The Official Cricket Thread

[Gumboot]

Hugely impressive first innings total that ensures England can't lose from here. Can they?

[Enzedder]

India won't even get 300 on this track now. Only results are England win or a draw

[Paddington Bear]

Interesting session, Pant clearly has no respect for Leach which is fun to watch

[Ovals]

Amazing win for WIndies v the Bangas. trailing by 171 after the 1st innings they were set 195 to win and got home by 3 wickets, 28 year old debutant, Mayers, scored 210no with 7 sixes.

SA, 127/1 need another 243 to beat Pakistan on the last day.

[Lobby]

Amazing win for WIndies v the Bangas. trailing by 171 after the 1st innings they were set 195 to win and got home by 3 wickets, 28 year old debutant, Mayers, scored 210no with 7 sixes.

SA, 127/1 need another 243 to beat Pakistan on the last day.

I think you mean WI was set 395 to win, not 195. Otherwise it really would be remarkable for a single player to score 15 more than was required on his own.

[Un Pilier]

India won't even get 300 on this track now. Only results are England win or a draw

So what do we think? Should England enforce the follow on if they have the opportunity to do so?

[Paddington Bear]

India won't even get 300 on this track now. Only results are England win or a draw

So what do we think? Should England enforce the follow on if they have the opportunity to do so?

I think we have to - best hope of a result. Going 1 up would make this fascinating, and may even encourage some pitches with some life in them...

[Ovals]

India won't even get 300 on this track now. Only results are England win or a draw

So what do we think? Should England enforce the follow on if they have the opportunity to do so?

I think we have to - best hope of a result. Going 1 up would make this fascinating, and may even encourage some pitches with some life in them...

Tricky one - with only a 3 day turnaround to the next test. But, having batted on this morning, they will probably have to enforce the follow on. I guess they'll know, far better than us, whether the bowlers can cope with what could be nearly 3 days in the field.

[Paddington Bear]

Bizarre tactics for England here, killing our own time.

[Insane_Homer]

so India need 420 @ ~4/over to win. No chance. can't see them batting out 107 overs either.

[Paddington Bear]

so India need 420 @ ~4/over to win. No chance. can't see them batting out 107 overs either.

Pant could make things very interesting. Would have liked another one before the close.

[Ovals]

so India need 420 @ ~4/over to win. No chance. can't see them batting out 107 overs either.

I'd fancy our chances a bit more if we had a leggie. Much depends on how much more the pitch has deteriorated - it didn't look like a minefield today, unless you were trying to play shots.

[Enzedder]

Anderson's first over - 3 chances (including clean bowling Rahane)

92/4 and that's all she wrote.

All out by tea

[Kiwias]

Anderson's first over - 3 chances (including clean bowling Rahane)

92/4 and that's all she wrote.

All out by tea

Pretty useful first over.

[Enzedder]

144/6 at lunch. Poms better wake up or they will miss it.

[Enzedder]

Nice gritty 50 from Kohli. Well batted and is really trying to stay there and farm the strike.

[Paddington Bear]

Well on top now. Leach looking exceptionally dangerous

[Margin__Walker]

That was a horrible ball for Kohli.

Fat lady singing now

[Kiwias]

That was a horrible ball for Kohli.

Fat lady singing now

Stayed very low.

[Insane_Homer]

Well done Eng, very well deserved win.

[Gumboot]

Well done Eng, very well deserved win.

Yep, they batted India out of the game with their huge first innings total. Then bowled very very well. Emphatic stuff.

[Paddington Bear]

Fantastic stuff, one of the all time great away wins

[Sandstorm]

Tough to beat a team who’s skipper makes 200 runs every innings. Congrats England.

[Ovals]

Fantastic stuff, one of the all time great away wins

Yep - winning in India is always a huge achievement - and this is pretty good Indian team. I think they really missed having Jadega - the gulf to their next left arm spinner is noticeable and he also adds balance to the batting.

Root was obviously the rock around which the win was built - but all the bowlers made important contributions - the catching was excellent and there were valuable runs from several batsmen.

The SL tests were a perfect warm up for this match - if only we planned all our away series with proper warm up games.

6th consecutive away victories - unheard of in this day and age.

It'll be interesting to see whether they rest any bowlers for the 2nd test - only a 3 day rest and they'll also want to ensure Jimmy is fresh for the day nighter, pink ball, 3rd test.


