England won the toss and decided to bowl. First session going very much England's way with India on 75-4 at lunch. Dravid clean-bowled by Anderson by what became the last ball of the morning.
Bresnan it was who bowled Dravid. India made a modest total of 224 and were it not for a rearguard action led by Dhoni (77), could have been out for a lot less having been 111-7. England started their innings looking a bit wobbly with a few appeals being shouted but settled down and ended the day on 84-0, Strauss making a half-century. I don't want to count my chickens (5 last time I looked) but that No. 1 spot now looks a certainty for England.
Altho India were in nearly as strong a position as this on Day One of the Second Test its hard not to be optimistic. Although Dhoni helped India to a nearly workable total much as Broad did for England, India don't seem capable of the kind of turnaround England achieved from there on in... England got back into the game because of Broad's hat-trick- no Indian bowlers seem capable of producing a game turning spell! England won the game because a number of batsman were able to support Bell's innings-Dravid could easily outbat Bell, but on current form who would stay with him?
None of the lbw appeals I saw were anywhere near being out, though. I certainly wouldn't have given them and would even have been ashamed to appeal for some (though knowing me, I probably would have). Anyway, a great day's play. Hopefully we will bat sensibly on day 2 then go to town. 600+ is never a gimmie but with their bowling and state of mind, there is no reason why it can't be that or even substantially more.
think the weather will have a part to play in this test..not lookign too good for today and the morrow
If India are the best side in Test cricket, there has been very little evidence of it since they arrived on these shores. Perhaps it is just that England are so good that they make India look moderate. Sehwag’s return was a short-lived panacea lasting just one ball of the second over. Gambhir played a bad shot as did Laxman. Tendulkar has looked out of sorts all tour and did not look comfortable before a predictable outside edge – Anderson only doing the catching this time. The visitors’ best batsman since they arrived has been Rahul Dravid but he completely missed one and then Raina missed one even worse. Given the situation, I have no idea why Mishra was out fishing after wide balls but it is not his fault that the senior batsmen had failed to deliver. India’s bowling attack does not look up to the job without Zaheer Khan, so England really should be able to pile up a good first innings total and try to knock India over for an innings victory. Their main hindrance looks like being the weather. They should expect the ball to move around for India because the game will be played under leaden skies. Hopefully too much play will not be lost to rain. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s record as India captain of having never lost a Test Series is surely about to come to an end.
Day two finishes with Cook on 182 and England on 456-3. The pitch is looking good for spin so Swann will be looking to get stuck in when England declare. Morgan has smeared vaseline on the edge of his bat it would seem as no matter how many times he lollops up an easy catch, the fielders don't seem to be able to hold on to the ball.
How dreadful has the Indian fielding been? - just the worst i have seen from an international team for some team - how the hell are they the No 1 in the world? - they have been totally slaughtered by England. Even when they won the toss in helpful conditions as in Trent Bridge they manage to get walloped. One of the worst teams i have seen in recent years.
It has to be said that this Indian side look like they would rather be anywhere else than England. It's almost as if they think it's more important to earn huge sums of money in the IPL than play International Test Match cricket. They (along with last year's Pakistan - albeit for different reasons) are the most unprofessional international team to come over here for quite some time. Let's face it at least Bangladesh would try and give it a go.
The last time I saw something as bad as this from a supposedly good test side was us in the 06/07 Ashes. Unfit, dreadful fielding, no motivation and even less leadership. Can anyone think of something that links these two teams?
dks, I am pretty sure I know the guy that you are inferring is the link, but I suspect that the current malaise in the India camp is not the same as that which bedevilled the England team that surrendered meekly to the Aussies. The problem with the current India Test team may well be as GasheadinChelt stated: the financial motivation of Test cricket is not as alluring as the IPL. We will see how India play in the ODI Series. Will the shorter form of the game suddenly spur them into action? In the Tests to date, the fielding has been at best lackadaisical, Dhoni has been very sloppy with the gloves and most of the batsmen have thrown their wickets away (although that is not to say that England have not bowled well to claim some of them). If this is the Number One team in the game there is something wrong with the sport. I do concur that Bangladesh would have given it more of a go because they are a hungry nation trying to improve their fledgling game.
TMS discussing when to declare. Should we try to win the game or bat on and on grinding our opponents into the ground? I favour the later. The series is won win or draw.
Given that India have failed to score three hundred in any innings in the Series to date, I think that we should bat today (weather permitting) until half-an-hour before tea and then declare. Doing so will mean that their openers will have twenty minutes of Anderson and Broad before tea. I am not convinced that Sehwag can play a conservative innings as the situation requires and England have nothing to lose. If India find some batting from somewhere and get up to England’s first innings total, they can go out and chase the necessary runs. The weather forecast looks excellent for Sunday so I am inclined to disregard the draw as a possible result. If England pile up seven hundred, India will start employing go-slow tactics and hope that the weather can come to their rescue, which will be disappointing viewing for the people who have bought expensive tickets. The authorities at Edgbaston want play to go on for as long as possible on Saturday (at least) because otherwise they will be dishing out part refunds on tickets.
As long as we don't lose this match, we've won the series, might aswell just keep batting to be honest, have a cheeky go at some records.
They should keep batting until at least the midway point of tomorrow. A day and a half is enough time to bowl India out.
England declare on 710-7, that's our third highest score in a test ever but I've got a feeling the 2 higher scores were in timeless tests?
