MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Anderson set to start 🙂
1 hour to go, All over in 3 days again?
no weather wil affect this one and India geta draw
http://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/England/stockwell/long.html
nah, it'll be all over by Sunday 🙂
good morning everyone
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Agree with junkyard, weather is going to limit this to around 3 days of play I reckon. If we bat first and get 400+ by lunch tomorrow we'll have a chance to win it. Otherwise draw.
and we're underway
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/9564530.stm
pity we're not bowling first IMO. I know he won the toss but:
Of the last 10 Tests here, nine of the teams winning the toss have chosen to bat first, but only three have gone on to win, with three draws and three defeats.
and Id like to see some swing under dark skies.
Morning evereeebodeeee.....
Am just about to head off for a lunch in the Teutonic sunshine, so will miss large parts of today's play. Surprised to see we're batting having won the toss, though.
Surprised to see we're batting having won the toss, though.
I think this test is all about today and tomorrow. I'd rather have a total on the board and be bowling between showers than the other way round.
Good point. Another point (As made by a twit on the Beeb) was that this gives Anderson a day or two to recover still further! Assuming a decent batting display.
Now, remind me, why didn't I pack sunglasses?
where about are you today then captain?
dusseldorf or hamburg?
Ich bin in Munchen, Deutschland.
No Blowers for this test match but at least the Dr is back
*chuckles at "R P Singh" *
2 extras already and we're only in the 7th over!
Ich bin in Munchen, Deutschland.
Have one in the Englischer Garten for me.
Surfing later?
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Surprised to see we're batting having won the toss, though.
I think the decision to bat first was to eradicate that tricky ''when to declare' issue, making India follow on keeps Strauss stress to a minimum!"
tms is the best thing on the radio when it rains.
Have one in the Englischer Garten for me.
I did. 🙂
The beer, not the surfing. 🙂
Well, another day, and it's sunny as you like just across the road from That London's Famous Oval.
Looking forward to this....!
sooo Cooky out early doors. Sounds odd, but I'm not too disappointed. It will be good for some of the others to step up and upsh the scoring rate on a bit. Bell has started well (fingers crossed) and we've got some fast scoring players padded up. 400 on the board by stumps? Bopara to get 10 of them maybe? 🙂
Bopara to get 10 of them maybe?
😆
strauss is out
oops
might actually make a match of it this time! 😉
Looks like India had their Weetabix this morning.
50 for bell
194-2, Bell and Pietersen both well set
The juggernaut is revving its engine!
Pietersen is taking all sorts of risks at the moment.
Well played Bell
And Kevin P!
*Applauds*
bloody hell. I got out for a pint and look at the score!
Have India really given up?
yes and you missed Dave and his bonhomie
Totally anihilation.
Both my HTC and IE6 crash when I try and access the TMS on the Beeb. May have to venture over to the Guardian
Portly, try this;
So...and please don't flame me...I don't really participate in the cricket threads that much as I have only a passing interest in it...but is this really the No. 1 side in the world (well, sorry, that's England and Wales now isn't it) that they were playing? I think that in six innings so far, India haven't reached 300 runs. I mean, come on, that's shit isn't it?
I'm hearing that their body language and general composure during the series has been terrible, especially today and yesterday. It's looking like the best they'll get is 3 losses and a draw...and that they don't really seem to care that much.
So what's going on? Do they not like playing in the temperate conditions we have here? If so, how did they manage to get to No. 1 in the first place?
Or is it that England have improved that much this year, that they've just blown India away? I'm not trying to wind up England fans (it's the team I support unless they're being beaten in the World Cup by Ireland 
) but someone from amongst you knowledgeable cricket types explain how India have been so shite...please? I is confussed.
Darcy, India have been too focussed on the pyjama game (IPL) and earning a few bob. As such, they're exhausted and seem not to care too much. It's almost as if they've forgotten what [i]proper[/i] cricket is all about.
Add in to that the fact that England are indeed very, very good at the moment and you have the current results.
You're right Darcy. This isn't the 'real' India and I'm not quite sure why. But we can only beat what's in front of us and we've been beating people consistently for a while now, not just this series.
A better India would, IMHO, have made for a more captivating series but I'm still confident we would have come away with a series win.
IPL is a factor Captain but I don't think it's the whole story.
