Bowler and Kohli imploring the umpire to give Cook out LBW. Disbelief that he didn't so but not as much when it took five minutes for technology to prove that he was correct.
Swiftly followed by Cook being given out in the same way in the next over He reviews it and the decision is overturned.
Jack Leach will be fast-tracked as soon as Rashid plays a home Test and gets carted everywhere. TBH I'd bring him in as the injury replacement for Hameed if he's ruled out
I admire Ashwin's bowling. He's got this novel plan of bowling virtually every delivery at the stumps and guess what he gets wickets, bowled, lbw's, catches and stumped. Who'd have thought it ?
Certainly not Rashid, who whilst dangerous bowls all over the shop and Moeen who bowls the odd ball over the batsman's head.
Ashwin is a renowned thinker about the game, much like say Sangakkara - he's also capable of having a very clear head, which many cricketing intellectuals have struggled with. A formidable opponent. Batting him higher up the order is inspired - it's brought out the full range of his capabilities. At the moment he's a more consistent batsman than Stokes, his main rival in the world all-rounder stakes, although I'd say their bowling is at a level, especially away from India.
Ashwin is a renowned thinker about the game, much like say Sangakkara - he's also capable of having a very clear head, which many cricketing intellectuals have struggled with. A formidable opponent. Batting him higher up the order is inspired - it's brought out the full range of his capabilities. At the moment he's a more consistent batsman than Stokes, his main rival in the world all-rounder stakes, although I'd say their bowling is at a level, especially away from India.
Stokes has shown in this match that he can be dangerous on just about all surfaces, I can't imagine Ashwin being very effective at Headingley in June
I admire Ashwin's bowling. He's got this novel plan of bowling virtually every delivery at the stumps and guess what he gets wickets, bowled, lbw's, catches and stumped. Who'd have thought it ?
Certainly not Rashid, who whilst dangerous bowls all over the shop and Moeen who bowls the odd ball over the batsman's head.
Jack Leach will be fast-tracked as soon as Rashid plays a home Test and gets carted everywhere. TBH I'd bring him in as the injury replacement for Hameed if he's ruled out
Rashy is here to stay and will retain his place for the whole of the next home series.
It really isn't as easy to bowl leg spin and retain control as it is to bowl orthodox. If we are going to compare "like against like" we should compare him to Mishra in this series and yet his stats still compare favourably with all the spinners on show. Yes he is going to bowl the odd crap bowl but he is getting better at limiting those and has been helped immensely by playing T20 abroad and with the guidance of Saglain. Confidence plays a massive part in a bowler's psyche and I made the point in the Bangladesh series with regards to Cook's refusal to throw the ball to Rashid early - this wouldn't have helped his confidence but it sits comfortably with the captain's "safety first" attitude.
There is one other aspect that does need to be taken into consideration and I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere - when Rashid bowls a really bad bowl in limited over cricket he will go for a maximum for the reason that a lot of grounds bring their boundaries in. In Test cricket that isn't the case so, with the right field for those bad balls he will get wickets. That isn't setting a field for bad bowling because you can attack too with a couple of close fielders for when he does bowl those unplayable balls.
Warne loved it when he was hit for a boundary because he knew he would get that batsman out eventually with that attitude. Which is why Rashid bowls against the tail end. That's not to say that he can't get top order batsmen out as evidenced by the fact that he got out 3 of the top 5 out in this Test.
I recall reading how Rashid was going to be carted by these Indian players at home because they are the best in the world at playing spin. Well these are the facts to date:
AU Rashid (ENG)...................142.1-13-488-17 R Ashwin (INDIA)...................159.2-28-411-15 Mohammed Shami (INDIA)........96.0-21-232-8 RA Jadeja (INDIA)....................143.0-37-302-8 J Yadav (INDIA).........................44.3-13-129-7 BA Stokes (ENG).......................72.2-12-233-7 MM Ali (ENG)............................91.1-15-272-7 SCJ Broad (ENG).......................62.0-18-168-6 UT Yadav (INDIA)......................87.5-14-288-5 JM Anderson (ENG)...................56.0-10-143-4 A Mishra (INDIA).........................36.3-3-158-3 ZS Ansari (ENG)..........................43.0-3-163-3 CR Woakes (ENG)......................59.0-14-149-1 JE Root (ENG).................................4.0-0-14-0 GJ Batty (ENG)..............................16.0-0-47-0
All I am saying is give the boy a chance. He is actually only playing his 8th Test match and will get better. And in answer to the obvious question - no I am not his agent!
