India tour of Eng, June 20 - Aug 4

[sussexpob]

The ball change thing is clearly just nonsense. I seen two ex-bowlers Steve Finn and Broad try to defend it, holding a ball that looked perfectly normal and saying "can you see its a little egg shaped"... no, I can't. It looks like a cricket ball, bowl with it. Atherton for instance looked at the same ball and was like "this is perfectly fine". But then when both bowlers explained, you get the answer - out of shape means soft, means less off the wicket etc. Its just bowlers or fielding teams trying to get another ball that moves.

I am not really sure how you justify that. Australia were angry in 2023 when England changed a ball and went from gun-barrel straight to going everywhere. It feels like you are making choices that affect the game, which is unfair.

What is fair? You get one ball at random from a box, and you get another at 17h45 later when youve bowled 80 overs.

[Durhamfootman]

a bit closer than most of us would have liked, but got there. As Arthur points out, not an Edgbaston, but another few runs and people would have been wanting Harmy to come on

[Durhamfootman]

The ball change thing is clearly just nonsense. I seen two ex-bowlers Steve Finn and Broad try to defend it, holding a ball that looked perfectly normal and saying "can you see its a little egg shaped"... no, I can't. It looks like a cricket ball, bowl with it. Atherton for instance looked at the same ball and was like "this is perfectly fine". But then when both bowlers explained, you get the answer - out of shape means soft, means less off the wicket etc. Its just bowlers or fielding teams trying to get another ball that moves.

I'm sure a lot of these ball changes are just born out of desperation. It's become a default position if a side hasn't taken a wicket for 10 overs

[Durhamfootman]

when the Dukes ball had a big problem (last year? year before?) county sides were changing the ball 5 or 6 times in a day, sometimes 2 or 3 times in a session. I think one match involving Durham at CLS featured 8 changes in a day. There hasn't been anything like that this year in county cricket, so the Dukes is not still this soft piece of rubbish. I'm certain it's just captains and bowlers searching for a ball that does something they like. Just get on with the game

[sussexpob]

when the Dukes ball had a big problem (last year? year before?) county sides were changing the ball 5 or 6 times in a day, sometimes 2 or 3 times in a session. I think one match involving Durham at CLS featured 8 changes in a day. There hasn't been anything like that this year in county cricket, so the Dukes is not still this soft piece of rubbish. I'm certain it's just captains and bowlers searching for a ball that does something they like. Just get on with the game

Even assuming this is the grand problem players are making out to be, why should the ball be considered the problem The Duke's ball has existed 265 years using the same patent, how do we suddenly get to 2024 and it being rubbish? I would suggest you might want to check what bats are being made out of, because that the thing thats whacking out of shape. Modern bats have no give, and are harder..... But I guess no one wants to change that.

After all, concrete hard bats that make the ball fly off like a trampoline are just like 30 yard boundaries in test matches..... more 6s guv, what entertainment.

[Durhamfootman]

been confirmed that Bashir needs surgery on his busted finger and will miss the rest of the series. Does that bring Leach into play, or will England go all left wing again and bring in Rehan or Hartley?

they've got a week and a half to make up their mind

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe play Bethell as a fill in. But I hope they pick their best spinner.

[Durhamfootman]

McCullum ruled that option out, seemingly

[Arthur Crabtree]

The impression I got from BBC updates was for most of the day, the pitch was flat and the England attack not creating chances. Vaughan commented that it looked like England were bowling with a cabbage. But on the highlights (ok, they only retain the incidents) there were lots of chances and more of a case of India hanging on with some good fortune rather than inexorably closing in on the target. All the bowlers maintained pressure. So maybe a more deserved win than I thought.

However... England are 2-1 up, yet if I was making a composite XI, it would mostly be India players.

[Arthur Crabtree]

If India had won, of course their tactics would have been vindicated. However they didn't, so their method of closing down the total via singles from Jadeja and dots from the bowlers, might be considered flawed. Bashir might not even have been bowling that final over if India had pushed back against him a little.

Of course, no guarantee any other approach would have worked...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Liam Dawson called up. Strengthens the batting at least. Squad otherwise unchanged. So more Crawley.

Even though Leach has a central contract.

Cook and Overton will play for their county.

[alfie]

I enjoyed that match (very slow over rates and excessive ball change fuss aside) as it really was a proper contest from start to finish. OK pitch very slow so once the new ball was seen off the bowlers had little to work with over the first three days ; but run scoring was never easy so was still preferable to the previous two "total roads". And then the pitch started to give and it was the bowlers' turn ... Maybe not ideal for the more casual watcher , but as Test Matches go I reckon that was a ripper.

Could argue all day about tactics of both sides . Should Jadeja have hit out - or even taken more singles with Bumrah who was defending pretty well ? Should Stokes have had a bit more of a go at attacking Jadeja ? (Mike Brearley thought he should and I am inclined to agree , as I fear wasting four balls an over just tires your bowlers and empowers the bats ) but hey it ultimately worked this time so fine by me. India might see this as one that got away ; but they've been on top for so much of these game that they will still be confident of bouncing back in 9 days. Can't rule them out.

Jadeja , Bumrah , Rahul - all immense for India and didn't deserve to be on the losing side. The combative Siraj and Washington also deserving of praise. But Stokes was the rightful PoTM after that all round effort : tough runs , a vital run out , a splendid display of stamina bowling (which I really hope doesn't come back to bite him ! Glad of the longer break) and just his inspiring leadership. Wonderfully backed up by Root and pretty well all the other bowlers who were each responsible for important breakthrough wickets - and Smith with a very tidy job behind the stumps (including some sensible contributions to review decisions). Great to see Archer back and getting through a fair number of overs without mishap - his spell on Monday morning was excellent and frankly a little more than I had expected first up. Also seems very keen to go on to the next match and clearly happy to be back at last .Very encouraging...

After the break both sides will have decisions to make. Looks like Dawson for the injured Bashir ; which means they have at least a number eight bat set and can therefore pick the three pace men as best desired without fussing too much on batting abilities. Two matches close together so a bit of rotation probably will come into it - as it should. Presume the batting stays the same though Crawley is surely riding his luck past the point of reasonable.
Same for India re Bumrah - and possibly Siraj ? Pant may or may not be good to go so physios may have some work to do there. They have options with Jurel , pretty handy with bat and gloves (despite the 25 byes !) Washington seems to have ensured we won't see Kuldeep.


Whatever : if we get another game like that no one should be complaining

[andy]

Very glad to see cook will be available for Essex we have missed him badly!

Also glad to see Dawson has been selected, 100% the right decision and definitely well deserved!

[backfootpunch]

Was fully expecting both teams to get docked points for slow over rates.

Unsurprisingly only England got docked points despite india being extremely slow as well.

[sussexpob]

Was fully expecting both teams to get docked points for slow over rates. Unsurprisingly only England got docked points despite india being extremely slow as well.

India bowled 83 overs on Day 1, England were at a full day pace of 75 and 77 the days after, so there is clearly one side worse than the other - and England have been warned multiple times on field this series to hurry up, so I would imagine the official warnings for slow play factor into it. At Edgbaston, they received a final warning and told penalty runs would follow if they did not hurry up.

It goes both ways too. Siraj was sanctioned and fined for his part in the Duckett send off, Duckett was not sanctioned at all - and as Nasser Hussain pointed out on commentary, its actually Duckett who walks in completely the opposite direction he should be in order to purposefully initiate contact with Siraj, who literally didn't move. The ICC decided the opposite, and it was the stationary Siraj who made contact.... so both teams might be scratching their heads as to why they have been sanctioned, and the other not.