Fifth Test: India v England, 16-20 Dec (Chennai)

[Arthur Crabtree]

Bit of a pasting this morning so far.

[rich1uk]

These five Tests have been a classic case of using the whole series to find a side to play in the conditions. Typical of an England WC campaign. And then if you take that into the next series in different conditions, you start all over again. England needed to be planning for Australia a while ago, given the age and fallibility of their pacemen. Plus, will Mo be able to bat at 4/5 on bouncy pitches? Will a leg spinner work? Otherwise, they end up being reactive.

we've been nothing but reactive in this series

and cook's captaincy is being exposed again here with rashid not bowling

we have a guy who has taken as many wickets in the series as our next three bowlers combined and he has only bowled 2 of the first 33 overs because cook is probably scared to bowl him after he was a little expensive in those 2 overs

[Arthur Crabtree]

Rash either gets bowled without relief, or doesn't bowl.

Athers implying Cook got the ends wrong this morning, and there was no good reason to swap them over. When swapped them back, Mo nearly got a wicket.

[rich1uk]

haven't seen much of Aidan the last few days, wonder if he is making the "Cook out!" banners

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe he's out there. If the banner has Moores crossed out.

[rich1uk]

rashid being brought on for the start of his 28 over spell

[Arthur Crabtree]

My impression is Cook thinks he's the best man for the job. Even that he's carrying out a service in doing the job, which is onerous, because he's the best man to do it.

He won't get sacked. And his ODI post was tortuously dragged away from him, when he believed against all evidence that there was no alternative. It's hard to anticipate any change.

[rich1uk]

My impression is Cook thinks he's the best man for the job. Even that he's carrying out a service in doing the job, which is onerous, because he's the best man to do it.

He won't get sacked. And his ODI post was tortuously dragged away from him, when he believed against all evidence that there was no alternative. It's hard to anticipate any change.

i agree and that was why i was very surprised to see him say he was looking forward to just batting and standing at first slip with none of the hassle of being captain

that just doesn't sound at all like the alistair cook we have seen for the last 5 years

[rich1uk]

the most depressing thing today is cook has had pretty defensive fields right from the start of play and these two are still going at 4+ per over

[Arthur Crabtree]

Bayliss might be more at home as a coach in Australia, so might be more proacative.

I assume he's been an IPL coach, but quite different from this.

[Gingerfinch]

Surely we can't lose this one?

[rich1uk]

Surely we can't lose this one?

i wouldn't bet on it

and dont call me Shirley !

[rich1uk]

a wicket !

[Gingerfinch]

Surely we can't lose this one?

i wouldn't bet on it

and dont call me Shirley !

It was a question to Arthur

[Arthur Crabtree]

It currently seems to be a better batting pitch than Mumbai, so maybe India are less likely to pull off a win here.