The International Cricket Thread

[Monty]

What a hilarious disaster honestly. Ah well.

[tomd2103]

Oh dear the wheels are fully off.

You feel that one of these kind of performances is always just round the corner.  To be fair, they have been few and far between in the Stokes / McCullum.era, but it never feels far away.

[Villa Lew]

The margin of victory is England's worst defeat since 1934.

[dcdavecollett]

Where to start?

I would have expected a batsman short of runs like Root in this series to make the most of a flattish pitch, good conditions against a depleted bowling attack in a tight situation where runs were important. So he gets 'in' and then plays a shot like THAT!

Clearly, it's a collective buy-in. The captain, who played really well before lunch, twats one into the deep straight after and is caught near the rope...

BazBall? How about trying NousBall now and again?

[PaulWinch again]

I don’t think “Bazball” is a problem, this team is miles better than it was 18 months ago. They just played poorly, but they shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[simboy]

I agree Paul. This is a team not performing and being unbalanced for the series, not being beaten because of a philosophy.

Very few teams win a test match in India let alone a series. The first game of this series was won by a positive approach, giving the bowlers time to get 20 wickets with a monumental effort by Ollie Pope when behind.

Bowling second on the tracks as they tend to deteriorate from day 3 onwards helps, as does having two or three proven test match spinners - England have one who’s taken 50+ wickets and he’s in the side for his batting. To have Ashwin commenting on day two of the test that despite India scoring 445 they were n trouble is a real mark of how much this team and its approach is respected.

Personally I’d look to strengthening the middle order as Root, Stokes, Bairstow are out of nick. If Dan Lawrence's bowling was more reliable I’d think of him at 7 move Foakes to 8 and either rest a seamer or Bashir. But it’s not, that’s the fault of county cricket and that’s a whole other moan.

[Meanwood Villa]

Let's be honest, the first test was a freak result. Fair play for seizing the moment when it came along but we've been second best pretty much the whole series really. India's a very difficult place to play so understandable. Just hope we make a better fist of the next two tests.

[taylorsworkrate]

I actually think that the pitches prepared have been pretty tame by Indian standards

[PaulWinch again]

I think the pitches have been excellent for Test cricket.

[taylorsworkrate]

I think the pitches have been excellent for Test cricket.

I agree. I should clarify that by "tame", I meant a far cry from the raging turners they served up the last time England toured.

[aj2k77]

I've no objection to being positive but seeing a batter like Root ramping after a few overs when we are under the cosh just comes across as abysmal game management and dumb.

[PaulWinch again]

I suspect that is more a reflection of his form than some sort of desire to prove his aggressive intent. I think he’s struggling and falling over to the offside a bit, and he’s trying to put pressure on Bumrah in an effort to force him out of the attack.

He plays that shot on occasion Bazball or not, the problem is the timing more than anything- and I think that’s a manifestation of his form struggles.

[simboy]

I think the pitches have been excellent for Test cricket.

I agree. I should clarify that by "tame", I meant a far cry from the raging turners they served up the last time England toured.

I don't disagree. It's just that we don't have the bowlers to really exploit them when they turn.

[tomd2103]

I don’t think “Bazball” is a problem, this team is miles better than it was 18 months ago. They just played poorly, but they shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

They don't seem the type to do that to be honest.  I imagine that they will just put it down to a bad day and move on to the next test. 

[paul_e]

I don’t think “Bazball” is a problem, this team is miles better than it was 18 months ago. They just played poorly, but they shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Exactly, there's got to come a point where we don't follow every loss with a conversation of whether bazball is a problem. We managed to get there with the 'fannying around at the back' under Emery and the same needs to happen with England Cricket.