We need to get 400 here really. Reasonably flat pitch but we seem to find ways of getting ourselves out. Imperative that Cook scores big today - it would massively lift the team.
Good morning for England. Lost Robson, but Cook is approaching 50. Shame he couldn't quite get it before lunch but looking much better today (#nojinx)
100 partnership. ballance is a great little player for his experience at this level. 155/1 right now is great. If we get to say 200/2 thats a good start. can't say any more than that. i do feel right now india are in defensive mode too so with the spin theres no pressure on england and everyone is out so punch singles and build a score IMO. I'd say perversely bell would love someone to get out as this pitch looks to need a new ball and otherwise is a batters track. 55 overs gone = 25 more nice scoring overs hopefully
Yup, hopefully get to the end of the day with 220 - 250 on the board now these two are both in. India definitely defensive mode now they've taken the lead by playing the extra batsman though so hopefully the bowler can get the ball to do something
Yeah as much as I don't want us to lose wickets this would be a great chance to get Bell back in nick too.
Can't see these 2 putting on another 300 without losing a wicket so he'll get in at some point. Cook must get 100 minimum and then push on and get 150. Really boost his confidence and hopefully that'll reflect in his captaincy as well.
In the end I think n 50 overs time india will be looking at a declare.... what i mean is if we get to 20/25 overs off a new ball say with only 3 down i can see a 500 scores 171/1 now is real nice. two century possibilities and really at least cook can now look forward to say not even batting again in this test if he's lucky and 76 is enough to stave off the critics in fairness to cook the sky coverage earlier showed him much further forward the the bat much closer to his body and being able to put his weight into the shots so he's worked on it somewhat. the critics would ask... why can't he do that 2 matches, 3 matches ago? I'd agree but at least he's doing something. damned lucky drop though..
How many times has an out of form batsman needed that little bit of luck though? If that had been any other game in the last year, Cook would have been caught and critics back on his case but tiny bit of luck and off he goes. Wouldn't be a massive surprise if he followed today up with more run and getting back to somewhere near his best.
Yeah. I just feel that he is a quality batsman but not captain. He's good for scoring runs and winning games only. I don't think a good innings will change that.
We don't really have any other captains in the team unfortunately. If you gave it to someone like Root looking to the future, then you could possibly damage his development as well. Think we stick with Cook and hope that now he's got some runs, hope that it inspires him and gives him a bit more confidence. Also, if Cook's batting well, we tend to score big which in turn adds pressure to the opposition which forces errors and allows the bowlers more of a chance to get wickets. No surprise our lack of wins has coincided with Cook's poor batting.
Has Bell ever captained England or even Warwickshire before? Looking through that team, the only other experienced players are Broad and Anderson. Broad did the T20 team, but not keen on bowlers captaining teams.
you want a slip fielder to be captain. you can see the bowler, the batsman and be involved. so look at the 3/4 men in that cordon. IMO england need to sack the off field idiots and beg KP back thats the choice IMO stick with cook and hope he comes back or go beg KP.
Yeah it is difficult. But what do we have to lose? I think now may be the time to take a risk. Bell or Broad would be my choice. Broad has that fire and bottle to take on the biggest attached like the Australian media! Trouble is he is inconsistent. Actually probably prefer Broad thinking about it.
