England vs India - First test thread

Tomorrow is going to be interesting. By the time most of us tune in it will be the afternoon session about to start and India could be 230/3 and really push on from that. Or, less likely 180/6. You just get the feeling the game will have moved on big time by then.
 
I think we’ll adapt and get better as the tour progresses. As others have said once again we go into a test series totally undercooked. To throw a debutant spinner on to open the bowling against arguably the best team in the world on home soil is just nuts.
 
Watched the first session before work and it was poor. Why Hartley bowled so many overs is baffling, I feel for him a bit because he's clearly not good enough at this level. That pitch certainly doesn't look like the raging bunsen it did when we were batting on it. Need wickets this afternoon and quick or as Jaffa says it could get ugly.
 
pooljimbo said:
Watched the first session before work and it was poor. Why Hartley bowled so many overs is baffling, I feel for him a bit because he's clearly not good enough at this level. That pitch certainly doesn't look like the raging bunsen it did when we were batting on it. Need wickets this afternoon and quick or as Jaffa says it could get ugly.
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They keep bowling the wrong length!
 
Root makes me laugh.

Throwing a tantrum because he didn’t get a decision for a catch.

Replay showed it clearly came off his pad a good 3” from his bat.

That’s why India still have 3 reviews left Joe and not zero like we do.

India cruising here on 303/5.
 
I don't deny at times test cricket can be "gripping" but this is plain one-sided and boring.

That's why I prefer "white ball" cricket even though England have been "pretty shit" at that recently.
 
Average with the bat, shocking with the ball. We are a side in transition but some of the bowling has been nothing other than rank bad bowling.
 
pooljimbo said:
Watched the first session before work and it was poor. Why Hartley bowled so many overs is baffling, I feel for him a bit because he's clearly not good enough at this level. That pitch certainly doesn't look like the raging bunsen it did when we were batting on it. Need wickets this afternoon and quick or as Jaffa says it could get ugly.
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Why have a go at the new kid?

He's been thrown into the lions den and taken more wickets so far than Leach who is supposed to be our premier spinner with all the experience.

I'm not his biggest fan in red ball cricket but to pick him out is a bit of a cheap shot IMO.
 
Leither said:
Why have a go at the new kid?

He's been thrown into the lions den and taken more wickets so far than Leach who is supposed to be our premier spinner with all the experience.

I'm not his biggest fan in red ball cricket but to pick him out is a bit of a cheap shot IMO.
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I'm not having a go. If you read my post properly I feel sorry for him having to bowl all the overs, whether that's because Stokes can't trust the others or he has some masterplan up his sleeve, either way its not working. Good luck to the lad for the future but I'm not sure this is the best way to blood a young spinner on his debut.
 
pooljimbo said:
I'm not having a go. If you read my post properly I feel sorry for him having to bowl all the overs, whether that's because Stokes can't trust the others or he has some masterplan up his sleeve, either way its not working. Good luck to the lad for the future but I'm not sure this is the best way to blood a young spinner on his debut.
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I totally agree they have handled him badly but I did read you post and you said he was 'clearly not good enough at this level'.

I felt that was pretty harsh in his first test match against the best test side against spin on their own turf.

I think he'll get better but the fact Root is our best spinner says a lot about English spin bowling at the moment.
 
Once again we've ballsed this one up good and proper. We need to think things through more and prepare better. Bowling so many pies doesnt help either. Doh.
 
Leither said:
I totally agree they have handled him badly but I did read you post and you said he was 'clearly not good enough at this level'.

I felt that was pretty harsh in his first test match against the best test side against spin on their own turf.

I think he'll get better but the fact Root is our best spinner says a lot about English spin bowling at the moment.
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Yep, don't disagree with your last sentence.
 
We'll do well not to lose by an innings here. The lack of spin options across the county game is beyond worrying. Hartley is a smart white ball bowler, but his type of bowling does not get you wickets in Test cricket. That's no criticism of the lad either. He's a good, competitive cricketer who plays with a bit of fight and offers you something with that bat and in the field.

The negatives of the Bazball approach are that it allows some players to ignore their weaknesses to the point of not even trying to fix them. But in the case of Joe Root, it's taken his natural strength and weakened it by trying to force him to play in a similar way to lesser players. He's always scored runs in India using his classical batting approach, sweeping well and rotating the strike well. He doesn't need to play ramps and reverses etc. The others do because they can either stay in for 30 mins and score 30 runs or nurdle for an hour for 15. All told, runs on the board are better than time used up.

But when all's said and done. This is an away tour in India. It's about as hard as it gets in terms of cricket. A heavy defeat was the likely outcome pre-series and this game does little to change that situation.
 
It's an anti-bazball wicket that's going to explode in the 4th innings. That's if there is a 4th innings. I don't think chasing 150 on it would be fun.
 
