Bristol crowd treated to classic
Despite a late flurry from England, which levelled what is becoming a highly charged, and thoroughly entertaining series.
Bristol was packed to the rafters with supporters of both teams who all seemed determined to enjoy themselves.
They were treated to a brilliant 99 from Sachin Tendulkar, who had risen from his sick bed and also suffered a serious attack of cramp in his left hand, and who looked very unlucky to be given out caught behind down the leg- side.
Admittedly, it is very difficult for an umpire to judge when the bat, gloves and everything else are all in the contact area of a ball travelling at 90 miles per hour - but had he reached his hundred, Tendulkar might have really cut loose.
Rahul Dravid showed what a remarkably adaptable batsman he is by scoring an unbeaten 92 from only 62 balls - compare that innings to his second at the Oval when he made 12 from 96 deliveries!
The main talking point from an England perspective was the decision to leave out Monty Panesar.
Not only did this deprive Paul Collingwood of some much needed variety when his seamers were being hammered, but it also contributed to England’s dreadful over rate.
India, on the other hand, played two spinners - and both took wickets. There seems to be a clear difference in thinking here in that England felt intimidated by the short boundaries, and felt that Panesar would be vulnerable, while India used the short boundaries as bait.
No one bowled better that Piyush Chawla - just 18, but a leg-spinner of great promise.
Hopefully he will not go the way of some other young Indian spinners over the years, and watching him defeat Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood with brilliantly disguised googlies was a joy.
He and Ramesh Power tossed the ball up invitingly and Ian Bell found himself tied down, scoring his 64 from 96 balls.
So the series is hotting up. India's fielding looks potentially vulnerable - four key catches were dropped, and they appear rather anxious.
Ajit Agarkar might find his place under threat when Zaheer Khan returns after illness, but their batting is finding its feet. For England, Alistair Cook is in tremendous form, Andrew Flintoff is bowling with plenty of fire, and while Dimitri Mascarenhas clubbed some useful runs towards the end of the game, he has still not done enough with the ball, in my view, to suggest he is a good long term bet.
come on INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
Complain about this postHi Aggers
Complain about this postWell written. India had their selection just about perfect by including 2 spinners. The part where you have written about the spinners using the small boundaries as a bait was true as Freddie found out.
England made a big mistake by leaving Monty out.
Hopefully they get their selection correct the next time. The series is well set up now.
Hi Aggers
Complain about this postWell written. India had their selection just about perfect by including 2 spinners. The part where you have written about the spinners using the small boundaries as a bait was true as Freddie found out.
England made a big mistake by leaving Monty out.
Hopefully they get their selection correct the next time. The series is well set up now.
Hi Aggers
Complain about this postWell written. India had their selection just about perfect by including 2 spinners. The part where you have written about the spinners using the small boundaries as a bait was true as Freddie found out.
England made a big mistake by leaving Monty out.
Hopefully they get their selection correct the next time. The series is well set up now.
A good game by both Teams. Freddie looked back to his best, at least with the ball, and all the batsman, apart from Freddie and Bopara, at least got starts. However the selection of Bopara and Tremlett over Shah and Monty, was daft. Bopara has done nothing but field in the 2 previous games and has only scored 17. Monty could have won us the game, and Shah has batted brilliantly in all but 1 of his previous games, and i believe that he could make the step up to International cricket. Also Broad openend the bowling with pace and consistency and used his height well to 'stop' Ganguly. Also i would like to say that this feels a lot less like a match report and more like a blog than the previous one, so Bravo.
Complain about this postdespite brave effort from dimi and the very talented Broad, england got what they deserve.....fed up of doing this but when are they going to learn....dropping Monty will never be the answer....getting very fed up to the point that i wish they would hurry up and appoint overall man in charge of TEAM england (Sussex in Disguise) and get rid of some of these people in charge!
poor captaincy from colly and poor from Moores....so short sighted it just makes me so angry....Monty is going to help win you more games than you will loose....and if we do loose 9 times out 10 it wont be Monty's fault any way.
why change winning side....did it against windies early in the summer after winning first game drop Monty and loose series....colly and Moores you got what you deserved today and carry onlike this I the calls for freds return as captain (despite poor shot-but great bowling) will forever get louder!
at least flintoff and strauss last summer beleive 110% in the lad. If it was my choice I would have Monty and Rashid in the side...Look at how well their young leggy bowled!
So get a grip england....Im getting fed up of the same old message....learn quick or get freddy (and Moody) in at the top...Im not amused and not impressed!
Colly, poor captaincy....poor poor!
Complain about this postI was there and it was awesome!
Complain about this postBistol has been a lucky ground for India and this was a good win in a closely-contested match. An excellent team performance from India considering the hammering they took in the opening match of the series.
However, I still feel England are the favourites. India's fielding is a major negative and their tail has been weak in all forms of the game for decades. Chawla, Agarkar, RP Singh and Munaf Patel are deadbats and it was interesting to see Dmitri and Stuart Broad almost pull off a specacular victory - England fought to the end but if the roles had been reversed, I believe India would have thrown in the towel.
Complain about this post"Admittedly, it is very difficult for an umpire to judge when the bat, gloves and everything else are all in the contact area of a ball travelling at 90 miles per hour ..."
I wonder how you manage to acquit the umpires almost every time despite all these howlers. It has been a concerted effort on the part of the umpires to undermine India throughout this series, a trend worth pointing out. It is indeed 11 from India vs. 13 from England!!
Complain about this postThis series is hotting up nicely: England want revenge for the test series but India have bags of talent and experience but poor fielding. I'm glad England didn't capitulate in this game and tried to fight until the bitter end. It demonstrated that England aren't that far off, and highlighted selection issues, which I'm sure every (armchair) fan will be quick to offer their opinion on. Here's my XI:
1. Bell or Cook (probably Bell but I worry his excellent ODI record/average arises from inappropriate absorbtion in his own game at the cost of the team/match situation)
Complain about this post2. Prior
3. Pietersen
4. Shah (our best ODI batsman in the WI series by a mile - why is he not playing?)
5. Collingwood
6. Bopara (bowl him more!)
7. Mascarenhas
8. Flintoff (until he regains his batting form)
9. Broad
10. Panesar (but he's not as good an ODI bowler as his Indian counterparts, I think because he does not flight and vary his bowling sufficiently - are there any other good English ODI spinners in the county circuit. Keedy? Schofield? Doshi?)
11. Anderson
This series is hotting up nicely: England want revenge for the test series but India have bags of talent and experience but poor fielding. I'm glad England didn't capitulate in this game and tried to fight until the bitter end. It demonstrated that England aren't that far off, and highlighted selection issues, which I'm sure every (armchair) fan will be quick to offer their opinion on. Here's my XI:
1. Bell or Cook (probably Bell but I worry his excellent ODI record/average arises from inappropriate absorbtion in his own game at the cost of the team/match situation)
Complain about this post2. Prior
3. Pietersen
4. Shah (our best ODI batsman in the WI series by a mile - why is he not playing?)
5. Collingwood
6. Bopara (bowl him more!)
7. Mascarenhas
8. Flintoff (until he regains his batting form)
9. Broad
10. Panesar (but he's not as good an ODI bowler as his Indian counterparts, I think because he does not flight and vary his bowling sufficiently - are there any other good English ODI spinners in the county circuit. Keedy? Schofield? Doshi?)
11. Anderson
Aggers,
You seem reluctant to credit Monty with being a very good bowler who could help England to win games, I mean surely no-one in international cricket is picked to help an over rate. Admittedly I realise he hasn't shone in the one day arena so far but he has proved himself to be a genuine matchwinner in his brief career to date (as in the 1st test against the West Indies where I think you suggested he be dropped) and can no doubt grow into the role in One Day Internationals.