Superb stuff - one of the best performances I;ve seen from an England side - dominated the game from the very start and , pretty well, won every session.

[Paddington Bear]

Fantastic stuff, one of the all time great away wins

Yep - winning in India is always a huge achievement - and this is pretty good Indian team. I think they really missed having Jadega - the gulf to their next left arm spinner is noticeable and he also adds balance to the batting.

Root was obviously the rock around which the win was built - but all the bowlers made important contributions - the catching was excellent and there were valuable runs from several batsmen.

The SL tests were a perfect warm up for this match - if only we planned all our away series with proper warm up games.

6th consecutive away victories - unheard of in this day and age.

It'll be interesting to see whether they rest any bowlers for the 2nd test - only a 3 day rest and they'll also want to ensure Jimmy is fresh for the day nighter, pink ball, 3rd test.


Superb stuff - one of the best performances I;ve seen from an England side - dominated the game from the very start and , pretty well, won every session.

Beyond some dicking about yesterday with the declaration our tactics have been pretty spot on.
Agreed on the warm ups and will be interesting to see how we deal with that for the Ashes.

There's a hell of a chance now for a famous series victory, I came into this expecting a 4-0 loss. What a first test back on terrestrial tv! No more Calcutta Cup blues.

[Woddy]

Will (of course) be interesting to see if England can keep the momentum going. A few personnel changes on our side and India will be desperate to regain their pride. Especially if Jadeja comes back in, I'd still expect India to take the series. We made very good use of an important toss to win in this test. It could easily be the other way around next time.

[Paddington Bear]

Will (of course) be interesting to see if England can keep the momentum going. A few personnel changes on our side and India will be desperate to regain their pride. Especially if Jadeja comes back in, I'd still expect India to take the series. We made very good use of an important toss to win in this test. It could easily be the other way around next time.

Leach was excellent on a day 5 pitch but buffet earlier on so agreed on the toss. Personnel changes I'm hopeful we can handle - Foakes is a better keeper and bat than Buttler for example

[Ovals]

Will (of course) be interesting to see if England can keep the momentum going. A few personnel changes on our side and India will be desperate to regain their pride. Especially if Jadeja comes back in, I'd still expect India to take the series. We made very good use of an important toss to win in this test. It could easily be the other way around next time.

Leach was excellent on a day 5 pitch but buffet earlier on so agreed on the toss. Personnel changes I'm hopeful we can handle - Foakes is a better keeper and bat than Buttler for example

I'm reasonably confident about Foakes - but he hasn't had any recent match practice - so he maybe a bit rusty compared to the others.

Fingers crossed that we win the toss again.

[Ovals]

Fantastic stuff, one of the all time great away wins

Yep - winning in India is always a huge achievement - and this is pretty good Indian team. I think they really missed having Jadega - the gulf to their next left arm spinner is noticeable and he also adds balance to the batting.

Root was obviously the rock around which the win was built - but all the bowlers made important contributions - the catching was excellent and there were valuable runs from several batsmen.

The SL tests were a perfect warm up for this match - if only we planned all our away series with proper warm up games.

6th consecutive away victories - unheard of in this day and age.

It'll be interesting to see whether they rest any bowlers for the 2nd test - only a 3 day rest and they'll also want to ensure Jimmy is fresh for the day nighter, pink ball, 3rd test.


Superb stuff - one of the best performances I;ve seen from an England side - dominated the game from the very start and , pretty well, won every session.

Beyond some dicking about yesterday with the declaration our tactics have been pretty spot on.
Agreed on the warm ups and will be interesting to see how we deal with that for the Ashes.

There's a hell of a chance now for a famous series victory, I came into this expecting a 4-0 loss. What a first test back on terrestrial tv! No more Calcutta Cup blues.

Root explained that all pretty well - it wasn't 'dicking about' it was a clear strategy not to bowl too many overs last night so that the ball was still hard today when the pitch would be at its' worst and giving them two bites of the cherry. He knows what he's doing and the plan worked perfectly. He constantly confounds the armchair (and media box) critics.

[JM2K6]

[Saint]

To be fair, 3rd delivery aside, that's basically a bunch of unplayable deliveries

[Enzedder]

Beyond some dicking about yesterday with the declaration our tactics have been pretty spot on.
Agreed on the warm ups and will be interesting to see how we deal with that for the Ashes.

