Shortest in England ever, not of all time. My bad. Point still valid tho.Over the last two trips, the bowlers have inspired to an extent and against the odds; now they will need to make it a bit of a norm. They can't afford for the intensity to drop in - at 42 days from start to finish - the most compressed five-Test series England has ever hosted.
They've won a match for crying out loud. Of course there have been worse teams.I actually can't remember a visiting team to England batting worse. Maybe Bangladesh once.
I think this is a worse performance, 1st test aside. It literally looks like they give no ****s.Have we outdone our 2011 efforts?
That's why 2 and 3 Test series are thhe pits. 4 and particularly 5 Test series are exponentially more challenging for players.I think it's hard for batsman in long series against good bowling attacks. Think we saw that a bit with England in the Ashes. Sides work out plans and once they get on top it can be pretty hard to get out as a batsman with no games against different opposition or extended breaks to work on technical things.
India's batsman did well in SA and NZ in two tests, and started OK here, but it's just gone to pits last two and a half tests.
Certainly for away teams, it appears.That's why 2 and 3 Test series are thhe pits. 4 and particularly 5 Test series are exponentially more challenging for players.
People in denial mode with their heads-in-the-sand attitudes deserve the worst of fates that befalls them . . . sadly many of the Indian cricket fans fall in this category . . .Well let's be honest, the team is still in transition.
They did well against the pace of Steyn and Morkel who used the kookaburra balls but have never faced the banana swing of the duke ball before.
So relax people, even Dravid took 5 years to become a class batsman. International cricket is tough.
I remember that series being more entertaining in general though. Also it felt like an accomplishment when England knocked India over.People are forgetting how badly India bowled and fielded through the majority of that 2011 series. They only actually dismissed us once, in the first innings of the second test. The rest of the time was waiting around for batsmen to get double tons and declare. Half the England batting lineup was just queing up to score as much as they felt like while RP got flown in for no reason, Sreesanth leaped over balls in the field that went for 4, Sehwag went for a sit down or two in the pavillion and Ravi Bopara got a fifty.
And there were days like today like the 4th day at TB where Broad was smashing sixes off Yuvraj and Raina before the Indians got all out for 120. Dravid was the only batsman to put up aything like resistance, there was plenty of talk of inevitable capitulation then, usually centred around Gambhir and Raina (Sehwag getting king pairs was considered at least eventful).
Oh and as mentioned - they did not ****ing win a game.