Topic: The England Cricket Thread - 2024

[Funky_Gibbons]

This is brutal.

["21C or 70F?" SchizoidWeatherMan!]

What a pity the next Test isn't until.....August isn't it?

Lord Buttler and Livingstone along with Bairstow will be in action soon, so all is good.

[Skeeve]

This pattern of chasing down such large totals in the 4th innings really is ludicrous. Ok fair enough they're not exactly your stereotypical day 5 pitches but still.

I'm sure many of us were questioning New Zealand performances when India got into a much stronger position after their second innings than New Zealand managed, but this performance has just shown that it wasn't a fluke or underperformance.

[El Lobo]

England throwing this away

[Elzar]

378 to chase, and pretty much done with 2 sessions and 7 wickets remaining. Imagine that in January!

[gerrardisgod]

Got four hours to find something else to do instead of work now 

[Gerry Attrick]

Pant scored 146 at way quicker than a run a ball and still won’t be man of the match. Unreal stuff.

[El Lobo]

Battered.

[thaddeus]

Bairstow in a hurry to get home.

He ended up just short of a strike rate of 80.  Still only the third best in this innings though... on day five of a test match... chasing close on 400.

Crawley crawling along at a strike rate of 60 is a bit pathetic 

[LiverLuke]

love it, what a turnaround for the batting. loving bazball.

[Hedley Lamarr]

Isn't the world record chase 418 or something (I think Australia chased it), that's in danger if England carry on playing like this.

[TepidT2O]

It’s only 12.10.  How have England won already?


That’s genuinely incredible

[Circa1892]

That’s just insane. India obviously not in the best possible place having nipped across to complete a test match a year on, but that’s stunning play.

Bairstow now has half of his career test centuries THIS year… that’d be impressive for someone who’d been about for 3/4 years, let alone someone who’s been around for about a decade…

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

Comfortably.

Over by lunch

[Sangria]

Isn't the world record chase 418 or something (I think Australia chased it), that's in danger if England carry on playing like this.

4th Test, Antigua 2003, West Indies vs Australia
Australia 240 (Lawson 7-78)
West Indies 240 (Lara 68)
Australia 417 (Hayden 177, Langer 111)
West Indies 418-7 (Sarwan 105, Chanderpaul 104, Lara 60)

West Indies win by 3 wickets.

[El Lobo]

Congrats

You've obviously got your finger on the pulse when it comes to England dismantling India.

[Crosby Nick]

We’ll either win by 5 wickets or lose by 200.

I hate the fact I’m too cautious with my predictions.

[Yorkykopite]

Isn't the world record chase 418 or something (I think Australia chased it), that's in danger if England carry on playing like this.

Windies v Oz 2003

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBsfkSZmaeA

[Skeeve]

England's highest run chase and 9th highest of all time, not bad going.

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/222199.html

[lamonti]

Root is a phenom these days. Makes life easier for his teammates too because he doesn't eat up the strike for overs on end. Constantly turning the end over.

Always been a phenomenon to be fair — a prodigy who completely lived up to his talent and is such an admirable and likeable sportsman. Reckon he copped far too much flack for the end of his captaincy era for what was essentially a bad/stale coaching set up.

[gjr1]

The last 4 test matches have been awesome from an England perspective

it will fail every now and again and we’ll just have to accept that.

[CheshireDave]

What a pity the next Test isn't until.....August isn't it?

Yep - 17th August against South Africa at Lord's

3 match series with games at Lord's, OT and The Oval.

[Skeeve]

The last 4 test matches have been awesome from an England perspective

it will fail every now and again and we’ll just have to accept that.

I think people will accept it, providing the reason for losing is not brainless play, going down while playing positively is not the same thing as doing so while recklessly throwing away your wicket.

[Red-Soldier]

I think people will accept it, providing the reason for losing is not brainless play, going down while playing positively is not the same thing as doing so while recklessly throwing away your wicket.

I think that's all you ever want from your batting team.

I don't care if we lose a few, just as long as we give it a fair crack (so to speak).

[Funky_Gibbons]

Jonny Bairstow's last five innings: 136 (92), 162 (157), 71* (44), 106 (140), 114* (145)

589 runs from 578 balls at an average of 196

[IgorBobbins]

Jonny Bairstow's last five innings: 136 (92), 162 (157), 71* (44), 106 (140), 114* (145)

589 runs from 578 balls at an average of 196

Just ludicrous stuff.

Long may Bazball continue! (despite my initial misgivings  )

[wah00ey]

Yep - 17th August against South Africa at Lord's

3 match series with games at Lord's, OT and The Oval.

I have tickets for the Friday :-).  3rd day.

[kloppismydad]

Absolutely mad chase! How costly was that Vihari drop?

When India were batting, I thought 350 would be a tough total to chase. My dad, the cautious one, wanted us to put up a target of 400+. Doubt that would have stood up in front of this incredible batting.

A lot of credit to the English openers. They set the rhythm and gave the team a solid start to build on. Early wickets and India would have probably won this test. Lots for India to introspect. I wonder if playing too much IPL is detrimental since overseas players and coaches know more about the Indian players (see McCullum's gesture for the short ball to Shreyas Iyer).

