posted Jul 23, 2007

LET'S GET PRACTICAL ABOUT PLAYING HOURS!
I don't think a 4 day golf tournament, a Wimbledon final, a rugby or football international would be "drawn" by the weather!
A 5-day test match is essentially a 30 hour match or 450 overs. If the teams can't win within this framework, fine ... but otherwise play make-up time or overs on "an extra day" till the allotted time played or overs have been completed!!

Otherwise, start earlier in the day or continue longer. Dew in England has gone long before 10 AM. Light in an average "summer" in JUNE/JULY lasts beyond 7 PM.

More flexibility and less tea, I say!!

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posted Jul 23, 2007

"but I fail to see how anyone can arrive at that concluson, could someone kindly enlighten me."

Because England comprehensively outbowled, outbatted and outfielded India, and would have won by about 90 runs had it not rained?

India are a GOOD SIDE and we took them to bits with a second string bowling attack. That is something to be very proud of.

Their bowling has a lot more experience than ours, and their batting has masses more experience than ours.

I thought England were very good. With a bit more application with the bat they can be exceptional.

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posted Jul 23, 2007

Something less than a fair result, I feel..

Even a hair-tearing ex-England supporter like me would have to admit that England - sorry, The Yobs - shaded it.

My real regret was that young Master Tendulkar didn't pull off his life's ambition and get a ton at HQ.

But maybe that will give him extra motivation to stick around until the next tour.

The low moment for me was the ghastly KP reaction to his agricultural ton - necklace, tattoos and all.

Jesus wept, what an appalling example for my kids and indeed, everyones' kids.

Mine, however, are now immune to this sort of boorish narcissism.

Every time he walks out to bat they change channels.

Not bad judgement for age 7.

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posted Jul 23, 2007

I totally agree. Rather than coming up with rules such as free-hits etc. to mop the money in ODIs - they should look at what could be done to make the test matches - result oriented. I mean, SL always keep an extra day for the ODIs. Why cant we have the same provision for test matches?

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posted Jul 23, 2007

Intense cricket but the men of the match really were the rain and the umpires (with sme sort of records for lbws), not to take anything away from KP and Dhoni. England may seriously consider an indoor cricket stadium, at Lords to start with, perhaps. Otherwise the weather suits only short games like Football. Too many cricket matches have been disrupted in the UK due to rains.

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posted Jul 23, 2007

I am really sorry for England that they did'nt win. England deserved to win, though India did'nt deserve to lose(they just had one bad first day adjusting to the conditions ).But if Eng are good enough to win this match, then they should be good enough to win the series too, what with 2 more matches remaining.
If India had lost this match, they would have come into the next match with more commitment and dedication to even up the series, which would have made this series a classic one. A determined India vs Enthusiastic England .
I think Hoggard will be back for the next match.Dravid and Sachin would be looking to settle scores. Both of them disappointed in this match(though dravid got a very bad decision).
India will be well aware of the conditions and England bowling now.
The bowling is looking pretty good(though sreesanth and kumble are yet to fire). Its the batsmen that have to show that they really are world class players.Come on Sachin and Dravid!

This series is becoming more and more interesting.

Also, I think Tramlett bowling well in this match suggests curtains down for Harmison.Tramlett is taller, got the pace and is looking far better than Harmy, and a decent enough tailender too, I heard.

Broad should be feeling a little insecured about his future .
How about Flintoff, Hoggard, Tramlett , Sydebottom and Panesar for the ashes 2009 with Broad and Anderson as backup.

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posted Jul 23, 2007

"Because England comprehensively outbowled, outbatted and outfielded India, and would have won by about 90 runs had it not rained?"
Again, realistically is this right? I agree England would have won had weather not intervened and its harsh on England to be denied of a certain victory. But to say Enland comprehensively outbowled, outbatted and outfielded is not fair, me think. ENgland started off very well with the help of wayward indian bowling and good weather but India did brlliantly well to blow away the england middle and lower order. England came back and bowled out India for a 100 runs lead but then India did very well by restricting England to less than 300 inspite of KP's fantastic innings. Even he struggled early on but thanks to his brilliance he stepped it up. India started badly but again offered some resistance and got to ENgland's second innings socre otherwise the match would have been over by lunch today. So Indian bowlers did well apart from the first day and should be given some credit. Mind you, ENgland are the home side and this is the first test so ENglish players are more used to the condtitions. Well, I was just trying to be fair.

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posted Jul 23, 2007

India XI:

Sehwag
Gambhir
Dhoni
Laxman
Yuvraj
Karthik
Powar
Kumble
RP Singh
Sreesanth
Zaheer Khan

(Tendulkar and Dravid - Water carriers)

Sure India would probably lose but it would be a great change to see. Young team moving forward.

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posted Jul 23, 2007

bijusportsfan - You are, of course, correct. 'Comprehensively' is too strong a word, and I apologise. No disrespect to India was intended.

I think RP Singh was brilliant, and Dhoni and Laxman very tough today.

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posted Jul 23, 2007

This was a good test match with both teams having up's and down's. Indian fans are too critical of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid. Laxman, Dhoni and even Ganguly showed tremendous character in the second innings to thwart a certain defeat without which the match would have lost by India by lunch today. ANderson and KP were simply brilliant and KP has shown why he is one of the best in business in the world today. None of the other batsmen could score a century. I think captaincy has got to Dravid as I cant remember the last time he didnt make a huge score in 5 consicutive innings. Its easy to say drop Tendulkar and Ganguly but its harder to find a batsman with equal caliber. England team look really strong and if collongwood and bell fire in the next test match, even the weather may not save Indians.

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