England tour of India

[Arthur Crabtree]

England taking a pasting here. Maybe this one will go against the head.

[Durhamfootman]

for some reason I thought this was tomorrow. Got to go back out in a few minutes

[Alviro Patterson]

Good recovery by Jofra Archer at the death, Stokes taking a super catch at mid-off where even if he shelled it would have stopped a certain four.

[Alviro Patterson]

Roy playing out a maiden in the opening over, Malan not even scoring above a run a ball. Bairstow and Stokes have it all to do and are chasing in excess of 11rpo from ball 1 with 10 overs to go. Already Stokes is feeling the pressure, playing shots early and struggling for timing because of England's poor powerplay.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Ok from the batters, but bowlers left too many on the board.

[Durhamfootman]

I did think that Archer and Wood had done really well at the death to limit India to something manageable. It looked for a moment as though they might get up around the 200 mark, especially with Jordan's last over getting the treatment. Remarkable figures for Hardik under the circumstances... not sure how he did that at this level.

2 top teams giving it welly....... exactly what the series deserves

[Durhamfootman]

India keeping faith with Rahul and England keeping faith with Malan

[Red Devil]

Interesting game - Rohit, Rahul and Kohli all failed - SKY and Shreyas carried the batting.

The Ind bowling was interesting as well - Sundar got tonked - Chahar looked good coming in for Chahal, but always difficult for spinners with the dew. Hardik and Bhuvi bowled well - Thakur was unlucky early but erratic at the end.

Ind bowling line up for the WC maybe looking like Hardik, Jadeja, Bhuvi, Shami, Bumrah if the dew is going to be a big factor. Otherwise you maybe look at Chahar, Chahal, Sundar or even Ashwin in for Bhuvi or Shami. Would be nice to have a 6th bowling option but no obvious option there

[sussexpob]

I see DFM and AP are muttering about Malan being dropped, but also see three UK papers saying he is on borrowed time; only in England, where people advocated picking pedestrian batters for decades in ODI and consistently failing because of it, would Malan's form and place in the team be questioned.

Lets put Malan's T20I career into a little perspective. During England's last T20I series, Malan became the first T20I player ever to cross the sacred 900 ranking points mark. His peak rating of 915 has only been bettered 5 times in the history of limited overs cricket, and was last achieved in the mid 1980s. In all formats, a list of players to make or exceed this ranking reads like an elite list of candidates to be considered the greatest players ever. Only about 20 players in history have reached this level, and remember this is peak ranking, so we are considering only the very best ever, at the very height of their form. Think invincible era Bradman (his record runs in a series in 1930 didnt even put him past Malan's ranking mind), Sobers in 66, Lara in 94, Viv in 1976, Ponting in 06.

Look at Malan's career

2017 - average 78 at SR177
2018 - average 43 at SR140
2019 - average 69 at SR163
2020- average 49 at SR142

These are staggering returns for T20, made even better by the fact he has to date never played a single T20 against a team ranked outside the top 5. Other batsman have figures propped up by innings against minnows, he is achieving this against the cream of the worlds talent.

I guess we could fault him for not maintaining it. It would be a bit like complaining Bradman was crap, because he didnt average 150 in every series he played in.

[sussexpob]

Of course, the man being touted to replace him, Joe Root has a decent record on paper save for a pretty meh SR. One could assume that Root has become more aggressive, but this does not tie in with actual results. Since 2017, Roots record in T20s is an average of 32 @ 108SR. History actually shows his T20 returns have gradually got worse, both in number of runs and the speed they come from.

Root will not be going to the IPL, and has never played in the IPL. His only recent mark of how he performs in the best IPL leagues is his time at Sydney Thunder in 2019.... he had an abysmal season averaging 17 at a pathetic hit rate. He has not in recent times made any case for re-selection, and was dropped because he wasnt producing.

To replace Root with the best batsman ever in the format is quite frankly psychotic. But once again, it smacks of the inability of English pundits to separate Test and limited overs performance. It is going back to that 90s-00s thinking that limited overs bashers arent proper cricketers, and what the team really needs is someone who averages high but bats like hes on a country stroll, because stability and not fireworks are what win.

Ironic really, I would have thought England winning the world cup with a load of bangers had put this sort of thinking to bed, but not even success can change this way of thinking

[Durhamfootman]

I see DFM and AP are muttering about Malan being dropped, but also see three UK papers saying he is on borrowed time; only in England, where people advocated picking pedestrian batters for decades in ODI and consistently failing because of it, would Malan's form and place in the team be questioned.

No, not me. He's the number one T20 batsman in the world, dropping him just because he's having a bit of a slow series feels like folly. Rather, I was noting that England have resisted the temptation to bow to the media pressure being heaped on the selection of Malan in the same way that India have resisted it with Rahul

[Alviro Patterson]

I see DFM and AP are muttering about Malan being dropped, but also see three UK papers saying he is on borrowed time; only in England, where people advocated picking pedestrian batters for decades in ODI and consistently failing because of it, would Malan's form and place in the team be questioned.

Lets put Malan's T20I career into a little perspective. During England's last T20I series, Malan became the first T20I player ever to cross the sacred 900 ranking points mark. His peak rating of 915 has only been bettered 5 times in the history of limited overs cricket, and was last achieved in the mid 1980s. In all formats, a list of players to make or exceed this ranking reads like an elite list of candidates to be considered the greatest players ever. Only about 20 players in history have reached this level, and remember this is peak ranking, so we are considering only the very best ever, at the very height of their form. Think invincible era Bradman (his record runs in a series in 1930 didnt even put him past Malan's ranking mind), Sobers in 66, Lara in 94, Viv in 1976, Ponting in 06.

Look at Malan's career

2017 - average 78 at SR177
2018 - average 43 at SR140
2019 - average 69 at SR163
2020- average 49 at SR142

These are staggering returns for T20, made even better by the fact he has to date never played a single T20 against a team ranked outside the top 5. Other batsman have figures propped up by innings against minnows, he is achieving this against the cream of the worlds talent.

I guess we could fault him for not maintaining it. It would be a bit like complaining Bradman was crap, because he didnt average 150 in every series he played in.

None of these played in the sub-continent though, SP. Whilst Malan's 2019 stats have all come from the postage stamp grounds of New Zealand. Time will tell whether Malan can make it in the IPL.

As for Joe Root, he's a better T20 bat than Kane Williamson who seems to get IPL gigs every year. His innings against South Africa in the last World Twenty20 was arguably the best in an England shirt. Not to mention his spin bowling has improved and would compliment the frontline pace attack of Jordan, Wood, Archer and Stokes.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Looks like the England attack is busted.

[sussexpob]

Sharma went nuclear finally. England massive underdogs now

[Durhamfootman]

India bombing along

England look like they may have to chase 200 and plenty