India in England Aug-Sep 2021 (& July 2022)

[bigfluffylemon]

Well look on the bright side. England just destroyed a record. For most ducks in a calendar year. Utterly smashed it, and still 6 tests to go.

Something is deeply, deeply rotten. Heads must roll.

The tactics to Bumrah were insane, and it seems to happen far too often, but England lost by so many that the stand may not have mattered. It did ramp up the pressure and take the win out, but if you get that many ducks when batting for a draw...

Abject.

[sussexpob]

Something is deeply, deeply rotten. Heads must roll

Well after England got thrashed in India, the coach got a promotion and become more autonomous, so I wouldnt hold my breath for any changes. The ECB heads will be judged on the success of the abortion they created in the Hundred. The coach seems to be well protected. The Captain is literally never going to change. A few batters will be rotated in and out. A few players will be rested then appear in Franchise leagues.

But lets be honest. You dont cure lung cancer by stopping smoking. The whole model of the game needs to change, a few sackings here and there wont cut it. The problems run too deep now for anything but a radical change

[alfie]

Well that was a right horror show , wasn't it ? Except for Kohli & co , of course ; full credit to India for declining to follow the script for day five.

Really think the main factor there was that England have essentially lost all confidence in their ability to win : the game was there for the taking at 11am but even from ball one I winced at the sight of four men on the boundary - sent a glaring message to the opposition "we're still scared of you ".
They actually got away with that though : Pant out and India leading by just 167 ; ball three overs old ; four right rabbits left to bat...any club captain would surely set three and a gully and one close on the leg and expect to knock them over , maybe concede a couple of streaky boundaries but 20-30 or so more , tops , no ? Not England : boundary riders , easy singles , too much short rubbish (not even very threatening most of it) ... if it were Pakistan you'd be searching for bookmaker calls ! Bizarre tactics.

Once they were set no chance of a win and sixty overs to bat I feared the worst. This England side are rubbish at batting out time and as soon as the openers went early (very early !) the eventual result was more likely than not. You might say the way India bowled - very well ! - England may have failed anyway in a chase for 190-200 ; but the mental side of the game would have been totally different then and I suspect batting with a proper purpose would have been a lot easier . Plus they'd have started batting in much sunnier conditions...I am quite certain this game was lost in a hour or so in the morning due to a complete failure of both common sense and commitment to take the game on.

The team has plenty of weaknesses ; but they showed over the previous three days they are not bereft of spirit and skill. Throwing this one away may haunt them. I hope they can come back from it and demonstrate enough resilience to make a contest of the series... but I am rather less than confident.

You can roll all the heads you want but unless you have better ones to put on instead you may as well replace them with pumpkins and give up completely.

They have to fix the calendar for any serious change in English cricket development ; but for now it's a case of do the best you can with what you've got. I don't envy the management team trying to find the best way to do that...

[bigfluffylemon]

Yep, right calls by everyone saying the rot starts in the structure. When I said heads should roll, I mean the administrators. The people who have allowed there to be such a dearth of first class talent.

This England side has been like this for ages. Not just the flaky batting - so often they compete for decent parts of a test, or even a series, but when it comes to the crunch moment they can't translate competitiveness into the ruthlessness needed to kill off a game. Even in losing series it's not too often that you say they were outplayed start to finish. But they lose too many key moments or passages of play.

[Durhamfootman]

Yep, right calls by everyone saying the rot starts in the structure. When I said heads should roll, I mean the administrators.

so do I

Guardians of the game?


my @rse

[Arthur Crabtree]

Malan has been recalled after his zero fc runs in zero fc innings in over two months makes an irresistable case for inclusion. He has one innings this reason, admittedly 199 v Sussex.

Sibley, Leach and Crawley are out.

[bigfluffylemon]

I wish him well, but after Hameed, another move that smacks of desperation.

Hameed, Malan, Bairstow, Buttler and Ali all back in the top 7. Now all they need to do is recall Vince and the top 7 will look exactly as it did four years ago (minus Cook, I guess).

Something about the definition of insanity?

[Arthur Crabtree]

I think it's mainly about not wanting to let go of players who have succeeeded in other formats. All but Haseeb fit into that group.

[sussexpob]

Malan has been recalled after his zero fc runs in zero fc innings in over two months makes an irresistable case for inclusion. He has one innings this reason, admittedly 199 v Sussex

As mentioned previously elsewhere, that Sussex attack he played against was basically an under 20 attack with one experienced player who later said he was suffering from mental illness.

[alfie]

There seems to be a bit of desperation about recalling Malan ... but then again we live in desperate times, no ? Zero red ball cricket to select from (another issue , sure ; but a current fact) and serial failure from the incumbents. Who else would be a better pick ?

Hameed will get a try as opener despite looking like a walking wicket at Lord's , because Sibley has apparently lost even his usual stickability along with his strokes. Weren't going to bring Crawley straight back in (glad to see he has been released to his county , although it will still be a couple of weeks before he can play a CC match) And if , or rather when , Pope is tried again , it will surely be at 5 or 6 not three.

Truth is they just don't have a "good" choice at present. At least Malan has some confidence to bring from recent white ball form.

I think back to 1975. Continued disaster with the bat against Australia - and then they found an experienced but never previously considered county player called David Steele who came in and steadied the ship immediately. Didn't win them back the Ashes (strong Aussie team , bad weather and the Friends of George Davis saw to that) ; but it did give England a bit of a lift in the short term. Wonder if there is a David Steele out there at present ?

But of course we'd never know because the County First Class game has been consigned to the margins in favour of Whackit ...

[Durhamfootman]

Wonder if there is a David Steele out there at present ?

if there is, every side England play will bowl short at him with 2 men back for the hook. I seem to remember that for some reason Steele could never resist the hook and once sides worked that out he was pretty easy to dismiss

[alfie]

Well it was a few years ago , Footman... but as I recall he didn't do too badly against that very strong West Indies team in 1976. But then he was taken out of the team when it went off to India because they didn't think he was good enough against spin - and never got back in.

I see from cricinfo he averaged 30 odd in the WI series as against 44 in the Ashes. Though he did get a hundred . You may be right about hooking but it seems he didn't get out caught , other than by the keeper , very often - so I reckon he might have continued had he been younger. Plus of course at the end of that Indian tour they went to Australia for the Centenary Test : and Derek Randall ( arguably very lucky to be in the side after an underwhelming start to his career ! Average of 12 in India ) - made 174...

I'd settle for a Steele or a Randall right now.

[Durhamfootman]

I reckon Root would bite your hand off, alfie

[westoelad]

Steele was very unorthodox on the hook as he executed it off the front foot enabling him to keep keep the ball down. Astonishing given that,being bespectacled, presumably his eyesight wasn't perfect.

[alfie]

Wood joining the casualty department and out of the Third Test. Archer , Stone , Woakes , Broad - not to mention Stokes. Someone in the England set up must have been shooting Albatrosses in the off season...

Ironic that England , just a few short months ago , actually did appear to have the best stock of pace options they've had for many years . Suppose that is the saving grace in that that sick list still leaves them with a choice of five in the squad for Wednesday. And there are a couple of others lurking outside who may yet get a call up if this attrition rate continues. The batsmen by contrast are staying mainly fit - just can't make any runs

Better pray Jimmy stays healthy...