Tom Hartley has been thrown under the Indian Juggernaut. All good experience, but what has he done to elevated to such a high profile ahead of Leach and even Root? Seems unjust to me and not in the players best interests. I just wonder if Leach and Root have had a word and said 'don't choose me to open if that's OK'.
 
fcblackpool said:
Tom Hartley has been thrown under the Indian Juggernaut. All good experience, but what has he done to elevated to such a high profile ahead of Leach and even Root? Seems unjust to me and not in the players best interests. I just wonder if Leach and Root have had a word and said 'don't choose me to open if that's OK'.
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Well in fairness, Root is our premier batsman. He shouldn't need to say 'don't open with me'...

Opening with Hartley will have been thought out before hand. Could be that his height and flatter 'style' were considered better for the new ball than Leach or Rehan, both of whom give it a more air.

Team selection - as with the Ashes - seems odd to me. When Stokes can bowl, meaning you can play Foakes and not lose anything, they don't play Foakes and have Bairstow keeping. When Stokes can't bowl, they play Foakes and remove the option of adding an extra bowler.
 
straightatthewall said:
Well in fairness, Root is our premier batsman. He shouldn't need to say 'don't open with me'...

Opening with Hartley will have been thought out before hand. Could be that his height and flatter 'style' were considered better for the new ball than Leach or Rehan, both of whom give it a more air.

Team selection - as with the Ashes - seems odd to me. When Stokes can bowl, meaning you can play Foakes and not lose anything, they don't play Foakes and have Bairstow keeping. When Stokes can't bowl, they play Foakes and remove the option of adding an extra bowler.
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I read somewhere that Stokes said about TH's height and pace being something different- well maybe in SA or NZ, but not in India from basically someone who has never bowled with a new red ball before.

I agree about the extra bowler.
 
Leither said:
I totally agree they have handled him badly but I did read you post and you said he was 'clearly not good enough at this level'.

I felt that was pretty harsh in his first test match against the best test side against spin on their own turf.

I think he'll get better but the fact Root is our best spinner says a lot about English spin bowling at the moment.
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Leach is injured so that may have forced them to bowl more than planned.
 
Well I’ve been watching the cricket little more than 15 minutes and we’ve lost 2 wickets in that short time, Stokes just gone for 6. 😮

163/5 still 27 runs behind.

Good stuff this Bazball init 🫣
 
Jaffa_The_Hut said:
Well I’ve been watching the cricket little more than 15 minutes and we’ve lost 2 wickets in that short time, Stokes just gone for 6. 😮

163/5 still 27 runs behind.

Good stuff this Bazball init 🫣
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Hiding to nothing and got a lot wrong, but I’d take Bazball any day of the week.
 
It’s been a decent scrap since I woke up and saw Stokes at the crease.

Issue as ever was an undercooked first innings for bat and bowl.

Even an extra 50 more for us and 50 less for them would have made this more of a challenge for India.
 
That's a great fight back and brilliant from Ollie Pope. They have to get settled first thing tomorrow as we could easily lose the last 4 wickets for a handful of runs at the start of a fourth day, so the two of them need to get in and try and get a lead of over 200, which on this pitch on the final day and a half could be enough. I love Test cricket.
 
If we can get through the first hour with the new ball tomorrow and get another say 100 runs it could be very interesting.
 
seasideone said:
Test is best 🧡❤️🧡❤️🧡❤️🧡❤️

…well, for anyone with the attention span more than a goldfish 🤣
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You thinking of anyone in particular pal? 🤔 🤣
What a fightback today. And so much for all the disintegrating pitch theories. As Chunky says above we just need to stop being so slapdash in our first innings with bat and ball. Give the opposition nothing.
 
What a great day of cricket that was, I still think we'll lose but I'm eating humble pie.
 
Great innings from Pope. Another 100 or so needed then we will see what our young spinners can do. Hearing that Jack Leach is strapped up and hobbling a bit
 
What a days cricket so far, absolutely brilliant, Pope 196 supported by Ahmed and then Hartly, India respond to 42 without loss and now 3 quick wickets for Hartley and India are 65 for 3! And need another 160 on a wicket that is turning wickedly! All that and Windies beating the Aussies by 8 runs. Test cricket is the best by miles.
 
This is nothing I saw saw coming and I'd bet England wouldn't score above 350 and no batter would score a century. Luckily I didn't post my betting slip on here so you guys don't know I'm a no nothing chump and I'm not daft enough to tell you.
 
We had more than a few comments after the first couple of days saying Hartley was out of his depth playing in this his first test match.

Nice little cameo with the bat as well.

I wonder if he’s read this board and got fired up? 🤷‍♂️
 
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Jaffa_The_Hut said:
We had more than a few comments after the first couple of days saying Hartley was out of his depth playing in this his first test match.

Nice little cameo with the bat as well.

I wonder if he’s read this board and got fired up? 🤷‍♂️
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We knew he could hold a bat, but nothing in his bowling career suggested this. Fair play, but it is a 5 match series.
 
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