creeeeeeeekeeeeeet

[BWFC_Insane]

They got way too many and now we look in big trouble and behind the game.

The big problem for England is the pitch is very odd. It looks unplayable then suddenly flat as a pancake. It doesn’t seem to be deteriorating like one might have expected.

[Worthy4England]

Just hoping North of 200 is an "ask" in the 4th...

[Worthy4England]

Maybe not. Comfy 5 an over to start off with...Not a good day.

[Worthy4England]

I guess that's what I was expecting to see, with maybe fewer wickets. Good 8 for, for Bashir. I looked back at some of England's top order dismissals yesterday. Whilst there was a decent chunk of spin, and Stokes got a second bullet in the match, some of the others were just poor shots.

[BWFC_Insane]

I guess that's what I was expecting to see, with maybe fewer wickets. Good 8 for, for Bashir. I looked back at some of England's top order dismissals yesterday. Whilst there was a decent chunk of spin, and Stokes got a second bullet in the match, some of the others were just poor shots.

In fairness I think the poor shots came down in most cases to the pressure of playing such relentless spin bowling in those conditions.

Duckett got out trying to defend rather than attack which would be his more natural game.

One might argue that had Duckett and Crawley survived to 40 odd we’d have been under a lot less pressure and consequently maybe have won the game. I think it ended up a pretty fine margins affair on a strange old wicket.

[Worthy4England]

Seriously poor. 67-0, 218 all out. Every bit as poor as the last tour to India, unless there's a skittle-fest tomorrow before lunch.

[Worthy4England]

^^ There isn't. We seem to be back to watching the bastards change the wicket after the first innings...In a way, it might help us a bit, getting a proper whooping, in the sense that we probably wouldn't want to go to Oz thinking Bazball was a panacea. Skill is also alive, well and required.

[BWFC_Insane]

End of difficult tour feel. There are questions and most of them reside in ‘what should the middle order be’ because that has seriously not performed well this series.

India are good though. We have to accept that. We’ve had our chances to make this series closer than it is and we’ve not taken them which must be a concern after the ashes in the summer which felt similar. In it but couldn’t make the big moments count (till it was too late).

[TANGODANCER]

Teams have lost tests and series. They usually come back stronger as I'm sure we will. Not world's end.

[BWFC_Insane]

Jimmy is a legend. 700 test wickets for a fast bowler.

Never been done before and won’t be done again.

A unique player in the history of cricket.

And this summer I think he will probably go past Warne’s tally too. Remarkable.

[Worthy4England]

With similar outcome last tour and COVID lockdown bubbles, there was outcry and replacements demanded. The reality is we've lost 6 of the last 10, 1 draw and 3 wins (7 of the last 12, with a token win v Ireland in the sandwich). It doesn't make great reading, but then again, having an India trip requires real skill, good feet movement and yards of technique. The batting hasn't been anywhere near test quality in India, but there's a genuine question around where the middle (mainly getting the brunt of the pelters) starts and stops, because I'd have it from around 2 to 7.

Crawley, for me, has shown consistency and managed to average over 40 with no tons, but a few 50's. Got to give him some credit.

The next three have all had single innings "get out of jail" cards. Duckett was averaging 36, but 21 with his one shining innings removed. Pope, just 13 with his wonderful 196 removed, Root 22 in 9. That's nowhere near consistent enough to win a test series.

The same has applied to Bairstow and Stokes (I give Stokes a modicum of "got a couple of kept low unplayables") they've been about the same as the previous three, just with no get out of jail innings.

If you do the same for the India team, starting with Jaiswal when you remove his top score is still averaging 62. This was an India team without Kholi, Pant, Shami, KL Rahul (for all but 1 test).

To the bowling - I think we have something to work with in Bashir (maybe, hopefully) and / or Hartley, albeit they were both plucked out of stats for India in India. Not as good as Ashwin, Yadav and Jadeja, but maybe something to work with. The faster bowlers - dunno, Bumrah looked like he was genuinely using a different ball to everybody else and ended up with 19 wickets. Ours - not so good.

The bright point - Jimmy - 700 wickets. Just 8 away from having no Aussies behind him, but it sorta feels like he's in right now, so he can hit that mark. The others - not great at all - yet Jasprit was very good.

All in all - gubbed by a better team away from home and very little different than last tour, other than we did manage three figures every innings.

[Worthy4England]

Jimmy is a legend. 700 test wickets for a fast bowler.

Never been done before and won’t be done again.

A unique player in the history of cricket.

And this summer I think he will probably go past Warne’s tally too. Remarkable.

Indeed - hat's off - remarkable achievement.

[Worthy4England]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/68546045

Some good comparisons between this tour to India and the previous capitulation. Certainly we manages to press the record books again...but with no COVID this time. Maybe India's just a tough gig to play...