wise..
Get a grip both sets of fans and rather than BS’ing about your team or players just be honest about each player and team and enjoy he TEST.. it’s supposed to be hard.. it’s test cricket not white ball hit everything fest.
If india win the toss so be it, fight and fight hard.. if all you Cana do is survive then survive for a long while.. again, if you can’t win then don’t lose..
India win at home because they’re a good side who play well in home conditions. Although they’ve won 8 of their last 10 tosses at home (and won lots of those games) they haven’t won purely BECAUSE of those tosses. They’ve played good cricket too.
However, this pitch has not produced a fair game. India might well have beaten England on a pitch that deteriorated more slowly (and they may go on to do so in subsequent games is this series) but this Vizag pitch is an extreme ‘win toss, win game’ surface pure and simple, and I don’t think that’s good for cricket. Although England are inferior to India in these conditions, I really believe we would’ve won this game had we won the toss … even if we’d only posted just over 300 in the first inns.
I think you’re wrong. Hameed looked good for a 50+, root should have got 100, stokes 100, bairstow could have got 50 and Rashid looked good,for a 50
You don’t get that many set batters if it’s a bad pitch . Even that tbh is poor because you want a test 50 to mean something so the potential for nearly half the team to get them isn’t good
Explain to me how in 2012/13 that basically had similar wickets to this that 6 times side losing the toss won in a row or close to a row.
twice England, 4 times india.
mumbai and Kolkata was same as this since I remember England thought india first innings in mumbai was big and already good enough to win.
didn’t turn out like that in the end with england winning with ease.
Prefer it to the first test where it was. Road. Stats booster
Pitch was fine today really, barring one wicket it was all batsmen error that cost
To be honest, as I write, in the afternoon session it doesn’t look too bad right now and England did reasonably well to restrict India to just over 450. That said, we will have to wait until the Indian spinners to come on before we can properly gauge where the game is at. Cook went to a fine nut and it is left to Root and Hameed to try and draw India’s fire for the time being.
Duckett just cleaned up. If he’s going to play, he needs to open as he can’t handle the spinners. Cook should bat 3, he looks knackered. Pitch is a disgrace mind you. We hear all sorts of stuff about “poor pitches” when the bowlers have to slog for 3 or 4 days before anything happens, but this is approaching unplayable by tea on Day 2. A terrible advert for Test cricket.
I’d only just got over fuming at Sir Alastair’s pathetic handling of the new ball/field settings last night, too…
Doesn’t look so clever not going all out for victory in Rajkot now, does it? Who’d have thought that…?
I don’t think ‘hiding’ at the top of the order would help him. India are more than happy to open with Ashwin if necessary. The pitch has definitely started to ‘go’.
Neither do I really. It’s just that the only alternatives are Ballance and Buttler. The former is basically unselectable after Bangladesh and the only case for Buttler seems to be that he’s right handed, not that he’s any better. Ashwin possibly finds it a bit harder to control the new ball too, so it’s the best solution I can come up with! I also think Cook could really do with more than 10 mins between innings.
I suppose Woakes (if fit next Test) for Duckett might work too – makes the batting look lighter but actually it probably isn’t, and with 4 seamers and 3 spinners we might bowl them out for a few less, too. Whole thing is total bugger’s muddle though.
If England had batted first and made 450+ would you feel that the pitch was a “disgrace”? I haven’t seen Duckett’s dismissal but no, he doesn’t seem comfortable against the Indian spinners – but neither did he convince as an opener in Bangladesh (his 50 in Dhaka was seat-of-the-pants stuff). Of the others, Cook got a very good ball, Hameed was run out and Root and Moeen played poor shots. Yes the pitch is wearing, but I’m not sure it accounts for the collapse.
Root has a lot to answer for with regards to today. Firstly running out Hameed, who was looking reasonably comfortable and then playing a ridiculous slog over the top and getting himself out when well set. Therefore you have two wickets that have been self-inflicted.
Then Duckett’s was just down to lack of technique, he was pretty much showing all his stumps as he seemingly has a fault where he steps to leg, probably developed when giving himself room in the limited over formats. Not good.
Hungerpang, re Duckett, he also got out early to spinners in Bangladesh so I don’t think it is so easy as to move him up. I think as others have said that you give the gloves to Buttler, bat him at 7 and then move Bairstow to no.4. I think that is the best that they can do. Re Cook, can you really see him moving to no.3? I can’t.
Re – Duckett, cricinfo’s account of his wicket accords entirely with yours;
Ashwin to Duckett, OUT, cleaned up this time! And in what is already familiar style. It seemed only a matter of time. Duckett standing on leg stump, leaving his stumps exposed, and Ashwin does him like a kipper. Drifted into middle and leg, then gripped enough to turn past the outside edge and into middle stump – which just shows what line Duckett was playing. The Bakerloo, while the ball went down the Piccadilly…
And he’s certainly not a test opener. Had Hameed not been foolishly run out, we might not be having this debate, of course – and it’s a bit early to write off Duckett at 4.
