The International Cricket Thread

[PaulWinch again]

It was unfortunate, but I don’t think you can start blurring the lines on when you try your hardest to stop the ball going to the boundary. It’s regrettable Woakes got injured, but how many dives to save runs are there versus game ending injuries.

[simboy]

332-5 to 367 all out. The first time since 1902 at Old Trafford England have managed not to win a test needing less than 50 with 5 wickets in hand.

Who knows what this England side will do down under, but if they come under pressure from number six  everyone will expect a collapse of epic proportions. Perhaps getting the players out to play some proper four day cricket before the tour might be advantageous, not too much of course, August being filled with that dogs dinner the 100...

[Somniloquism]

False stat though really as Woakes had been missing for 4 of the days so although he did keep the game going longer, it would have been a comfortable win with him batting and bowling. He did prolong the agony / hope but would have probably been gone if ended up on strike.

[Brend'Watkins]

It would have been comfortable had England caught routine catches in India’s 2nd innings.

[tomd2103]

332-5 to 367 all out. The first time since 1902 at Old Trafford England have managed not to win a test needing less than 50 with 5 wickets in hand.

Who knows what this England side will do down under, but if they come under pressure from number six  everyone will expect a collapse of epic proportions. Perhaps getting the players out to play some proper four day cricket before the tour might be advantageous, not too much of course, August being filled with that dogs dinner the 100...

It has to be a mentality thing to be honest.  Was listening to it on TMS, but have just seen Atkinson's Wicket and not really sure what he's trying to do playing a sweep right across the line there.  They were saying on TMS that they couldn't understand the Indian tactics of not bringing the field in, so surely with only 6 to win there would have been plenty of opportunities given the game situation.

Ot just seems that there is mentality of "that's just the way we play" and to be fair they have had a lot of success with it, but it's frustrating when it doesn't come off.

[paul_e]

332-5 to 367 all out. The first time since 1902 at Old Trafford England have managed not to win a test needing less than 50 with 5 wickets in hand.

Who knows what this England side will do down under, but if they come under pressure from number six  everyone will expect a collapse of epic proportions. Perhaps getting the players out to play some proper four day cricket before the tour might be advantageous, not too much of course, August being filled with that dogs dinner the 100...

It has to be a mentality thing to be honest.  Was listening to it on TMS, but have just seen Atkinson's Wicket and not really sure what he's trying to do playing a sweep right across the line there.  They were saying on TMS that they couldn't understand the Indian tactics of not bringing the field in, so surely with only 6 to win there would have been plenty of opportunities given the game situation.

Ot just seems that there is mentality of "that's just the way we play" and to be fair they have had a lot of success with it, but it's frustrating when it doesn't come off.

There were singles available but not many 2s so any attempt to run to victory risked putting Woakes on strike, which they were clearly not willing to do.

[PaulWinch again]

Yeah I don’t think it’s that straightforward. Woakes clearly couldn’t face a ball, so Atkinson’s options were very limited. It was the start of today that did us, the approach should have been Smith preserve his wicket and let the Overton and Atkinson attack. If they’d got out then you change approach, but that would have given us a better chance. I think the occasion just got to Smith a bit, or they didn’t plan well enough.

[tomd2103]

332-5 to 367 all out. The first time since 1902 at Old Trafford England have managed not to win a test needing less than 50 with 5 wickets in hand.

Who knows what this England side will do down under, but if they come under pressure from number six  everyone will expect a collapse of epic proportions. Perhaps getting the players out to play some proper four day cricket before the tour might be advantageous, not too much of course, August being filled with that dogs dinner the 100...

It has to be a mentality thing to be honest.  Was listening to it on TMS, but have just seen Atkinson's Wicket and not really sure what he's trying to do playing a sweep right across the line there.  They were saying on TMS that they couldn't understand the Indian tactics of not bringing the field in, so surely with only 6 to win there would have been plenty of opportunities given the game situation.

Ot just seems that there is mentality of "that's just the way we play" and to be fair they have had a lot of success with it, but it's frustrating when it doesn't come off.

There were singles available but not many 2s so any attempt to run to victory risked putting Woakes on strike, which they were clearly not willing to do.

Understandable Paul and it's all in hindsight anyway, but from the TMS commentary, it seemed like the Indians were not making a great effort to.prevent Atkinson taking singles at the end of the over, so I'm not sure why he went away from that. 

Easy to say listening to the radio or watching the TV I guess though!

[Villan For Life]

Yeah I don’t think it’s that straightforward. Woakes clearly couldn’t face a ball, so Atkinson’s options were very limited. It was the start of today that did us, the approach should have been Smith preserve his wicket and let the Overton and Atkinson attack. If they’d got out then you change approach, but that would have given us a better chance. I think the occasion just got to Smith a bit, or they didn’t plan well enough.

Yesterday afternoon and this morning Smith looked like a rabbit caught in headlights, he looked clueless. He probably hasn’t faced that level of pressure before and he didn’t react well. Hopefully he’ll learn from the experience.

[PaulWinch again]

I think one of the biggest concerns moving is Pope’s consistent downward trend in series. We are really going to struggle if our number 3 falls away like he does.

[Monty]

Thing is, a team with such a record for chasing down large totals, that came within what north of the border is known as a bawhair of winning this one, is not a team whose top priority is a lack of bottle.

[PaulWinch again]

Appreciate there’s a bit of hindsight here, but I think knowing seamers weren’t going to all complete the whole series they could have balanced the selection a bit better in the last two Tests. I also think they needed to give themselves more balance in the squad in terms of bowling options.

[Beard82]

It was a brilliant end to a brilliant series - probably fair overall.  Watched live and on TV, and listened to some brilliant cricket. 

Shame Smith's form faded as he was looking brilliant.   Would have been great to win - but over the years England have won more of there fair share of nail biters. 

Questions still over Crawley and Pope, but imagine both have done enough to start the first ashes. 

[PaulWinch again]

I think in fairness to Smith - he kept for 5 games when England bowled a ludicrous number of overs across the series. He must have been physically destroyed.

[Rory]

Great series, but I don't agree with those saying it was the right result.

From 2-1 up in the series and having them 1-2 in their second innings on day 4 at Old Trafford, chasing whatever it was to make us bat again; then winning the toss in bowler-friendly conditions at the Oval.

It's disappointing to draw the series from there.