England Test Match Tour of India 2024

(24-01-2024 21:51 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  ^^ I can't agree with this being the responsibility of England & Australia, why should they seek be independent of the ownership of the game, your making them the scapegoats to a problem that lies with the ICC alone. They are no more culpable than Ireland, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh. They're all ICC members with equal votes.
This is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. The ICC need to man up & take back control before it's to late.

India & the IPL franchises are monopolizing the cricket landscape. The re-vamped SAT20 has all 6 teams owned by IPL franchises, MLC (US) 4 out of 6, ILT (UAE) 3 out of 6, CPL (WI) 3 out of 6.

What this means is that a player with an IPL contract may also be expected, if required to turn out for other respective franchises across the globe, therefore controlling many off the best players in the world. This puts these players in conflict with their home cricket boards. On top of all this, players contracted to the BCCI (IND) cannot play in any other countries T20 tournaments, apart from their own IPL.
The big question is, will India be willing to share it's riches with other nations in the interest of protecting the game as a whole, or carry on as they are & ultimately end up having to just play amongst themselves.

I agree about the role of the ICC, and not just in this instance. I have said that the organisation is not fit for purpose! I do feel though, that maybe Eng and Aus are 'too comfortable' with the 'leadership role' they have had bestowed upon them (just look at Eng and the 5 test series that have been introduced against nations that hitherto had shorter series) ,when I am certain the intention was for both Eng and Aus to show responsibility in entertaining the 'smaller nations', and maybe if they were to take a stand, the BCCI tail may not wag so hard??

No question though that neither one has the responsibility the ICC should have, but it is beholden to its members, instead of - like every other international sporting governing body - being an independent rule maker/decision taker.

England 108/3 at lunch.
Got to 55/0 then lost three wickets for 5 runs .
Then recovered somewhat.

Hmmmmm.

India v England 1st Test - Hyderabad - Day 1 Close
England elected to bat
ENG 246 (64.3 overs) Stokes 70 Bairstow 37 Duckett 35 Root 29 Ashwin 3-68 Jadeja 3-88 Bumrah 2-28 Axar 2-33
IND 119-1 (23 overs) Jaiswal 76 no

The pitch turned a bit, to be expected, difficult to say if England's total is below par or not. The quality of India's spinners showed by their accuracy, & amount of spin extracted. Stokes had nowhere to go, Hartley got attacked, he continued to set aggressive field placings, he created a few half chances. England used up all their referrals & have a long road ahead. India will be hoping to bat once.

I was pretty surprised England got past 200 after late morning session and afternoon session
We shall see what day 2 brings

Why would you leave Rehan Ahmed until the close of play to bowl token overs on a pitch in India, when Hartley was being 'carted' and with England's total maybe (just about) par but arguably below???? It is one thing being 'quirky or radical' it is something else being blind to the obvious! Yes, when he came on, he too went at sevens, but give him longer to get into his rythmn when batters are starting out, and then?? As Booms rightly points out, india got appreciably more turn (to be expected I guess)

(25-01-2024 12:40 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  India v England 1st Test - Hyderabad - Day 2 Close
England elected to bat
ENG 246 (64.3 overs) Stokes 70 Bairstow 37 Duckett 35 Root 29 Ashwin 3-68 Jadeja 3-88 Bumrah 2-28 Axar 2-33
IND 421-7 (110 overs) Rahul 86 Jaiswal 80 Jadeja 81 no Bharat 41 Shreyas 35 Axar 35 no Root 2-77 Hartley 3-131
India lead by 175 runs

Tactically the worst captaincy I've seen from Stokes, yesterdays error of not bowling an off-spinner in Root to the left-hander Jaiswal. Root took his wicket today in his first over. He gave a debutant in Hartley the new ball, but gave him no cover with his field placings, opting to attack, & then stubbornly kept him on instead of taking the heat off him. Only 2 overs for Wood made to sense, give him 4, or at least bring him back on. Ahmed got the ball as an afterthought on day 1.
Day 2 was an improvement, but much of the damage had been done. The lead stands at 175, that may be too many for England.
Credit to India yesterday, 90 overs were bowled, despite needing an extra 20 minutes or so. Today Wood has bowled 11 overs, but England finish the day 3 overs short, another black mark for Stokes, gamesmanship, cheating, or at least cheating the public. What is the point, it is unlikely that England can escape defeat.

All my fears regarding the selection of the spinners could be proven correct. Leach injured his knee on day 2 & again today, if it proves to be serious England will be short in experience. Without Root to bail them out, it could've been much worse.
If the injury to Leach prevents him from playing the 2nd Test which is a short turnaround, they would either have to chance tactics & pick 2 pace & 2 spin bowlers, or throw the young Bashir in, who must be ill prepared after having to return home due to via issues.
Having only one experienced spinner is a mistake, if the pitches dictate 3 spinners & your 4th is an untried teenager something is wrong. All bowlers should be available for selection. Selecting Bashir just to give him a feel of Test cricket is a waste of a spot. Stokes & Baz could yet throw him in but it would be a risk.
Australia lost the first Test last year with 2 pace & 2 spinners, but then picked 3 spinners & Cummins for the remaining 3, which they had 1 win, 1 loss & 1 draw.

The winner of the best spinner in the whole of the England is Joe Root.