That said, I quite like your Bairstow/Buttler idea, though I’m not sure Buttler’s keeping is any improvement at all on Bairstow’s.
As the ball went past Duckett’s bat, the bat wasn’t straight in an unusual fashion – the toe was closer to his pads than the handle was.
Woakes for Duckett would strengthen the batting. It doesn’t look as though Duckett has a test-match technique either, though I would keep him in the white ball set-up.
Yes. In the same way I think it’s a disgrace when they produce green wickets that give England 3-day victories in England. The wicket in India should hold together long enough to give both sides a decent chance of making 400 first innings. This has broken up almost 2 days too soon to provide a decent contest. It’s supposed to be entertainment. Root and Moeen’s dismissals were the result of panic induced by balls shooting along the floor. Moeen didn’t do much wrong in my view – he was way forward to negate the low bounce and I think it devalues the game when batsmen are given out LBW like that by DRS. That’s not the sort of decision it was introduced for. I love Test cricket and I want it to ebb and flow and slowly evolve towards an exciting finish, like in Rajkot. This game was pretty much decided on the toss of a coin. Shame.
Disagree with you about Moeen’s dismissal HP. There was an even bigger example in the Australia/South Africa series when Steve Smith charged miles down the pitch to Maharaj, played virtually no shot and Aleem Dar gave him out.
Why should batsmen be able to kick away straight balls with impunity? The batsmen have a great big hunk of wood to hit the ball, the bowler beat it and it isn’t much of a spectator sport to watch people scamper a few yards down a pitch and then block a ball with a padded leg! As long as batsmen know they will be given in such circumstances (and they should know it by now), I don’t see what the problem is.
Its always been part of the game against spinners – stay in your crease to avoid being stumped, but risk being given lbw, or get down the track to take the lbw out of the game, but risk being stumped.
Its a classic battle of wits. Giving out marginal lbws when the batsman is 2 yards out of your crease subtracts from the game – and I say this as a spin bowler!
Actually I would note that the impact of DRS has made spin bowling at professional level even MORE dissimilar to the amateur level, where an umpire is no more likely to give an lbw to a spinner as he is to give a batsman out timed out. Its just one of those things that doesn’t happen.
Yes I definitely would. I don’t like it when England win because we’ve had a huge advantage from the toss either. I imagine, for example, that Hazlewood would’ve done to us what Broad did to Australia at Trent Bridge in 2015 had the coin fallen a different way (although maybe not to the same extreme).
I don’t mind turning pitches, and I don’t mind pitches deteriorating over the course of 5 days, but this one has been substandard. India got to bat on a flat pitch and England have started on what’s already playing like a day 4 or 5 surface. It has deteriorated too fast and I don’t think it’s fair.
doubt England would get 450 in this pitch batting first maybe 350 if they bat well.
Indian by any chance?
Neither of these sides are better than the other batting wise really. This Indian team isn’t as good as Indians and their media think and this England team has Some over rated batters too. By Indian legends own admission is crop of players are poor players of spin themselves.
India had pujara and kohli to thank for their big score which England’s cook/root could match. England if anything have hameed who looks better then the rest on either side batting wise.
Difference really is India have 90mph bowlers and accurate spinners. England probably have more devestating spinners in Rashid/ali but they are both less accurate
350 would’ve been enough to win the game given the rapid deterioration in the pitch on day 2.
Rubbish James. Root, stokes, bairstow and Rashid all batted for. A lot of balls which prove the pitch is fine. You’ve just jumped on the pitch bandwagon. Simple truth is a few batters aren’t applying themselves or simply can’t control their instinct to tonk it.
Good knocks from bairstow and stokes, proving that the wicket is fine. Root not running hameed out and not giving his wicket away etc and England could have been not far behind
I did write all that before the Stokes / Bairstow partnership! However I still think the toss has been absolutely vital. And I haven’t jumped on any bandwagon. I very rarely read the mainstream press and form my own opinions. I don’t particularly care what anyone else is saying. Ps there’s an article coming up after this test which discusses white ball techniques etc. It will be right up your street.
Pitch is fine, 400 shouldn’t be a standard score in tests.. it should be a irregular score.. make 50’s and 100’s a special thing. To many bang average batters are scoring big runs on roads
Sure his wicket isn’t perfect but it’s a darn sight better than a road like the first test
Personally I think test cricket would be a lot healthier if 400 was the standard score.
400 plays 370 and then the pitch does things.