[voodoo ray]

The Indian team brains trust might be wishing they'd played last year now instead.

And sorry but I can't stand the word 'bazball'. It's awful

[Gerry Attrick]

Absolutely mad chase! How costly was that Vihari drop?

When India were batting, I thought 350 would be a tough total to chase. My dad, the cautious one, wanted us to put up a target of 400+. Doubt that would have stood up in front of this incredible batting.

A lot of credit to the English openers. They set the rhythm and gave the team a solid start to build on. Early wickets and India would have probably won this test. Lots for India to introspect. I wonder if playing too much IPL is detrimental since overseas players and coaches know more about the Indian players (see McCullum's gesture for the short ball to Shreyas Iyer).

Think McCullum even coached Iyer

[Crosby Nick]

The Indian team brains trust might be wishing they'd played last year now instead.

And sorry but I can't stand the word 'bazball'. It's awful

Can’t remember why it got cancelled now - was it Covid in the Indian camp? Nice to not lose a series at home but in the longer run will this be forgotten about in India? Or I’d the chance to win a series here seen as a big thing?

A while til the SA Tests now. Shame!

[Guz-kop]

Can’t remember why it got cancelled now - was it Covid in the Indian camp? Nice to not lose a series at home but in the longer run will this be forgotten about in India? Or I’d the chance to win a series here seen as a big thing?

A while til the SA Tests now. Shame!

Think there was concern re covid yup and IPL was precariously close

A series win for India would have meant away wins in Australia and England which would have been huge. So they'll be very disappointed probably but yeah the logistics has made it quite weird

[PaulF]

We don't have to scroll back too far to hear moping around about how woeful England are.
I hope they can't repeat this transformation at Old Trafford.

[voodoo ray]

We don't have to scroll back too far to hear moping around about how woeful England are.
I hope they can't repeat this transformation at Old Trafford.

That's because they were.

[Scottymuser]

Think there was concern re covid yup and IPL was precariously close

A series win for India would have meant away wins in Australia and England which would have been huge. So they'll be very disappointed probably but yeah the logistics has made it quite weird

there was zero covid in the Indian camp - they dressed up the reason as concern that the Covid rates in England were increasing, but everyone knows it was because the IPL was coming up and that's their major money maker and the BCCI wanted them home for that.  So they made up a reason about being worried about catching Covid (when it would be unlikely, due to how the bubbles worked, that they'd just go shopping in Asda or a pint and catch it from a member of the public) so they could prioritise the IPL

[kloppismydad]

there was zero covid in the Indian camp - they dressed up the reason as concern that the Covid rates in England were increasing, but everyone knows it was because the IPL was coming up and that's their major money maker and the BCCI wanted them home for that.  So they made up a reason about being worried about catching Covid (when it would be unlikely, due to how the bubbles worked, that they'd just go shopping in Asda or a pint and catch it from a member of the public) so they could prioritise the IPL

No no, I remember Ravi Shastri attended some book launch and he ended up testing positive. Then he spread it to some other staff as well alongwith the physio. That caused some fear (and the looming IPL, of course) so the test was postponed. Not like we ended up gaining anything

Think McCullum even coached Iyer

He coached him a few months ago in the IPL for KKR!

[Sangria]

Can’t remember why it got cancelled now - was it Covid in the Indian camp? Nice to not lose a series at home but in the longer run will this be forgotten about in India? Or I’d the chance to win a series here seen as a big thing?

A while til the SA Tests now. Shame!

Can we invite the Aussie round to play for the Ashes, while we're on a run?

[12C]

there was zero covid in the Indian camp - they dressed up the reason as concern that the Covid rates in England were increasing, but everyone knows it was because the IPL was coming up and that's their major money maker and the BCCI wanted them home for that.  So they made up a reason about being worried about catching Covid (when it would be unlikely, due to how the bubbles worked, that they'd just go shopping in Asda or a pint and catch it from a member of the public) so they could prioritise the IPL

Had tickets for first two days of that test at old Trafford. Got to Piccadilly and my lad texted to say there was a concern in the Indian camp. By the time I walked to his apartment, the game was off. Spent a nice day chilling in the Ancoats Nothern quarter area, including a few beers sat in the sun talking to some guys who had tickets for all 5 days. Everyone agreed that India wanted out to get ready for the IPL.

[Yorkykopite]

One regret. I'd have loved to hear Shane Warne's take on what's been happening this summer.

[Yosser0_0]

Windies v Oz 2003

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBsfkSZmaeA

In these high scoring chases I wonder at what point as a fielding side you think to yourself, this is done we are beaten here. Today, it looked like these were finished with England requiring about 90. In that West Indies clip, the Aussies had hope with the seventh wicket but with only 46 needed it looked too late by then.

For all the talk of this new attacking approach from England and whether it will be successful, the clip shows even that great Australian side could be beaten by a team prepared to go toe to toe with them and wrestle the initiative away from them.