India v England, series commencing 25 January 2024

Can't wait for this. Should be quite spicy with India holding the upper hand in all departments, batting, fielding, and all bowling specialties.

Could yet be a hubris-off, but I suspect England will succumb quite quickly in away conditions. They will be depending on some very old, injured and tired players unless bold new selections are made. Brook and Crawley seem to be their main future hopes, and will be under massive pressure.

Yep… promises to be a most interesting series. England must fancy their chances of jagging a win or heroic draw somewhere.

Who knows how the pitches will perform. India have the best quick attack and handy spinners. England has decent quicks but pretty average spinners. 

Unless there is a shake up, England will field poorly. This begins with Bairstow who really sets the tone.

India have a much stronger batting outfit. Would love to see Pujara play but suspect his cards are marked or maybe he has retired.

Meanwhile, a cracking first session for the BANGERS v SNOOZIES. 2/107 at lunch.

for all the reasons above, i'm expecting a 5-0 whitewash. although whitewash seems to have another meaning in the culture wars now.
i think in hindi its supda saaf, but that may refer to washing clothes not thrashing former imperial masters at sport.

Prime Windies had back to back "blackwashes" over England .

Interesting squad.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/england-pick-uncapped-shoaib-bashir-test-squad-india-1412260

A couple of uncapped and very inexperienced players who could come on, but there is a risk they could be destroyed.

Ben Foakes looks likely to supplant the Dozy Ginger; if he does it could be the end of Bairstow’s career.  My own suspicion - unpopular as it was with at least one poster here - is that this could also be one tour too many for Jimmy Anderson, whose best long term bet might be to suffer a minor injury early and go home. I wonder how long Stokes can go on, too, especially if his bowling career is finished. It feels like a changing of the guard but I wonder whether the new players are the right ones.

To play 5 tests back to back in india without any other games it seems beforehand or between
is a big ask. given that stokes cant bowl [actually will he really be fit to play at all so soon after
surgery?], they will probably play 4 bowlers and root but even that leaves england with a long
tail. Not taking Woakes and Dawson for different reasons has meant leaving out the 2 bowlers
who could have played a competent no7. But whoever they choose, india player for player
is much better with bat and ball. i spose the RotW will enjoy england getting thrashed but
its not really good for test cricket. at least theyr not playing at ahmedabad where the matches
finished in under 3 and 2 days last time.

As a general rule, the only time I support England is when they are touring India.

However I reckon this time I will be supporting NoHit’s men and hoping England get flogged.

horace wrote:As a general rule, the only time I support England is when they are touring India.

However I reckon this time I will be supporting NoHit’s men and hoping England get flogged.

snap

I will be interested in how Baz Ball works against Ashwin Jadeja and Axar 

....and how the Indian bowlers respond if Baz ball is successful

No chance of Bazball on 5 dusty sandpaper wickets.

Banniettes slaughter the Pommienids by 347.

Harry Brook going home for personal reasons say ECB. LAwrence called up.
Hopefully means we get a proper keeper so Foakes might play, but who knows with england.

India squad have 4 spinners and 2 newbie pacers.

I had a look back at the numbers from the last time England beat India in India.

It was 2012-13, and Alastair Cook had a monumental series. 562 runs in 4 Tests with 3 tons. I remember watching much of the series on Fox and was mesmerised with how brilliantly Chef played the spinning ball from the Bannies.

England won the 4 Test series 2-1. As well as Cook's brilliance, Swann and Monty shone with the ball (20 and 17 wkts respectively) and KP contributed with a big ton in T2. Only Poonjabba performed for India, with 2 tons.

England had crunched Aus 3-1 in Aus in 2010-11 and added this fantastic away win to that achievement in 2012-13.

England at their peak.

They are now at their pique.

skully wrote:I had a look back at the numbers from the last time England beat India in India.

It was 2012-13, and Alastair Cook had a monumental series. 562 runs in 4 Tests with 3 tons. I remember watching much of the series on Fox and was mesmerised with how brilliantly Chef played the spinning ball from the Bannies.

