England vs India Test Series

[Nemo]

Thought I'd start this thread now, with the squads named for the first test and the warm up game drawing to a close.

England Squad: Strauss, Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Morgan, Prior, Broad or Bresnan, Swann, Tremlett, Anderson

India: Dhoni, Gambhir, Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Khan, Kumar, Mukund, Patel, Raina, Saha, Sehwag (injured until 3rd test) Sharma, Sreesanth, Tendulkar, Harbajhan Singh

Should be a good one, four tests and England can rise to be world #1 with a 2 test margin of victory.

Somerset currently whomping the Indians around Taunton- Peter Trego has smacked Mishra for four consecutive sixes. Get him in the team!

[Reg Smeeton]

 India are the strongest side in world cricket right now....they've no real weakness.  They can even match England in the tall pace bowler stakes, with Ishant Sharma.

 England have beaten all the other test nations in a series in the 2000's other than India...think though we can win, but it wil need everybody to play out of their skins....looking forward to it.

 Probably wont see the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman again, and they're all time greats.

[Summerof69]

I think the Indians have come in under prepared, having only played one match over here, and they could only muster 224, on probably, the best batting track in England. I know most of the squad have just played in the Windies, playing against the poorest Windies side for decades.

It could be interesting, if the Indians are put in on overcast conditions at Lords...

[dphunt88]

Peter Trego is an explosive batsman, that's for sure. He's played semi-professional football in goal as well (sure of it) which makes him a proper all-rounder!

As for the test series, it's going to be a very interesting one indeed. Tremlett is the key man for me. Four years ago Tremlett bowled very well at 'em and he's come on leaps and bounds since then as a bowler. Hate to stereotype but the indian batting line up are very short and Tremlett's natural length is going to be getting up near their throats. Come on Gooba!!

Big series for Swanny too. Four tests against arguably the best players of spin in the world? Will be measured against Harbajan Singh who's just taken his 400th test wicket. There's a bit of weather around as well so it might be hard to get the ball out of the seamers hands!

I'll be at Edgebaston for days 2 and 3. Anyone else going?

[Summerof69]

Anyway, thanks to the Indians for giving Straussy some batting practice before Thursday...

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

This will be a very good series I think. The 2 best test teams in the world at the moment without doubt. We have a strong line up for a change, probably our strongest for a fair few years as the bowling attack looks very good and has depth as well. India are a good side but they might struggle with the conditions and lack of match time in England at Lords. This is where we have to take advantage.

[Minnesota Fats]

dphunt88 wrote...
Peter Trego is an explosive batsman, that's for sure. He's played semi-professional football in goal as well (sure of it) which makes him a proper all-rounder!

I'm almost certain I saw Peter Trego in goal for Clevedon Town in a game against Swindon Supermarine at Hunts Copse/Webbs Wood Stadium, about 5 years ago.

I have no recollections of the match, score or how Trego performed. I blame alcoholic intereference for this.

[Frigby Daser]

The Indian attack may be decent, but it's not a patch on ours. If Sharma or Khan have an off day it looks very thin all of a sudden. I'd like to see Onions squeeze back in, perhaps for Broad, but with Finn and Bresnan in the wings as well, I can't see it.

[Reg Smeeton]

The Indian attack may be decent, but it's not a patch on ours. If Sharma or Khan have an off day itself very thin allocated a sudden. I'd like to see Onions squeeze back in, perhaps for Broad, but with Finn and Bresnan in the wings as well, I can't see it.

Not so sure about that....Shreesanth and Praveen Kumar, can both get the ball to move around, if it's swinging. In the unlikely event of spin friendly conditions then Harbajan and Mishra are both class.

[DMR]

Sreesanth is a sack of wank Reginald.

I fancy us, their stellar batting line up, Tendulkar apart, is definitely on the slide. Get some green decks with pace and carry and bombard the fuck out of them with Broad and Tremlett.

[london_red]

Am I the only one who doesn't think our bowling attack is actually that great? Swann is consistent and Anderson is great when its swinging but with just a four man attack I worry about our ability to take enough wickets. Especially if one of those four is Broad.

Against a pretty average Sri Lankan side we really struggled with the ball in my opinion, with the exceptions of that bizarre Sri Lankan collapse in the first test and the first innings at Southampton - which was in the most bowler friendly conditions imaginable.

[Reg Smeeton]

Sreesanth is a sack of wank Reginald.

I fancy us, their stellar batting line up, Tendulkar apart, is definitely on the slide. Get some green decks with pace and carry and bombard the fuck out of them with Broad and Tremlett.

Sreesanth's stats stand up against Broad's....both average 35, 3 five wicket hauls, Broad has 20 more wickets, but has played 10 more tests. Think at the moment Kumar would be in front of Shreesanth.

If as seems likely we prepare fast bouncy pitches then India have Sharma, he's something they've never had before.  As I said before, think we can win....whatever way it goes, should be a cracking series.

[Summerof69]

Am I the only one who doesn't think our bowling attack is actually that great?

Well just over 6 months ago we were knocking over the Aussies regularly in less than 100 overs on their home patch, so it can't be that bad !!

[Summerof69]

I see Daryl Harper is claiming that he was forced out as an umpire by the Indians...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/14189554.stm

Saying that, there is a perceivced biased towards the Indians as proved by the changes on DRS, as they were the only country that doesn't like Hawkeye.

[Nemo]

It's probably not a huge surprise that the ICC would be biased towards the country that provides the majority of its revenues, is it?