The Cricket Thread 2014

[paul_e]

need to be batting as soon as possible, so let's finish them off this time.

We either want to bat for an hour or not bat today, the little 5-6 over spells at the end of the day are horrible, particularly on a pitch that's all over the place.  An evening under blue skies and sun to dry it out more would be perfect so long as we haven't lost any wickets this afternoon.

[Villan For Life]

They've got a partnership developing 185-7. partnership 40 off 15.5 overs. We need to break this partnership soon.

[taylorsworkrate]

I see this pathetic bowling at tailenders continues unabated.

To be honest, I think Anderson aside, the seamers have bowled poorly all day

[Villan For Life]

New ball is due in 3 overs let's hope we can polish them off with that.

[PaulWinch again]

We've butchered this again. Frankly I am genuinely stunned that again they have gone back to Plunkett around the wicket bowling short. It doesn't fucking work, it's telegraphed and it's given away the advantage again. We've bowled too short and it's idiotic.

[PaulWinch again]

Dross since tea, really really poor.

[PaulWinch again]

When we eventually get India out, I bet the Indian seamers show us how to bowl again.

[PaulWinch again]

I think what's abundantly clear from the Plunkett around the wicket tactic is that England are trying to make him our Mitchell Johnson. But unfortunately he's not that good or that quick and Johnson at his best doesn't just bowl short deliveries. I could understand them trying it at the start of the summer, but it is inexcusable to continue with it when it has consistently failed.

[PaulWinch again]

Finally out, now finish them off quick.

[PaulWinch again]

Well played Rahane and good catch Anderson. But we've once again cocked up a great opportunity. There are really worrying signs about this new regime already. It's mainly down to the inability to learn from mistakes. We have consistently bowled too short, used Plunkett with a very telegraphed and ineffective plan, dropped catches, shown terrible body language and collapsed as a batting unit. It's crucial we and Cook bat well tomorrow, this total is good from India.

[PaulWinch again]

Ah once again spread the field for the 'senior batsman' even though he's a number 10 who averages less than 5. Terrible tactics. Bowl to get both batsmen out, especially if they're both tailenders.

[PaulWinch again]

Whether we bat well or not, that was a really poor bowling and tactical day. Cook won't make it as a captain I'm convinced after today.

[Chris Jameson]

This thread is like a cross between the Luke Haines thread and a match thread where everything is shit because Villa are only drawing with Everton or Liverpool.

[paul_e]

The problem is we bowled far too many deliveries that they could leave.  When you win the toss on a green wicket and the early signs are that the ball is moving on it you don't have to do anything fancy to take wickets, you put 5 catchers in the slips and gully and bowl at the top of off stump.  Let the pitch cause the natural deviation, even if you go for a few driven straight you will get regular wickets, either edges to slips or inside edge/lbw if they start chasing it across.  We had a spell of doing the right thing in the 2nd session and we got rewards for it.  I only watch about an hour of the match, just after lunch, but it was pretty clear that the shorter deliveries were significantly easier to pick than the ones we pitched up.

The scorecard backs up my thinking as well, India realised that they needed to score quick and really put a shift in after tea to get some runs on.  I firmly believe a decent captain with a hint of aggression to him would've seen us skittle them for 150-200 before tea.  We clearly had a plan for a standard Lords wicket and we've bowled to that plan despite the pitch being very different to a standard Lords one.  As i said to  a colleague earlier, I found myself wishing that it was Cook not Jimmy who was facing a ban, he's never going to left out otherwise and he really needs to be, for his own good.

[tomd2103]

The problem is we bowled far too many deliveries that they could leave.  When you win the toss on a green wicket and the early signs are that the ball is moving on it you don't have to do anything fancy to take wickets, you put 5 catchers in the slips and gully and bowl at the top of off stump.  Let the pitch cause the natural deviation, even if you go for a few driven straight you will get regular wickets, either edges to slips or inside edge/lbw if they start chasing it across.  We had a spell of doing the right thing in the 2nd session and we got rewards for it.  I only watch about an hour of the match, just after lunch, but it was pretty clear that the shorter deliveries were significantly easier to pick than the ones we pitched up.

The scorecard backs up my thinking as well, India realised that they needed to score quick and really put a shift in after tea to get some runs on.  I firmly believe a decent captain with a hint of aggression to him would've seen us skittle them for 150-200 before tea.  We clearly had a plan for a standard Lords wicket and we've bowled to that plan despite the pitch being very different to a standard Lords one.  As i said to  a colleague earlier, I found myself wishing that it was Cook not Jimmy who was facing a ban, he's never going to left out otherwise and he really needs to be, for his own good.

Michael Vaughan made a decent point on the Channel 5 highlights.  He said that when England get into the opposition's tail and Cook is struggling with his own game, his mind switches to his batting and he loses focus on what is going on in the field.