There's a hell of a chance now for a famous series victory, I came into this expecting a 4-0 loss. What a first test back on terrestrial tv! No more Calcutta Cup blues.

Root explained that all pretty well - it wasn't 'dicking about' it was a clear strategy not to bowl too many overs last night so that the ball was still hard today when the pitch would be at its' worst and giving them two bites of the cherry. He knows what he's doing and the plan worked perfectly. He constantly confounds the armchair (and media box) critics.

Did he even really need to explain. It was all pretty obvious at the time.

[Un Pilier]

Beyond some dicking about yesterday with the declaration our tactics have been pretty spot on.
Agreed on the warm ups and will be interesting to see how we deal with that for the Ashes.

There's a hell of a chance now for a famous series victory, I came into this expecting a 4-0 loss. What a first test back on terrestrial tv! No more Calcutta Cup blues.

Root explained that all pretty well - it wasn't 'dicking about' it was a clear strategy not to bowl too many overs last night so that the ball was still hard today when the pitch would be at its' worst and giving them two bites of the cherry. He knows what he's doing and the plan worked perfectly. He constantly confounds the armchair (and media box) critics.

Did he even really need to explain. It was all pretty obvious at the time.
[/quote]

I agree. However, the tv feed commentators were giving it large about how mystifying it was.

[Saint]

Beyond some dicking about yesterday with the declaration our tactics have been pretty spot on.
Agreed on the warm ups and will be interesting to see how we deal with that for the Ashes.

There's a hell of a chance now for a famous series victory, I came into this expecting a 4-0 loss. What a first test back on terrestrial tv! No more Calcutta Cup blues.

Root explained that all pretty well - it wasn't 'dicking about' it was a clear strategy not to bowl too many overs last night so that the ball was still hard today when the pitch would be at its' worst and giving them two bites of the cherry. He knows what he's doing and the plan worked perfectly. He constantly confounds the armchair (and media box) critics.

Did he even really need to explain. It was all pretty obvious at the time.

I agree. However, the tv feed commentators were giving it large about how mystifying it was.
[/quote]


The TV guys reckoned that the "cherry" period would last longer than Root/Anderson thought it would. They also thought that Root should be planning on getting the maximum benefit from the 2nd new ball....

I think it was fair to question the strategy, but tge proof is in the result. The media have the advantage always in these situations when it goes wrong

[Random1]

Anderson's first over - 3 chances (including clean bowling Rahane)

92/4 and that's all she wrote.

All out by tea

Pretty useful first over.

For some reason that over reminded me of this

[mrbrownstone]

Very impressive stuff from England. When was the last time a non-sub-continent team won three consecutive tests on the sub-continent?

Clarifies the WTC final permutations a bit too.

Aus qualify if: England win the series 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, or the series is drawn 1-1 or 2-2

India qualify if: India win the series 2-1 or 3-1

Eng qualify if: England win the series 4-0, 3-0, or 3-1

[Ovals]

Very impressive stuff from England. When was the last time a non-sub-continent team won three consecutive tests on the sub-continent?

Clarifies the WTC final permutations a bit too.

Aus qualify if: England win the series 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, or the series is drawn 1-1 or 2-2

India qualify if: India win the series 2-1 or 3-1

Eng qualify if: England win the series 4-0, 3-0, or 3-1

For a nation that has very few quality spinners playing in County cricket - and mostly turns out pitches for pace bowlers - we play spin pretty well. Root is as good a player of spin that I've seen.

Might be a different story if we lose the toss in the next test though. That's still a very good Indian batting line up - if they get in first on a docile pitch, we'll have to work very hard to keep them to a score we can handle. 1st innings runs are everything out there.

[Ovals]

Root back up to 3rd in the test rankings (only just behind Smith now), Kohli slips to 5th. Stokes up one place to 9th as Rahane drops out of the top ten.

Jimmy jumps back up to 3rd in the bowling, just behind Broad in 2nd place.

Doesn't really mean much, of course.

[Sandstorm]

SA vs Pakistan T20 tomorrow afternoon. Let’s see if we can get it together in the shortest format.....

[handyman]

SA vs Pakistan T20 tomorrow afternoon. Let’s see if we can get it together in the shortest format.....

Linde the only player left from the test squad. Might as well give the youngsters a go.