England v India, 4th Test, The Oval, 18-22 August, 2011

I'm picking up the BCCI dodgy link. And they all said "no edge there", even though the replay clearly showed a faint deviation and Dravid happy to walk off.

Oh f*ck off IPL Shastri saying "nothing on hot spot....so not out".

Shut up you egotistical biased sh*t. Dravid happily walked off. He knew. You f*cking idiot Ravi Shastri.

Shastri really is an embarrassment. Anyone who knows cricket can tell that deep down, Dravid knew he hit it and was happy to walk off. end of. He was out. WGAF about hotspot. The mid off camera angle suggests a slight deflection as well.


OH OH Shastri buulsh*t update- "Dravid's body language wasn't the greatest. He gave the impression that he felt he nicked it."

I want to shoot him. HE WAS OUT YOU F*CKING c*ck. THAT'S WHY HIS BODY LANGUAGE WASNT THE F*CKING GREATEST!!!!!!

Henry wrote:I dunno what's going on with SRT this series. His fussiness over sightscreens and movement behind the bowler's arm is becoming something of an obsession

he's always been fussy with that, guess his height is the problem. and english grounds do have the worst sight-screens, much smaller than on most grounds around the world

it's his 1st bad series in 3 years so maybe he's human after all

Really? It's not like batsman haven'made huge scores in England. And overall SRT's record in England is good. I just think the 100 hundreds is preying on his mind a litte bit. I remember him struggling just before he overtook Lara(?) as the batsman with the most hundreds in tests about 5 years ago.

Fet up for the England bowlers. They've deserved it.

After the overnight rest, they might just win it. If not, then Wall-D, and presumably Tendy and co will have deserved the right to save it, and a bit of face.

I wouldn't agree with Trevor - I think Dravid is in the top bracket still. He can be dour (though wasn't this time), but he is a master craftsman at work.

Cracking days play was that.... still a very decent pitch and both sides fighting hard.

Got to feel Tendulkar or bust tomorrow with basically just Dhoni, a spaced out Ghambir and the tail to come... (which could fall quickly meaning England will still be in the game until tea whatever)

Thought England made a bit of a meal of it in the first innings. Couldn't keep the pressure on, lots of easy singles on offer, Swann couldn't get it right again. Strauss captaining by numbers again, including the mandatory help yourself overs between 68 and 80.

Better in the second digs. Although quite how Dravid was given out on no evidence whatsoever, only Steve Davis and his god will know.

We'll take it, though. That guy is a machine.

Henry wrote:At what point do England accept that KP is actually a pretty ordinary part time spinner? Averages 138.60 with the ball in tests.

Drop him! Bring in Chris Liddle!

All part-time spinners are ordinary, that's why they just bowl a few overs here and there. Doesn't make much difference if they average 50 or 250, it's just a case of giving the frontline bowlers a rest. They're not going to win or lose you a match, but might occasionally tempt an opposing batsman into doing something silly.

With the stumping let-off I've got a feeling that it could be Tendulkar's day, if not necessarily India's as he will probably run out of partners.

I think we'd all take that, beams. Everybody wins. Mostly England.

I reckon it'll be a draw. England's attack found it a hard slog today. Anderson and Broad both seem to be limping a bit. Can't imagine Swann will run through them - their fielding off spin is a complete shambles.

Gambhir to dead bat it for an hour at the end to ensure the draw seven down.

Dello wrote:

Henry wrote:At what point do England accept that KP is actually a pretty ordinary part time spinner? Averages 138.60 with the ball in tests.

Drop him! Bring in Chris Liddle!

FINALLY!!!!!!!! You see the light.....

Has anyone ever seen Jimmy drop a catch? I can't think of a time.

Dravid on his wicket : "to be really honest I got a feather on it".

What a gentleman. And what a guy.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Has anyone ever seen Jimmy drop a catch? I can't think of a time.

Dropped a tough one at Brisbane in the ashes. Dropped a couple at slip off the bowling of Swanny against Sri Lanka if I remember correctly.

