***Official England in India***

[George.Hinton]

***Official*** England in India

India's next up for Pietersen's lads.

I'm quietly confident of a good result in the tests: Think if we have a full strength pace attack we have a decent chance of winning the test series for the first time in 20+ years.
India are on the decline as a test team and I think we have a potentially very good side in the making.

The ODI series will be a cracker. Pietersen and Dhoni are both bold captains leading dynamic young teams and the series could go either way.

Thoughts ?

 

[Uppercut]

India's next up for Pietersen's lads.

I'm quietly confident of a good result in the tests: Think if we have a full strength pace attack we have a decent chance of winning the test series for the first time in 20+ years.
India are on the decline as a test team and I think we have a potentially very good side in the making.

The ODI series will be a cracker. Pietersen and Dhoni are both bold captains leading dynamic young teams and the series could go either way.

Thoughts ?

I'm fairly certain India will win this one, although with a two-test series it's difficult to know. I just don't feel Panesar has what it takes.

 

[duffer]

Hopefully we'll see Badri get a go in the Tests. As promised earlier if he isn't called up I'm supporting the opposition.

 

[GIMH]

England 2-0 in the Tests, 7-0 in the ODIs (maybe 5 or 6 if the weather wrecks a game or two). With some nice symmetry Flintoff will have his best all-round Test series since India 06. He is back baby, believe it.

 

[Precambrian]

India's next up for Pietersen's lads.

I'm quietly confident of a good result in the tests: Think if we have a full strength pace attack we have a decent chance of winning the test series for the first time in 20+ years.
India are on the decline as a test team and I think we have a potentially very good side in the making.

The ODI series will be a cracker. Pietersen and Dhoni are both bold captains leading dynamic young teams and the series could go either way.

Thoughts ?

T'was Mendis. And for India, there is a series in between against the relatively easy Australia to really ascertain whether the 2-1 loss was the start of a slide or just a blip.

 

[Salamuddin]

The ODI series should certainly be well contested.
I expect it will be closer than the 5-1 pasting India handed out last time however Harbhajan and Ojha may give India the edge

The tests could be interesting as well . England could be confronted with a few new faces in the Indian side if India lose their home series to Australia.

 

[gettingbetter]

When is it?

Would like to see Badri and Kaif in the Indian team and Shah in the England team. It will be interesting to see what exactly happeens with team selection. KP's highpoint in his career was the 05 Ashes where England won that with a 5 bowler attack and in his first Test as captain he opted for the same formation. He also has come out and supported Shah (yes, in ODIs, but it could be more than that). So maybe Shah will play once again in a place where he has success on debut.

Other questions we can ponder while looking out a frosted window:

Will Vaughan be selected?
Who is going to be selected alongside Monty? Rashid, Swann...Udal?
Is this going to be the series where heads roll for the Indian big 4?

 

[Precambrian]

When is it?

Is this going to be the series where heads roll for the Indian big 4?

That one I can answer. Heads will have rolled, if they have to, once the Australian tour is over.

 

[SJS]

I would think India has the edge in Tests while England maybe slightly ahead in a well balanced odi match up.

 

[GIMH]

Don't think we'll get rolled over. It's easy to underestimate us but a fit, on-form Flintoff (which is what we have at the minute, and Flintoff is a player who generally being in form in one form of the game translates to all forms) makes a huge difference. If Harmison bowls well (who know if he will, but good signs are there) then he can do really good things. The effect of Anderson and Sidebottom will be interesting, though I doubt they will both play (can't believe I'm saying that, Anderson CAN'T be drdopped after this summer, but Sidebottom carried our attack for a year) as will our choice of spinner. Monty is yet to do much on the subcontinent, if he goes well then we will go well.

As for our batting line-up. Colly to be a gun, Bell & Cook to average between 40 and 60 without passing 100 and KP maybe to have his first decent series on the subcontinent?

If Michael Vaughan is selected I think he might well do great things. Some people might not think his batting form was affected by captaincy, I certainly do. If he comes out here and scores a lot of runs, it might go some way towards aiding my argument.

Anyway, nothing groundbreaking here. The fact is, we need more than we've had from the following players (or them to be replaced):

Cook
Strauss
Bell
Panesar

We need Anderson/Sidebottom to get some conditions that will do something for them.