True, but I think the combination of the IPL and some pretty terrible scheduling by the Indian board has led to what looks like exhaustion.
I am disappointed. I was looking forward to a hard fought contest.
True, but I think the combination of the IPL and some pretty terrible scheduling by the Indian board has led to what looks like exhaustion.
Ah right..the IPL...I hadn't considered that.
So is it just England and Australia just interested in Test Cricket now?
How about South Ifrica? I hear that they may well be No. 1 by the time they play England...that could be a good series I suppose. I was looking forward to this series against India and it's just been too easy for England.
I also take higgo's point that you can only beat who comes to play you, and that indeed it looks to an eejit like me that there is a steel in the England side that hasn't been there for a while. They really seem to dig themselves out of trouble when they get into it.
I also really like Strauss - seems to be a good all round chap.
I also really like Strauss - seems to be a good all round chap.
He is a Radleian, you know...
Two things to remember in all this.
1. The IPL and scheduling issues have been present for a while in Indian cricket. It didn't stop them getting to number one.
2. Despite a toothless attack, Indian have a number of absolutely world class batsmen who have all been made to look ordinary at best.
He is a Radleian, you know...
No, I didn't...so he's not all good then 🙂
2. Despite a toothless attack, Indian have a number of absolutely world class batsmen who have all been made to look ordinary at best.
And is this because England have suddenly come upon a crop of world class bowlers?
Was it Broad who had 5-0...I'd have expected this against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh maybe (not the green machine of course)...but against India? 😕
o he's not all good then
Zakkly. 🙂
And is this because England have suddenly come upon a crop of world class bowlers?
Not really suddenly. We copied the Australian methodology many years ago, and now it's starting to bear fruit.
I have been speaking to my Indian work collegues out here in India. They just have no interest in the Test Series at all (even before the series started).
IPL and the one day matches are everything to them, they prefer the excitement of the limited overs which makes teams play exciting cricket and go for runs.
It doesn't stop me gloating though!!! 😆
And is this because England have suddenly come upon a crop of world class bowlers?
England have planned well over the last five years AND been slightly fortunate. The honest truth about this series is that India got the stuffing knocked out of them in the first test and haven't recovered. Gotta remember they've had a change of coach (Kirsten then Fletcher) which IMO has as much to do with their slump as anything else.
play exciting cricket and go for runs.
You mean like England have been doing! 🙂
Exactly!!! 😀
I don't know why they consider it boring...
6-6
Two in a row from Bell!
Better than anything the pyjama game can produce!
partnership up to 342
This is an ex-partnership.
Good knock, mind you!
Now, Jimmy Anderson? Or should we put Bopara in as night watch man? 😉
I'd back jimmy to get more runs tbh 🙂
Indian TV is having a post-mortem 😆
To be fair CFH, the "pyjama game" is a really good night out with a great atmosphere
I agree, I've been to a few 20/20 games and it's a great laugh. But, I still see it as five a side, or sevens in rugby. It's a sideshow to the real event.
Nothing compares to the long game, absolutely nothing.
so aim for 600 and the follow on by lunch on Monday?
200 for Bell, 500 for England, quick flash for a few more and a declaration just in time to give the bowlers a few overs before lunch?
Hit for an hour after lunch and get them 2 down by tea.
go for 700 proper humiliation England turn them over pretty quickly anyway as they are psychologically beaten if not humiliated and downtrodden and squashed. They cannot last a day for one innings and may not even last it for 2 IMHO.
in the last 2 test the engand score so far is 1301-13 😯
the extras are almost 100
they wont get much more play in today junky
http://www.raintoday.co.uk/
Given India's resistance the only challenge is can england beat the weather 😉
Very moist just across the moat right now
Jimmy strikes
Follow on by lunch tomorrow?
We're into the tail now captain, so it's possible.
Toooo easy.
It's the difference between bowling accurately at nearly 90mph versus bowling badly at 80mph
Follow on by lunch tomorrow?
I stand by my prediction 😉
embarrassing this
another.
oh dear
And another! Could be over by tomorrow at this rate
good morning everybody.
will they make it to lunch?
at least the Wall managed to put up a fight today.
Well, I made it to lunch. Only just back from it...... 🙂
Score looks tidy.