400 + in two innings means it’s a road and a stats filler
Don’t agree on that, especially with modern teams batting way down at good rates.
400 means being all out at lunch on the 2nd day and stacks of time left in the test.
You’ve just completed the cycle. Modern teams at a good rate means players who are less technical and more tonk it style (stokes, duckett, hales, Lyth, Roy, buttler, ali)
As we know, they are inconsistent and struggle (they’ll all have good days) when it’s not a road. Hence why if you’re playing on a wicket which does t allow you to just hit through the line you won’t score at that rate
Do you not want to entertained by your sport? I certainly do.
I’m glad the days of 2 an over test cricket have gone.
Tests such as this one have little appeal
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63492.html
Watch white ball then for pure hitting and a for st which is designed to just pound pound pound
So you prefer 2 an over cricket?
Your prejudice appears to have blinded you to the way Stokes (for example) has applied himself to imprint his technique in test cricket.
(And also what the one day game has contributed to the competitiveness of test cricket.)
One day game hasn’t improved TEST cricket. It’s decreased its quality.
White ball quality has dramatically improved though.
Think the fact Stokes and Bairstow are batting easily at the moment shows there nothing wrong with the pitch and that so far England have been shit with the bat and ball.
No way mr Indian.. I agree with you. Pitch is fine as bairstow, root, stokes and Rashid have proved.. simply batting with technique, application and discipline
Tell that to Hameed.
And I thought you were arguing just above that Stokes lacked technique, application and discipline ?
He’s demonstrated he can do it but very inconsistently hence why he’s not a test match top six batter. Remind me of his average again? How many decent innings has he played?? Not many because he’s a flash in the pan player currently.
He has however shown in the odd innings that he can bat properly but sadly does it rarely.. hence the average !
Think you might have jumped the gun on calling out this pitch James. A little bit strange this pitch. Not the traditional Indian pitch nor the modern day bunsen burner. Reminds me of some of the UAE pitches that turn but slow and low. Don’t think pitch became unplayable on the second day like this blog seems to think or that the toss has decided the match. This is the kind of pitch which where runs can dry up with accurate bowling and wickets are purchased. And when you bat you bide your time, defend solidly, rotate the strike and land the big blows when you can. The ball is turning and keeping low but it is so slow that good batsmen can play it off the pitch. Pakistan is particularly adept at this. England and India don’t totally have the skills and/or temperament to bat well on this pitch. The English bowlers were way too inconsistent to build the pressure though. Woakes was missed. I think India would back themselves to win on this pitch regardless of the toss. I’m not so sure about that though. One does get the feeling India is slightly overrated. If England had won the toss and put up 350, the match could have gone either way. India is in the front seat because their bowlers are better but this by no means a pitch where good batsmen can’t put their head down and fight. Its gone be uphill hereonforth but I do expect some fight from the English.
I certainly prefer this pitch to to flat roads like Rajkot where all bowlers are neutralized or the bunsens, where all bowlers can become unplayable.
Now both teams have batted I think we can judge..
80/5 to 255 just shows the pitch is ok and we should have made more.
Cook got a beauty, but Root should feel very sheepish at he not sold HH down the river or gave his wicket away we could be a lot closer to India’s total.
A likely defeat beckons but if we can get a few of the out of form batsmen out cheaply we don’t need to be demoralised. Its a long series.
Start of India’s second innings. Michael Atherton on commentary and I quote ‘It looks a very good pitch still’
Hang on, hang on. There’s a lot of kicking me with the benefit of hindsight here. I’ll quote Ravi Shastri just now: ‘the pitchs looks ugly and I’m amazed it has held together today’. It was playing up last night, when I wrote all the above, and we still have no idea how it will play later in the game. My argument (that the toss was crucial) has not been disproved yet.
All the commentators were saying exactly the same as me last night (Bob Willis said it was a ‘win the pitch, win the game’ surface) and they’re now moderating their views based on what they’ve seen today. I hope I’m afforded the same luxury when I write my report tonight.
Nope.. kick him :)
Paid media aren’t to be believed 99% of the time sadly as they are just saying stuff to drum up interest and usually biased towards England. Take it all with a pinch of spin and salt
“I don’t particularly care what anyone else is saying. ”
“All the commentators were saying exactly the same as me last night (Bob Willis said it was a ‘win the pitch, win the game’ surface) and they’re now moderating their views based on what they’ve seen today.”
;) Chill Wiinston!
Pretty sure all of us have called things wrong in the past and will do so in the future. Its the beauty of test cricket. We can’t let this stop us from making sweeping statements and predictions.
“I hope I’m afforded the same luxury when I write my report tonight.”
From me yes!
