Ashwin desperate to look daft again
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Yes!
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Nice for Curran to seal the series
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Well called Paul, I was sure we were short of runs.
It was a lot to get on a dry, turning pitch which helped the seamers too.
Slightly anxious when Kohli and Rahane were going well, but it was pretty clear that they had to get them within 50 or so and that was always going to be difficult.
Well played England,
Just need to pick a few more all rounders at 1,2 and 3 and Root can bat at 4.
They will be unstoppable!
Now that the series is wrapped up with a test to spare, the selectors need to start thinking about next summer and what will be a tough Ashes series.
We have a good bowling attack and we are overrun with top class all rounders, so for me the only thing to get right is the top of the order. I still think that Cook may call it a day after the Oval. Jump before heâs pushed kind of thing.
Next come the Winter tours and we only have 3 tests in Sri Lanka and 3 in West Indies (plus a âwarm upâ test against Ireland in July) to get a settled top four. Root clearly wants to bat 4, so who will be the top 3 against Australia?
I donât know the answer, but then I donât get paid for selecting the team.
I donât know either. I would have a look at Rory Burns for the next game at the Oval because its his home ground. Ollie Pope is a likely lad for the same reason but wants to bat in the middle order where there is no need. I donât see him at three. Ditto Vince. I quite like the idea of Moeen batting three but it has more to do with it allowing Root to be at four, where he is at his best. Not sure if he has the game for three at test level, even if he does bat there for Worcs.
The top order is a big problem because with loads of strokemakers in the middle order, we need them to be able to play their natural game, rather than dig-in every innings. Although, they are becoming battle hardened and itâs good to have attrition in the locker.
I hope Cook carries on tbh, I think he can come again but wouldnât be surprised if he packs it in. He has not had a proper partner for several years and has had the burden of responsibility at the top. Not his fault that he has had a bunch of cunts to bat with!
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Trouble is that we have enough people playing out of position and 3 is such a crucial spot. I still think Ian Bell could get another chance. Ok heâs 36, but if heâs willing to go to Sri Lanka and West Indies, he could be a short term answer in the Ashes.
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Lots of good stuff to take from this series though. Curran is a great find. Mad skills and a cricket brain, he was fantastic last night batting with Buttler. Kohli couldnât cope with him working the strike even after Buttler got out.
Buttler finally âgettingâ batting in tests has been great too, he is really starting to look the part.
Great to see Moeen come back improved . His bowling in this game has been first class. He was superb in the first innings but with the rough in the second, he kept it simple and let the pitch do the work. He won us the game. I didnât notice him bowl any arm balls. He just concentrated in little variations in flight and pace. My only quibble was that I thought he should have had a deepish cover point to Kohli instead of the deep extra. He could have left that open to encourage the drive.
The old warhorses, Anderson and Broad are still looking good too. They were fantastic this morning, putting the Indian top order under massive pressure. They really looked up for it!
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I would give Bell another go with no problem, always liked him. Iâm not sure the selectors will do it thoughâŚ
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A few more thoughtsâŚ
India are ranked the highest in world test cricket at the moment but imv, compared to other teams that have held the crown they are nowhere. They have a very good and varied seam attack but Ashwin seems to have lost his way. He has all the tools but seemingly wants to use them all in one over, every over. This must be the influence of the white ball game, where with less cautious batsmen it would be more effective. Also, we slag off our batting but if anything India are even worse. Beyond Kohli, Pujara and Rahane they have very little. Yesterday, after Kohli went they had nothing really. Pantâs dismissal was sooo dumb. He hit a straight six, Root put three men back on the boundary immediately and he then tried to clear the guy sweeping deep on the off-side. School boy! Fuck, Iâd have been pissed if that had happened in the Sunday side I used to play in! Not a test batsman, not yet anyway. Ashwin was almost as stupid too. The difference between the two sides has been how the two middle/lower orders have coped with pressure and England have won that battle hands down. The influence of the IPL is having a big effect on them I think.
Kohliâs captaincy is pretty iffy too. Twice England have been 86/6 in the series and he has let the game drift and we have got away from them. Also, When I have had the time to watch, I have noticed that he struggles with the field when trying to remove the tail. His bowlers donât get enough balls at the rabbits because he cant/wont stop the single.
I guess what Iâm asking here is that, are all test teams flawed these days? This Indian batting order canât hold a candle to the one with Sehwag, Gambir, Laxmann, Tendulkar, Dravid etc but by playing most of their cricket on flat pitches they get away with it against other flawed teams. Away from home though, they donât do so well, just like every other team at the moment.
This isnât a golden era for test cricket imv but on the other hand there are a lot of tight, breathless, low scoring dramas played between flawed teams, which are very entertaining. Is this a good thing? Is the draw a thing of the past?
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Good post Ritchie. I think people of our age are viewing through the lens of test cricket as it was 30 years ago. The new limited overs format had fundamentally changed everything. I donât think it will be the same again.
Also, Atherton has noted that batsmen are facing new challenges that werenât around before such as playing under lights.
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Curren has been a massive asset to Surrey this season helping us to a
Championship Title (I hope).
I agree with both posts. I have no doubt that white ball cricket has changed test cricket. Thereâs so much money to be had in the game that it is shaping the way young players are not only thinking, but being coached. Unless you are supremely talented as a big hitting batsman - Hales, Roy etc - or a specialist economical bowler - Bumrah, Malinga etc - you have to be an all rounder.
You only have to look at England. For years we struggled to find an all rounder and all of the ânew Ian Bothamâ candidates failed miserably to live up to the title (Flintoff excepted) Now we have Stokes, Moeen, Woakes, and Curran all of whom are genuine all rounders. You can also add wicketkeeper batsmen Bairstow or Buttler to that list and that makes five or six England all rounders. Unheard of, even as little as 10 years ago.
The big money is made in white ball cricket and that doesnât look like changing. While Iâm sure that most young cricketers aspire to playing in a Lords test, the fact is that only 11 people a year get to do that, so they have to hedge their bets and adapt their game to have a chance at making a few quid in T20 cricket. The average salary for a Div 2 county player is only ÂŁ37k.
Bowlers all over the land would be coming out in a cold sweat just looking at that list.
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Some very good points Ritchie.
No I donât think this is a Golden Era. Nor, as Mark noted, are we likely to see one again.
The pyjama game has finally done for âclassicâ test cricket.
When Straya doesnât dominate, World cricket is just rubbish anyway 
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Of course the other big change in world cricket is the demise of WI as a major force, which is a real shame. Unfortunately theyâve had their heads turned by other more lucrative sports and they are a massive loss to the game and the whole dynamic.
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Their best players are all on the T20 merry-go-round
Bravo, Pollard, Russell, Lewis, Gayle, Narine, all earning a lot of money by not playing test cricket. Not one of them in the last test squad that toured NZ.
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Another point to consider is DRS. Many more LBW decisions being given âon fieldâ now and add those that are given after reviews. Scores are bound to be lower.
14 LBWs in that last test (which equalled the record) alone.
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I still begrudge not being able to watch test cricket live on BBC.
I would like to see the cricket boards getting more assertive with the broadcasters, making sure that the coverage is broader - keeping some on terrestrial TV, making them show county games if theyâre going to get T20s, this kind of thing. There seems to be very little strategy in managing how the public gets access to the game.