England tours of Bangladesh and India

[SouthdownRebel]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

England's biggest problem remains the top order. I don't see how they can persevere any longer with Ballance, which probably means Buttler taking his place. They have missed a trick not giving Hameed a chance in this series, and it would be a big gamble to throw him in against India now. Duckett was certainly impressive for 90 minutes today, so they have to hope that's the start of something for him.

In terms of spin bowling, England's best weapon is reverse swing, thus reducing the amount of spin bowling they might need. Moeen does ok, Batty is no better, Rashid will get splattered all over India and Ansari has one test. I'd be tempted to go with just two and pray that Jimmy gets fit quickly.

[jameswba]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Yes, this England side challenges all the notions of how to construct a test team. Not so long ago, you'd never have countenanced fewer than 5 specialist batsmen. Now they have just four of whom only two are sure of / merit a place.

But this should be all about Bangladesh, shouldn't it? Fantastic effort by them, having not played any tests at all for 14 months. I think focusing too much on England's shortcomings (which, let's face it, we've known all about for nearly 3 years now) does Bangladesh an injustice.

If anything, we should be giving England credit for helping make it the series it was. Firstly, by putting security concerns aside and committing fully to playing in it and trying to win it. Secondly, by playing some good stuff in phases themselves. Bangladesh would have won a decider though, I'm convinced of that.

[diggedy derek]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

What a wonderful, wonderful series.

Following England is becoming like following Spurs in the 2000s, though. So much talent and but so much stupidity that they will likely never quite be more than the sum of a bunch of parts. The main problem with England, as observed above, has been the top order batting, and that should be far easier to make headway on than the spin problem. If they find even a half decent proper opener, they are a match for any team, just because of the strength of their tail. And with Hameed, who seems tailormade to be a proper opener, they could have given him valuable experience as a young guy who by the time he's 25 could be a battle-hardened pro. What do they do? They go for the snazzy quick fix of trying to play a dasher at the top of the order in Duckett, and now they have the Ballance problem, too. They could have killed two birds with one stone by moving Duckett to four for the second Test, get the proper opener in.

[Kevin S]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Buttler's continued omission also baffles me.

[Kevin S]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Kevchenko wrote: Looks like Batty and Broad out, Ansari and Finn in for tomorrow. Still apparently no sign of Hameed getting a game?

longeared wrote: I don't understand why they're not blooding Hameed in this game. What are they going to learn by picking Ballance again other than the fact that he's out of form?

I presume that Batty is being rested ahead of India, they'll need him there given that Rashid will likely get carted everywhere (if they pick him)

Etienne wrote: Once they picked Duckett to open last match there was no realistic chance of picking Hameed this time as it would mean
a) dropping Duckett after one test
b) moving Duckett down the order after one test
c) dropping Cook
d) playing Hameed down the order

Neither a or b would be fair on Duckett, c isn't going to happen for many reasons and d is unfair on Hameed given that he has pretty much only ever opened.

In hindsight it might have been better to bring in both for the first test, or just Hameed.

I'd have dropped Ballance for Buttler mind.

SouthdownRebel wrote: England's biggest problem remains the top order. I don't see how they can persevere any longer with Ballance, which probably means Buttler taking his place. They have missed a trick not giving Hameed a chance in this series, and it would be a big gamble to throw him in against India now. Duckett was certainly impressive for 90 minutes today, so they have to hope that's the start of something for him.

In terms of spin bowling, England's best weapon is reverse swing, thus reducing the amount of spin bowling they might need. Moeen does ok, Batty is no better, Rashid will get splattered all over India and Ansari has one test. I'd be tempted to go with just two and pray that Jimmy gets fit quickly.

diggedy derek wrote: What a wonderful, wonderful series.

