ljkeane Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 It’s entirely possible to go to India, play pretty well and end up getting well beaten but England have really shot themselves in the foot in this test. If they’d taken their chances in the first innings they could easily have bowled India out for sub 300 and going from 224-2 to 319 all out is less than ideal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teng Ai Hui Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 At this rate, England might be out before the end of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teng Ai Hui Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 And it's over. India win by 434 runs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartIheartTesla Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 Yeah I think England have done well to ride this 'Bazball' concept, but sooner or later the law of averages would catch up with them and they'd reach a more equilibrated state of how well it works for the team. I think we're at that stage. The other part that is a bit more worrisome is the apparent lack of introspection on how well the tactics are working for them. The team (most of them at least) seems to be doubling down - I think the worst part of it was Duckett saying he wasnt worried about the target set by India, and in the end they couldnt even conjure up 150 runs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 (edited) I am probably more willing to credit India than criticize Bazball. Apart from the last innings of the third test, England's batting has largely hung in there and been creditable for an India tour. The bowling has been steady but lacking penetration at times. India have played to their strengths by accumulating big first innings scores on good batting wickets, then letting their superior pace and spin bowling chip away at England. And they have done so despite missing a lot of stars in the first few tests (and will be without Bumrah and Rahul in the fourth test). Winning two consecutive tosses also helps. Edited February 20 by Paxter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartIheartTesla Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 England got the 'get a first innings lead' part down, but forgot about setting a large enough target to leave the outcome in no doubt. Still, I'm not as confident as others since collapses can easily happen, particularly on a pitch with variable bounce. Whatever the result, it looks like the rookies from both sides have done really well tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 2 hours ago, IheartIheartTesla said: Whatever the result, it looks like the rookies from both sides have done really well tough. Having a couple of young spinners emerge who have performed well is definitely a plus for England given how hard they've generally found it to find Test spinners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 Another creditable performance by England on this tour but an even better one from the hosts. Awesome performances from some of India’s new guns - just too good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartIheartTesla Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 I was surprised that Australia hadnt played (or was it visited) NZ since 2016. The ICC has strange schedules for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted February 29 Author Share Posted February 29 10 hours ago, IheartIheartTesla said: I was surprised that Australia hadnt played (or was it visited) NZ since 2016. The ICC has strange schedules for sure. Visited. But to be honest, that one completely bypassed me too. I guess the clashing of the Australian and NZ summers would be the main driver, but an eight-year gap is still far too long between NZ tours. Nice to see Henry perform well today. I am a big fan of his in white clothing, despite a relatively modest test career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 New Zealand seem to be letting a strong position slip away here with the final wicket partnership getting close to a century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted March 1 Author Share Posted March 1 (edited) Oh dear Black Caps. Maybe this is why Australia don’t bother touring! NZ’s test record against Aus since I started watching cricket W: 1 D: 5 L: 16 God defend New Zealand… ETA: That was a fkn satisfying win though ;). Edited March 1 by Paxter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Wow, I've only seen the highlights of the first day's play so far but the Black Caps letting Australia get to 383 after winning the toss and putting them in is a bit of a disaster. On 2/25/2024 at 9:43 PM, williamjm said: Having a couple of young spinners emerge who have performed well is definitely a plus for England given how hard they've generally found it to find Test spinners. There's a bit of talent there at least so that's encouraging but the problem is the structure of English first class cricket is just terrible for developing spinners. It's never been great with conditions being what they are but it's about as bad as it's possible to be these days. It's hard to see how they're going to go away and improve when they get sent back to their counties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted March 1 Author Share Posted March 1 9 hours ago, ljkeane said: Wow, I've only seen the highlights of the first day's play so far but the Black Caps letting Australia get to 383 after winning the toss and putting them in is a bit of a disaster. And the Williamson run out summed it all up. Some nice individual performances from NZ in this match but the margin is likely to be quite a large one in the final analysis. Nice to see the West Aussie do well in the first innings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 11 hours ago, Paxter said: And the Williamson run out summed it all up. Some nice individual performances from NZ in this match but the margin is likely to be quite a large one in the final analysis. Southee dropped an absolute dolly the last ball of day 2 to let give Lyon a life too and I see he went on to top score for Australia in their second innings. New Zealand are going to be kicking themselves after this one. Also there's a weird number of wickets for spinners in this test. New Zealand is normally the absolute worst conditions to bowl spin in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartIheartTesla Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Another collapse from the English middle order. The pitch seemed pretty benign, so not sure what's going on. I do think they need to be a bit more flexible in their line-up though. For instance, giving Bairstow more than enough chances (India did that too with Pujara but at some point asked him to sort out his game). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 Feel sorry for Jonny as he was in such amazing form before that injury. The tour is definitely ending in a whimper for England. I think they played better than 4-1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 I don’t know about conditions being benign, there was a fair amount in it for the bowlers, but it isn’t a bad pitch by any means. England’s middle order are in pretty bad form though unfortunately. The real problem today though was I think they just aren’t picking Kuldeep Yadav, which isn’t ideal. I’m not sure there’s an obvious place for them to go for a quick fix though. Brook would have been in the side you’d think but he’s unavailable for some sort of personal reason. I’d probably have given Lawrence a chance at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartIheartTesla Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Tomorrow should be a good challenge for the England batters, if they choose to treat it that way. If they can make India bat again for about ~100 runs and make them sweat a bit, it would something to end the series on a positive note. Havent been paying attention to Aus-NZ. One could write a book about the psychological 'monkey on back' barrier teams seem to have - NZ against Australia, South Africa in any tournament, Pakistan playing India in a world cup, visiting teams touring India or Australia...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 Frustrating loss for NZ but an undeniably exciting match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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