We need Flintoff to continue his recent revival (more than we need anything else IMO). We need Harmison & Colly to build on the signs they have shown of returning to former glories.

And of course, can KP continue to be the golden boy, that's the question/

Big ask from me now that i think about it. here's the XI I expect to be on the park for the first Test:

Strauss
Cook
Vaughan
Pietersen*
Collingwood
Flintoff
Patel
Prior+
Harmison
Anderson
Panesar

Will probably get it completely wrong, but just got a feeling about this.

Sidebottom, Bell, Broad may well all feature, Ambrose I expect to be in the squad as well. Would be surprised if we saw anyone else play in either of the Tests (well, except for the Indian players).

Long time to go yet, I think Simon Jones' latest setback rules him out though (think he is only out for a few weeks, but really, West Indies (the proper tour not the Stanford one)is the absolutely earliest I expect to see him now)

edit - forgot about Shah actually, wouldn't be surprised to see him picked either, especially if Vaughan doesn't get selected

 

[gettingbetter]

Most un-England team I've seen for a longtime.

I think It will be:

Cook
Strauss
Bell
KP
Collingwood
Flintoff
Prior
Broad
Anderson
Sidebottom/Harmison
Monty

Would like to see:

Cook
Strauss
Shah
KP
Bopara/Patel
Flintoff
Prior
Anderson
Sidebottom
Monty
Bowler 1

 

[Uppercut]

Don't think we'll get rolled over. It's easy to underestimate us but a fit, on-form Flintoff (which is what we have at the minute, and Flintoff is a player who generally being in form in one form of the game translates to all forms) makes a huge difference. If Harmison bowls well (who know if he will, but good signs are there) then he can do really good things. The effect of Anderson and Sidebottom will be interesting, though I doubt they will both play (can't believe I'm saying that, Anderson CAN'T be drdopped after this summer, but Sidebottom carried our attack for a year) as will our choice of spinner. Monty is yet to do much on the subcontinent, if he goes well then we will go well.

As for our batting line-up. Colly to be a gun, Bell & Cook to average between 40 and 60 without passing 100 and KP maybe to have his first decent series on the subcontinent?

If Michael Vaughan is selected I think he might well do great things. Some people might not think his batting form was affected by captaincy, I certainly do. If he comes out here and scores a lot of runs, it might go some way towards aiding my argument.

Anyway, nothing groundbreaking here. The fact is, we need more than we've had from the following players (or them to be replaced):

Cook
Strauss
Bell
Panesar

We need Anderson/Sidebottom to get some conditions that will do something for them.

We need Flintoff to continue his recent revival (more than we need anything else IMO). We need Harmison & Colly to build on the signs they have shown of returning to former glories.

And of course, can KP continue to be the golden boy, that's the question/

Big ask from me now that i think about it. here's the XI I expect to be on the park for the first Test:

Strauss
Cook
Vaughan
Pietersen*
Collingwood
Flintoff
Patel
Prior+
Harmison
Anderson
Panesar

Will probably get it completely wrong, but just got a feeling about this.

Sidebottom, Bell, Broad may well all feature, Ambrose I expect to be in the squad as well. Would be surprised if we saw anyone else play in either of the Tests (well, except for the Indian players).

Long time to go yet, I think Simon Jones' latest setback rules him out though (think he is only out for a few weeks, but really, West Indies (the proper tour not the Stanford one)is the absolutely earliest I expect to see him now)

edit - forgot about Shah actually, wouldn't be surprised to see him picked either, especially if Vaughan doesn't get selected

I think England are somewhat easy to overestimate, or at least they were at the start of the summer. Firstly, Monty needs to seriously improve. Secondly, they need a second spinner who isn't Kevin Pietersen (I see you've picked Patel, not sure how effective he'll be). Third, their batting lineup is poor- they constantly rely on their bowling (aka Flintoff) to get them out of holes, and fast bowling in India is rarely much fun. Indeed, the strength of their bowling goes a long way to disguising how piss-weak their batting has been for the past year. Finally, it's a hell of a lot different from England, and with two tests to play they haven't much time to adjust. That's why my money's with the home side.

One more thing I disagree with- that England need more from Cook. Averaging 47 from 7 innings with a high score of 76 is exactly what you want from an opener- he sees off the new ball almost every time he plays. Averaging 47 with one big hundred means he's exposing the middle order regularly. IMO his failure to go on when set is no cause for complaint whatsoever when he scores that many runs.

