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Post by slowleftarmer on Jan 24, 2024 7:32:25 GMT
if England had any balls they would refuse to play the first test until India allowed Bashir to enter the country
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Post by newby on Jan 24, 2024 9:13:40 GMT
England XI to face India in the first test on Thursday:
1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Rehan Ahmed, 9 Mark Wood, 10 Tom Hartley, 11 Jack Leach.
No bowling from Stokes leave Mark Wood as the only pace option.
Stokes on interview was saying that getting even one win in the series could be viewed as success given the strength of India at home.
Not exactly talking up England's chances.
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Post by slowleftarmer on Jan 24, 2024 9:18:14 GMT
its probably more recent than I recall (in fact i think pre-Key we toured somewhere without both of them as part of a new dawn) but when was the last test when neither Broad or Anderson played?
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Post by newby on Jan 25, 2024 9:12:34 GMT
England 216/8 at tea, on what is reported to be a difficult pitch.
I haven't seen any of the cricket but they are doing better than I thought they would to be honest. The key will be can our bowlers make it look as difficult for India batsmen.
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Post by karma on Jan 25, 2024 9:25:30 GMT
Glad to see our tail wagging 🐕
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Post by slowleftarmer on Jan 25, 2024 11:59:04 GMT
well they need to do something as most of them are pretty toothless when it comes to bowling!
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Post by newby on Jan 25, 2024 12:26:16 GMT
Torrid time for Tom Hartley who perhaps may be considering sticking to T20 cricket where he is more effective. Not his fault the selectors were so stupid I suppose.
I didn't think the Visa problems for Shoib Bashir was such a big deal in terms of I never thought he would get a game.
I'm not so sure now.
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Post by davemorton on Jan 25, 2024 14:37:17 GMT
I thought we batted quite well - even very well, with a couple of exceptions - on a Bunsen burner of a pitch. Duckett, Root, Bairstow and Stokes, with a little help from the lower order, took us to what I considered par.
Of course, I did realise that our attack would not pose the same problems. Just how poor our spin attack is came as a bit of surprise. I did expect them at least to turn the occasional ball. Hartley was a bit unlucky to get slogged for a couple of sixes in his first over, but he then bowled very poorly to the left hander, though okay to the right handers. Leach was tidy.
It reminded me of the days when Emburey got smashed out of the park, but the Indian spinners turned it square on the same pitch. The commentators, who were excellent all day, with great insights on technique, referred to the seam position.
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Post by slowleftarmer on Jan 25, 2024 14:55:52 GMT
Not sure I ever recall dear old Embers ever turning a ball in his whole Test career!
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Post by davemorton on Jan 25, 2024 15:01:38 GMT
Not sure I ever recall dear old Embers ever turning a ball in his whole Test career! And yet, there were those who considered him a great spin bowler! Those of us who had seen Bob Appleyard and Lance Gibbs begged to differ.
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Post by donnylad on Jan 25, 2024 15:35:12 GMT
'Three is the magic number' .... or not.
Two of our three spinners got whacked. If you bowl dross expect to get belted.
The, incredibly Duckett says ........
"We are very happy being bowled out for what we got," Is there anyone among us who has ever been happy to be in a side bowled out on the first day in a couple of sessions? "Hopefully we can take two or three wickets early [on day two] and put them under pressure." Does he not recognise that the pressure is on England because the bowlers didn't get into the Indian batters in the afternoon? The left-hander added: "We're in a strong position, regardless of them only being one down." If this is a position of strength I will eat my pads ... they are festering somewhere in the loft.
I wonder who wrote these lines for him to say?
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Post by karma on Jan 25, 2024 15:54:53 GMT
I think he might have been in the sunshine a tad too long .
It's almost like a sketch from Monty Python where the knight has had all his limbs hacked off and says something like, "It's only a scratch, I'll soon be on my feet"
🚑
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Post by newby on Jan 25, 2024 17:23:36 GMT
Well I suppose the alternative would be for him to go all dad's army and scream 'We're doomed.'
In defence of Duckett if you add the old imaginary two wickets onto the Indian score things don't look so gloomy.
Batting wise I'd say the teams are well matched and we might even have the advantage. Trouble was always going to be the bowling, and with only Jack Leach so far looking capable of keeping a lid on things, it could turn out even worse than people feared.
Funny game cricket, but you'd need a script written by Jimmy Perry, David Croft, and Graham Chapman to conjure up anything but a big win for India from what we've had so far.
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Post by newby on Jan 26, 2024 9:22:43 GMT
Nobody has gone really big for India, yet, but they've all got themselves in and 400 plus looks on by the end of the day.
A couple of wickets at least some compensation for Hartley, though they haven't come cheap.
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Post by slowleftarmer on Jan 26, 2024 10:07:20 GMT
Not sure my old skipper or school teacher would have allowed Hartley out on the pitch wearing black underwear....
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