Off-spinner now. They didn't give me a bowl last season. Thinking of changing clubs and billing myself as a bowler. I need a break from the past
No word of a lie Leuth my man, would be great to have you back! I've just been appointed 4s skip...
Leuth the Club I belong to currently have six teams and we are looking to start a 7th. By the sound of things you could be just the man to lead them into battle.
Intriguing! All very intriguing. Well, I'll mull all of this over. I'm in the awkward position of being my club's (nominal) secretary this last season (a largely ceremonial role) but I've paid my subs and really there's nothing keeping me there. I'm going to be 30 next season and if I don't give this bowling lark a proper go soon it might never happen. They went to extraordinary lengths not to give me a bowl before, regarding it as some kind of joke. Sure, the leg-spin may have been, but I can actually land the off-breaks (and they turn, and bounce). Plus, I'm sick of batting up the order and blocking out 15 overs for 18 runs or whatever. I want to bat at 8 or 9 and play shots. Anyway, enough of this. Mulling. Thanks for the nice words though, folks!
Oh, and back on-topic, I really do think Batty will score a few today. Just a weird hunch
Comments
Bowler and Kohli imploring the umpire to give Cook out LBW. Disbelief that he didn't so but not as much when it took five minutes for technology to prove that he was correct.
Swiftly followed by Cook being given out in the same way in the next over He reviews it and the decision is overturned.
Bet India love DRS even more now!
23-0
27-1
Moeen comes in at 3 and now has the full set of batting in the top 9 for England.
The wicket seemed quite dead this morning, when India were batting.
Yet we were struggling from the off when we batted.
In all fairness only Moeen got out to a poorish shot and he was caught out by a slow delivery.
Cook got a very good ball, as did Stokes and Bairstow got a shooter.
To be fair, we need to be at our very best to beat India and some of our top batsman played poor shots in the first innings.
Certainly not Rashid, who whilst dangerous bowls all over the shop and Moeen who bowls the odd ball over the batsman's head.
It really isn't as easy to bowl leg spin and retain control as it is to bowl orthodox. If we are going to compare "like against like" we should compare him to Mishra in this series and yet his stats still compare favourably with all the spinners on show. Yes he is going to bowl the odd crap bowl but he is getting better at limiting those and has been helped immensely by playing T20 abroad and with the guidance of Saglain. Confidence plays a massive part in a bowler's psyche and I made the point in the Bangladesh series with regards to Cook's refusal to throw the ball to Rashid early - this wouldn't have helped his confidence but it sits comfortably with the captain's "safety first" attitude.
There is one other aspect that does need to be taken into consideration and I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere - when Rashid bowls a really bad bowl in limited over cricket he will go for a maximum for the reason that a lot of grounds bring their boundaries in. In Test cricket that isn't the case so, with the right field for those bad balls he will get wickets. That isn't setting a field for bad bowling because you can attack too with a couple of close fielders for when he does bowl those unplayable balls.
Warne loved it when he was hit for a boundary because he knew he would get that batsman out eventually with that attitude. Which is why Rashid bowls against the tail end. That's not to say that he can't get top order batsmen out as evidenced by the fact that he got out 3 of the top 5 out in this Test.
I recall reading how Rashid was going to be carted by these Indian players at home because they are the best in the world at playing spin. Well these are the facts to date:
AU Rashid (ENG)...................142.1-13-488-17
R Ashwin (INDIA)...................159.2-28-411-15
Mohammed Shami (INDIA)........96.0-21-232-8
RA Jadeja (INDIA)....................143.0-37-302-8
J Yadav (INDIA).........................44.3-13-129-7
BA Stokes (ENG).......................72.2-12-233-7
MM Ali (ENG)............................91.1-15-272-7
SCJ Broad (ENG).......................62.0-18-168-6
UT Yadav (INDIA)......................87.5-14-288-5
JM Anderson (ENG)...................56.0-10-143-4
A Mishra (INDIA).........................36.3-3-158-3
ZS Ansari (ENG)..........................43.0-3-163-3
CR Woakes (ENG)......................59.0-14-149-1
JE Root (ENG).................................4.0-0-14-0
GJ Batty (ENG)..............................16.0-0-47-0
All I am saying is give the boy a chance. He is actually only playing his 8th Test match and will get better. And in answer to the obvious question - no I am not his agent!
Surrey
Oh, and back on-topic, I really do think Batty will score a few today. Just a weird hunch