*Official* - Road to India in England 2011

[Furball]

Yeah definitely. I don't consider Bresnan "in possession" at all given he only played due to injury in the first place. He's credited himself with his performances and there will be pressure on Broad but Broad definitely still has a lot more credit in the bank.

The way I look at it, if you're in possession and get injured, and the guy replacing you comes in and guns it, then tough ****. You don't get to walk back into the side when you're injured and your replacement is doing well - you go away and earn the right to be picked.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah definitely. I don't consider Bresnan "in possession" at all given he only played due to injury in the first place. He's credited himself with his performances and there will be pressure on Broad but Broad definitely still has a lot more credit in the bank.

Well technically he didn't play because of injury. Came in for Finn. Would Tremlett have done so rather than him had he not already been playing? Probably, but we can't say for sure and I like winning the small points over EWS.

 

[Furball]

Time for a bump.

Interesting schedule coming up for both sides:

April 8th - May 28th - IPL

English players in IPL:

Michael Lumb (no chance of being anywhere near the Test side)
Kevin Pietersen (injured)
Stuart Broad (injured)
Owais Shah (no chance of being anywhere near the Test side)
Eoin Morgan
Paul Collingwood (retired from Tests)

May 26th - June 20th

England vs Sri Lanka (3 Tests)

June 4th - June 16th

India vs West Indies (1 T20I, 5 ODIs)

June 20th - July 10th

India vs West Indies (3 Tests)

June 25th - July 9th

England vs Sri Lanka (1 T20I, 5 ODIs)

July 15th - July 17th

Somerset vs Indians

July 21st - August 22nd

England vs India (4 Tests)

England essentially have the next 8 weeks off, allowing their players to rest and recuperate and play a couple of First Class games for their counties as a way of playing themselves back into form, whereas the Indian players will spend the next 8 weeks playing IPL.

India then tour the West Indies for a month, before departing straight for England, playing a FC warm up game a mere 5 days after their tour to the West Indies finishes. That's not a lot of acclimatisation on the back of a pretty intensive 2 month schedule (the 3 Tests they play in the West Indies are back to back.)

Could play a huge part in the destination of the series, particularly given the likes of Zaheer will need to be wrapped in cotton wool.

 

[Jono]

Yeah not ideal from an Indian point of view.

Which just backs up my point made earlier:

England's series to lose btw.

 

[Furball]

Yeah not ideal from an Indian point of view.

Which just backs up my point made earlier:

I'll be interested to see at what point the "tiredness" excuse comes into play.

FTR, by the end of the Test series, tiredness will be a perfectly legitimate excuse for you guys to use - let's just say I'm expecting one or two people who rubbished the fact England might be tired to suddenly use it as an excuse.

 

[Manee]

BCCI needs to rest the troops (Zaheer, Sachin, Dhoni) in the ODI series against West Indies. IPL would be ideal, but not at all likely.

 

[Jono]

I'll be interested to see at what point the "tiredness" excuse comes into play.

FTR, by the end of the Test series, tiredness will be a perfectly legitimate excuse for you guys to use - let's just say I'm expecting one or two people who rubbished the fact England might be tired to suddenly use it as an excuse.

Well I supported the England fans who mentioned fatigue and tiredness etc.

So am I allowed to use tiredness as an excuse if India lose?

Anyway, Dhoni suggested in his media conference and interviews after the World Cup win over the weekend that throughout the last 12-18 months players have been rested and rotated looking towards the World Cup. Obviously that was mainly with T20s and ODIs, as a lot of the test team don't play ODI cricket or didn't make the WC squad (Dravid, Laxman, Ishant, Vijay, Pujara, Ojha).

I wonder how it will work now with the WC over. Will India go full throttle against the West Indies in the ODIs? I somehow don't think they will.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I'd be wrapping Zaheer in cotton wool and not unpacking him until the first test, tbh.

Think India will struggle to take 20 wickets without the great man.

 

[Furball]

Well I supported the England fans who mentioned fatigue and tiredness etc.

So am I allowed to use tiredness as an excuse if India lose?

