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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2014 14:19:50 GMT
......what are we armchair sportsmen going to do with ourselves for the rest of the summer ? Well there's always Cricket, and the series with Sri Lanka we lost 0-1 and unless we pull our socks up tomorrow it will be the same scoreline versus India ! A complete capitulation - and yet it was going so well up to lunch with Root and Ali setting a good foundation. After lunch India bowled some bouncers and one after the other our batsmen succumbed, electing to play wild hook shots, and hardly adding to the total. The test match special commentary team of Tuffers, Agnew, Vaughan and Blowers were most disparaging about the performance and I'll be interested to see if the air is blue in Geoffrey's podcast. Cook's form with the bat has not been too good of late, now sadly his captaincy is being called into question as well. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2014 19:06:18 GMT
Excellent performance from Captain Cook and England 247-2 on first day of 3rd Test, at new venue (Southampton).
Answered his knockers in the best way known - a fine 95 and the No.3 Gary Vallanc3 managing a century (his third I believe in only his sixth Test match).
Yes the pitch was slow and didn't help the bowlers, but great to see the ball timed well, with a collection of square cuts and cover drives. More of the same hopefully tomorrow and get the Indians in for an hour with a view to getting them out cheaply and enforcing the follow-on.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 20:44:49 GMT
A perfect day's cricket today from England's point of view......finished on 569 for 7 declared and got the first Indian wicket down, with the pitch showing signs of turn.
An impressive 1st innings scorecard showing Cook (95) Ballance (156) Bell (167) and Buttler's quick-fire 85 after riding his luck early on (ruled not out by 3rd umpire and also dropped at slip). Made up for Ballance being given out when he clearly did not touch the ball.
Bell's straight-drive 6 to put up his 100 and England's 400 was particularly inspiring. And the junior batsmen employing the reverse sweep to good effect.
Just hope the rain holds off !
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Post by milhouse on Jul 28, 2014 23:43:15 GMT
2 ways of looking at Cook's performance.... as you say, answering his critics with a good knock - or an out of the blue knock in a period of bad form? If he scores less than 30 in the 2nd innings, would that have proved the doubters wrong? Don't get me wrong, he has been a great opening batsman for many a year, but having someone out of form opening is not good for the team! Lets see what the 2nd innings bring - providing we bat a 2nd innings  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2014 7:35:53 GMT
Yes, but as with most sports it's a confidence thing. On Sunday he looked assured, as if he had got it back, and as a consequence he was timing the ball well - something we haven't seen for a while. The same can be said for Bell.
Agreed we shouldn't go overboard, as at times the Indian fielding was pretty dire.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2014 11:01:17 GMT
India 8 for 4.......wow !
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Post by BigPhilMac on Aug 7, 2014 11:09:54 GMT
Never thought id say this but England are rampant!!
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Post by BigPhilMac on Aug 9, 2014 17:56:26 GMT
England in rampant form!! Almost like when we got to number 1 and gave the Aussies some beastings...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2014 20:03:53 GMT
Everyone doing their jobs......the senior batsman, the fast bowling duo, we have a genuine wicketkeeper batsman, and our fielding was good. The newer batsman do good running between the wickets, singles are becoming twos and twos are becoming threes.
Finally Moheen Ali has turned out to be a trump card, exceeding expectations as a 'batter who can bowl a bit'. Judge him from now on as an all-rounder or specialised spinner. Very tidy and disciplined.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2014 11:56:25 GMT
India 30-4 in the fifth test....in trouble again, the story continues.....
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Post by BigPhilMac on Aug 15, 2014 13:12:13 GMT
India 30-4 in the fifth test....in trouble again, the story continues..... 43-5 at lunch, reminds of the time when... Wait, I don't remember such madness. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2014 13:48:20 GMT
India now 56-6....dhoni beginning to hit out.
50 years to the day that Freddie trueman took his 300th wicket.and I remember it. God I'm old.
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Post by BigPhilMac on Aug 15, 2014 14:14:37 GMT
India now 56-6....dhoni beginning to hit out. 50 years to the day that Freddie trueman took his 300th wicket.and I remember it. God I'm old. 50 years, over twice as long as I've been alive. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2014 15:28:28 GMT
England bowl England out for 94 and win the Final Test by an innings and 244 runs !  The athletics today is quite exciting too.......double gold for Mo Farah and golden success in mens and womens Relay.  |
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