Schedule October 30-1 Nov v India A, Mumbai (Brabourne) November 3-5 v Mumbai A, Mumbai (DY Patil Stadium) (04:00 GMT) 8-11 Tour match (opponents TBC), Ahmedabad (SPS Navrangpura) (04:00 GMT) 15-19 1st Test, Ahmedabad (Motera) (04:00 GMT) 23-27 2nd Test, Mumbai (****hede Stadium) (04:00 GMT) December 5-9 3rd Test, Kolkata (03:30 GMT) 13-17 4th Test, Nagpur (04:00 GMT) 20 1st Twenty20 international (d/n), Pune (14:30 GMT) 22 2nd Twenty20 international (d/n), Mumbai (****hede Stadium) (14:30 GMT) 23 England squad departs India India play a limited-overs series against Pakistan between 25 December and 6 January January 2 England squad leaves UK 3 England squad arrives in India (Delhi) 6 50-over tour match (d/n), opponents TBC. Delhi (Feroz Shah Kotla) 8 50-over tour match, opponents TBC, Delhi (Harbax Singh Stadium) 11 1st ODI (d/n), Rajkot (09:00 GMT) 15 2nd ODI (d/n), Kochi (09:00 GMT) 19 3rd ODI (d/n), Ranchi (09:00 GMT) 23 4th ODI, Mohali (06:30 GMT) 27 5th ODI, Dharamshala (03:30 GMT) NB Fixtures and start times are subject to change. Stopmeandslapme is not responsible for any changes that may be made.
Day one of the first test and India well on top. Swann took 4 wickets, Seamers leaked runs. General consensus is that Panesar should have played instead of Bresnan and it could have been England's day.
Have to admit Panesar did poor with Swann last time we played. Not as an individual but it just didn't click with both in the side and left Strauss with very few options, i think they are using that as an example of why they need three seamers which they do. Until we unearth that all rounder we will be staying with this system, which personally is not a bad thing if your seamers have the game under control, which unfortunately is something we have lacked for a while now, with Bresnan and Broad consistently leaking runs.
A wicket each for Patel and Pietersen, the seamers managed 1 between them. Expect Monty might have taken a few. England now 30 for 3, 1-0 to India.
Cook and Compton 111-0 showing that it is possible for English players to bat in these conditions, maybe there's life in the old dog after all?
Superb innings from Captain Cook ably assisted by Seaman Prior. All results are still possible but I think another 150-200 for England will deny an Indian victory. Patel given out LBW wrongly for the second time in the match. He can play spin well so hope he keeps his place for the next match.
Apparently on Mastermind tonight, one contestant has Geoffrey Boycott as his specialist subject. Tomorrow on TMS they will be asking Geoff the same questions, should be fun.
Amazing catch by Bairstow. Pujara played foward defensive to Swann and Bairstow somehow managed to shift his weight. . Pujara had earlier caught Broad in the same way. Amazing stuff. Some game here.
57 is the target for England to level the series, let's knock them off calmly, bet there are a few nervy moments to come though.
Interesting article, Graham Thorpe on how to play spin: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/20550214
Some big decisions on selection tonight - Broad or Finn and Bell or Bairstow I think I would go for Finn and Bell
Broad has been poor this series. I think we should rotate players just to let them know their place is not guaranteed but I'd be surprised if they drop golden boy.
Good performance today. Monty and Anderson bowled excellent. Finn was a bit of the pace. No DRS saved India a couple of times. When is Cook going to call right at the toss??? Fancy us big time
England in a very strong position at 216-1. If we can get up to around 500 then India will be battling to save the match on a wearing pitch with Monty and Swann looking to clean them up. Cook looks to be the best English batsman since WG Grace.
Top performance today. Cooky really unlucky with run out-schoolboy error!!!!! Bell looks off his game,rather see Bairstow or Morgan next game.
Didn't get to hear the final days play as went out on the lash the night before but the result was never in doubt though it must have given India a glimmer of hope when they had England at 8-3. Bell then knocking off most of the required runs very quickly. England shouldn't make any changes for the final game whereas India look like they need a complete rebuild.
England had a slow first day of the final test, reaching stumps with only 199 on board, but they got up to 330 by midway through the second. The out field has caused a few problems with the fact it seems very slow and only a hard accurate shot gets through and anywhere near the boundary. The wicket is suited a seemer rather than a spinner, as seen with the figures of Sharma and Anderson. England's middle order and tail were undone by Chawla on the second day and he got a four wicket haul in his first test match. Also, Jedaja did well with the ball, justifying his call up. Watching the day's highlights, i thought England gave away their wickets quite easily, in particular Pietersen, but the Indians are doing it as well. The bowlers are very dominant at the moment with only a few (thankfully English) batters getting started and progressing. Root looks good at the crease and in the field. India can't complain with the wickets today- although Pujara got out to a ball that came off his elbow- it's their Board's fault for not having DRS. Although, it was a great diving catch by Bell to get rid of him. Anderson has been terrific getting Tendulkar out for the ninth time, and also getting on top of Sehwag (ball kept low, through the gate and took out his middle stump) and Gahmbir (looked for the outside edge, which came straight to Prior), whose the only Indian to make a fist of it so far in the 4th test with the bat. The spinners have done well in containing them. They've helped lower the Indian run rate and we're getting on top of them. It looks good for another victory (of course we don't need to chase the match anymore). All in all this leaves England in a decent position. Hopefully they can keep it up going into tomorrow.
Excellent performance again today. Root looks a good prospect with 73 Swanny a really good 56 Anderson 3 - 24 in 9 overs - top man. Surely no way we can loose this? As a Bear supporter,really concerned with Bell