And I do agree with you that the toss is important although I don’t see that as a bad thing. Good to great teams learn how to grind out the draw or even transcend the conditions. And put the boot on the throat when things go their way. If the home team loses the toss and the match then egg on its face. An ATG team should make the toss/conditions/home advantage seem irrelevant. This is test cricket and its meant to be bloody tough. Just did not agree with the statement that England would have won for sure if they’d batted first and scored 300 odd. And this Virat Kohli is a lucky bastard to win so many tosses. I hope we get at least one match with a crumbling pitch this series where England get to bat first.
He might be lucky, but he’s also an exceptional batsman.
The team and the batting order need a rejig – Woakes and Buttler in. Ansari and Duckett out. Ball in if Broad is unfit.
Bairstow to bat at 4 and the mightily impressive Stokes to bat at 5. Moeen is one or two spots too high at five. Classy when the going is easy but looks like he could get out any moment under pressure.
The spinners are not good enough to keep things tight but still good enough to take wickets. So never have them on at both ends. Use the four pacers to bowl dry from one end.
Cook, hameed, gubbins/Jennings, root, bairstow, stokes top six. That has less inconsistent batters than currently.
Then you have woakes, ali and the rest at 7+ (if you care about 7+ batting then you’ve probably got to find better players in the top 6!)
That’s what I’d be trying anyway
Sublime stuff from Broad, Anderson and Kohli!
Yep. Was great cricket. Shame the game is one sided as that passage of play was riveting. Kohli a class apart
A real struggle coming for England – but let’s look on the bright side. The Oz selectors have just shown that they are keenly watching the England team and have followed our lead by selecting two out and out T20 bangers in Handscomb and Maddison, aka Hales and Duckett. At least they included Renshaw but poor Kurtis Patterson must wonder if someone is spreading rumours that he plays the odd defensive stroke. The best bat in Oz in the last two seasons and he cannot get a sniff. Woakes and Anderson (if he is still around) will have Handscomb and Maddison for fun next year.
On the England game, I do not see how we can just bat out a full day with the batsmen we still have, most of whom have not got the temperament for a struggle. Our best bet is to go for the win and hope one or two of them come off. A great shame about Hameed and Cook as I would have made the draw favourite if they had got to the end.
And finally…….what on earth was the Woakes comment at the end all about James? He was our best seamer in the first test. It is important that he is back for the third test (and his batting would have greatly improved our chances in tomorrows struggle).
Not sure about that. Root is pure class. Mo came very close to saving a test by batting all day v SL. Stokes & JB are good players and rashid nearly saved a test too.
Just take it in 10 over batches. It’ll be bloody difficult but today showed its not impossible
I agree about Root and I am not saying the others are poor players – just that they are more temperamentally suited to chasing the target than batting out time. I would be especially keen to tell Duckett to play his natural game as his defence to spin has been exposed – but a few blows to the boundary would do him and the team a world of good.
I don’t think Woakes would’ve bowled as well as Anderson did. But don’t get me wrong, I think Woakes is a fantastic cricketer. I would’ve played him ahead of Ansari in this game, but unfortunately I don’t think the selectors would’ve gone that way in a million years.?
All over red rover with 7 wickets down as lunch approaches. It was my fear that things would unravel rather quickly on the last day with an increasingly up and down pitch, and that is what has essentially happened. England played some dumb cricket in the first part of the match at different times, with the perplexing use of Ansari early on as a spinner, the ludicrous lack of slip cordon when using the 2nd new ball at the end of the first day and then Root’s cluster**** to not only run-out Hameed, but then getting himself out with that ludicrous strike over the top.
Utterly predictable conclusion. Lots of criticism flying around in the media but I thought England did pretty well to survive as long as they did. Don’t see any reason to change my view from Day 2 that the pitch was a disgrace. Sure, it didn’t break up quite as soon as I and many others expected, but it became really hard to score from lunchtime on Day 2! From that point we saw about 620 runs in 263 overs/9 sessions, with an Indian win or an implausible draw the only possible outcomes. A really poor advert for the game. I suppose it gave us quite an enjoyable period last night (at least for curmudgeons like me who enjoy a couple of hours of obdurate defence, and it’s great to see how skilled Hameed is at just 19), but the variable bounce was always going to do for batsmen in the end.
Ho hum, onwards and upwards. Duckett and Ansari aren’t good enough and will surely be dropped. No reason they can’t be back if they go off and work hard, like Chris Woakes did. I imagine Buttler will come in and keep even though he has a poor technique against spin and his keeping is inferior to Bairstow’s nowadays. Jonny up to 4 I suppose and Buttler at 7. Shame Broad isn’t going to be fit for Mohali – Woakes will definitely play and my guess is they’ll go for Finn or Ball rather than Batty, who I think might have somehow upset the skipper. Ball would be my pick so it’ll almost certainly be Finn…