 

[Salamuddin]

Yuvraj's probably the key guy for India and England IMO.

Keep him down and I think ENgland will ensure that India will struggle for runs.
If he has a good series though, I fancy India to win.

 

[GIMH]

I think England are somewhat easy to overestimate, or at least they were at the start of the summer. Firstly, Monty needs to seriously improve. Secondly, they need a second spinner who isn't Kevin Pietersen (I see you've picked Patel, not sure how effective he'll be). Third, their batting lineup is poor- they constantly rely on their bowling (aka Flintoff) to get them out of holes, and fast bowling in India is rarely much fun. Indeed, the strength of their bowling goes a long way to disguising how piss-weak their batting has been for the past year. Finally, it's a hell of a lot different from England, and with two tests to play they haven't much time to adjust. That's why my money's with the home side.

One more thing I disagree with- that England need more from Cook. Averaging 47 from 7 innings with a high score of 76 is exactly what you want from an opener- he sees off the new ball almost every time he plays. Averaging 47 with one big hundred means he's exposing the middle order regularly. IMO his failure to go on when set is no cause for complaint whatsoever when he scores that many runs.

Yeha but I want him to average 50 with hundreds thrown in there. I disagree that I want 76 and out from my openers. All of your batsmen need to score centuries from time to time, simple as. Cook's dismissal has triggered a collapse many times of late.

 

[Precambrian]

Yuvraj's probably the key guy for India and England IMO.

Keep him down and I think ENgland will ensure that India will struggle for runs.
If he has a good series though, I fancy India to win.

Yuvraj scored just 75 runs in 5 matches in Sri Lanka, and yet India managed to win the ODI series. The good thing about Indian ODI team is that, unless English ODI team which is still hugely reliant on Flintoff and Pietersen, India has more alternatives to fall back on. And this bench strength will be severally tested when England tour India.

 

[Precambrian]

Kevin Peitersen seriously needs to improve his game against spinners esp in conditions suiting them, I mean last time we toured England, the way he was getting out to Chawla was least convincing. If he manages to be a bit patient and play the waiting game, then that will be a huge boost for the English middle order.

I predict the coming series will be a make or break for Ian Bell. He will either become a total star or a total flop. Most probably the former. Having followed his game for a while, I feel his time's due.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeha but I want him to average 50 with hundreds thrown in there. I disagree that I want 76 and out from my openers. All of your batsmen need to score centuries from time to time, simple as. Cook's dismissal has triggered a collapse many times of late.

Averaging 50 would be great, but it's a lot to ask of an opener. If he did though, I'd rather that was 50 in every innings rather than alternating hundreds and ducks, just because he's an opener and it gives a platform for the rest of the lineup to succeed. The England batting lineup's failure to capitalise on it shouldn't in any way be laid at the feet of Cook.

 

[Uppercut]

Kevin Peitersen seriously needs to improve his game against spinners esp in conditions suiting them, I mean last time we toured England, the way he was getting out to Chawla was least convincing. If he manages to be a bit patient and play the waiting game, then that will be a huge boost for the English middle order.

I predict the coming series will be a make or break for Ian Bell. He will either become a total star or a total flop. Most probably the former. Having followed his game for a while, I feel his time's due.

Disagree, I think Bell's actually been flattering to deceive for a long time. He plays pretty shots and looks the part but when it comes to combating difficult conditions, good bowling or a pressure situation he invariably falls short.

 

[Precambrian]

Averaging 50 would be great, but it's a lot to ask of an opener. If he did though, I'd rather that was 50 in every innings rather than alternating hundreds and ducks, just because he's an opener and it gives a platform for the rest of the lineup to succeed. The England batting lineup's failure to capitalise on it shouldn't in any way be laid at the feet of Cook.

Yep, I'd rather say 35 every innings (consuming the first hour and half), with a hundred thrown in here and there.

 

[Precambrian]

Disagree, I think Bell's actually been flattering to deceive for a long time. He plays pretty shots and looks the part but when it comes to combating difficult conditions, good bowling or a pressure situation he invariably falls short.

That's a part of his maturing as a batsman. He's just 26. I believe he is still the classiest of the lot. And this Indian tour could just do what 2001 did to Hayden. I can't believe such class can go unrewarded at Test Level. And his records are certainly not Ramprakish or Hickish to him being chucked out.