England tour of India

[sussexpob]

ITs not all over for England. Limit India to 250 ish, they are in the game at least and should be able to force India to bat again. And then on wearing pitches you never know.... obviously massively unlikely. But a good morning needed.

[alfie]

It is sadly looking to me as if their collective confidence has been so impacted by their evisceration in the second match that they've largely lost all faith in their ability to bat normally against these two bowlers. Which is rather depressing for hopes of turning things around in the second innings

Is it a question of confidence or capability? I guess maybe in the case of a Stokes or Root, there is a certain amount of hesitancy creeping in. The others I am not sure ever really proved they can play this level of bowling.

abject batting (Crawley aside)

If I wanted to be uber critical, I think this innings proved why Crawley is both seen as a brilliant project for England, but also why he maybe averages in the lower 30s in CC. A couple of times he responded to good balls by forcing a shot in response, and I am not 100 percent sold on his long term capability to meet the spinning ball with his technique; but his timing and technique at times made me think I was watching someone like Brian Lara. That first boundary might just be the best shot I have seen in ages, certainly wont see better timing than that.

Started off bowling well (especially Anderson) and I was hopeful they'd be able to do significant damage to India under the lights.

I think the seamers did ok considering the window of swing was so narrow. They are going to be limited really to rotating and trying to put pressure on one end to stop scoring (which Anderson did well especially) while Leach attacks the other. Cant really see a seamer winning England the match unless some bad strokes come.

All fair points. I'd agree the batting - other than Root and Stokes - is far from proven at this level. But I do believe they are capable of better than yesterday (low bar !) so can't help but feel they are still nursing a bit of a hangover from last week.

Certainly Leach will have to do the bulk of the damage... if damage can be done. Will need to keep it tight the other end.

[sussexpob]

The first test is can England work out how to get out Rohit out. If he gets a start this morning, he could punish England to dust playing his shots later.

[sussexpob]

Spin instantly. Leach needs to get his length right, and he can cause issues

[sussexpob]

Rohit tucking into Anderson. A rare bad over there, Anderson just slightly forcing the issue.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Scores level. Leach forcing the occasional mishit.

[mikesiva]

If Bess is not selected to play on this pitch, when will he be picked?

[sussexpob]

If Bess is not selected to play on this pitch, when will he be picked?

I have a suspicion that England's team management boxed themselves a bit into the decision. They said he needed to go away and improve, so they would have made themselves look idiotic if they picked him after one test

[sussexpob]

Rahane fails. Didnt look comfortable, but Leach is into them

[Arthur Crabtree]

LBW for Leach, looked like it was missing off.

Bound to get his best first innings figures here. Maybe shows that this is like a second innings pitch. And also that there isn't another spinner.

Pant v Leach.

[sussexpob]

Indeed. This should be a fun battle is Pant wants to hit him out of the sub continent again

I think India need a serious think about Rahane. He looks a bit lost atm

[Arthur Crabtree]

Will Root bowl to the left hander.

[sussexpob]

Pant's lame waft at Anderson there might encourage him to resort to the fireworks sooner than later.

[Red Devil]

115/5 - India making a mess of this. All 4 wickets to Leach have been a bit soft

[yuppie]

England back in this....