Cricket

[muddythefish]

Well done to James Anderson on his 32nd birthday - he is quite likely to be England's leading wicket taker by some distance by the time he retires. Not bad for a "pie-thrower". Jimmy is from East Lancashire so presumably he sources his pies from Holland's of Baxenden.

Robson gone again for a low score. He needs to get back to Middlesex or a lower level such as Sheffield Shield this winter and make some big scores.

England going along at a bit under 4 an over at present. Looking good.

 

[ainsworth74]

It's past time to declare now I feel. We've got enough so lets get 'em back in.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

An early two-wicket breakthrough in the first hour leaves India 136-6 (55 overs)

Ro Sharma c Buttler b Anderson 6
Dhoni c Buttler b Anderson 6

 

[Johnuk123]

England win by 266 runs, and about time too.

 

[muddythefish]

England win shock ! Is this the turning point and the start of the recovery ? Let's see what happens at Old Trafford and the Oval.

Well done to Moeen and man-of-the-match Jimmy Anderson who was back to his best of 2 years ago.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

A batsman-keeper like Buttler is acceptable for a T20, but not for Test cricket where catches win matches and there's a strong consensus that Buttler isn't up to it

Well, now he has finally been given the chance at Test Match level, have you any thoughts now upon the matter ?
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England win by 266 runs, and about time too.

It was good see that Moeen rose to the occasion in the second innings by taking the last four Indian wickets and finishing with 6-67 in the innings.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

England win by 266 runs, and about time too.

Yes, it was a good win, but of course...one swallow etc etc. Considering that only four of this team lined up at Brisbane only a few months ago it isn't so bad.
I thought that Moeen was excellent, perhaps he will get some of the doubters off his back now.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Good news for England, as Jimmy Anderson has been totally cleared all the charges laid against him.

 

[Whistler40145]

Great news regarding Jimmy Anderson. That'll put wind up the Indian's!

 

[DownSouth]

Interesting to note that Jadeja was also cleared despite a Level 1 offence supposedly having no right of appeal.

It looks as if a backroom deal was done between both teams and the ICC to settle on both players being given a verdict of "not guilty, but don't do it again" so both sides could claim a moral victory. England get one of their four senior players back for the second half of an important home series, and India get to preserve the clean record which is so important for their public image at home.

 

[balne-wonderer]

Interesting to note that Jadeja was also cleared despite a Level 1 offence supposedly having no right of appeal.

It looks as if a backroom deal was done between both teams and the ICC to settle on both players being given a verdict of "not guilty, but don't do it again" so both sides could claim a moral victory. England get one of their four senior players back for the second half of an important home series, and India get to preserve the clean record which is so important for their public image at home.

What evidence do you have to come to that conclusion?

To me, an investigation was done. There was no independent witnesses and so that was that. Case closed.....?
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Yes, it was a good win, but of course...one swallow etc etc. Considering that only four of this team lined up at Brisbane only a few months ago it isn't so bad.
I thought that Moeen was excellent, perhaps he will get some of the doubters off his back now.

I think it's fairly clear he will never be close to a front line spinner. KP used to give the ball a lot more rip than Moeen with his part time spin. Joe Root has the ability to make the ball turn more than Moeen as well but he struggles with his lengths too much.

However, what Moeen does have is decent control and the ability to lure batsman into playing big shots at bad times. He will be a very handy option for years to come but I still think we need a spinner of higher quality.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

However, what Moeen does have is decent control and the ability to lure batsman into playing big shots at bad times. He will be a very handy option for years to come but I still think we need a spinner of higher quality.

You may well be correct, but I really don't think that there is anyone out there! It's not an unusual situation when a team loses a key player, is it?...when I look back at the number of spinners that have played a few games for England during my lifetime, I am amazed! I'd prefer England to give Moeen a fair crack for the moment.

 

[Cletus]

Wow, that's some start to a test match. India winning the toss, batting and are 8 for 4!

 

[Johnuk123]

India 66-6, beastly.

 

[Buttsy]

India 152 all out - tea

 

[CallySleeper]

England 113-3 at day 1 stumps.

Bumble's been out and about on the Manchester trams, driving the simulator which will feature on Sunday (apparently!)

 

[muddythefish]

Congratulations to Broad on his 6-for but Anderson was the pick of the bowlers again - he was unplayable this morning. His steak and kidney was working well from the 1st over.

 

[DarloRich]

England 113-3 at day 1 stumps.

Bumble's been out and about on the Manchester trams, driving the simulator which will feature on Sunday (apparently!)

