India v England, First Test, Rajkot, 9th-13th November

[CHAPPERS]

Another slow twenty is better for us than two smashed 4s and out.

 

[Simster]

Another slow twenty is better for us than two smashed 4s and out.

I'm not sure I agree. I think we want to be batting third on this wicket (even if we don't need to). With that in mind, all we are doing is using up valuable time.

 

[Titanic]

Ansari is showing a real temperament for Test cricket - good news indeed.

 

[Titanic]

I'm not sure I agree. I think we want to be batting third on this wicket (even if we don't need to). With that in mind, all we are doing is using up valuable time.

This is the first test match of a series away in India.... the first thing we need to be doing is not losing.

 

[Simster]

This is the first test match of a series away in India.... the first thing we need to be doing is not losing.

Granted, we've lost from this position before (Adelaide *shudder*) but this is not a pitch nor a bowling attack that is to be scared of and we really shouldn't lose from here regardless of whether or not we spend an hour dead batting everything rather than chasing quick runs.

For me, it is far more likely that the last hour will cost us a chance of victory in lost bowling time than it will shore up a no-loss position.

 

[Titanic]

Tea, Day Two

England 537 all out (159.3 overs)

ZS Ansari lbw b Mishra 32 (83b 3x4 0x6) SR: 38.55

Hundreds from Root (124), Ali (117) and Stokes (128) and useful contributions from Hameed (31) Bairstow (41) and Ansari (32)... a fine effort with the bat from England.

 

[pasty]

Top effort

 

[Titanic]

Close of play, Day 2

India 63-0 (23 overs)

Vijay 24* Gambhir 28*

England lead by 474

Good Test match... England need some wickets in the morning to make this interesting!

 

[ManOfSussex]

Remarkable Stokes and India’s drops mean England hold all the cards

Rajkot (second day of five; England won toss): India, will all first-innings wickets in hand, trail England by 474 runs.

Mike Atherton, Chief Cricket Correspondent, Rajkot.

For the locals, it is hard to underestimate the scale of the surprise, shock even, at the way the first two days have developed. There was general expectation that England’s batsmen would be served up for India’s spinners, garnish, delicacies and all, but instead they have witnessed a level of dominance, for two days at least, not seen from foreign batsmen for some time.

Before this match, there had not been a Test hundred scored by a visitor in India since Australia’s twinkled-toed Michael Clarke, a fine player of spin, in 2013. Since then, batsmen have come and gone, few having mastered conditions. Joe Root ended the long wait on the first day, and, emboldened by his example, Moeen Ali completed his century early on the second, before Ben Stokes administered his own special lustre to the occasion by adding a third on the second afternoon. Unimagined riches.

It was the only time since 1961 in Kanpur that England have managed three hundreds in the same innings in Asia, and then England were batting to save a Test. Here, they were setting up the game and the series and the performances carry extra kudos for that. All three were exceptional innings in their own distinctive ways: Root’s hundred was pure, Ali’s controlled and mature and Stokes’, which was the centrepiece of the second day, a mixture of the brilliant, bold, brave and downright arsey.

Having given India barely a glance of his considerable talents in the 2014 home series, when he bagged a pair at Lord’s and made another duck at Trent Bridge, from the depths of the batting order, Stokes was keen to show his true worth this time. He walked to the crease with Ali in the morning and it was not until seven overs before the close of the innings that he was dismissed, ninth man out when he tickled one down the leg-side, luck finally deserting him. He had taken his team to an imposing position by the time he was done.

There was some real grit amid the pearls, too, as cramp took hold in his calves and thigh, and as the old ball, general weariness and more defensive field settings later in the day put paid to the fluency and brilliance he showed in the morning. Still, his shirt filthy with dust and muck from numerous dives after close-run singles, and his chops glistening with sweat and grime, he kept on. Even when slicing mishits into no-man’s land, which he did with precision, he is addictive to watch, as most top-class all-rounders are.

His cramp returned when he took the field, in the engine room again, when he dived at slip trying to prevent some byes. It meant that Cook was denied use of him with the ball, as India’s openers, Murali Vijay and Gautham Gambhir, set their team off on the long road to safety with conviction. In Stokes’s absence, Ali looked the main threat, with the occasional ball spitting from the footholes, although Adil Rashid bowled a testing couple of overs before the close, with one googly ripping past Gambhir’s outside edge.

