England vs India 2nd test

We’ve had better days.

 

“Hey Joe Root - On the morning of the test, you might feel a slight sting, telling you to bowl. That’s pride ******* with you, **** pride.”

to be fair I’m sure If he had any faith in the top order he would have batted. That decision is more a function of the lack of batting rather then faith in the bowling. Still the wrong decision though, if the batters aren’t up to it at home on an opening day good English wicket then they need to be binned off.

 

Kohli gone

 

What a dreadful review by Root. Buttler not interested, would have missed a 4th stump down leg. Completely wasted review.

 

I’ve no real problem with the decision at the toss and I don’t think we’ve been terrible today but Rahul and Sharma played perfectly. Sometimes you come up against better opposition.

I would bet any money that if we’d batted first we’d have been bowled out comfortably within the day.

 

He’s making a habit of it. As a captain he’s got a lot to learn

 

The toss is a funny one. All the experts said it was the right call at the time because of the overheads. Then when it didn't work they all said it was the wrong decision because of the pitch. Good toss to lose I reckon.

The biggest issue was the bowling in the first session. It was poor from Anderson and Robinson. They hardly made the batsmen play at all when the ball was swinging. People criticise Curran for his spell, and he did bowl some rubbish, but he at least pushed the ball up and made them play. Unfortunately the ball had stopped swinging by then. I can't get my head around giving Robinson, who gets movement off the pitch all day long but little swing, the new ball when you have Curran who's lethal when it's swinging but generally easy to play when it's not.

 

There is a vanity around pace, you just have to look at the commentators cooing over Wood reaching mid 90s. He may have been quick, but he didn't look dangerous.

I've always felt the opportunity to get early wickets is based on how much you swing it and how full you bowl. Hoggard seemed to get a lot of early wickets by doing just that, and he was often lucky to reach 80mph.

 

I'm a big believer that quick bowlers are far more effective on flat pitches, hence why Wood's away record is far better than his home record.

 

Current Yorkshire overseas bowler Lockie Ferguson is possibly the fastest bowler I have ever seen but he got tonked all over Headingley last night playing for the Manchester team. His first spell was frugal but his second was a disaster. If a batsman has the timing right he can just help a 90+mph ball to the boundary, or over it, with no effort at all. I always think that the best fast balls are Yorkers where the batsman has hardly any chance of squirting it out for runs. Trouble is they can't put it there every time can they.

 

I've wondered for a long time why our quicker bowlers seem to be banned from bowling yorkers in test matches when other nations often take our wickets with such deliveries.

 

"Can" be far more effective. Its still down to the bowler to bowl well and use pace if the pitch allows it. Lords isn't a fast pitch. It's all about top of off and using the slope.

I like Wood though, he seems a really good lad, a bit bonkers, but you worry about his lack of cricket and his injury record.

 

True, but the vast majority of fast bowlers are incapable of hitting the top of off regularly. That's one of the reasons they bowl at 90+ mph. Wood is definitely in the top 4 fit seamers we have though so I don't begrudge him a cap in this game.

I have to say that the Ruth Strauss Foundation looks a wonderful charity and a brilliant idea. I hope they raise a lot of money today.

 

Which is why I wouldn't be bowling fast bowlers at Lords. Especially ones who haven't bowled for eons. Though the ECB have made a complete lash of the schedule so it's a bit difficult to get red ball game time when there are no games using a red ball.

 

India batted beautifully. Proper test match batting and it was fantastic to watch the application and skill.

I don’t think England bowled that badly and it was the correct decision at the toss. Sometimes the opposition are just better than you.

we could learn a thing or two watching how the Indians did it.

 

They did bat outstandingly but not getting them playing with the new ball was criminal having put them in. India would have most likely won at lord's anyway but that first session was our only chance to get into the game.

 

Well that was a gift to start the day.

 

I'll take a soft wicket... or 7!

 

Promising start!

 

5 down!