Anyway, Dhoni suggested in his media conference and interviews after the World Cup win over the weekend that throughout the last 12-18 months players have been rested and rotated looking towards the World Cup. Obviously that was mainly with T20s and ODIs, as a lot of the test team don't play ODI cricket or didn't make the WC squad (Dravid, Laxman, Ishant, Vijay, Pujara, Ojha).

I wonder how it will work now with the WC over. Will India go full throttle against the West Indies in the ODIs? I somehow don't think they will.

Yeah, I know you did, which is why I qualified my point rather than just leave the first line as my post.

You would imagine that some of the Test players like Tendulkar would be rested for the ODI series in the West Indies - but given that the ODI series is being played first, I'm not sure how much good giving the likes of Tendulkar a 3 week rest, then asking them to fly halfway across the world to play 3 Tests back to back to back (with all the island hopping that ensues), before flying halfway back across to England to play a tour game 5 days after the 3rd Test finishes, before kicking off another Test series a mere 11 days after the previous one finishes is going to be.

 

[Jono]

Yeah it's pretty ****ed.

That being said, it'd be disrespectful and arrogant (and perhaps disastrous) if India rested too many (or any tbh) players for the WI test series.

Just **** scheduling really. Nothing more needs to be said.

I'm usually strongly against resting players for test matches. But I wouldn't be against resting Sachin and Zaheer for the West Indies tour. It could give Badrinath or Kohli and a new fast bowler (Vinay Kumar please) a chance to shine.

 

[Furball]

Schedule's even worse than I realised:

Mon June 20th - 1st Test Day 1
Tues June 21st - Day 2
Wed June 22nd - Day 3
Thurs June 23rd - Day 4
Fri June 24th - Day 5
Sat June 25th - Rest
Sun June 26th - Jamaica to Barbados, training
Mon June 27th - training
Tues June 28th - 2nd Test Day 1
Wed June 29th - Day 2
Thurs June 30th - Day 3
Fri July 1st - Day 4
Sat July 2nd - Day 5
Sun July 3rd - rest
Mon July 4th - Barbados to Dominica, training
Tues July 5th - training
Wed July 6th - 3rd Test Day 1
Thurs July 7th - Day 2
Fri July 8th - Day 3
Sat July 9th - Day 4
Sun July 10th - Day 5
Mon July 11th - rest
Tues July 12th - fly to England
Wed July 13th - recover from jetlag
Thurs July 14th - training
Friday July 15th - Somerset Day 1
Sat July 16th - Day 2
Sun July 17th - Day 3
Mon July 18th - travel to London
Tues July 19th - training
Wed July 20th - training
Thurs July 21st - 1st Test, Day 1.

 

[keeper]

That schedule! The Indian bowlers better be getting down on bended knee and praying they win the toss at Taunton.

From an England perspective there's two main stories to unfold. The first is how the seam attack will evolve over the summer. 4 into 3 for starters but with Finn and Shahzad on the sidelines waiting. Wonder if things will look dramatically different by the end of August than they do in May?

The second story is about the No.6. There surely will be one as, despite our batting depth, we have no real all-rounder. Pretty certain it will be Morgan which is a real shame as I think one of the Lions deserves a chance.

Surrey loam can equalise the bowling to a degree. Whoever gets big runs on the board can apply the pressure. Not much to choose between the sides in recent series if memory serves.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah it's pretty ****ed.

That being said, it'd be disrespectful and arrogant (and perhaps disastrous) if India rested too many (or any tbh) players for the WI test series.

Just **** scheduling really. Nothing more needs to be said.

I'm usually strongly against resting players for test matches. But I wouldn't be against resting Sachin and Zaheer for the West Indies tour. It could give Badrinath or Kohli and a new fast bowler (Vinay Kumar please) a chance to shine.

The best bet for India would be to follow in the footsteps of Mick McCarthy and Ian Holloway and rest players for the series you have no hope in, ie against us. No use wearing star players out for innings defeats. Just ask the crims.

 

[vcs]

Our players can **** off if they offer up any fatigue excuses during Test series after raking in IPL multi-millions. No sympathy from my end.