All three hundreds meant that the first part of England’s plan in this match, to score an imposing first-innings total, and take the game deep into its final stages, has been accomplished, as it was on occasion four years ago, when England batted more than 150 overs in Kolkata and Nagpur. When Zafar Ansari was last man out, India had trudged through a weary 159.3 overs.

But England’s innings was no one-paced drudge. After Bangladesh, Trevor Bayliss promised a proactive approach, and his team did not wait, passively and crease-bound. The morning session was thrilling with India, having taken the second new ball immediately, pushing hard for wickets, and Stokes, Ali and then Jonny Bairstow determined not to take a backward step. No bowler, not even Ravichandran Ashwin, who was given a lesser workload than on the first day, was spared, as 139 runs came before lunch.

Ali lasted long enough to bring up his fourth and best Test hundred - a scampered single off the third ball morning of the morning doing the trick - and to induce more indifferent fielding with some sweet shots through the off-side, but not much thereafter. It is always a surprise when a batsman with so many glittering strokes decides to play none, but that is what Ali did to Mohammed Shami, losing his off-stump.

Bairstow joined Stokes and both set about the bowling. As soon as Ashwin came into the attack, Stokes hurtled down the pitch and drove him hard for four straight down the ground. Bairstow tucked into Amit Mishra with relish, hitting a googly over mid-wicket for six, before playing the next ball through the off-side, showily, as if to announce to the leg-spinner that his tricks were easily spotted. Mishra looked an ordinary performer on this evidence.

India wilted under the onslaught. Wriddhiman Saha, the wicket-keeper, dropped Stokes twice to his left in consecutive overs off Umesh Yadav, whose figures did little justice to his efforts. The first catch low to his left, when Stokes had made 60, was difficult; the second, a run later, was not. A missed stumping off Ashwin after lunch, as Stokes advanced, did little to improve Saha’s confidence, nor Virat Kohli’s mood. India’s captain is an expressive type, and he looked close to boiling point on numerous occasions throughout the innings.

The new ball of the morning and the fast outfield made for attractive strokeplay, but gradually fluency became harder to find as the ball softened. Bairstow bottom-edged to Saha off the persevering Shami and when Chris Woakes tentatively edged Ravindra Jadeja, strangely ignored for much of the morning, four balls after lunch, and Adil Rashid chipped to mid-on, England were in danger of not taking full advantage of a strong position.

Stokes’s anxiety that he might run out of partners was telling, even though Ansari is capable. He ran risky singles, aimed hits to leg that fell three times between the in-field and outer, leaning on his bat in disgust after one such attempt, and almost kicked the ball onto his stumps, having missed a pull shot. Relief came with a cut to the fence off Jadeja, a majestic hundred coming up in 173 balls. Stokes has now scored Test hundreds in England, Australia, South Africa and India - a man for all seasons.

He looked exhausted when finally dismissed, but only because of the passionate intensity he brings to every performance. England have a remarkable cricketer on their hands and, one senses, he is not done yet.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/s...ops-mean-england-hold-all-the-cards-38tpwv0rt

 

[knocky1]

Dozed a fair bit this morning. Who let those kids bring in a drum? Run rate just over 3 for India. No swing, reverse or break up of pitch. keep at it England. Local lad Pujara moving towards effortless century.

 

[knocky1]

Broad has found a crack to aim for. Habeeb drops the resulting catch. Team very supportive to the poor boy.

 

[St Leonards Seagull]

Broad has found a crack to aim for. Habeeb drops the resulting catch. Team very supportive to the poor boy.

Looked a difficult catch for the lad.
England's last couple of overs have been decent. Making it difficult for India to score.

 

[Titanic]

Almost a wicket for Ansari... LBW given and reviewed... going over

208-1

Perhaps India will start liking DRS?

Sent from my SM-G850F using Tapatalk

 

[Mackenzie]

New ball due shortly after tea.

 

[Titanic]

Hilarious spoof review off the middle of the bat by England on the 79.5th ball

 

[St Leonards Seagull]

What was that review about? Hit the middle of the bat.

 

[Titanic]

What was that review about? Hit the middle of the bat.

It was the 5th ball of the 79th over... reviews get reset with the new ball at 80 overs.

It was a joke by Bairstow.

 

[Titanic]

Cheteshwar Pujara 100* (169 balls, 15 fours)... his home crowd go wild and his father visibly swells with pride

India 229-1 (80.3 overs), trailing by 308

 

[Titanic]

Moeen Ali takes the new ball...

 

[knocky1]

.....and it gets smacked onto the rope for a six.