Player Ratings
 

We did this for the Ashes, always an interesting exercise.

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England

Cook 2 - not his best match, but he was due
Strauss 3.5 - Did all the hard work in two innings only to play two silly shots. Shelled two catches off India's top order. Bowling changes were spot on, field placings not so much.
Trott 7 - a fine first innings 70 in very tough conditions.
KP 9 - superb double, although he loses a point with a stupid shot to really spark the collapse
Bell 4 - first innings contribution was useful without being particularly significant, whilst his second innings was one to forget. The mode of dismissal in both will be a concern.
Morgan 3 - may or may not have been out first dig but that's moot. Bad shot to get out in the second after grafting hard
Prior 9 - Outstanding all round match. Superb with the bat, superb with the gloves.
Broad 9.5 - more or less flawless bowling performance. Ended up with 7, could and probably should have had 12+ were it not for incompetence. Fine aggressive knock in a tricky situation in the second innings. Loses only half a point for the golden duck fairly late on in the first innings. Match will vindicate those who have rooted for him as a rare talent.
Swann 7 - bowled really quite well, and it's only that he's bowling to Indian batsmen that hasn't seen him end up with more than 2. Useful little cameo first dig.
Tremlett 7 - not really his best match, seemed short of rhythm and hence slightly short of length. Still gave the Indian batsmen headaches at times though.
Anderson 8 - First innings was probably the worst he bowled with the red ball in the year. After being donated a few wickets in the second dig, finally settled down and looked very much like the leader of the pack, with zip off the pitch, control and movement in the air and off the seam, and got 5 for his troubles.


India

Mukund 5 - looked good first innings and deserved 50 for his troubles, but he looked suspect whenever the bowler - mostly Broad - moved the ball back into him. Playing on twice in a match is a worry.
Gambhir 3 - not a match he'd want to remember. Elbow will probably still be smarting.
Dravid 8.5 - magnificent lone hand in the first dig but he will be absolutely furious with his second innings dismissal.
Tendulkar 3 - he just doesn't like Lord's does he? Had problems with all England bowlers at various times but especially (and given the ground, unsurprisingly) the two tall ones.
Laxman 5 - 4th innings master looked set for another fine knock in that situation but for the second time in the match, having given his all to see off Broad, played a daft shot to the bowler who replaced him.
Raina 7 - technical issues aside, his temperament is superb. A knock to be proud of in the last innings.
Dhoni 2 - a match to forget for the captain. Not great batting, but some horrendous keeping and his decision not to ball Sharma first up after lunch raised some eyebrows.
Harbhajan 3 - also a match to forget. Listless first dig, improved somewhat second dig but still well outbowled by Swann. Best not speak about the batting.
Khan 4 - predictably India's best bowler before he got injured... but then he got injured.
Kumar 7 - India's only bowler first innings, really. Looked considerably less threatening second time round when it stopped swinging though.
Sharma 5 - First innings was rank. Inspired spell in the second innings however gave India their only sniff of victory in the whole match.

dhoni and harbhajan too high

good stuff.

BTW this was only the 2nd time india lost a game in which dravid scored a hundred.

Cook 2 - was bound to happen at some point. Hopefully he bounces back the same way he did after Perth
Strauss 5 - looked comfortable second dig until getting out, which is promising at least. Got a lot of stick for his declaration but he now has another Lord's win under his belt...that's five out of six as captain proper, compared to six draws in a row in the six before that (he skippered one of them)
Trott 6 - easy to overlook his first innings knock given what KP did but it was so important and just what we've come to expect from him...disappointing second dig
Pietersen 9 - excellent innings which showed his class. Shame about the second innings but it shouldn't detract from one of his best ever innings
Bell 4.5 - like Cook, we can forgive him a one-off. The 'same old Bell' shouts when he got out Sunday were nothing but reactionary and he'll have a point to prove at Trent Bridge
Morgan 3 - sawn off first dig, suicide in the second when it could have been a game changer. Must do better
Prior 9 - his best ever performance for England. He can smash all the windows he wants if he plays like this
Broad 9.5 - reminscent of Flintoff in his pomp. Best bowler on either side (given the fact he bowled more than an ODI allocation and didn't have the amazingly helpful conditions ZK had on Thursday) and a vital innings on Sunday. Another one or two performances like this and his place will be safe for years
Swann 6 - a quiet game for Swann really but got a couple of key wickets. Clanger in the field could have cost us dear
Tremlett 7 - not great but good enough in the circumstances
Anderson 8 - gave a huge middle finger to ****y posters with a masterful display yesterday. Had one of his poorest innings in a long, long time and finished the match with 7-150ish. Quite simply a world-class bowler who you can't keep down for long

