England vs India

[Impeccable]

Yes, Cricket again. England collapsed on the second day, and looked in trouble as India have a strong batting order.

England's bowlers have stepped up and bowled India out for 201. I seriously think that Hoggard and Flintoff may be worrying for their places as Sidebottom and Anderson are bowling so well at the moment.

I wish we were better at the one day game!

[Cactus Sid]

Hoggard will keep his place, he is stunningly consistent and there are few better bowlers in world cricket to left handers, Flintoff is gonna be given time to recover properly, but he'll always be picked because he is an absolutely phenomenal bowler and on his day a more than competent batsman (which will hopefully be back in form if he's only batting for the next couple of months).

Anderson can be brilliant, but he is the most inconsistent cricketer I have ever seen, the next test he'll get hit all over the place. As an example of what Anderson can be like, during the one dayers against the Windies, he bowled something like 8 or 9 overs, 3 of which were maidens, the remaining 5/6 overs went for 15 an over, thats just what he does.

As for today, with the amount of swing Sidebottom and Anderson were getting, England need to be really wary this afternoon, Sree Santh (as he wants to be known) was bowling superbly the first two days and KP Singh is a fine bowler as well. They should be aiming for a lead of 200-250 by the end of the day, hopefully with at least 8 wickets intact, give KP a chance to have a bit of rat-a-tat at them in the morning.

[Cactus Sid]

Strauss is such an incredible bottler, giving away his wicket twice.... utter shite.

[Impeccable]

Anderson can be brilliant, but he is the most inconsistent cricketer I have ever seen, the next test he'll get hit all over the place. As an example of what Anderson can be like, during the one dayers against the Windies, he bowled something like 8 or 9 overs, 3 of which were maidens, the remaining 5/6 overs went for 15 an over, thats just what he does.

Two words...

Steve Harmison.

Anywho, good to see I'm not the only cricket fan on here. Strauss is rubbish at the moment, as is Cook. Our two opening batsmen, with the exception of the first innings for strauss, are really weak.

[Cactus Sid]

Harmison looked like he was getting back on form towards the end of the West Indies test. On his day he is the best fast bowler in the world, and that is not an overstatement.

At the end of the day though, I've never truly rated Anderson.

147-5 at the moment, Collingwood totally mis-judged a bouncer, Bell was the usual drizzly shits in the second innings, and Vaughan just got beaten by a fantastic ball. 244 run lead, its nowhere near enough, and they will have to have a bowl at India this evening if they're gonna win this match. They've got the two best bastman at the crease for quick run scoring, but they're gonna have to really go some after Lunch, they need at least another hundred, and with only 5 wickets remaining, they've got to pick the shots, but still score quickly, something that Prior is not great at, and Pietersen hates doing.

[Cactus Sid]

Kumble is on now, which is really gonna frustrate Pietersen

[Cactus Sid]

Hats off to Pietersen, really come back with an amazing innings after the utter shit he's been putting in for the last few tests and ODI's, Prior stuck it out as well.

I still think India have a cracking chance of winning this one, England have to take early wickets tomorrow. Sidebottom looked absolutely shattered today though,god knows why. India are gonna try and block Monty out of the game tomorrow, and then go after the seamers, its gonna be a really interesting days cricket

[Londoner]

This is an amazing test match tbh, back n forth all the way with england looking like they're in control, can't wait for tomorrow, hope the weathers as good as todays was.

[Cactus Sid]

Pietersen made a point about Panesar which was absolutely spot on.

"He looks like he can take a wicket with every ball"

[Londoner]

^^ So true, Panesar could return the compliment to Pietersen and it would be equally as true by saying ' Pietersen looks like he can score runs off every ball'. Our test team is that strong atm.

[Cactus Sid]

England a wicket away from victory and then.....the light is given.

Of course, they failed to mention tea was five minutes away anyway and obviously the fans won't get that.

Unless it pisses it down, they'll get a couple of overs in at least by half past 7

[Dave Youell]

Come on, rain stay away for like another 30 mins and we should be home!

[Cactus Sid]

Start scheduled for 4.40

[Dave Youell]

Is it raining? Or are they just predicitng that the light would be better by then?

I hate some of the stupid shit that goes along with cricket. Bad light? Use the white ball and turn on the flood lights!

Morning washed out? DON'T go to fucking lunch then! You've done nothing all morning!

And they don't they start early when they are behind in play due to weather?

I know alot of it is to do with tradition, but it just seems like such a stupid system sometimes

[Cactus Sid]

Looks like play is gonna be very unlikely, fucking typical really.

Problem is, Lords has no lights, and its common in quite a few grounds, because the neighbours don't like them and the expense of putting them in is massive.

Don't disagree with the idea of not taking lunch, but I'm sure they have a valid reason, they also don't start any earlier than half 10 I believe. I think the whole idea is to try and allow for parity between test matches.

[Londoner]

Didn't watch this earlier due to being busy, but came home to find out the news it was raining while we needed 1 wicket, lucky Indians...this is what i hate about cricket.

[Dave Youell]

Is there any reason why cricket couldn't be played indoors?

Like at Wembley, that roof should be plenty tall enough.

So if it starts raining, put the roof on!

[Bertie Bassett]

The problem with cricket being indoors is that it is a sport that relies so much on the atmosphere and if you take that away, it could be very dull. Very little swing, spin etc, all pitches would be pretty much the same.

Absolutely gutted about yesterday, all England needed was another 20minutes to get that wicket, but I guess that's the way it goes.

Agree about Straussy being out of form, but I think it is worth keeping him in the team. If the selectors show some confidence in him, that may help him. His first innings was a great innings and shows just what he can do. They kept the faith in Harmison (just about) and before his injury he was starting to find his form.

Congrats to Tremlett too, will really give the selectors a headache. He is so tall he hits the pitch so hard, the ball must come down from about 8 feet!