England tour of India

[Durhamfootman]

I think they said that Crawley would be out for the first 2 tests

[Arthur Crabtree]

England apparently top of the Test championship. Which is surprising.

[Gingerfinch]

Will they bring in Ali to bat at three and add a spin option?

Magnificent win by the way

[Arthur Crabtree]

Sounds tempting. I think Mo might be seen as a dead duck as a Test batter though.

[Durhamfootman]

Joe's day 4 final session secret revealed.

They wanted to completely take away any chance of an India win, so that they could concentrate on taking 10 wickets without having to worry about conceding runs. The plan was to get a 400 lead and then 'express themselves' and 'have a bit of fun', but because adding a load more runs suddenly became out of the question, they decided to take time out of the game instead.

[sussexpob]

Hell of a win in the end. Of course, winning the toss looks to have been of tremendous importance considering the pitch on day 1 and 2 really had nowt in for the bowlers, but England still went out and scored the runs they need to dominate the game afterwards.

Wonder what deck India will serve up for round 2. They wont want a lottery toss again.

[Durhamfootman]

Hell of a win in the end. Of course, winning the toss looks to have been of tremendous importance considering the pitch on day 1 and 2 really had nowt in for the bowlers, but England still went out and scored the runs they need to dominate the game afterwards.

Indeed. England could easily have ended up scoring 430 or 440 in that first innings and left India with a toehold in the game, but they didn't.... they really drove their advantage home. Even the lower order made sure they got to 578 and not 520

Seems that Capt Joe has joined MPV on 26 wins, and he's got there in 4 fewer tests as capt

[Durhamfootman]

England apparently top of the Test championship. Which is surprising.

staying there might be challenging

[Arthur Crabtree]

Surprising stat. Just doesn't feel that he has been there long enough to achieve that.

Silverwood seems to have had a positive impact.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England apparently top of the Test championship. Which is surprising.

staying there might be challenging

Apparently got win the series 3-0 to stay there...

[Durhamfootman]

Surprising stat. Just doesn't feel that he has been there long enough to achieve that.

Silverwood seems to have had a positive impact.

Silverwood seems keen to play test cricket rather than ODI cricket played on 5 consecutive days

[Durhamfootman]

England apparently top of the Test championship. Which is surprising.

staying there might be challenging

Apparently got win the series 3-0 to stay there...

That was one of the permutations thrown up after the last test India win in Oz

What would a series abandonment do to that calculation, I wonder? It would only take the covid bubble to be compromised to do that

[The Professor]

Anderson career phases:

First 45 Tests (2003-Jan 2010): 156w average 34.8.
Next 46 Tests (May 2010 to end of 2013-14 Ashes): 187w at 27.2.
Last 66 Tests (since 2014 summer): 268w at 21.1.

An remarkable story of pushing yourself to be better.

[Red Devil]

Anderson career phases:

First 45 Tests (2003-Jan 2010): 156w average 34.8.
Next 46 Tests (May 2010 to end of 2013-14 Ashes): 187w at 27.2.
Last 66 Tests (since 2014 summer): 268w at 21.1.

An remarkable story of pushing yourself to be better.

Similar to Ishant in a way - just goes to show ... neither were great at the start

[Red Devil]

Hell of a win in the end. Of course, winning the toss looks to have been of tremendous importance considering the pitch on day 1 and 2 really had nowt in for the bowlers, but England still went out and scored the runs they need to dominate the game afterwards.

Wonder what deck India will serve up for round 2. They wont want a lottery toss again.

Very true. When I saw the Indian team selection and the pitch on day 1 after Eng won the toss it always seemed like this could happen. Ideally Ind should prepare a pitch that turns from day 1 but doesn't deteriorate too badly to try and take the toss out of the equation, especially since India never win the toss - Ind lost every toss against Aus as well.

The spin combination is a worry - It would have been Ashwin, Jadeja and Yadav (offie, left arm orthodox and left arm leggie) but with Jadeja and then Axar Patel injured they had to play Sundar (another offie) for his batting - so with 2 offies already turning the ball in the same direction as Yadav's normal leggie they had to go for Nadeem instead to have someone spinning the ball away from the right handers. That's a much weakened spin attack. Will be interesting to see what Ind do for the next test - Washington batted well again in the first innings and Ashwin has to play. Not sure if Axar is fit but possibly Axar and Kuldeep might play alongside Ashwin. Or maybe just Ashwin and 1 other spinner and play Shardul Thakar as he seems to have a reputation for reverse swing and both Shami and Umesh are missing so Ind are lacking a bit in the pace/reverse swing dept.

Comfortable win for Eng though - dream start to the series with a perfect match really. Could Eng still qualify for the World Test Match final - I think they need to win 2 of the remaining 3 tests. India need to win 2 of the remaining 3 tests to qualify as well so Aus might be fancying their chances of playing in the final at the moment.