Not on test match special it wont ;- )
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Test match special on the (digital) wireless and a cup of Earl Gray on a Saturday morning - fantastic!

 

[CallySleeper]

England win by innings + 54 runs in 8 sessions.

Broad was sent for an X-ray after taking a ball through the gap between helmet and grille while batting, didn't participate in India's second innings.

Also, yes Jordan took the last two wickets but IMO was expensive in this innings, Woakes too in the first. Between them both they only took four out of the twenty wickets in this innings.

Moeen bowled really well in the second - but with Jimmy bowling under-par due to illness and Broad's injury while hopefully not serious has been the first warning for the team that IMO there is too much pressure on Anderson and Broad as the two main bowlers. I'm not sure any consideration has been given to who could replace these two seamers in case of absence. Fortunately of course Broad wasn't missed too much here in the end but it doesn't seem to me that Woakes and Jordan are able to cut the mustard in the same manner.

 

[DownSouth]

I really rate Chris Woakes, he performed well for England's development squad in the tour of Australia and it's good to see him get a chance at Test level. I hope the selectors stick with that for a bit so he can grow into it instead of being tried out briefly and discarded like Darren Pattinson, Boyd Rankin and many others over the years.
His batting is certainly good enough that he could be played as a bowling all-rounder instead of a sixth specialist batsman. You'd play him alongside three specialist fast bowlers (Anderson, Broad and Finn if all fit and in form) and Moeen Ali who reminds me of Shahid Afridi (minus the childish insanity) and seems to be doing well enough to keep his place for the time being.


I'm sure that Alistair Cook is appreciating the fact that somebody else has made a bad enough performance as a Test captain to drawn Shane Warne's attention away from him. Warnie has called Dhoni's field placings bizarre and (for the sake of redundancy) weird, and for that Cook probably owes Dhoni a beer or two at the end of the series – were the Indian fielders following the ball and not returning from picking it up at boundary like they did in their last 4-0 series loss in Australia?


Good news on the international scene outside the England/India series – the first Pakistan v India series in quite a while (the delay is thanks to Indian politics) has just been announced. Pakistan v India is always a big deal, their World Cup match in Adelaide next year sold out within one day of the tickets going on public sale.

 

[CallySleeper]

Just another standard game this evening for the Outlaws:

Nottinghamshire 368-2 (45 overs) (Lumb 81 off 104, Hales 141 off 96, Taylor 100* off 55, Patel 37* off 15)

Rain delay - revised target 158 in 16 overs

Middlesex 80 all out (13.3 overs)

 

[ainsworth74]

Shame about the game before that one though...

 

[CallySleeper]

Unfortunately it's not the same when a number of your 1 XI players are on England duty

 

[ainsworth74]

Excuses excuses

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

India finally out out for 148 in 61.1 overs, after being 79-8 at one stage, with Dhoni scoring no less than 82 of these with 1x6 and 15x4.

 

[ainsworth74]

It's hard to say you've let a side of the hook when they're all out for 148 but we did let them get around 50 more than they should have!

England 12/0 in reply so far.

Switch to the ladies England's women are staring down the barrel in a low scoring affair at Wormsley with India only needing another 79 with eight wickets in hand.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Switch to the ladies England's women are staring down the barrel in a low scoring affair at Wormsley with India only needing another 79 with eight wickets in hand.

Is Wormsley the ground that J.P.Getty was instrumental in constructing ? Was there not a county ground spare to host this Test Match, considering that the women's game is supposed to be given a much higher professional profile.

 

[ainsworth74]

Wormsley, for some reason, seems to have become home of test matches for the England women. Which seems ridiculous as I don't believe that there wasn't one of the 18 country grounds (or even one of the Test grounds) that could have hosted this match. They can't all have had matches scheduled!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Has the corner finally turned ? England have passed 50....without losing a wicket..
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On day 1 at Old Trafford today, in the relegation-issue County Championship match, Durham made a good start to 50-0, then had a mid-table slump to 82-5 before a magnificent stand by MacLeod 84 (9x4) and Hastings 83 (6x6 and 4x4) saw a rearguard lower order recovery with both being dismissed late in the day but not until Durham reached 329-8 from 96 overs at close of play.

Smith was a Lancashire bowler to emerge with a modicum of honour with his bowling figures of 20-6-37-4.

 

[Cletus]

I'd never heard of Wormsley, so looking at Googlemaps find it's in the middle of nowhere!
http://goo.gl/maps/GuAlx
Scroll out to see how far it is from civilisation.