James
Complain about this postIt was quite a game and England showed spirit to get so close, although India was always in control and totally deserved their victory.
Possibly the decision to play Tremlett instead of Panesar lost the game for England. We went for an all-seam attack, India for a balanced attack and India undoubtedly got it right on the night. Tremlett and the combined fifth bowler went for a huge number of runs: 0-60 from Monty instead of Tremlett's 0-73 and we've have sneaked it.
Complain about this postAggers,
You seem reluctant to credit Monty with being a very good bowler who could help England to win games, I mean surely no-one in international cricket is picked to help an over rate. Admittedly I realise he hasn't shone in the one day arena so far but he has proved himself to be a genuine matchwinner in his brief career to date (as in the 1st test against the West Indies where I think you suggested he be dropped) and can no doubt grow into the role in One Day Internationals.
James
Complain about this postRT mate, you must admit that some decisions have gone India's way too. Why not just enjoy the cricket and accept that the umpires are human and will make errors?
Mascarenhas bowled really well during the last odi so it is bit harsh to write him off after one bad odi. On figures we would be slating Tremlett despite my opinion that he has all the attributes to be a top international bowler. The problem is whether or not he has the psychological make up to put himself there.
Complain about this postEngland made a mess of the bowling rate. If it was India they would have been punished by cutting the match fees or whatever. But with England can it happen?
Complain about this postMore moaning about the umpires and umpiring conspiracies. It's a wonderful case of selective memory. England took the 10th Indian wicket not once but TWICE in the 2nd innings of the 1st Test, but neither was given and a number of England batsmen also got bad decisions throughout the series. Proof of a world umpiring conspiracy against England too? No! It's just the umpires are human, but some fans remember only the decisions against their own side. For heavens sake stop moanig about biased NEUTRAL umpires and if you have to complain, talk about the overall percentage of bad decisions, which seems rather higher than the 7% that the ICC claims.
Complain about this postEngland made a mess of the bowling rate. If it was India they would have been punished by cutting the match fees or whatever. But with England can it happen?
Complain about this postRT your comment about the umpires is somewhat biased itself. They have made some dubious decisions both ways. Maybe if the Indian team realised the ball is a cold piece of leather and not a hot potato they wouldn't need the help of the umpires.
England made a huge mistake taking out Panesar. I would replace Tremlett with him next time for sure. Hats off to Mascarenhas and Broad for making it exciting at the end. One more no ball from Patel and it could have been very interesting!
Unlucky England, some lessons to be learned from that defeat, let's hope we learn them as well as India did from their dismal display in Southampton.
Complain about this post80% of all bad calls by umpire went in favour of ENGLAND in this Test-ODI series !!! Why wasn't ENGLAND docked few overs for slow ovre rate ??? May be some new rule I don't know ... sure.
Complain about this postI agree umpires make mistakes but one should look overall to their number of mistakes. If it falls less than a certain threshold, they are 'out of form' and should be removed to lower leagues.
India seriously needs to find younger batsmen as their batters are old which seriously gifts 30-40 runs to their opponents.
Complain about this postInteresting (?) thoughts:
Questions:
1) Would India have scored more runs/bowled better if their side had not been reportedly swept by 'flu?
2) Would England have bowled more effectively with Monty Panesar in the starting eleven instead of Tremlett?
3a) Would Nixon (if a 'youth for the future' policy had not been in place) have done better (in terms of keeping and/or scoring) than Prior?
3b) Might Shah (if included in the England side)have scored the same or more runs than Bell did get, in the event of Bell not having got that century in the previous one day match, and being dropped from the side as a consequence? (And more importantly, would Shah have scored them any faster?)
4) Is hindsight the wonerful thing that it is made out to be?
C. Evans.
Complain about this postGreat game! Great batting from both sides and a deserved Indian win. I'm not sure how the Indian fans think Tendulkar wasn't out despite Snicko and HotSpot showing it hit the glove!
Complain about this postI'm sorry Aggers, I love your commentary but your such a scenic. England were remarkable in coming within 10 runs of victory after India posted such a brilliant score. You never see the good in England unless they win, and to be honest with you, you were never a demon bowler. It's about time you acknowledge England are not half as bad as you hope they are. Why you hope they are I'll never know but you impression you give is you can't wait for them to fail.
Complain about this postI'm sorry Aggers, I love your commentary but your such a scenic. England were remarkable in coming within 10 runs of victory after India posted such a brilliant score. You never see the good in England unless they win, and to be honest with you, you were never a demon bowler and you failed as much as the current team does. It's about time you acknowledge England are not half as bad as you hope they are. Why you hope they are I'll never know but you impression you give is you can't wait for them to fail.
Complain about this postMonty is England's best bowler full stop - it's ludicrous that he's not picked. No one is saying that he would have won the game for england, but it's silly (on any surface) to let leave out the most consistent bowler.
Complain about this postAnd surely Bell should make way for Shah - his strike rate of 60 odd was well below everyone else in the team (yet he spent the most time at the crease) Not good enough and he's had too many chances.
Given it was the first real mistake of the Moores' era, I hope it is one that is learnt from and never repeated but not picking Monty for the game today was ludicrous.
Bristol is a wicket where traditionally one where taking the pace off is the way to go and India knew this, so it seems criminal that England do not know how their own wickets play.
In response to the bitter Indian fans on here, thanks for keeping me amused with the massive chips on your shoulders regarding umpiring decisions.
Complain about this postRT you are so biased its embarasing - both teams get bad decisions - india should count themselves lucky to have won the test series after they were saved by rain in the 1st test.
if england had played monty 2day the game would of been ours -typical stupid decision by the selectors! felt sorry for tendulkar though, he deserved his hundred but thats cricket for ya!
Complain about this postI am just curious why the third umpire is not used for situations like lbw or catches. If its a doubtful decision, why not give the batman a chance , or even better, refer to the third umpire and give both parties equal chance ?
Or even give every bowler or batman a single chance every match to question the umpire's decision , like they now do in tennis!
Complain about this postIndia won because of a tall score which England failed to overtake inspite of four dropped catches.In my view if Monty were played he would have been clobbered that could have dented his confidence in the subsequent matches. It was blessing in disguise fo Monty.If any one wants to know once again who is the best batsman in the world he has only to see the replay of Sachin's innings of 99 on the vedio.The world is deprived of further entertainment when he was given out by the umpire caught hehind. Poor umpire cannot have the use of technology when every one else in the stadium has!
Complain about this postIt was an ideal one day cricket scenario. First team pilling huge score and the chasing team just falling short by 9 runs. It was really heartening to see the way Sachin batted and he seemed the old "Master Blaster" once again(danger signs for England). Also quick 92 by Dravid shows that the wall can't only resist but also can cut loose when given an opportunity. And speaking of England, they were very near but just the mistakes in selection made them to loose this match.
Complain about this postHowever, I am very happy that I saw a great game of cricket today.
Great post!
Complain about this postWhy do England Lose when Monty is dropped?
Monty was lucky that he was shielded from Ganguly.
Ganguly has been looking for him since he was run out by in the first ODI.
Thw way Ganguly tore into Tremlott, God onlt knows what Ganguly would have done to Monty!
In the end a good match for the crowd, for whom cricket is played.
Complain about this postDmitry is much similar to Pathan from India. Pathan can bat well, but fails to bowl well. England may not consider him an all-rounder in the Flintoff mould - Rngland almost won th ematch today - India should go back to the board and learn how to field
Ruvabuala
Complain about this postFor too long the Aussies and British media have written Indian batters cannot handle pace and short stuff. It is crap.