 

[FBU]

Bowlers at Lords
7 wickets at 16.71 econ 3.49 s/r 28.7 - RP Singh
19 wickets at 16.84 econ 2.88 s/r 35.00 - Swann
13 wickets at 19.07 econ 4.00 s/r 28.6 - Finn
4 wickets at 26.00 econ 2.53 s/r 61.5 - Tremlett
36 wickets at 28.19 econ 2.93 s/r 57.7 - Anderson
9 wickets at 30.22 econ 2.91 s/r 62.2 - Khan
16 wickets at 36.62 econ 3.52 s/r 62.3 - Broad
3 wickets at 43.00 econ 3.39 s/r 76.0 - Sreesanth
3 wickets at 46.50 econ 3.24 s/r 86.00 - Bresnan

Trent Bridge
6 wickets at 15.33 econ 1.95 s/r 47.1 - Tremlett
5 wickets at 15.60 econ 4.10 s/r 22.8 - Finn
28 wickets at 15.89 econ 2.87 s/r 33.1 - Anderson
12 wickets at 20.33 econ 3.29 s/r 37.0 - Khan
7 wickets at 24.14 econ 3.25 s/r 44.5 - Broad
3 wickets at 36.00 econ 3.85 s/r 56.0 - RP Singh
1 wicket at 76.00 econ 2.30 s/r 198.0 - Sreesanth

Edgbaston
3 wickets at 22.33 econ 2.79 s/r 48.0 - Finn
8 wickets at 23.50 econ 2.68 s/r 52.5 - Swann
8 wickets at 24.12 econ 2.57 s/r 56.1 - Broad
18 wickets at 29.44 econ 3.12 s/r 56.4 - Anderson

Oval
15 wickets at 18.40 econ 2.76 s/r 40.1 - Swann
13 wickets at 24.53 econ 3.34 s/r 44.0 - Broad
5 wickets at 26.60 econ 3.16 s/r 50.4 - Sreesanth
22 wickets at 34.77 econ 3.67 s/r 56.7 - Anderson
5 wickets at 42.20 econ 2.81 s/r 90.0 - Khan
2 wickets at 61.00 econ 3.93 s/r 93.0 - RP Singh
3 wickets at 63.33 econ 3.45 s/r 110.0 - Tremlett
1 wicket at 92.00 econ 4.00 s/r 138.0 - Finn

 

[social]

Reckon the Indians are going to get belted in this series

They'll come in tired, have virtually no time to acclimatise and will face a team far better suited to the conditions

 

[Borges]

Our players can **** off if they offer up any fatigue excuses during Test series after raking in IPL multi-millions. No sympathy from my end.

Agree completely with the above. Tendulkar and Dhoni could easily skip the IPL if they wanted; they already have much more money than they know what to do with.

Yes, but we have seen them bunking national duty citing reasons of rest and recuperation, and we will continue to see that in future. That they could give the IPL a go by will of course never enter their minds. I would have been more sympathetic in my outlook if there was a little less diatribe along the lines of 'to me, the Indian team doing well is the only thing that matters'.

 

[centurymaker]

Agree completely with the above. Tendulkar and Dhoni could easily skip the IPL if they wanted; they already have much more money than they know what to do with.

Yes, but we have seen them bunking national duty citing reasons of rest and recuperation, and we will continue to see that in future. That they could give the IPL a go by will of course never enter their minds. I would have been more sympathetic in my outlook if there was a little less diatribe along the lines of 'to me, the Indian team doing well is the only thing that matters'.

Tbf there's enormous pressure on them to captain their IPL side. They might've already signed some binding contract too.. idk

 

[Borges]

Tbf there's enormous pressure on them to captain their IPL side. They might've already signed some binding contract too.. idk

No one, not even the BCCI are in a position to pressurise Tendulkar into anything. If they have already signed some binding contracts, they did it with their eyes opn; they knew exactly what they were doing when they signed it.

As an aside, as far as captaincy is concerned, Tendulkar would be doing a great favour to Mumbai Indians if he steps down from the captain's post. Easily the worst IPL captain, in all the three editions so far.

 

[GIMH]

Jimmy's record at Trent Bridge is so good.