England Versus India - 1st Test (9 Nov - 13 Nov)

[Dr Cricket]

Don't think bayliss or people are annoyed on that factor bigfluffylemon, but that the reserve players don't have any game time during the series and no opportunity for Hameed, Anderson, Buttler and one of the spinners to stake their claim in a game situation.

Would have made more sense if the lions played earlier this winter and not after majority of the test matches are finished.
Anderson next opportunity for a game is in early December, Selectors don't want to risk him until he actually plays a game, Anderson is supposedly fit right now.

Hameed, Buttler will have no game experience and really batting in the nets while it is spinning totally different to being crowded with fielders and the bowlers appealing every few deliveries.
Even cook got rattled in the 2nd innings, players like Stokes, Hameed, Buttler etc stand no chance if cook get rattled.

not really sure how england are going to recreate those situation in the nets especially with Ansari, Rashid, Ali and Batty not being the greatest spinners.
wouldn't surprise me if the india net bowlers would bowl better than Rashid at the moment.

Edit plus the club idea would have removed the poor team argument probably the reason England looked at it considering they would be playing in a proper domestic setup.

[bigfluffylemon]

Would have made more sense if the lions played earlier this winter and not after majority of the test matches are finished.
Anderson next opportunity for a game is in early December, Selectors don't want to risk him until he actually plays a game, Anderson is supposedly fit right now.

Point taken. But they could have played Hammed or Buttler in Dhaka and dropped Ballance, and it would have been an entirely justified pick. They didn't.

[Gingerfinch]

Even a warm up game against crappy opposition, is better than none at all, not that it will make much difference to us being able to play spin.

[Dr Cricket]

TBH not sure what ecb could have done though considering they were screwed by so many sides and literally had the tiniest window available for 7 test.
Can't start ban tour early because of monsoon, can't end india series later because of the players contract, they can't play during Christmas except for SA and Aus tour since both board got a deal with ECB on boxing day matches.
forced to have 5 test matches with india otherwise ECB loses money and if they want the asian dollar they need 5 test in england and if england host india 5 test, then india get to host England for 5 test.

Saying that quite funny it is an excuse now considering England did play 7 test in 8 weeks in 2014.
really the Sri lanka, India homes test followed the same schedule they got now.
Sri lanka test in June, india test in July, August.

[backfootpunch]

India 5-0 is 4/1 seems easy money

[Dr Cricket]

India 5-0 is 4/1 seems easy money

Was 8-1 or 10/1 couple of weeks ago.
not a great price now really.
suspect backing india in all 5 test in an accumulator will give you a better price.
if not back india to win first test and then all the winnings on the 2nd etc.

[Gingerfinch]

5-0 seems unrealistic to me. We're bound to bat well and sneak a draw in at least one game.

[Dr Cricket]

5-0 seems unrealistic to me. We're bound to bat well and sneak a draw in at least one game.

I be honest ginger draw is impossible, I doubt any team in the world can get a draw in Asia now if the game last all 5 days.
when the ball doing all sorts on day 1, 2, 3 etc and wickets on average falling 10-12 a day.
England could sneak a win if india batting fails in the 4th innings, but it would take the English batsman setting a chase more than 200 and the spinners bowling them out.
Sri lanka win in Galle shows that india batsman are not that great against spin either.
hard to see that happening though since England would have to outbat india in the first innings and the 3rd innings.

Might get a draw in Vizag considering it is still a cyclone season.

[Gingerfinch]

5-0 seems unrealistic to me. We're bound to bat well and sneak a draw in at least one game.

I be honest ginger draw is impossible, I doubt any team in the world can get a draw in Asia now if the game last all 5 days.
when the ball doing all sorts on day 1, 2, 3 etc and wickets on average falling 10-12 a day.
England could sneak a win if india batting fails in the 4th innings, but it would take the English batsman setting a chase more than 200 and the spinners bowling them out.
Sri lanka win in Galle shows that india batsman are not that great against spin either.
hard to see that happening though since England would have to outbat india in the first innings and the 3rd innings.

Might get a draw in Vizag considering it is still a cyclone season.

Rain, and some good batting then, makes it far from impossible. Since watching Cricket I've only seen four 5-0 scorelines ( I think), so history is on our side. Problem with that is, England have been the losing team on all four occasions!

[Dr Cricket]

5-0 seems unrealistic to me. We're bound to bat well and sneak a draw in at least one game.

I be honest ginger draw is impossible, I doubt any team in the world can get a draw in Asia now if the game last all 5 days.
when the ball doing all sorts on day 1, 2, 3 etc and wickets on average falling 10-12 a day.
England could sneak a win if india batting fails in the 4th innings, but it would take the English batsman setting a chase more than 200 and the spinners bowling them out.
Sri lanka win in Galle shows that india batsman are not that great against spin either.
hard to see that happening though since England would have to outbat india in the first innings and the 3rd innings.

Might get a draw in Vizag considering it is still a cyclone season.

Rain, and some good batting then, makes it far from impossible. Since watching Cricket I've only seen four 5-0 scorelines ( I think), so history is on our side. Problem with that is, England have been the losing team on all four occasions!

Be interesting to see how the market price the series scoreline do they make the whitewash the favourite which at the moment it looks like it will be.
wouldn't really back the whitewash at that price too many unknowns, like will the pitches actually be bowling friendly, will vizag actually get a result, what if england actually don't collapse and falter.
saying that 4-0 or 4-1 and 3-1 look tempting if they have a long price.

[Gingerfinch]

You'll get good odds for 5-0 England.

I'm going 4 or 3 nil to India.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Can't imagine India will be anything other than massive favourites in each match, and I can hardly imagine the circumstances that would bring about an England win (a big ton from Cook and a particularly helpful toss perhaps) so, got to go 5-0.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Usually the opposition gets easier to beat with each defeat in a one sided series. So once India get ahead, the gap between the sides will grow, and other maverick factors become less significant. In the last Ashes whitewash, England were half beating themselves by the end.

[Gingerfinch]

Usually the opposition gets easier to beat with each defeat in a one sided series. So once India get ahead, the gap between the sides will grow, and other maverick factors become less significant. In the last Ashes whitewash, England were half beating themselves by the end.

Not so sure about that Arthur? Surely the more our batsmen play spin, the more they'll get used to the bowlers, and conditions?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe the motivation isn't there as the series drifts away, and selection gets more desperate.