Following England is becoming like following Spurs in the 2000s, though. So much talent and but so much stupidity that they will likely never quite be more than the sum of a bunch of parts. The main problem with England, as observed above, has been the top order batting, and that should be far easier to make headway on than the spin problem. If they find even a half decent proper opener, they are a match for any team, just because of the strength of their tail. And with Hameed, who seems tailormade to be a proper opener, they could have given him valuable experience as a young guy who by the time he's 25 could be a battle-hardened pro. What do they do? They go for the snazzy quick fix of trying to play a dasher at the top of the order in Duckett, and now they have the Ballance problem, too. They could have killed two birds with one stone by moving Duckett to four for the second Test, get the proper opener in.

At long last! Hameed is in for his debut. Shame he wasn't given a chance against Bangladesh. Though now Cook has spoken about it I can see some logic - with this being a double tour and Hameed only 19 years old, they just wanted to see how he would cope with simply being in the squad and away from home, and whether he would be overawed by it.

Duckett moves to four, Ballance drops out of the team.

[longeared]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

That's a pretty feeble excuse, Hameed went to Sri Lanka and Australia with the under 19s last winter. It's not like he's never travelled beyond Manchester. Good to see they've gone with a proper talented young player though, he could still be playing for England in the 2031 Ashes.

Find it hard to see England winning a Test in this series, though don't think it'll be 5-0, mainly because of India's tendency to produce flat turgid tracks once they're ahead.

[Duncan Gardner]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Good luck to Baby Boycott.

The pressure's vastly greater fetching drinks for the first team than skippering the u-19 surely?

[diggedy derek]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Really excited to see how Hameed does. Not expecting miracles, but feels like a square peg in a square hole.

[Kevin S]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Morning all. England 102/3.

[Kevin S]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Moeen and Root clipping along nicely. 180/3.

[longeared]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

I wouldn't say the score has cheered me up, but at least it provides something to distract from the sheer awfulness elsewhere.

[Kevin S]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Root made 124, Moeen into the nervous nineties. Great batting.

[longeared]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Moeen 97* going into the final over of the day...

[longeared]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Gets a single off the final ball and there's time for another over.

[longeared]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Mishra lobs up a full toss, Moeen only gets a single and he's off strike.

[longeared]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Stokes can't rotate the strike, so Moeen ends at 99* overnight. Good toss to win and made excellent use of it, now there's plenty of batting left so kick on and try and get to 500.

In other news, Yorkshire CCC have decided this is a good morning to bury bad news and announced that the redevelopment of the football stand has been delayed, they're blaming the rugby league lot. That might put hosting future internationals in jeopardy.

[Kevin S]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Moeen finishes the day on 99* overnight. Andrew Samson says this has happened 14 times in Test matches, and all 14 completed the century the next day.

Great day's play, but England will need to consolidate tomorrow.

[Kevin S]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

longeared wrote: Stokes can't rotate the strike, so Moeen ends at 99* overnight. Good toss to win and made excellent use of it, now there's plenty of batting left so kick on and try and get to 500.

Huzzah! Three centurions, too.

[Kevin S]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Finish on 537; Ansari with a very useful knock at the end.

TMS said it is the first time England have had three centurions in a Test in Asia for over fifty years. Also 21 of the 22 players have made first class centuries; the last time all 22 players in Test had first class centuries to their name was over 110 years ago, England v Australia.

[Duncan Gardner]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Well played England.

To save me poring over cricinfo, who's the odd man out as non-centurion?

[Kevin S]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Mohammed Shami, career high score of 51*.

Strong session from India here.

[Tubby Isaacs]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

I have literally been made sick by Trump''s victory. Up now watching.

I didn't know how quick Woakes was now. Poor Pujara was hit on the grill twice. India battled back well.

[Tubby Isaacs]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Still sick. I think I have to concede it's a nasty cold, and nothing to with Trump.

Young Hameed playing really well.

[Tubby Isaacs]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

It's a proper shirt front though.

One commentator wondered if it's even worth having a dart at India in the last innings with back to back tests.

[longeared]

England tours of Bangladesh and India

Now if only we'd picked him against the Desh...

No chance of a positive result, but it'd be definitely worth trying to declare around tea with a lead of 350 and trying to get a couple of psychological wickets.