Dravid is the master, plain and simple. I reckon only Kallis could've matched him for runs in these conditions. Including the WI tour he's now got 712 runs, 4 tons. In effectively the most tough conditions he'll face in Test cricket today, he's excelled. Quality stuff to watch - not even that dour. The balance he maintains on the balls of his feet is something to behold.

As for England, we weren't at our best but well done to us for chipping away on what's effectively a featherbed. If there's been no deterioration of conditions tomorrow, I reckon we'll have a tough time winning this one. The first hour's crucial. Must get Mishra as quick as possible, because he can be annoying. We just need to open an end up as I reckon Sachin down the end will be as solid as.

embee wrote:

Allan D wrote:Dravid aiming for the record of being on the field throughout a Test played over 5 days which I think would be unique.

It's happened around 4000 times before

Really? I know of a couple of instances - Boycott and Jaisimha - where a batsman has batted on at least a portion of all 5 days but to field and then bat through both innings seems a pretty unique achievement to me. Anyway, thanks to Steve Davis, that possibility has gone in this match.

Allan D wrote:

embee wrote:

Allan D wrote:Dravid aiming for the record of being on the field throughout a Test played over 5 days which I think would be unique.

It's happened around 4000 times before

Really? I know of a couple of instances - Boycott and Jaisimha - where a batsman has batted on at least a portion of all 5 days but to field and then bat through both innings seems a pretty unique achievement to me. Anyway, thanks to Steve Davis, that possibility has gone in this match.

Didn't Dravid himself do that at Adelaide in 2003?

And again regarding Dravid's dismissal- He himself has admitted he "probably" edged it, so that should be the end of it, really. The right decision was made, one way or another.

Brass Monkey wrote: If there's been no deterioration of conditions tomorrow, I reckon we'll have a tough time winning this one.

Could be..... 98 overs is a long time though.

As mentioned before Indias long tail will also keeps us interested even if we go wicketless for a fair bit.

Yeah, going on the series so far, they have given us no reason to think any different. I just 'have a feeling'.

An attack of the 'Jason Roys'?

Henry wrote:

Allan D wrote:

embee wrote:

Allan D wrote:Dravid aiming for the record of being on the field throughout a Test played over 5 days which I think would be unique.

It's happened around 4000 times before

Really? I know of a couple of instances - Boycott and Jaisimha - where a batsman has batted on at least a portion of all 5 days but to field and then bat through both innings seems a pretty unique achievement to me. Anyway, thanks to Steve Davis, that possibility has gone in this match.

Didn't Dravid himself do that at Adelaide in 2003?

Last man out in India's 1st innings and not out in India's 2nd so was on the field during all 5 days but batted 3 so was not on the field throughout:

Australia v. India, Adelaide Oval, 12-16 December 2003

Henry wrote:

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Has anyone ever seen Jimmy drop a catch? I can't think of a time.

Dropped a tough one at Brisbane in the ashes. Dropped a couple at slip off the bowling of Swanny against Sri Lanka if I remember correctly.

Yes I remember one against SL earlier in summer - I was surprised because it is such a rare occurrence.

JKLever wrote:

Brass Monkey wrote: If there's been no deterioration of conditions tomorrow, I reckon we'll have a tough time winning this one.

Could be..... 98 overs is a long time though.

As mentioned before Indias long tail will also keeps us interested even if we go wicketless for a fair bit.

I'd expect us to wrap it up about 1/2 an hour either before or after tea. I wouldn't be surprised if Sachin gets his ton (and truth be told, I'd like to see such a momentous milestone in cricket history) ...... and Dhoni has been something of a nuisance too at times.

That said, get rid of either of them and even if Swanny just keeps them quiet at one end - Jimmy, Timmy and Stu B will skittle the rest. Lets face it, if a bat of the class of VVS gets beaten so comprehensively, the likes of Sree & Sharma won't hang about ........