Ganguly and Tendulkar have hit the daylights out of every pacemen in the world, and just because they get out fending a bouncer after a scroching 99, it doe snot mean they do not know how to handle pace
truth is Englisg batters cannot handle pace. Look at history against Australia
Ruva Bialawinsky
Complain about this postgreat game...india deserved to win.....but india's fielding was disaster...u just cant drop pieterson twice...all n all 4-5 drop catches...thats just ridiculous for an internantional team...they gotta work on their fielding...though the good news is india's fielding cant get worse than this...and i expect some improvement in the next game...
Complain about this posti feel for poor chap AGARKAR...i mean...he is not so bad ...agreed he had 2 poor games...but if u look at stats..he has been indias best one day bowler for last year or so...he is the only bowler who has been regular in the indian team and has taken wickets with good economy rate...and he is a good last 10 over bowler like we saw today ...2 bad games and people are ready to slit his throat...ah
and for england fans ..sorry but india will win this series
I agree completely when you say that Chawla was the best bowler... and i believe his wicket of pietersen is one of the greatest balls ever bowled in world cricket. KP was asking the ump, if he was bowled out? Absolutely amazing, brilliant ball.
Complain about this postIndia needs tendulkar playing for the country and he needs to forget about his centuries, that will relax him lot more. He seemed nervous in nineties, he needs to be more relaxed and take whatever comes his way. Even though i believe the decision was wrong to give him out.
yesterday match, nine was very lucky to india.
Complain about this postit is as follows.
Ganguly----39
Tendulkar--99
Yuvraj---49
Dravid---92
Score---329
Wide--- 9 in England bowling attack
Result---India won by 9 runs
It was a very good game of cricket. For long periods during England's chase I was reminded of how India ran down another 320 plus target against Nasser Hussain's England in a Natwest final a few years ago. I was on tenterhooks as Mascarenhas and Broad pillaged runs at the death. I heaved a big sigh of relief when the last ball was bowled. Kudos to Collingwood's boys for their fighting spirit. However, England's technique against quality spin still needs work.
As an aside, does anyone still want the 50-over ODI to be replaced by Twenty20 on the international calendar?
Complain about this postAgree with Johnathan.. England were out bated completely at bristol.. Well finally we saw the genius of sachin.. Superb strokes particularly the one he hit Tremlet for a 6 coming down the ground.. This is what sachin is and thats why i feel he is even better than pointing.. who yet i feel cant produce eye catching strokes like the little master.. Dravid was brilliant and surely made up for his oval disaster.. Piyush is a great find for india.. He was terrific in the ICC under 19 world cup and even now.. KP was stunned as to what struck him.. He is a spinner of promise.. and agree with johnathan that he needs to be taken care off.. properly.. and surely has all qualities to become the anil kumble of the future.. Good game.. Chak De India
Complain about this postWe seem to be trying to play too many "All-Rounders", the only genuine all-rounder is Flintoff. The selection yesterday was wrong, Glos have always had one or two spinners in their team at Bristol, and they have been the dominate One-day team in last 10 years, my England XI would be:
1. Cook
2. Prior
3. Bell
4. Pietersen
5. Shah
6. Collingwood
7. Bopara or Mascarenhas
8. Flintoff
9. Broad
10. Panesar
11. Anderson
The order can change depenent on the situation. Eg. last night when we lost our first at 74-1, I would have sent in KP first, the situation was set up him to blast our to the total.
Last night England, need a batmans who could bowl a few overs of spin, KP could do it or bring in Maddy to add variation, but Monty will only learn ODI bowling by playing. Get Giles in to help coach him.
Complain about this postUmpiring decisions have certainly been wrong for both sides. However England has got a major share in their favor rather than against them , but have still lost most of times.
India has won despite Tendulkar,dravid,ganguly ,everytime atleast one of them bieng robbed of their wicket in each innings since Lords.
However that is Cricket.
As for the close victory,one should thank the Indian attitude of relaxing too soon .Any other team would have won by 50 run margin. Indians relax after they knewthe game was in their hand. Cant blame them. At one stage England needed 64 of 34 balls ,and at that time even we as spectators let go off our guard and had beers and ciggerrtes as if the match was won,when all of sudden we relaised they still had a chance;) .
India attitude is = win by 50 or win by 5 runs it doesnt matter;)
Complain about this postPreviously, I said that the real series begins on Friday and I am glad it did. A bit of sunshine and you can see the difference in India's attitude.
Ian Bell is my favorite batsman in the world. If only he can learn to temper his aggression a bit...! tsk...tsk...tsk....that was a match lost in his account.
Anyhow, as a genuien Indian fan, it was really great to see Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid coming to party. Is there any question about who the most gorgeous batsmen are, when they are in full flow?
Piyush, I can only pray that you don't go the ways of Hirwanis, Sivaramakrishanan's of this world. Please stay close to your roots and ignore all the publicity you are getting now.
Awesome match. The match was alive till the last over. Excellent fight back by India (in middle overs) and England towards the end. This series is shaping out to be a really exciting one. But I fear the worst for England. They win one game and some of their players start comparisions with Australia. Now..now, don't get ahead of yourselves (English) boys!!! You are still the worst ranked test team in one day arena. Take one game at a time.
As far as India is concerned, good job. Great selection in picking the two spinners. England showed their negative thinking in not picking their only match winning bowler (what a sad excuse of short boundaries?). Just pray for Zak's return for the next game in place of pathetic Agarkar and you are set. Bold decision in dropping Gambhir and picking Powar. Stick with the team, except for Zak/Agarkar change. The move to send in Yuvraj at #3 also is a great move. I am sure Yuvi got the confidence needed to be a force in the remaining games. Overall, great strategy.
England! Learn from mistakes. There are still five more games. Come on guys. Heres looking forward to the next few games!
Complain about this postTremlett didn't seem to have any idea how or where to bowl. Just because he is 6'7" doe not mean he has to bowl evrything short. It became so predictable that the Indian batsmen played everything of the back foot. Poor bowling!
I was at the game and the crowd was great, Tendulkar looked superb, Dravid seemed to get to his score unnoticed, good spinners from India, fine hitting from Mascarenhas, but all to no avail.
Well played India.
England get the selection right!
Complain about this postA great, competitive game of cricket. England ran India very close. ENgland's selection seems flawed...too many allrounders - Flintoff, Collingwood, Bopara and Mascarenhas. Of these, only Flintoff qualifies as a genuine allrounder. England would be better off replaceing two of the bits-and-pieces players (Bopara and Mascarenhas) with one specialist batsman (like Shah) and one specialist bowler (like Monty).
Complain about this postShah is a batting all rounder.
Complain about this postHe bowls off spin.
Why would you drop Dimmy after he ht a 50 and has a good bowling record?
And why would you drop Bopara, one of the stars of the WC for England?
Robbo, you must have been drunk to the hilt as Snicko and Hot-spot DID NOT show that the ball had nicked Sachin's glove.
Complain about this postMascheranas is very effective opening bowler for Hampshire. Justin Langer said he recently played against Dimi aand found him to be virtually unplayable! So where do England play Dimi - 5th change bowler when the ball is soft! Unbelievable, so Dimi is never going to be at his best unless he is played much earlier in the innings!
Marcus - Faringdon, Oxon
Complain about this postYes, a great game of 50-over cricket. But just how many of these do you see these days? What are the chaces that another game in this 7-match (yes, SEVEN) series will be as close, or as entertaining?
How many good, competitative games did we see in heaven knows how many weeks of World Cup? I can remember 3... two of them involving Ireland in the first phase and Sri Lanka v England. Most fans outside the sub-continent really can't get excited about these matches any longer.
Complain about this postSunny (#43):
"England didn't play their only match-winning bowler"?
Where were Anderson and Flintoff then???