Munkud 7 - showed a lot of character and fight and there is no shame in getting out to a bowler bowling like Broad was
Gambhir 6 - ordinary. And not in the David Lloyd way
Dravid 9 - a class above his team-mates. Exceptional performance in the first innings, century was more than deserved. Silly dismissal yesterday but he more than earned his match fee
Tendulkar 0 - absolute clown
Laxman 4 - we've come to expect better when India are in the ****, but two silly shots from VVS arguably put them in it each time. Wasted his hard work
Raina 7 - very impressive second dig, showed immense character and bottle. Shouldn't have been the junior batsman in the side having to do that but he did it nonetheless
Dhoni 0 - disgrace. Awful with the bat, worse as captain. Bowled okay and then kept himself on for ages when the new ball was due, demonstrating his misguided ego
Harbajhan 3 - woeful first dig, better in the second but did nothing to show he's even close to Swann's level. Embarassing with the bat given what he's capable of
Zaheer N/A - can't really give him a rating as there were sub fielders who played longer in this match.
Kumar 7 - good in the first innings although given some of the reactions on here you'd have thought India had just signed Glenn McGrath or something. Looked like the county trundler Freddie wrote him off as in the second dig
Sharma 5 - was on a negative score after the first innings. Came back well

BCCI 0 - this version of DRS is stupid. ****ing ****ty ****s they are.

Agree with this. A gimped URDS <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< no URDS (as a spectacle).

agree with the ratings. broad should get a 10. the fact that he did not act like a petulant brat - barring the justified spray at kp - really makes me confident that he has finally turned the corner in terms of behaviour.

Looked like he was about to explode after some of those LBWs and drops though. I suppose that's reasonable.

His chat with Bowden at the end of the over where Raina was reprieved looked interesting.

far less than in the past when he would have flounced off and chuntered for a while. this time he looked like he was going to explode but then got on with it and actually had a smile on his face when taking a dig at the ump. just seemed to be so much more grown up and 'lets be getting on with things than the sulky woe is me and don't i look pretty when i pout'!

Not as interesting as the decision itself, though.

In the end though I think form and confidence has a lot to do with this. During the SL ODI series where he genuinely forgot to appeal at times it was if he was so utterly desperate for a wicket that he would stop at nothing to try and get one. This match he knew he was bowling well enough to get a wicket at any time. A lot easier to take a bad call when you think you can get him out in the next over anyway. Mind you, the bad decisions and dropped catches did begin to stack up quite heavily...

It also helps that England were absolutely crushing them at the time of the horror call.

How so? Any URDS is an improvement over none?

I'd agree with this too, but it becomes exceptionally frustrating when you have the possibility of caughts being overturned and the like, but then you see an LBW which is As Plumb As Plumb Can Be (which Broad to Raina was) and it goes nowhere.

I'm waiting for one from Swann to pitch on, straighten, take pad then bat in front of middle, England review it for a catch at short leg and it's given not out as it hit the pad.

Wouldn't that turn into a Ponting at Lord's 2009 decision then? Where the umpire gives him out LBW anyway?

Quite possibly, guess it depends who's batting at the time.:ph34r: