I don’t think I’m disputing that. What I am saying is that his method thus far is to bore the living fuck out of the opposition. I don’t mind this - it’s a valid tactic and can be damn effective - just that if I had to watch it without the emotional investment of him doing comparatively well for my team, I’d be saying “wake me up when we’ve got this bastard out”.
I had a look at the cricinfo site and had a look at his splits. It was interesting that his strike rate against the spinners is quite a bit better than that against the quicks. This is marginally worrying, in as much as he’s unlikely to face a load of spinners anywhere else in the world early on in the innings. As an opener, he’s going to face a lot more quick bowling in his career. It’s possible that he might actually grind on at an even slower pace when faced with this - which is an interesting, back to the 1950s development.
It’s a good job that Cook seems to have discovered an ability to score quickly if needed. If he was batting like he used to when Strauss was scoring quickly, we’d be on about 165-1 at the minute - i.e. not a terrible position but still with a bit of work to do with respect to the amount of time left in the game.
I was aware of Cook’s 23rd century being an english record, what I didn’t realise is that he is the youngest batsman to 7000 test runs, younger even than Tendulkar! Very, very impressive.
Him and Kallis have the most realistic chance to become the highest run-getter I think. Cook has great technique and temperament, also looks like a very humble and likeable person. Indian bowlers do not have a clue how to get him out, he is so good. we say in hindi that pitch pe tambu gaad ke baith gaya hai, meaning he has made the pitch his home.
And as I type this, Ishant drops a rare and simple catch of Cook:mad:…
I think they shouldn’t at this point. Also think that if their fast bowlers turn it on once again, they have a chance to do well against the rank#1 test team SA in series coming up.
Typical butthurt Indians - they’re a dime a dozen on Cricinfo. I suppose the songwriter would be equally upset if we Brits said anyone of Indian ancestry was never going to be a true Brit no matter how long his family lived here. :rolleyes:
And if Mudhsuden Singh Panesar chooses to call himself Monty, that’s his choice.
Just saw this thread after being away. It is a little amusing to see how the opinions change over the course of the series. And now England are in a great position.
I am never disappointed to see India lose- even to England.
The Indian fan will accept that immigrants are attracted to UK because of UK’s greatness. Their allegiance should and does lie with UK, that if there’s a war between UK and India(only if **Malacandra **is UK’s PM), they will fight for UK. Yet he writes that post and yet its funny. I didn’t think I would have to clarify this.
Btw whats required of a true Brit? like does he have to be always whining? or being obsessed about weather? saying sorry all the time? does he have to act like he cares about Kate Middleton’s pregnancy??
Whatever the rights and wrongs of that argument, India are five down for 120 and they’re all the work of Finn, Swann, Anderson and Bell (a non-controversial run-out) - not a South African or pilfered Indian among them. So, next excuse for the forthcoming crushing defeat?
eta: six down. Dhoni out. Six for less than 40 since lunch.
People could see this coming. wholesale changes required, time to build a new team for the future. Sachin, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Zaheer must be dropped. Toothless performance. Very Disappointing.
well done England!! You were far better in batting, bowling and fielding.
Spoken like a gentleman. When England batted today, Cook obligingly made sure his average for this match would be less than a hundred, and to be honest, trying to launch the ball into the Hooghly before he’d had five minutes to look at it probably wasn’t smart. But there wasn’t much hope of India defending a lead of forty-odd and Bell was plainly not intimidated.
Well batted by Ashwin - too bad for him it’s not his day job. One or two of India’s top order should look at him.
Remember when I had a right go at Ian Bell after the first test of this series? Well, yeah.
The fact England won the test he missed and then he was brought back in where they won again (and, lest people think I am not being evenhanded, Bell did at least shore up a wobble in the small run chase that happened) has masked that it was still a curious decision to bring someone back into the team who threw his wicket away in a cavalier manner and appears to be in no sort of nick. I still wouldn’t have picked him.
It seems though, given the promotion of Root past Bairstow and Morgan and into the team, that the other options available were not good and, as a result, England stuck with the devil they knew. Word is that Morgan is the least adept at playing spin, Bairstow is not much better and that Root showed it only in the Performance Squad game in Mumbai. Following today, I’d be up for Root coming in instead of Bell and sitting him down to get his game right.
The pitch looks slow and low and I’m not convinced England have done a good job today at all. If they can somehow bat until at least Tea on Day 2 and make more than 300 as a side, it might be OK but at the minute, I’d put India ahead.
Would be a shame to throw away a series win now in the final test. Hopefully they can dig in tomorrow.
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The pitch looks slow and low and I’m not convinced England have done a good job today at all. If they can somehow bat until at least Tea on Day 2 and make more than 300 as a side, it might be OK but at the minute, I’d put India ahead.
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I don’t know yet, it’s (as always, in cricket) hard to tell until both sides have batted, but I get the feeling that 300 in the first innings might be a really good score on this pitch. Even KP couldn’t get the ball away.
I think England will be going well to get to 300, though, and the pitch isn’t going to get any better. At least we’re not batting 4th.
Well, they didn’t quite get to tea but they did get 330. Up to the bowlers now but England have taken a third out of the match, so keeping the scoring rate low is as viable a strategy as getting wickets. If India are only approaching the England total at the close of day 3, that would be acceptable I guess. Would be nice to knock them over though.
Great knock from Root in his first test match. Looked really good and was visibly disappointed with his wicket, which bodes well temperament wise I think.
Sehwag is going to be a key wicket. In the mood, he can score a large number of these runs himself and quickly.
330 is a good score on this pitch. So far, India haven’t been able to score any more quickly than we could, and chances are being created pretty regularly.
And as I type, Tendulkar has just gone to Anderson.
With Gambhir going now, 330 is now looking like a tremendous score with India at 71-4. Root, Prior and Swann have done a bloody great job to haul us up to that total.
Anderson is bowling out of his skin. One or two more before the close of play please!
I think they shouldn’t at this point. Also think that if their fast bowlers turn it on once again, they have a chance to do well against the rank#1 test team SA in series coming up.