Cricket fred

[Galfon]

Really need India to fold now - much better from Eng. today.

[fivepointer]

Good fighting cricket from us so far today. Bowlers have brought us back into the game. Things very finely poised at tea.

[Galfon]

Pants.

[Banquo]

screwed the pooch in this session

[Digby]

amusing though we dropped a bowler to be in this position. and I get they like Bess, but it is weird he's learning to bowl length at this level, still

[Banquo]

amusing though we dropped a bowler to be in this position. and I get they like Bess, but it is weird he's learning to bowl length at this level, still

yes, we appear to have got our selections utterly a about f between tests 3 and 4.

[Digby]

if you're going to feck it up it's at least funnier to do it with such aplomb. though I doubt Jimmy sees the funny side at pissing the chance of a series win away in India up the wall

[Galfon]

Some poor choices so far, with expected consequences...3 doon & last chance saloon (Root/Stokes) fast tracked.
An innings defeat would top things off not-nicely..
** u/d: Stokes gone too now - send for the spin-doctor quick.

[Big D]

Apparently India over the last few years is harder to tour than the WIndies was at their peak. Bairstow now has 6 ducks from his last 9 innings v India . Both according to the Andy Zaltzman on the BBC.

We know England are shite against spin, I don't think there will be many changes for the summer.

[Digby]

Interesting thing for the summer is both sides have strong seam attacks. We might be in it for the draw!

[Banquo]

piss poor

[Digby]

perhaps piss poor, but between them across 2 innings our top 4 batsmen are nearly coming up on 100 runs, and a century is seen as a good thing

[Digby]

there's quite a lot that hasn't worked, but when your top order can't score any runs it's like trying to win a rugby game by giving away 6-10 pointless penalties. it might work, but you're going to need a weirdly compliant opposition

[Banquo]

there's quite a lot that hasn't worked, but when your top order can't score any runs it's like trying to win a rugby game by giving away 6-10 pointless penalties. it might work, but you're going to need a weirdly compliant opposition

poor batting possibly not a surprise given virtually no exposure to top class spin in county cricket on turners- there are at least a couple of good players of spin, but bar Roots double ton, they haven't showed up. Selection and the bubble rotation have exaggerated the issues though; the first innings was spineless tbh, and our selection allowed them to get away from 145-6.

All that said, not sure we really had enough in our locker for those conditions anyway.

[Banquo]

Misery over.

As said, the likes of Anderson will be hacked off. He's probably the only England player who can look back at the series with no personal regrets.

Its worth reflecting that we were stuffed with Kohli misfiring with the bat. Patel and Ashwin's returns in a 4 match series are phenomenal.

[Lizard]

Can you just make sure that Lord’s is a belting seamer whenever we get to play the final?

[fivepointer]

Pretty dreadful collapse after a good 1st test.
Demanding conditions and good opposition, but our inability to build partnerships with the bat and exert consistent pressure with the ball made life very difficult.
Hopefully some of the younger players will be better for the experience.

[Galfon]

'Now we're suckin' diesel..! ' (again)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/cricket/55282644

Archer/Wood...Roy/Buttler/Bairstow back in the groove,
Morgs back at the helm..
Not bad at these side-shows, generally.

[Digby]

That limited overs batting lineup is so strong they're easily able to ignore any pressure to pick up the phone to Hales. They don't even need Root, though they might want him to have others bat around. And our lineup puts huge pressure on opposition batting lineups to score at 120+ SR, which isn't easy against Wood and Archer. I don't know if they're the best limited overs side I've seen, but they might be because of the power in the batting just smashes sides apart, you almost need a couple of 2 wicket overs in the first 5 overs to hold the onslaught. Sometimes we are going to lose too many wickets by dint of our play, but whatever, this makes much more sense than watching Cook and Trott grind out the runs

[Galfon]

Close in the end, but too big a chase in the end.
2 - 2 with 1 to play.
Thakur getting Stokes & Morgan in 2 smart deliveries the turning point.Good to see Jofra connecting.

[Banquo]

Close in the end, but too big a chase in the end.
2 - 2 with 1 to play.
Thakur getting Stokes & Morgan in 2 smart deliveries the turning point.Good to see Jofra connecting.

Let them get too many runs tbh.

[Banquo]

ODI batting shambles now

[fivepointer]

Classic England batting collapse. The openers had set the game up and we should have cantered home.

[Galfon]

The home team bossing in all formats now - starting to look like they have the Indian sign over England.

[Banquo]

The home team bossing in all formats now - starting to look like they have the Indian sign over England.

for all its a great job etc etc being bubbled in hotel rooms will take its toll after a couple of months. Its a tough enough place to play in the first place, and this Indian team is very good.

That said, we made that too easy yesterday!