England won the 4 Test series 2-1. As well as Cook's brilliance, Swann and Monty shone with the ball (20 and 17 wkts respectively) and KP contributed with a big ton in T2. Only Poonjabba performed for India, with 2 tons.

England had crunched Aus 3-1 in Aus in 2010-11 and added this fantastic away win to that achievement in 2012-13.

England at their peak.

Last time their spin bowling had some continuity. Both their spinners had already toured India- Swann in 2008, Monty in 2006 and 2008. Cook was amazing, but KP's innings in Mumbai was one of the greatest I've seen. Since then, England have gone weird with spinners.... Ansari and Moeen in 2016 when they were peak shitness, Bess last time, Shoaib Bashir this time.

India, looking back, were in a transition phase. Ojha led the spin, with Ashwin, Jadeja following. Had a few batting passengers too.

Hey t, any inside insight on why Kohli has pulled out of T1 & 2?

No idea tbh. Just seemed to finally be regaining some form too.

I see Peter Lalor and Kit Harris are going on with one of their regular deranged rants about Shoaib Bashir's visa being delayed. There's a small fact, every Pakistani origin guy is vetted extra after David Headley.

tricycle wrote:No idea tbh. Just seemed to finally be regaining some form too.

Cheers t.

lardbucket wrote:They are now at their pique.

England squad rankings:

Duckett 5 openers showed intent and commitment
Crawley 6 ditto
Pope 5 one miraculous innings
Root 6, started poorly but class came through.
Bairstow 2, further proof you can’t polish a turd
Stokes 3, a shadow of his former self
Foakes 3, disappointing series with the bat
Anderson 3 or 4, kept things tight, not much penetration
Shoaib 6 or 7, very good debut tour
Hartley 6, also v good on debut
Wood 2. Maybe finished, 34, injuries have taken a toll
Robinson 1: waste of space


I wrote pre-series that this felt like a changing of the guard.  That seems even more obvious now. I wonder how many of the above will tour Australia in 2025-6 … Pope Hartley and Shosib for sure, Crawley Duckett and Pope probable. I doubt Stokes or Anderson can hang in, Root may no longer have the appetite (he’ll be 36). Bairstow looks gone, Foakes may be replaced. Robinson is too fat and lazy.

Is Creepy Crawley the only player who emerged relatively unscathed? Pope, Duckett and Root all made a ton but fark all else. All the other bats were dross.

Hartley and Bashir showed promise but got largely hammered. Jimmeh, Slobbo and Wood didn't have much success.

I’ve given the tyro spinners some credit. Having said that, Kuhnemann and Murphy probably did as well or better in India from their own standing starts.

lardbucket wrote:England squad rankings:

Duckett 5 openers showed intent and commitment
Crawley 6 ditto
Pope 5 one miraculous innings
Root 6, started poorly but class came through.
Bairstow 2, further proof you can’t polish a turd
Stokes 3, a shadow of his former self
Foakes 3, disappointing series with the bat
Anderson 3 or 4, kept things tight, not much penetration
Shoaib 6 or 7, very good debut tour
Hartley 6, also v good on debut
Wood 2. Maybe finished, 34, injuries have taken a toll
Robinson 1: waste of space


I wrote pre-series that this felt like a changing of the guard.  That seems even more obvious now. I wonder how many of the above will tour Australia in 2025-6 … Pope Hartley and Shosib for sure, Crawley Duckett and Pope probable. I doubt Stokes or Anderson can hang in, Root may no longer have the appetite (he’ll be 36). Bairstow looks gone, Foakes may be replaced. Robinson is too fat and lazy.

Bwahaha… had a read of the Guardian rankings. Stokes got a B- and Rohit only a bit more. Stokes barely made a run

The series leading wicket taker - Ashtray - was rated lower than one of the Pom spinners. Most of the Pom bats got something positive. Only Creepy had a plus 40 average.

Journo is clearly on the Baz KoolAid.

Ps. Bairstow got a D, so he clearly got something right.