International cricket thread

nice bit of green

Been great to have a bit of test cricket on tv early mornings before the day gets going.

VillaMad

nice bit of green wrote: »

Been great to have a bit of test cricket on tv early mornings before the day gets going.

Pakistan and South Africa have a thriller of a last day coming up too with South Africa needed 243 runs with 9 wickets left.

Intriguing day of between India and England. England dominated the first half before Pant and Pujara had an incredible couple of hours, before they both departed. In Pant and Gill, India look to have two future superstars.

England got a huge score but on the downside, it used up a huge chunk of the time in the game. I would think they would bat for a few hours instead of the enforcing the follow-on but anything is possible if the pitch breaks up.

MFPM

India bowled out for 337, decent given they were 74/4 but given England's total it's a poor enough effort Root's, Root's big score the difference. Root rather predictably hasn't enforced the follow on, they lead by 241, they will probably look to add 150 to that lead but will want to do so quickly, could be an exciting last two days.

MFPM

Burns gone first ball to Ashwin!

MFPM

England 116/5 lead is 357, Root will want 400...England have to win this now...

MFPM

If India hold on for a draw Root will get slated for these tactics, little intent by shown by batters.

MFPM

Good bowling performance by Ashwin. India need a highly unlikely 420 to win. England need 10 wickets, 110 overs left in the game.

Gillespy

Ninety overs tomorrow to take nine wickets after Leach removed Rohit. Ball is still hard and they'll get 23 overs with the second new ball. Ishant said they'll be going for the runs tomorrow. I doubt it, you never know though. They have the batsmen to give a right go.

Alistair Cook is a breath of fresh air talking about the declaration. It's unbearable listening to the incessant demands to declare from commentators and pundits. Botham was always bad for that. I know Cook's probably friends with Root and doesn't want to be seen as a hypocrite seeing as he was very conservative in these situations too. He laid out reasons why they might be doing what they did and said tomorrow will show if it was right or wrong.

Strumms

Required run rate is 4.2 an over by my maths.. a stroll in the one day game... not so easy on a day 5 test match pitch with pressure on and defensive fields for 90 or so overs...first hour will be key...

MFPM

India 144/6 at lunch, good bowling by England notably Anderson, I suppose while Kohli is still there India have some faint hope of holding on but it's very unlikely. India has been poor throughout the match, England deserve to win.

Gillespy

Predictably the ranting and raving about the declaration was for nothing. Session and most of an hour to spare.

Complete performance by England. Winning the toss helps but doesn't guarantee anything. Series well setup now. Especially as Kohli looked back to his very best today.

MFPM

[QUOTE=Gillespy;116215836]Predictably the ranting and raving about the declaration was for nothing. Session and most of an hour to spare.

Complete performance by England. Winning the toss helps but doesn't guarantee anything. Series well setup now. Especially as Kohli looked back to his very best today.[/QUOTE]

I think the points are fair enough, no question Root is conservative when it comes to declarations.

MFPM

Easy enough win in the end for England...winning the toss was important and Root's big first innings was critical in giving England the platform for victory - they outperformed India in every department and apart from the messing around the declaration they were comfortably on top. The only positives for India were Ashwin's second innings wickets and Gill looks a real prospect. Kohli's captaincy under a bit of pressure now...They need to bounce back decisively in the next match.

boccy23

Are there highlights of the England game anywhere?

Inquitus

boccy23 wrote: »

Are there highlights of the England game anywhere?

I tried to find Jimmy's over on youtube and no dice, sadly, couldn't find any highlights either....

Royale with Cheese

You can watch highlights on the All4 app, just can't watch live.

Doodah7

Interesting analysis of Jimmy Anderson's epic over on the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/feb/09/jimmy-anderson-over-of-reverse-swing-sorcery-england-india-first-test-cricket

Gillespy

England name 12 man squad for tomorrow. The opposite of not changing a winning team, out go Jimmy, Bess, Jofra and Buttler. Archer is injured and we knew Buttler was leaving. Bess even though he bowls a lot of rubbish has taken 17 wickets at 22 in the three games this year. In come Broad, Ali, Woakes and Stone.

India have Axar Patel fit again and he is expected to replace Nadeem.

axe2grind

Gillespy wrote: »

England name 12 man squad for tomorrow. The opposite of not changing a winning team, out go Jimmy, Bess, Jofra and Buttler. Archer is injured and we knew Buttler was leaving. Bess even though he bowls a lot of rubbish has taken 17 wickets at 22 in the three games this year. In come Broad, Ali, Woakes and Stone.

So who is keeping

Mr. Guappa

axe2grind wrote: »

So who is keeping

Foakes is in as well. Woakes or maybe Stone will miss out.

Gillespy

Foakes I forgot. Really good player. It won't be easy coming in with zero game time for him and Moeen also.

Olly Stone is the closest thing to a like for like replacement for Archer. Woakes will strengthen the batting even more with Broad and Ali in the team now too. His away record bowling isn't that good although has improved. Resting Anderson for him makes little sense with a series there to win. He only bowled 26 overs in the whole game. And there's a good gap between this and the third game.

VillaMad

4 changes is a lot for England. Broad for Anderson was probably made beforehand regardless of the situation but I would expect both to be in the team for the third test as it is a day-night test match.

Moeen Ali must have been bowling well in practice as he hasn't played a game since November and a first class game since September 2019. Unlucky for Dom Bess, but it looks like they said that he was suffering from fatigue of wanting to do well too much and his bowling suffered in the fourth innings on Monday.

Archer is a huge miss and will be difficult to replace whether they go with Stone or Woakes.

Nadeem was poor for India in the first test match and is an easy change for Axal Patel. Will be interesting to see whether they stick with Washington Sundar or opt for Kuldeep.

Looks like there will be a nice crowd at it as well and with England making 4 changes, you would have to tip India in leveling the series. The toss of course will be important in the morning.

Beasty

Gillespy wrote: »

The opposite of not changing a winning team,.

They've 17 tests this year. Rotation has always been part of the plan. Anderson, Broad and Wood were never going to all play together. Wood is expected to play the 3rd test, and Bairstow will be back and depending on what happens over the next few days, is likely to play as a specialist batsman

England are building a core squad - one where they can lose one or two players but (possibly with the exception of Root and Stokes) can bring in players of pretty much equal ability. That is even more important with the current pandemic situation when you have the potential of losing 2 or 3 players while still being expected to/wanting to play scheduled matches

Buttler is being rested but will be back for the T20 series against India, when Root will be getting a break

byronbay2

MFPM wrote: »

Easy enough win in the end for England...winning the toss was important and Root's big first innings was critical in giving England the platform for victory - they outperformed India in every department and apart from the messing around the declaration they were comfortably on top. The only positives for India were Ashwin's second innings wickets and Gill looks a real prospect. Kohli's captaincy under a bit of pressure now...They need to bounce back decisively in the next match.

Most important toss I have seen for a test match in several years. Huge advantage batting first on that pitch but fair dues to Root for taking maximum advantage. For an England batsman to go to India and play like that against the best Indian spinners in their own back yard was hugely impressive. What a batsman he is now!

It's a shame that the toss can be so vital in a test match but it looks like the Chennai pitch will start turning much sooner in the 2nd Test so the toss will not be so important tomorrow morning. India are big favourites (and rightly so) and the spinners will undoubtedly win this test; a draw is VERY unlikely imo! Playing Moeen Ali is a massive risk for England but, either way, I expect India to win convincingly. The only thing stopping me having a massive punt is Root!

MFPM

Interesting first day so far. India in a decent position, despite the early loss of three wickets including Kohli for 0. Rohit batting well, excellent century. Pitch seems a bit of mess I think Ashwin will look forward to playing on it. England may regret resting Anderson particularly in light of Archer's injury.

Adamcp898

Must say I thought that stumping was out

MFPM

Two poor shots by Rohit and Rahane find them back in the dressing room. Fantastic innings by Rohit. England back in the game but I suspect they'll find batting here tougher than they did in the first test.

Beasty

Michael Vaughan was saying the pitch was playing like a day 4. Spinners already dominating. Looks like Root will need another big score to keep England in it, but if he can do that and leave England with any kind of first innings lead they will have a good chance. Not looked at any odds, but a draw must be very unlikely after all that action on day 1.

Gillespy

Pant is the danger man in the morning. To have any chance of this being a contest he needs to be removed asap. India will have plans of only batting once if him and Patel can get a partnership going. England will then need someone to come off like Rohit did. Root must be due a failure, maybe Stokes can do something as special.

Royale with Cheese

Just watching the highlights now. Kohli not walking after being bowled, hilarious.

Actually reminds me of a match vs Leinster 6 in Division 13 or maybe 14 where the keeper was standing right up to the stumps and there were a few clean bowleds with no noise of the ball hitting the stumps, we were convinced he was just whipping the bails off himself. Maybe we were just delusional.