The cricket thread

scrumhalf

If India set us 150 to win it'll be very, very tense. 

guitars4you

pedalo said:

Well I might buy myself a day 5 ticket at this rate!

I'd start thinking of other activities to do !!!

scrumhalf

scrumhalf said:

If India set us 150 to win it'll be very, very tense. 

On the other hand... 

scrumhalf

No Wood, no Archer, no Stokes, no Woakes.

No matter. 

Well done England. 

vasselmeyer

Overton and Robinson wouldn't have played if Broad, Woakes, Archer and Wood were available. In the second innings, India got demolished by the second string of England bowlers.

crosstownvamp

Robinson must surely be first string now, Overton did a fine job too. I wonder if Broad will still go to Aus.

crunchman

crosstownvamp said:

Robinson must surely be first string now, Overton did a fine job too. I wonder if Broad will still go to Aus.

If everyone is fit and available, I would think the first choice fast bowling attack would be Anderson, Robinson, Archer, and Stokes.

pedalo

Fair play to Robinson. I think he will be one of only a few handfuls for the Aussies

guitars4you

Is this the first time in test match cricket that all the wickets have been taken by players names ending in N - Anderson, Curran, Robinson, Overton, Moeen

Most names were 'on' - Anderson, Robinson, Overton 

guitars4you

set sit up nicely for the series Oval next week then Manchester - Hope the weather allows both matches to be played in full

scrumhalf

Darren Stevens!

107 off 70 balls against Leics at the age of 102.

Heartfeltdawn

Our best spinner over the winter won't play a home Test this year, our off spinner who got bigged up against Sri Lanka and then vanished in India only to be in the squad for the first two Indian tests has gone, and the off spinner who played a bit in the winter before disappearing and then not playing any FC county cricket is now vice captain despite playing only three Tests in the last two years and not really doing very much in this series...

guitars4you

No Butler - Bairstow takes the gloves and I dare say moves down the order a place - Looks like Pope is coming in at 5

Then a debate over Curran, Woods and Woakes - And as @Heartfeltdawn mentions above, a guy who was not even in the squad a few weeks ago is now vice captain - Some good strategic planning there 

Heartfeltdawn

guitars4you said:

No Butler - Bairstow takes the gloves and I dare say moves down the order a place - Looks like Pope is coming in at 5

Then a debate over Curran, Woods and Woakes - And as @Heartfeltdawn mentions above, a guy who was not even in the squad a few weeks ago is now vice captain - Some good strategic planning there 

Makes sense to have Pope in on his home ground when he's scored so many runs. Curran's done nothing to warrant keeping his spot. 

Skipping aside the Guardian article on his appointment which apparently failed to recall his time in India over the winter, it is a measure as to how limited England are for senior players at the minute. However it also raises the question as to who would skip should Root be injured now and even more pointedly in Australia. Buttler surely won't be going to Australia, it looks like a Bairstow-Foakes combo for the gloves there. It would be bloody mental to drop the captaincy on Burns if Root were injured so would we really give that responsibility to a guy who hasn't been a Test regular for a couple of years and who got hammered in Australia last time? 

There is no strategic plan. We're making it up as we go along. Gonna be a fun ol' winter...

crunchman

I know conventional wisdom is not to give the captaincy to fast bowlers, but if Root was unavailable, then Anderson or Broad could be options.  Hopefully Stokes will be back but I'm not optimistic on that.

guitars4you

crunchman said:

I know conventional wisdom is not to give the captaincy to fast bowlers, but if Root was unavailable, then Anderson or Broad could be options.  Hopefully Stokes will be back but I'm not optimistic on that.

Am I'm being cynical if I said he'll more than likely be back for the IPL before England 

Stuckfast

Jadeja in at 5 and still no Ashwin. No wonder Root chose to bowl.

Heartfeltdawn

crunchman said:

I know conventional wisdom is not to give the captaincy to fast bowlers, but if Root was unavailable, then Anderson or Broad could be options.  Hopefully Stokes will be back but I'm not optimistic on that.

Anderson would be the obvious choice as he is a first team pick now whereas Broad isn't. So why isn't Anderson captain now? 

Stuckfast said:

Jadeja in at 5 and still no Ashwin. No wonder Root chose to bowl.

Michael Vaughan said it was the worst non-selection over the course of a series of all-time. Close: I'd still put Michael Hussey's exclusion from the entire Test squad in 2005 as the worst non-selection of all-time. 

Stuckfast

Presumably the plan would originally have been to rest Anderson for one or two Tests in this series, and they want a captain or vice captain who's guaranteed to play?

Yes not picking Hussey in England was a shocker. Leaving Ashwin out is completely inexplicable. 

Booked tickets for day three at Old Trafford today, can't wait!

Heartfeltdawn

Stuckfast said:

Presumably the plan would originally have been to rest Anderson for one or two Tests in this series, and they want a captain or vice captain who's guaranteed to play?

Yes not picking Hussey in England was a shocker. Leaving Ashwin out is completely inexplicable. 

it's showing a lot of faith in the seam attack. Shades of the final Test in Australia: no Ashwin then, Washington Sundar giving them the spin option, very rookie seam attack, and yet they pulled it off. 

If India can hang around for another 30 minutes, maybe push 150... then the evening session tonight will be most interesting.