As this series doesn’t have DRS, I’d have no problems with Broad being captain.
(In a DRS series, someone needs to stop him reviewing balls that hit the pad on the way to backward square leg).
If you had one dose of Getafix’s magic potion, would you give it to a batsmen, or a bowler?
I’d say there are two obvious choices to replace Cook as captain. The vice captain, Ian Bell, and Stuart Broad.
I’m torn on the Cook issue. I very much do not want want to go back to the 90s England selection tactics of dropping people too soon, and I don’t think Cook’s dry spell has actually been that long. No, he hasn’t seen a ton since New Zealand last year, but he picked up some 50s against Australia, and even in Australia, where nobody in the team covered themselves in glory. These three tests at some so far have been really bad for him, though.
His captaincy has definitely been wanting, but it’s been clear for a while that England consider him the long-term captain. No easy answers.
Pretty even after today’s play, I think. Could still go either way.
214 runs or 6 wickets? Looks like Day 5 should be great. What’s the weather going to be like?
Yeah, the game is on a knife edge. What a fantastic way to be going into day 5.
I will admit, I was seriously tempted to ditch work and find myself at Lord’s today, but the goddam protestant work ethic won out.
Forecast is: overcast but no rain, 23/24 C, outbreaks of sun after 4pm. Probably slightly favouring the bowling.
In truth, given the way the pitch was behaving yesterday, I think India are favourites. That’s also because I don’t put a lot of faith in England’s resilience. (Although both Root and Ali are recent centurions, our next best batsman is Jimmy.)
I think part of what makes the test so finely balanced is that neither team inspires a great deal of confidence. (Though didn’t England hang on for dear life against Sri Lanka recently?). For me, England are slightly favoured. They are only one decent partnership away from taking control of the match, and India have struggled to convert good positions into wins for the last few years now(when playing outside the subcontinent). Dhoni becomes such an uninspired, defensive captain that one wonders if he even wants to win. Why on earth was he not standing up for Jadeja’s overs yesterday? Even by his standards that was bizarre.
Stumbled onto an interesting clip of Stephen Fry talking a little about the match, cricket and everything after he rung the bell on the second day. I did not know he was a cricket enthusiast. https://audioboo.fm/boos/2334810-stephen-fry-lord-s-is-like-the-navel-stone-of-the-world
Things are looking good for England. Both Ali and Root are looking quite comfortable and getting runs at a reasonable pace. Dhoni’s bowling choices are strange. The overcast conditions should favour Bhuvi’s pace, but he’s gone with Jadeja.
…and just as I was beginning to hope, Ali goes out to the last ball before lunch. India needed that, but I think that just gives them the edge now. (Betfair odds have England 4/5, India evens and the draw 25/1).
Root, Prior, Plunkett, Stokes, Broad, Anderson. It’s by not the worst lineup by any means but it can wobble. 126 needed to win, two sessions to survive for the draw. I’m regretting my decision to be in work today.
Utter, utter madness from England. What on earth were those three thinking?
That’s the fifth wicket to fall to short balls from Ishant Sharma today. It’s as if the English batsmen have a Pavlovian response to anything pitched short. They could have easily left most of those balls alone.
After lunch, England scored 20 from 2 overs from going after the short ball. I think they may have felt that:
a) this is a noted weakness for us
b) if we try to score off it rather than block/duck, they’ll stop doing it.
So it might have been a dressing-room tactic.
It worked with the old ball. But they don’t seem to have factored the new ball into those calculations, and after Prior went Stokes and Root should have rethought. After Stokes went, Root should definitely have rethought.
That said, Broad has just gone to a short ball that clipped his glove after he **didn’t **try to pull it over the fielder, so it looks like we struggle either way.
And Jadeja runs out Anderson to end the match. What an incredible collapse by England there.
I don’t think they took the new ball actually. Bet you’re feeling glad you went to work today.
Well, I admit, I half expected England to be out before lunch today, having really lost too many wickets yesterday. But they got to lunch ok, having only lost one wicket right at the end of the session and then, clearly, they realised that they might miss some important engagement at around 3 o’clock if they kept on going, so they got themselves out as quickly as they could.
England were always up against it today, but the manner of the post-lunch collapse was not pretty. Well played India.
Hah, yes! Although I’d be consoling myself with an early finish and the chance to catch up on personal admin (i.e. play Crusader Kings II) at home.
Good point about the new ball not being taken. In which case credit to India for sticking with the short ball tactic after a costly couple of overs and debit to Stokes and Root for continuing with a risky tactic after it had already proved costly.
Oh my god Michael Atherton does not pull his punches on these questions does he? He’s flat out asked Prior and Cook if they shouldn’t resign. Un-fucking believable. I have never heard such pointed questioning at a post match presentation.
Didn’t see it, but my initial reaction is: good! Sports journalism needs more of this kind of thing, it’s far preferable to meaningless bollocks like “how do you feel?”. Atherton must know better than most the pressure of being captain and in poor form with the bat, but it’s a fair question in the circumstances.
England are in a total mess at the moment, the word ‘crisis’ is overused in sport but it’s becoming one if they don’t get their act together sharpish.
It just felt a little like kicking the man when he’s down. At least wait till the post match press conference, when he’s expecting it! It feels strange saying this, because over in the football world cup thread I was arguing against posters and journalists who felt Argentina had been hard done by because they had to wait ten minutes extra for the post match presentation, and I was going, “Hah, in cricket we also stick a mic in their faces and ask them about the loss”.