***Official*** England in India

[Bahnz]

What point is it you're making exactly?

That claiming that Panesar might've bowled better than the non-Swann portion of the England bowling attack doesn't mean he would've had a significant outcome on India's performance.

[Prince EWS]

How did Denis jr look, anyway? I'm stuck at work (UK tax monies in action, etc) and looking at crackinfo suggests it wasn't exactly the kind of swashbuckler his granddad () was renowned for.

He looked really nervous in the first couple of overs, but after that he did look really quite solid defensively. Made the tiniest of errors and was dismissed immediately, but that's what tends to happen when you're blocking back half volleys and making no attempt to score at all.

I don't think he looked out of his depth given the circumstances but it was far from the start he'd have hoped for.

[Burgey]

Anyone in Australia right now turn Lateline on and check out the bloke being interviewed. Biggest meat nose I've seen since Rod Gallegos.

[chaminda_00]

It's partly a test of courage too, as I said. Not this rubbish. Once SC teams begin to realise this they'll get better away from home. I mean look at India's series away from home. Tripe. All this does is paper over the cracks.

You could argue the same thing for England and other non SC sides when they fail in the SC and just say, 'We played well last series at home. We not playing that bad and no major weakness, we just had one bad series.'

End of the day both teams like some major weakness, but all they do is blame the pitches not their lack of skill in non traditional conditions.

"The pitches turned from ball one, the pitches were rubbish"

"There were half volley hitting me in the chest, the pitches were rubbish"

Until teams learn to expect that different conditions they will face and man up to that. None of these teams will get better away from home.

I personally don't see anything wrong with these pitches and trampoline bouncing pitch away from SC. All I see is a lot batsmen around the world who lack the skills to play on non traditional pitches and unwillingness to test themselves to become better players. Because they will just score runs at home and everyone will forgot how poor they are away from home.

[NasserFan207]

Panesar is useful because he turns it the other way.

Besides the point now. I see Burgey's on his soapbox

[hazsa19]

That claiming that Panesar might've bowled better than the non-Swann portion of the England bowling attack doesn't mean he would've had a significant outcome on India's performance.

If you believe Panesar would have been a lot more effective than Bresnan/Anderson/Broad, then it seems like a straightforward assumption to make.

[chaminda_00]

Oh yeah, they're inept for the most part too. I'm
Just saying this is dross. I mean, you could have prepared a 1975 WACA pitch (that is, a real pitch) and England wouldn't have knocked the fuzz off a peach at the pace they bowled anyway. But this is ridiculous. It's like Milo Into Cricket for 5-8 year olds - "Oh no, don't bounce one near his tummy! He might get a bruise!"

It would be quite a seriois problem if India wasn't actually doing themselves in the neck long term by playing on these piles of ****. We can all agree its a good thing they are.

The WACA, the same pitch that makes mediocre fast bowlers like Mitch Johnson look like ATG. You sure want that type of pitch the be benchmark of a good track?

[chaminda_00]

On the Panesar I think he about as good as Ojha maybe a bit below. But bowling in tandem with the Swann they would have been a handful. The big difference so far between the bowling performances is the additional support from the both ends. Swann had no support from the other bowlers.

[Burgey]

You could argue the same thing for England and other non SC sides when they fail in the SC and just say, 'We played well last series at home. We not playing that bad and no major weakness, we just had one bad series.'

End of the day both teams like some major weakness, but all they do is blame the pitches not their lack of skill in non traditional conditions.

"The pitches turned from ball one, the pitches were rubbish"

"There were half volley hitting me in the chest, the pitches were rubbish"

Until teams learn to expect that different conditions they will face and man up to that. None of these teams will get better away from home.

I personally don't see anything wrong with these pitches and trampoline bouncing pitch away from SC. All I see is a lot batsmen around the world who lack the skills to play on non traditional pitches and unwillingness to test themselves to become better players. Because they will just score runs at home and everyone will forgot how poor they are away from home.

Bollocks. You don't hear that at all. Australia wanted to win in the SC to assert their dominance everywhere, not be happy getting their arses handed to them away but winning at home and being happy with it.

In any event, when has Australia ever lost a series in SL? Look, if you want to prepare these pitches constantly then fine, but you do yourself a disservice. Worst thing that ever happened in Australia was the homogenizing of wickets here. It's become our equivalent of these atrocities, only not quite as noticeable.

I mean, look at Ashwin. The bloke is being hailed as a world beater and racing to some milestone of wicket taking rhe commentators were banging on about today, but I could have played him with a billiard cue out here last summer. It was a joke. It's like preparing green tops and having Simon Davis look a world beater. It doesn't do you any good.

[Bahnz]

If you believe Panesar would have been a lot more effective than Bresnan/Anderson/Broad, then it seems like a straightforward assumption to make.

And given that I don't believe that would've been the case (OK he might've been significantly better than Bresnan, but again...low standards) then it's fair enough to assume otherwise.

[Burgey]

The WACA, the same pitch that makes mediocre fast bowlers like Mitch Johnson look like ATG. You sure want that type of pitch the be benchmark of a good track?

Mate, you weren't born in 1975. You wouldn't know what it was like then. It's a very different beast now.

Johnson bowls well at the WACA for god knows what reason, he's a complete enigma. But it's hardly been a fast bowler's charnel house in recent times. Or haven't you watched matches there?

[hazsa19]

And given that I don't believe that would've been the case (OK he might've been significantly better than Bresnan, but again...low standards) then it's fair enough to assume otherwise.

Indeed. Just didn't get why you were bringing up the standard of the others.

[Burgey]

But look, having said all this, it's still piss funny seeing England getting a flogging

[benchmark00]

Anyways, looks like Trott's new New Balance bat has a good edge on it.

[Xuhaib]

Burgey, you are underselling Ashwin. Murali,Ajmal,Saqlain,Swann best offspinners of last 2 decades have all struggled in Aus for some reason Aus pitches are very unkind to this type of bowling.