Complain about this postif it is so difficult to know what the ball touch should the bats man not get the benifit, i have watch gould umpire in matches since last year and all his mistakes have favour england yesterday he made 4.
Complain about this postGreat Game. Nice to see Freddie firing again. India would be hoping for Irfan Pathan's return to form. The tail does not look sound.
Complain about this postpalambrugge wrote:
"England made a mess of the bowling rate. If it was India they would have been punished by cutting the match fees or whatever. But with England can it happen?"
Complain about this postYes, it can, and did happen - in spite of some of the delay being caused by an Indian batsman requiring attention.
yes, a great game.This time India got it right with their selection. Only disappointment for me was Tundulkar's dismissal at 99. It is diificult for umpires to judge on a ball travelling at 90+m.p.h,however, a third umpire should have been consulted given the situation. If the technology is there, it should be used.
Complain about this postLooking forward to rest of the series.
Umm, the one that got Pietersen wasn't a googly.
Complain about this postWell Tremlett was the difference between the teams here. Quite why England have given him another go in ODIs is a little beyond me. He has performed poorly whenever put under pressure and isn't great in the field. Experience shows it is important to have a spinning option in the team almost regardless of the surface. Having somebody who can take pace off the ball is critical.
Disappointing to read uninformed criticism of Bell from some posters. People who don't really understand cricket. Bell had to anchor the innings and play in a risk free manner in the middle overs as the rest of the middle order kep getting out. Flintoff and Pieterson's dismissals were soft when they need to be around for the last 10 overs. Bell played according to the circumstances when wickets were falling - he shouldn't be criticised for that.
Complain about this postAgreed about Dmitri's bowling. Personally I'm a little surprised he's been included in the 50 over side, if we're going to play someone of his ilk then I'd have prefered a spinning all rounder, maybe Yardy or Loudon. Not playing a spinner certainly was a mistake from England.
Roll on the rest of the series, even if I can't watch it thanks to being in Dubai!
Complain about this postRasmin:
How reliable is the technology? There was an example in the Test series... Karthik was given out caught. Hot spot and snicko said that he hadn't touched it. The batsman, very sportingly, admitted that he had and was most definitely out.
What do you do with a ball clipping leg stump? What you do not see on the screen is that the extrapolation of the ball's path could have an inch or so error... that ball clipping the stump, might well have missed completely, or gone on to hit it square. If it was just clipping leg stump, would the bail even have fallen (morally, is it out if it hits bad, but would not have dislodged a bail)?
In the Friends Provident final Otis Gibson run touched the ball onto the stumps for a run out; it was referred, but not given because even the television images could not show that it definitely tounched the fielder's fingers, because the resolution of the images was just not good enough. The fielder knew that he had touched it, technology did not.
So, do we trust technology, its limitations and possibly faulty calibration? In football and traditionally in cricket, human error has always been part of the game and accepted sportingly by both sides.
Complain about this postEngland deserve great credit for the manner in which they approached their innings after India really took the England bowing apart.the constant talk that Monty would have made all the difference is not born out by his ODI record. there seems to be a blind belief that he is a great bowler when he is in fact a young bowler with great promise and ODI games are not the ideal place to further his developement. the test match arena is where he should stay for the time being.(unless a turning wicket is asured).
further comments:
why is Freddie still considered an all rounder? his performances for the last 2 years with the bat have been dreadful. he is incapable of judging the situation and has the mentality of a slogger. a number 8 or 9 batsmen at best.
the constant harping on about ian bell's place in the team is a great irritation. look back at the circumstances he so often finds himself in. too often wickets are tumbling around him, yet he is expected to join the in the mass suicide of the others. pieterson, collingwood and especially flintoff were all guilty at a critical period in the innings but poor old Bell gets the STICK. the TMS team have dropped him from both the test and ODI teams with boring regularity. perhaps he must move to sussex or middlesex to be loved.
Complain about this postNice report....but one should not forget that indians are good against spin attack......if they can take over tremlett with pace i dont see any difficulty for em to take on monty......specially when yuvaraj and dravid were in murderous mood....paul may regret of not having included monty...but its equally true that he cud have regretted for having included monty.....
Complain about this postInteresting that Aggers says that Tendulkar rose from his sick bed to play when, after batting for about two hours and suffering from cramp in his LEFT hand which did NOT stop him batting, he did not appear to field.
Complain about this postInstead of a tired out roly poly, we were greeted with an athletic, young, active, fielding specialist, who fielded behind square on the off for most of the innings and who unboubtedly saved more than the 9 runs by which England lost! India did not need Tendulkar to bowl as they fielded two front line spinners, they certainly did not need him to field.
According to the laws of cricket India would need
Collingwood's permission for Tendulkar to have a substitute fielder for a pre-existing condition and I don't think that a touch of cramp in his non - throwing hand and general exhaustion from batting should have precluded him from fielding.
I wonder what the actual sequence of events was and whether Tendulkar plays in the next match?
I bet he does!
Jonathon - so, more of this "Monty Mania"! The truth is that India (team) were far better then England (team and individual players). India are with Australia the best One Day side in World Cricket, and certainly the most player experienced, and it showed again last night. "One swallow does not make a Summer" and the illusory win in the first Match will be shown to be just that by the end of this Series. England MIGHT win one more match but no more. Panesar's match figures in the First Match speak for themselves - I don't care what anyone says, and how much credence is given to his overall International figures, he flatters only but to deceive. India are probably the best players of spin, and of good spin, in World Cricket - Monty is "easy meat" for them. He is severely limited in options and versatility and too easily read by top class players. I do not think his quality balls or variation have improved much if at all since he first played at International level.Anyway, in limited numbers of overs in the limited game (and look at 20/20!) he is FAR more likely to help the opposition than England.Interestingly, until Warne emerged, Australia were bereft of major spin talent, but Warne is truly exceptional. I have major concerns additionally over Panesar's temprament(easily deflated and the limited variation he has diminishes further) and the near hysteria of "image" supporters rather than the respect of those who have a true knowledge of the game do not help him. Paneasar is NOT the answer and frankly, in this series against this aging but multi talented and experienced Indian side, nothing and nobody really is for England, other possibly than a concerted team effort at top capability through every minute of the remaining matches. I intend to enjoy watching this wonderful Indian side as we will not see many of them touring here again. Not only will they thrash England now (5-2 to India at BEST for England) but I back them to just beat Australia in the 29th Sept to 20th Oct One Day Series. I have been very critical of both England and Panesar - I should have suggestions to help remedy but for Panesar I do not specifically, save that in the One Day Game I think any one of the other spinners available will get as much success as him, and will bring fresh enthusiasm and something of a new challenge to the mighty spin-experienced Indian batsmen. As for England, I have been watching more of the same, year after year, always heralded by promises of what is to come only to be disappointed to the result that nowadays I have given up on even supporting the Team. Teams earn respect and a following - blind faith and clinging to a liferaft dressed up like a luxury liner will get the result it deserves. Just watch the next 5 matches and see!Sincerely, Michael McInnes.
Complain about this postLots of sixes, which is always fun, but certainly not a "classic" - not even particularly exciting as England were never really in the hunt once Collingwood and Flintoff fell in quick succession.
For me, dodgy umpiring decisions enhance, rather than detract from the game, and even out over a series. These guys are unbelievably good at what they do (even Ian Howell). I do a bit of amateur umpiring and I'm always drifting off at the crucial moment and having to guess, yet international umpires make fewer than 1 error in 10 on decisions where they get a single look! The technology often doesn't help anyway - half a dozen looks at Sachin's dismissal yesterday suggested it probably hit his armguard, Karthik's lbw was probably missing leg after close scrutiny, and my favourite of all was the same batsman's dismissal at The Oval, when the umpire spotted a nick that none of the gizmos picked up!
Bizarre decision to drop Monty. Medium pacers have been consistently carted in ODIs for the last 10 years. No coincidence that the majority of the most economical bowlers in 20/20 are spinners. So it pains me to say it as a Hampshire fan and after such an entertaining innings, but Dimi isn't quite good enough at this level. His place depends on his bowling, not his batting, and at his pace he'll be found out by top-class batsmen too often. Tremlett was poor yesterday too (and at Lord's vs Durham last weekend), but he should improve over time.
Still not convinced by Prior. Can't think of a worst wicketkeeper to wear England colours and his batting at the top of the order looks vulnerable. Tough ask to go out and bat aggressively straight after 4 hours keeping wicket, too. I'd open with Flintoff as he seems to struggle to start against spin, and play a better keeper who can bat a bit (take your pick, there are loads of them, I'm not going down that road...) down the order.
Owais Shah deserves a game in place of Bell, in spite of the latter's excellent hundred at Southampton. Too often he gets bogged down and it's costing England games - too many dot balls. Even at the Rose Bowl England probably should have topped 300 and only made 289. I'm worried that lack of opportunity may have dented Shah's confidence though - haven't seen him much this season but when I have he's looked a shadow of the super-confident player who looked so impressive on his test debut in Mumbai a couple of years ago.
And finally....Aggers, although you've been called a lot of things on this blog, I bet you never thought you'd be accused of being a "scenic". Not with that nose...
Complain about this postHi Aggers I agree on Mascarenhas i think he is 29 years of age a little too old to be a long term idea. I do though believe if he had been given a chance 4 or 5 years ago instead of relying on old brigade he would now be a valuble international player
Complain about this postEngland weren't a bowler short they were a batsman short. At hindsight it may appear that Monty would have been a better choice over Tremlet. But, in the previous match Monty did nothing spectacular other than getting Ganguly run out by fluke. Just because India had two spinners in the team and Chawla took 3 valuable wickets does not mean the wicket was meant for spinners! Indians can play spin with ease and on the flat track, small ground he would have been "Monty Pythoned" by the Indian batsmen. And Mascarenhas proved that by ruining Chawla's average when he clubbed him with sixes in his last over.
IMO, Owais Shah who is in such good form should have been included in the team. With Bell and Cook scoring centuries and Mascarenhas chipping in a useful 52 in 39 balls he will find it hard to get in to the playing XI. Perhaps they should try him in place of Ravi Bopara, because Ravi hasn't done anything great, neither with bat nor with the ball.
Had Bell played sensibly till the end, England would have scored the required 330 runs, but he thought he is the only one left who can do the big hitting because till then Mascarenhas did not cut loose. It took a while even for Broad to start hitting big, earlier he was hitting and missing the the ball. It was simply the impatience and lack of experience of Broad and Bell that cost the match.
Complain about this postThis series needs 5 more matches like yesterdays, hopefuly for the neutral it will 3-3 going into the final match!!
Complain about this postBrilliant game, amazing atmosphere.....and amzing cricket...its a real credit to how hard both teams have fought in both forms of the game....i jus hope and pray that the weather on monday is sunny and we get just as good a game as yesterday....i've waited a year since ordering the tickets so lets hope it lives up to the billing....
Complain about this postThose of you comparing the umpiring decision in this game with the test series is simply ludicrous. For starters the umpires were different.
The column was simply talking about this match and no where he says india has received bad decisions throughout this series. It is not black and white. Some rational clear thinking will be of help.
Complain about this postI was at the game yesterday... If only all 1 day internationals could be as entertaining... well worth the drive from South Wales and the cost of th match ticket... I say 4-3 to England at the end of the series... The game was much more entertaining than any of the World Cup matches... Come on England!!!
Complain about this postThankgod India levelled the series. Everyone knows it should have been a easy and walkover game for India, alas coutesy Agarkar.
Hope the mediocre selectors are still not finding any more reason to keep Agarkar in the team. He is a good example of how much politics influences Indian selection process. What a shame.
Complain about this postHow does an 18 year old get into India's National team??
It would never happen in England! Well, not since
Brian Close in 1949.
Are British youngsters not good enough today? Is the system for Junior Cricketers flawed? Do Selectors at Test and County Level lack adventure?
Complain about this postGreat match!! Series score so far:
Indian Eleven 1 : 1 England Twelve.
Be interesting to follow the remaining maches but I do hope the ICC will ensure that both teams field only 11 players each (Mr Gould not included).
Complain about this postExcellent fight by England and your coomentry sums up the match very objectively.
Complain about this post"TrueCricfan" smugly refers to "England Twelve" yesterday. Pardon me, but which side had a batsman who scored a sublime 99 then decided he wasn't fit to field?
Complain about this postRupert : What TrueCricFan saw was Gould taking the side of england as an authority. I dont agree with this representation as it has gone too far in casting doubt on umpire which is ludicrous.
On the same extent you did bring in some other argument which is completely different.
Complain about this postTrueCricFan obviousy has forgotten Swaroop who took a brilliant five-for to win a Test in England's last 5 match series in India. Pity he was the guy wearing the white coat. He also took a couple in the first innings and things got to the point where the Indian captain was changing the bowlers' ends so that they could get more help from the umpiring!
Complain about this postIn response to Rupert question//statement
Well Tendulkar has played for more than 18 yrs, well into his mid thirties now, his body has endured so much, NO ENGLAND player can even match his performance.
He needs to go on for another 8 years, so he is just taking precautions.
Complain about this postregds
kandarp
aggers what did u think of my knock?
Complain about this postPrior in the company of Cook led the English procession with purpose and determination.
Bell kept up a steady tempo and stroke makers came and delivered till the very end. The hugely gifted Dimitri Mascarenhas, Collingwood, KP, Broad, Bopara and Freddy made useful contributions. This English batting side has looked competent in the two ODIs so far.
For India Piyush, Pratap, Pawar and Munaf bowled well in the given circumstances.
Ganguly, Sachin and Dravid continue to be the backbone of Indian batting. The three immensely gifted Indian batters seem to get younger year after year. When it comes to dedication, commitment and discipline the trio stands second to none.
Congratulations to the two sides for putting up almost 650 runs in 100 overs.
Complain about this postI think it's umpire's job to watch 90 mph ball and give correct verdict. If in doubt then it should go in favor of batsman. This is happened so many times in this series, especially against Ganguly and Tendulkar.
Imagine same decisions for England when they tour India. I doubt you will write same comments about umpiring.
Complain about this postBemused wrote: TrueCricFan obviousy has forgotten Swaroop who took a brilliant five-for to win a Test in England's last 5 match series in India. Pity he was the guy wearing the white coat. He also took a couple in the first innings and things got to the point where the Indian captain was changing
Complain about this postFYI - last time? Check the records. Last time was 2005-06 and it was neutral umpiring. Again please without authenticated facts please dont mislead.
Having been at the game at Bristol yesterday , I should like to make the following points.
Complain about this postWas the time wasting by India taken into account when penalising England.? "Ooh look, someone actually moved in the crowd, stop the game" "Ouch my fingers hurt, stop the game"
Bell played as if he was in day one of a five day test. As soon as he decided to try and impress he was suckered into giving a catch.
Prior threw his wicket away after being caught on a no ball and learnt nothing from it.
As usual the duo of Peterson and Flintof were meant to work wonders, a constant and exhausting resposibility.
The tail enders gave us real fun in the last hour and showed how it could have been done.
The game I watched only occasionally seemed to be the same one which Agnew and co hve reported on.
Perhaps they should have stayed on the M5 whilst their wine got warm.
And finally about the ground. £52 for a poor view: a speaker system that did n't work where we were sitting: and 3 urinals and 2 WC's for the men! Goodness knows what the ladies thought.
21st century? You have to be joking.
India deserved to win, just. England lost it.
Coomopre:
You really should take your own advice. 2005/06 was a 3-Test series, not 5 Tests and Swaroop was not standing. Now, check the record yourself. It was 1984/85. Since then England have only ever played a 3 Test series and that series did more than anything to put paid to home umpires standing in Tests.
Complain about this postAggers.
the Indians did enough to win the match, and they have used the spinners very well. the one that got KP has stood out. England missed a trick by not playing Monti. Why do they keep changing a winning side, even when their way in the test side is to go for as much consistency as possible?
and now another question on the way Bell batted. 64 of 96, that to when the team was chasing 330. he did an innings of his life the other day, and now here he is, back to his usual self. even though he came at a stage when England lost 2 wickets, he started with KP, and even Colly was playing well. but at that stage, he slowed down for no reason. one century can not make One take his place for granted, can he?
heard that Boycott ones asked Fredye "are You going to bat or slogg?"
high time someone ask him the question again. but said that, he really stood out among the pacers within both the team!. what a wonderful bowling performance in such a flat track, only if he could find his touch with the bat!!?
Complain about this postOn the subject of sub fielders, here's a suggestion...how about they are selected by the opposing captain, rather than have the situation we had yesterday where a thoroughbred replaces an ageing star? So for England Rahul would doubtless have selected Monty when someone went off, rather than Owais Shah who actually did fulfil the role. Would need thinking through e.g. problems around player presence at the ground and if a good fielder got genuinely injured, but in principle, what do people think?
Complain about this postwell said.
"Admittedly, it is very difficult for an umpire to judge when the bat, gloves and everything else are all in the contact area of a ball travelling at 90 miles per hour" If this is the case, then why not refer to the third umpire ?? which will solve all the complications !! that too when a batsman at 99 ( it might be any batsman for that matter), one cannot take any such indecisions !! may it be tendulkar, may it be Panesar .....
Complain about this postall in all, this series is going to be HOT !! if Tendulkar or ganguly bat like yesterday, that leaves very less chance for England to win any game !
Rupert says: "Pardon me, but which side had a batsman who scored a sublime 99 then decided he wasn't fit to field?"
Maybe, India remembered what Ponting had to say about England's use of substitute fielding and decided to follow England's example:) :
Ponting: "It wasn't so much who they (England) had fielding for them last time, it was the amount of time they were spending on the field that concerned me the most - why their bowlers had to be going off as often as they did. I don't care who they had fielding."
Also, maybe if the England camp had given Tendulkar those miracle antibiotics (!) that cleared up KP's one-day virus, Tendulkar could have fielded :) Poor Tendulkar probably didn't realize that antibiotics now cure flu viruses:)
Complain about this postdear jon,
yes i agree with u that the indian spinners did the trick for india in the second match.But India has plenty of problems still.they batted well but besides ramesh powar and chawla rest of bowling was quite ordinary.agarkar needs to be dropped.munaf, well he better take wickets if not he will find himself in line for premature retirement.i fell england are favourites to win the odi,they seem to have more zeal than the indian team,which at times looks haggard.aussies would have dropped likes of tendulkar and ganguly just for poor fielding and running between the wickets.indians accept such lethargy but aussies are ruthless,which makes them real champions.England looks more fresh and effervescent team of the two inspite of india levelling the series in secong ODI.unless india improrves performance and england plays badly,i feel england are favourites to win the series.
sunny_bunny
Complain about this postRupert: "rather than have the situation we had yesterday where a thoroughbred replaces an ageing star?"
Let's not get carried away here. Tendulkar may be in his 30s, but he's still one of India's better fielders, and certainly better than some of our younger supposed "thoroughbreds". We have some young poor fielders in the Indian side and some older better ones.
I think an injury/time off the field should mean that player is off and no substitutes allowed. So if a bowler or batsman goes off the field, the team plays one person short for that period. It really should only be for injury or illness, but as we can see, with bowlers/fielders routinely going off the field with no injury/illness (and all teams do this), there is no incentive for not going off.
Complain about this postre the bell/kp partnership. at one point kp had been in 35 minutes and faced 5 balls. strike rotation would be good, belly!
also we had 7 bowlers for england - we only need 4 frontline and 2 'filler ins'. drop tremlett, bring in shah and either bopara or dimitreous for panesar. justun langer was interesting saying demitreous was dangerous opening the bowling...
Complain about this postI'm interested to know why Tendulkar was allowed a fielding substitute, under Law 2 you're not allowed one for a pre-existing illness, he seemed to want to continue batting why wasn't he fielding?
Complain about this postWow, what can you say?
This game had everything: runs, wickets and drama.
Flintoff 5/56 excellent, but I missed the 4 wickets and 47 runs at the end of the India innings because I was off to the chip van.:(
What a game though. Was impressed by Flintoff, Bell, Mascharenas batting for England and Cook and Prior too.
India, Patel looked good but expensive towards the end, Chawla and Powar look like prospects and Tendulkar played a cracking innings and I felt a bit sorry for him, out on 99. Would have liked to have seen him reach three figures then get out.
Bring on a Test for Bristol I say.
Complain about this post" At 06:34 AM on 25 Aug 2007, Matthew wrote:
The order can change depenent on the situation. Eg. last night when we lost our first at 74-1, I would have sent in KP first, the situation was set up him to blast our to the total."
That would have made a huge difference yesterday, KP would have gone in one ball earlier! Don't forget what the Cook/Bell partnership did in the first match, 75/1 off 10 overs is no time to panic! Regarding Monty, despite his Test performances (and he wasn't too special against India), he's not yet a good ODI bowler just look at his record. Average (40.44) worse than Collingwood, Strike rate (54) worst of all the bowlers, economy (4.49) is his best attribute (third behind Mascarenas and Flintoff) but not exceptional. His main merit is to keep the RR down and speed up the over-rate, on that pitch he wouldn't have achieved the former but the second might have saved his captain half his fee! Regarding that Aggers you might have mentioned that much of the delay was due to problems with the sightscreen at the beginning of the Indian innings and a protracted medical delay.
Complain about this postLaw 2 (Substitutes and runners; batsman or fielder leaving the field; batsman retiring; batsman commencing innings)
1. Substitutes and runners
(a) If the umpires are satisfied that a player has been injured or become ill after the nomination of the players, they shall allow that player to have
(i) a substitute acting instead of him in the field.
(ii) a runner when batting.
Any injury or illness that occurs at any time after the nomination of the players until the conclusion of the match shall be allowable, irrespective of whether play is in progress or not.
(b) The umpires shall have discretion, for other wholly acceptable reasons, to allow a substitute for a fielder, or a runner for a batsman, at the start of the match or at any subsequent time.
So how does Tendulkar not fielding contravene these rules? The cramps were not a pre-existing illness, and that's presumably why Tendulkar didn't field. That he continued batting, even with pain, is not a reason not to allow him a substitute. After all, Flintoff had a runner when he was batting, even though he continued to run in and bowl after injuring himself fielding. The argument could be made that if Flintoff could run in and bowl even in some pain, why did he need a runner? But that's cricket, it's allowed. In both cases, both players used substitutes for conditions incurred during the course of play and for conditions in which they continued to perform after "incurring" the condition.
Complain about this postWhat does Ian Bell have to do to at least some sort of criticism. His batting last night (on the back of a run a ball century in the previous game) was absolutely atrocious! 62 off 96 balls is an absolutely pathetic and selfish effort
Complain about this postto maintain has place in he team at the expense of Shah. Contrast that with the disgraceful and immature abuse from your fellow press idiots and so-called England fans every time KP plays a great innings and gets out to an unselfish shot - trying to win his team some games.
