The Winter Cricket Thread

[Nemo]

This Pujara kid needs his fingers broken fast for our chances in this Series.

[Nomoreheroes]

This Pujara kid needs his fingers broken fast for our chances in this Series.

Might not need to be so drastic. It would help if we just caught stuff when he edges it!

[TheMajorSTFC]

I'd say a shared day this one, I'd possibly have India slightly ahead on what looks to be a deteriorating track and us having to bat potentially last on it. If we can get 1 of these out early tomorrow, along with the rest of the tail then hopefully they won't reach 300! Great decision to pick Monty, but something seriously wrong with Broad going at +5 an over in a test match!

[Nemo]

It doesn't help that he's not bowling a great deal faster than Monty.

[red sheldon]

they are starting to do ok now, but we do rely on Cooky for runs though

[kerry red]

Peterson is looking majestic to me

[sonicyouth]

The thing about Pietersen is that I don't believe that he is 'that good'. I don't think you can rely on him, which is what I think you need at the top of the order. His technique is flawed, which means that he doesn't have the ability to consistently score runs. He can be devastatingly brutal when he gets it right, but I can't see him doing that in India. I'd be happier to take the risk if he batted down the order.

i hope you've been watching this innings 

[Paolo69]

Get out! Nice one Monty. Come on boys!

Think you should stick to translating NMH's. :-)

[DMR]

Thanks for that. But please refer to me properly. I am a fucking mental L2 ECB cricket coach. What cricket qualifications do you have?

What do you and your qualifications make of that then you complete fuckwit?

KP, king

[leefer]

Brilliant cricket England...watched every ball and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Nemo]

Just got back from two internet free days to find this. Brilliant, now we have a Series on our hands!

Not seen anything but the scorecard yet but runs from KP are very welcome and Cook is every bit as much of a weapon as Clarke is for Oz.

[Nomoreheroes]

i hope you've been watching this innings 

I did. Did you notice that for the majority of it he batted properly? No bat in front of pad. No staying offside or legside of the ball. Treated most balls with respect and played the ball on its merit with a straight bat close to the pad. Then, when he got bad balls, he punished them. I honestly didn't think that he had it in him to play conventionally. Totally different player than the one who showed up in the first test.

[RedRag]

I did. Did you notice that for the majority of it he batted properly? No bat in front of pad. No staying offside or legside of the ball. Treated most balls with respect and played the ball on its merit with a straight bat close to the pad. Then, when he got bad balls, he punished them. I honestly didn't think that he had it in him to play conventionally. Totally different player than the one who showed up in the first test.

Most of us agree KP is arrogant but the above response to KPs innings takes the biscuit.

Has KP only got his shit together because he played as NMH advocated?

You can have opinions about technique (and I believe his variations from conventional technique are what make him difficult to bowl to and I enjoyed the reverse sweep for the 100) but not about consistency of scoring about England's highest averaging current test batsman. 

An average is all about consistency unless you mean it would be more useful for KP to score 49 or 50 every innings (no more, no less) or that a top world test batsman should be dropped to no. 7 if he gets two low scores on the trot??

Read this and eat humble pie:

Kevin Pietersen's 186 is the third-highest score by an England batsman in India. It is also the highest score by an England batsman in Mumbai surpassing Graeme Hick's 178 in 1993.
Pietersen and Alastair Cook, who scored 122, now have 22 centuries each and are joint-highest on the list of England batsmen with the most centuries.
The 206-run stand between Pietersen and Cook is the third-highest third-wicket stand for England against India and and the highest such stand in Tests in India.
Pietersen's strike rate of 79.82 is the sixth-highest for a 100-plus score by an England batsman against India. It is also the third-highest strike rate for Pietersen in away Tests (100-plus knocks only).
The century is Pietersen's tenth score of 150 or more in Tests. He is now joint-highest with Wally Hammond and Len Hutton on the list of England batsmen with the most 150-plus scores

[Summerof69]

Great day for England and a terrible one for India.

In regards to KP, when he scores big runs, he gets them quickly. I remember he virtually won the test in Columbo because he scored a big ton at a run a ball, whilst everyone else, was struggling to score at 1 in 3, and we won with only an hour to spare. But he needs to be consistant.

It's been noticeable that Swanny and Monty have out-bowled the Indian spinners. With Monty now getting 10 wickets in this match, they don't like slow left arm bowlers either !!!

[Paolo69]

Great day for England and a terrible one for India.

In regards to KP, when he scores big runs, he gets them quickly. I remember he virtually won the test in Columbo because he scored a big ton at a run a ball, whilst everyone else, was struggling to score at 1 in 3, and we won with only an hour to spare. But he needs to be consistant.

It's been noticeable that Swanny and Monty have out-bowled the Indian spinners. With Monty now getting 10 wickets in this match, they don't like slow left arm bowlers either !!!

Very true on most points I reckon. I would argue that KP's stats stack up against some of the best so would say he's been pretty consistent. No batsman does it EVERY time!