England's Tour of India 2012

India 71-4. Anderson looks dangerous on this wicket with 3 dismissals. Sehwag & Tendulkar both clean bowled. Regarding Root,I remember Vaughan & Trescothick both getting selected with modest county records.As a Yorkshireman I can tell you he's always looked class,in my opinion he could have done with another year of county cricket.Now it looks likely he will have to learn his game on the international stage.

It was a surprise to see Joe Root selected ahead of Bairstow, so well done to him. I've seen him interviewed a few times and have been impressed with him. Here's hoping both of them can establish themselves in the England team this summer, hence not being allowed to play for Yorkshire

(14-12-2012 15:10 )thescientist Wrote:  It was a surprise to see Joe Root selected ahead of Bairstow, so well done to him. I've seen him interviewed a few times and have been impressed with him. Here's hoping both of them can establish themselves in the England team this summer, hence not being allowed to play for Yorkshire

Not a problem,we get used to losing our best players to England.Nick Compton now qualifies for an increment contract,his 4th Test cap means he's reached the required 20 points total.He's looking after the openers berth until Root is ready.Bell needs to produce as Bairstow would be an ideal number 5.

India 297-8 Close. Kohli 103 batted through 2 & a half sessions with Dhoni,the 5 wicket partnership had reached 198 at the drinks break before the last hour when Swann trapped kohli lbw.Jadeja was dismissed by Anderson.Then Dohni was dramatically run out by a direct hit by Cook on 99 7 Swann bowled Chawla in the last over of the day.England wicketless for over 5 hours play took 4-28 in the final hour of play.Great fightback,which I put down to Englands superior fitness.the match is nicely poised with 2 days remaining.

Dohni's run out It goes to show how the field side of the game has improved over the last few years.

It looked like an easy single. If he'd have dived he'd have made it. Dohni obviously needs some coaching from some of the Premiership Footballers.

Dohni could have taken a quick single at any point in his innings,in try to reach a personel milestone,which in fairness he deserved,he has cost his team the chance of him upping the scoring rate on day 4.india need to move the game on if they want to force a victory 7 are in danger of running out of time on the last day.4th innings runs will be much harder with the pressure of what could be a run chase on a wicket where most have struggled to score at a decent rate except Swann.I'd be happy to see England bat India out of the game 7 take the series 2-1 but 3-1 would be even better.so far the wicket is showing no signs of deteriorating.

England's superior fitness held them in good stead and enabled the bowlers to keep going right to the end. They picked up some crucial wickets in that last session. Fair play to them.
The mission now is obvious. Bat and bat long, absolute concentration on each and every ball from each and every batsman. Slow, low wicket so far but how many times have we seen day four and five create mayhem unexpectedly? England need to bat 4 sessions and that should be enough.

Strange tactics by both sides,England making very little attempt to even try to get number 10 Ojha,putting more importance on stiffling the scoring.Also some obvious time wasting.they seem fearful of Ashwin's threat with the bat,who hasn't played many shots. Latest-Panesar takes the wicket of Ojha & bat on to 326-9 before declaring 4 runs behind England.A curious game of cat & mouse for the first hour,now the contest starts for real when England bat again.

Strange decision to declare 4 runs short of the England total. It would have been better to get the batters to go for quick runs and then let England bat for a short time before lunch.

England batted well until Cooke was again incorrectly given out by the same numpty umpire who did the same in the first innings. It's about time that we refused to tour in countries who won't use the review system.

(16-12-2012 06:10 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  Strange tactics by both sides,England making very little attempt to even try to get number 10 Ojha,putting more importance on stiffling the scoring.

I didn't think that was strange. England wanted to use as much time up as possible. The longer India were at the wicket without scoring the better for England it was. Anyway England were 161/3 at the close.