Over the course of his test career at key moments in matches against top-class or dominant opposition Bell has found himself to be severely wanting and the definition of the term "choker"
Does Flintoff remind anybody of the young David Gilmour (with cropped hair) ?
Complain about this postBemused, your flights of fantacy are not amusing anymore.
Complain about this postSeems that no matter what Ian Bell does, he's criticised. Ok, he had a poor 2005 Ashes, and I think the problem is that when people decide they don't like someone, they won't like him no matter how good he is. The problem yesterday was that India were simply too good - Dravid played really well, and England's bowling attack wasn't amazing. This left England with a big total to chase, and all their players kept on getting out - yet none of them get the stick. Bell had to hold the innings together - without him we'd have lost by an even bigger margin. His place should not be doubted.
Complain about this postIndian bats man will put England away in this odis.Bristol was just a beginig.England scored last 50 or so runs because Indians took things easy and held their heads they new the victory is in the bag so who cares what the winning margin is.win is a win....
Complain about this postAgnew, you say,
"Admittedly, it is very difficult for an umpire to judge when the bat, gloves and everything else are all in the contact area of a ball travelling at 90 miles per hour - but had he reached his hundred, Tendulkar might have really cut loose."
Is this an apology for an incompetent umpire? When he is not sure if the batsman is out, he says not out or consults the camera.Since when doesthe benefit of the doubt go to the bowler excepting when India is batting against England in the current series, the rules are reversed when England bats to equalise the bad decisions.
Complain about this posthey!
Complain about this postdoes any1 no the name of kp's and freddies bat!
A couple of points...
Firstly, Charles Evans; for 'interesting points', perhaps rephrase as 'boring points'. Nixon is not a viable long term option, and Prior is showing himself to be a decent bet with the gloves, as well as an able batsman at the top of the order. His attacking display yesterday, although maybe short-lived, was a far cry from Strauss' painful efforts in the Caribbean.
Didn't see any of the Indians who played 'suffering with flu', except maybe Agarkar, who was atrocious. For a man who only just about rolled out of his sick bed, Tendulkar seemed to cope admirably - unless the Indians were just getting their excuses in first.
Ian Bell, felt he played well again. There's a lot made of his so-called selfish attitude. Some might call it playing yourself in and not giving your wicket away early - if he'd made a flashy 25 off 17 and got caught out hooking, would that have been okay? Give the guy a break, he's an accumulator, not a destroyer.
Tremlett was far too expensive, and maybe Panesar would have been a better option. Stuart Broad looks like a great prospect, and it sounded like he batted very well too. Well played too to Mascarenhas.
I'm not sure you can criticise England's batsmen too much, they still scored at more than a run a ball and got very close in the end. What a great series this could prove to be.
Complain about this posti am Indian, but live in USA. I depend on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ live coverage on internet. I enjoy the commentary. But I have one Big complaint, the photos section, is horrible, when it comes to England the photos are very good and shows the real action, but When it comes to India, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ does not show the action photos of Indian, like Munuf take two wickets for two balls or Chawla taking two wickets clean bowled, where are action photos for that and Dravid in full flow. Not a single action photo for him.
Complain about this postCome on give the credit where it deserve.
Shan from USA.
I witnessed a great match. monty should play end of story, even if he is carted because this will give him experience.
2 incidents stick in my mind.
1.When Munaf took a wicket off a no ball. The ecstasy turned to despair. First the Indians celebrated, then the rest of the ground erupted when they realised it was a no ball.
2. Munaf done me proud as he quickly enabled me to stick it back to the natives who sat on in silence as he took the openers out.
I salute you sir!!!!!!!!!
Complain about this postJoey Something,
Honored Sir,
Excuses are always given buy LOSERS not by WINNERS!
For example. All the summer we have been hearing.
Only if Denis Compton had played.
Only if we had produced a decent batsman after Barrington.
Only if Trueman and Statham were available
Only if we had recruited from Australia A
Only if the toss.............
Only if Collingwood and Prior could play with their bats instead of Jellybeans
Only if we had Indian sunshine
Only if we had four umpires instead of two
Only if we could play like the Australians
etc. etc, Ad Infinitum,Ad Nauseum
Complain about this postwhenever India wins the opposition team if it is New Zeland, Australia, England, always gives excuses such as "Mcgrath did not play", Simon Jones did not play, vettori did not play etcd.
If all these players are available, then they would say the gorund was short and suited the Indain batters. Else, they will say the weather was hot and suited the Indians.
And if India plays extraordinarliy in host-ideal weather conditions, then host umpiring will see to it India doe snot win.
So, can the English , Aussie, NZ fans come with a formula as to waht constitutes a real india win
RuavaBualasky
Complain about this postI feel both the teams have done wonderfully well to provide entertaining cricket to millions of people around the globe. England needs more variety in their attack and Monty would have definitely made an impact. On their part India did wonderfully well to come back in style. No matter what the team selections would be, it promises to be a cracker of a series
Complain about this postThis is a reply to some english fans complaining about a substitute fielder for Sachin.FYI,Sachin is a very good outfielder and has the one of the best arms when it comes to throwing from the outfield.People give wierd reasons for their team's loss,but,u r taking this to a whole new level.Anyway,its surprising English are complaining about this,remember Gary Pratt in 2005 Ashes.Get a life!!Enjoy good cricket,dont keep complaining.
Complain about this postI guess it was perfectly OK to look at the replay and invite KP back to bat in the Lord's Test Match. No such ENGLISH HOSPITALITY for Tendulkar at Bristol !!! Makes sense. Everything by the books so far.
Complain about this postsachin seems to be playing like the sachin of yore!!!! way to go sach
and whata refreshing to see a young leggie!! great going India
Complain about this postA evenly matched series! To add India's bad out fielding could just be the difference in the series. IMO England still has an upper hand.
Complain about this postWhat a fantastic day of cricket! Both teams giving great performances. Indeed, a classic ODI. India provided a superb display of batting and England almost matched with a wonderful chase. Icing on the cake was to watch Tendulkar play those breathtaking strokes. Always a treat for eyes to watch the master bat and take the game of cricket to one level higher.
This ODI series is living up to the high cricketing standards and excitement that the Test series set earlier in last two months.
Complain about this postRupert (74),
What has not fielding got to do with poor umpiring? If your obscure point was sportsmanship related, ever heard of those two great lines which immortalised this spirit:
1) Body-Line (by Larwood & Vose); and
2) Vase-Line (by JK Lever)?
100% vintage English classics, both.
Bemused (76),
You really had to dig deep into history with caveats to try and make a point, didn't you? And what was your point, anyway - that poor umpiring decisions of yore deserve another? Why, for that the recently-ended 3-Test series should have sufficed as revenge.
Complain about this postEngland were out thought at Bristol by a superior side. The field placings and the line bowled by the Indian slow bowlers literally strangled the life out of our players and forced ill-conceived and very amateurish cricket out of players like Andrew Flintoff who holed out to a boundary fielder in a packed leg side. Our field placing were simplistic and did not staunch the flow of runs at any stage. The only way we got as close as we did was through brutal clubbing of the ball by Mascharenas and Broad at the death. Several of our players looked lethargic in the field - in contrast the Indians (most of the younger ones) did not. Despite that, it was a fabulous day out for all involved and a good advertisement for cricket. Unless England find 11 good players though, we will never beat top class sides like Australia
Complain about this postenland need better players than ian bell and ravi bopoara to win more one day matches.
Complain about this postAvinash,
Brother, you miss the point entirely.
The key difference is umpiring standards, rather double standards.
Tendulkar was victimised four times, Dravid once and Ganguly two times. The replays showed that clearly.
WAS ONE OF THEM RECALLED?
I REPEAT
WAS ANY INDIAN BATSMAN RECALLED?
But the SA born champion was.
WHY?
Complain about this postI rest my case.
That England was baffled by leg spin bowling should not surprise anyone. Chavla will be difficult for them.
The only leg spinner of quality, sorry, extraordinary quality who did not bother English batsmen in England was the legendary Subhash Gupte. The series was played before I was born.But I have read a lot of interesting material about it.
It was said that no one excepting Ken Barrington could read Gupte's googlies. Not even Peter May, leave alone lesser lights like Colin Cowdrey. Guess what they did. Blatant, shameless pad play and :
NOT ONE LBW, NOT ONE LBW.
Let us assume that the English umpires were equally bamboozled by Gupte's googlies.
Complain about this postWell played India, I thought the more balanced side in terms of the bowling attack won. Very entetaining stuff so far.
My question is around fitness, surely a quick win for the Indians is to improve fitness of the squad and the fielding should improve. Chawla and Powar are good bowlers for example but do not look in good shape. This is also pertinent if they are to step up to test level to bowl 25+ overs in a day.
Complain about this postAgarkar is a waste of time ,money and god knows what. Before moving to Canada, I have spent my early twenties in Dadar a place in Mumbai ,a place where Agarkar comes from.
His mentality is typical of the area which is"Hey buddy work enough and do enough just to be able to stay employed for next month".The quality of self improvement never comes.
Agarkar seems to concentrate only on short term bowling goal of restricting his bowling average to 5 and not thinking of wickets,so as his place for next 2 matches is safe.No ambitions/efforts of wining the game for your team seems to come from him.
In all possibility Irfan Pathan in his out of form state is still much better player. Atleast he contributes with bat when he fails with ball and vice versa.
Complain about this postAnd before the Dadar people come out with daggers implicating me of racism,let me tell I am from same caste as Agarkar .
My thoughts are purely in cricketing sense only.
Many Bristolians enjoyed a fantastc one-day match in the warm sun last Friday. It was neck and neck all the way! Were you aware of this? Love. Dad
Complain about this postPowar and Chawla alongwith Zaheer Khan hold the key to winning the series for India.
If Bell and KP mange to score reasonably quickly of these two,England also has an equally great chance of winning series.
The way KP and Collingwood were bowled by Chawla shows the obvious discomfort of English batters against spin.I have a strong feeling,that if the ground was bigger,England would have lost wickets to spinners more quickly trying to clear the ropes,because if you notice many of the sixes were confident hits by Dmitri/Bell as they knew the ground was small. I doubt if they had the huge ground doubt in mind ,if the ground was bigger they would have tried to hit so much sixes.
However with biggers grounds,and spinners operating,it would have been a headache for India considering the bad fielding and English could have milked them for singles/twos thus compensating for lack of sixes.Intersting contest would be on display.
All in all, both teams have their strengths and weakness is obvious for both teams too.An interesting contest in next 5 matches (Rain factor not counted) is on cards.
Even though I am an Indian,I feel happy that England is doing good in ODI.
The last few series England was pathetic in ODI and as a result the world was getting robbed of seeing a classic cricket country perform . Just to make world cricket more competitive and absorbing ,England needs one more KP mould batsman and an all rounder in Ian Botham mould. As for India ,if only Irfan pathan retains form and Agarkar is kicked out,India would do lot more better.
Complain about this postWow,The clean bowled of KP was fantastic.When a batsman has to ask the non striker ,if he was bowled,it means he had absolutely no clue,where the ball went and from where.He sure is goona be extra cautious when he faces the kid spinner next time.
Ditto with Collingwood,He stepped forward and when he had missed the ball ,he tried to rush back probably thinking he could avoid a stumping.It just shows how badly he misread the googly.
My only complaint : Why cannot we produce a spinner of such quality,who bambozzles the batsman.
Complain about this postEvery body likes to think of winning strategy for their own team.
However ,I will try to voice my opinion on how the English team can improve their strategy.Of course my knowledge on talent present in county cricket will not be as great as that of average English follower,but having watched a county matches regularly on TV,I wonder why they dont respresent England,because players like maddy and some others look to be good talent. I feel England should adapt the following strategy and team.
1.Cook and Dmitri Mascerhansas (Cook for stability and Dmitri for powerful hitting.A quick 30 ball 50 from Dmitri is enough to help England start on a good note,Cook can play out maximmum overs providing stability. Dmitir reminds of Phil Wallace,Sehwag. He may not be consistent but if he fires once every 3-4 matches,England ODI record can be far more better)
2. Ravi Bopara (Based on his oneWC innings and few county innings i have seen,I bet he is a clever batsman capable of making match winning scores at fairly brisk but stabilising rate something like Dravid or Chanderpaul)
3.Bell (Looks good when in form - can indulge in aggresive innings depending on situation)
4.KP ( Do I need to say anything)
5.Collingwood ( finisher and accuumaltor of rains with a cool head in case of collapse)
6. Flintoff( Do I need to say anything)
7.Wicketkeeper(Anybody except Prior)
8.Stuart Broad/Panesar(depending on pitch)
9.Harmison/Sidebottom/ ( depending on availbilty)
10.Anderson
This way England can have one batsman who if he fires can be a lottery(Dmitri)
Complain about this postKP,Bell,Flintoff are world class batsmen.
Ravi Bopara is not world class batsman but is hardworking and can surely make big scores and bowl a few overs in between.He surely has talent with bat and ball.
Collingwood and Cook can both play the role of stabilisers amongst the hitters providing the hitters with maximum strike while holding one end intact.
Anderson,Harmison on their day are one of the best in the world.
Sidebottom is more like Jason Gillespie who can strike with ball sometimes but will usually keep things quite.
Broad(I havent seen much of him but on bowlers pitch looks good ).Panesar is a gamble worth taking on pitches which favour spinners.
The big difference between the sides was their batsmen's ability against spin bowling. India are so good against spin that England left a top-class spinner out of their side. Whereas two reletively unknown Indian spinners ruined England's middle-order.
OK, India do get more practice against spin bowling, but there are a number of top-class spinners operating in county cricket. Doesn't Kevin Pieterson ever practice against Shane Warne?
Complain about this postPlayers always play a good game when they're on teh sidelines. I'm a big fan of Monty myself but I don't see that he would necessarily have made the difference on Friday.
If he'd got slaughtered, and with Tendulkar in that form that was quite possible, everyone would have rubished the selectors for picking him. The bowlers did not do that badly and it's always difficult chasing a decent score under lights. But all our batsmen look vulnerable against spin, whereas India play it brilliantly. That was the difference.
Complain about this postNobody seems to have said very much about the wonderful comeback James Anderson has made. After struggling with injury and problems with his action for a couple of years, he was our best bowler in the World Cup (but given little credit). Wrongly left out of the test side early in the season (how could anyone prefer Plunkett?) he finally got his chance because of injuries and how well he took it. He's bowled really well in all the Tests and one day matches against India and yet he still doesn't seem to be an automatic choice.
I just hope he stays fit!
Complain about this postI love it when the England selectors leave Monty out, each and every time they do they make themselves look like the numpties they are. I mean, really, what's the thinking behind it: "I have a cunning plan.", "What's that?", "Lets leave our best bowler out of the team!", "Brilliant! That'll take the opposition completely by surprise"
Complain about this postGood Win for India. Guys make your posts genuinely without hurting anyone, Once India won, all their fans started blowing tendulkar trumpet.
Complain about this postHow could Dravid decide to field first on a high scoring pitch, is beyond my understanding.
Complain about this postdid you engoy your cocktail sausage?!
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