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The Cricket Thread

yep, i can see that, but its still fun!

i'm hoping for an exciting day tomorrow. preferably something that goes right down to the wire with india pulling through!
 
yep, i can see that, but its still fun!

i'm hoping for an exciting day tomorrow. preferably something that goes right down to the wire with india pulling through!
Yeah I am hoping for something like that as well but I just wish sehwag didn't get out before the end of day 4's play. India have to try and not give wickets to the spinners early on because they have loads of time to win the match. I hope Dravid comes good this innings.
 
Who do england think they are, seriously giving ourselves only a 400 run lead, now that it playing with fir am i right? Anyway this is going to be an exciting finish (even though it shouldn't have been) I'll be interested to see some prediction here. I think India will probably pull through, I mean boy they can bat on their own wickets and they have a damn strong line up. I guess I don't really have much faith in englands bowlers, but then again why should i?
 
Eh iuno Goldfan. Imo, this could really swing either way, but I'd bet on England. The problem with unlikely, miraculous comebacks, is that they're unlikely. Though iuno, India's got the people they need (assuming Dravid can get his head back in the game), and right now they have psychology on their side. It really depends on how into the game everyone can get. England's had a psychological victory over India this match so far, but I think Sehwag did what India needed.

And England's second innings was hilarious, at least in terms of where all the runs were distributed. Prior should have got out on 9, so that there would have been no double digit scores.

At the very least, no matter who wins, they earned it.
 
England should take out Gambhir and Tendulkar before lunch to have a good shot at victory...

Taking out Tendulkar has never been an easy task.

I'm betting this will go right down to the wire, predicting an England win though. If India manage to come back from this, fair play to them. I just hope Panesar and the rest of the England attack can wrap this match up for us. I still don't know why we declared, we could've let our tail bat on..
 
I think Sehwag did England a favour by scoring so quickly, because I was honestly expecting a really slow boring final day where India just played out the draw taking no risks, but now they have a chance of winning they'll play some shots and hopefully be out from them! But it's set up a great final day, that's for sure
 
I'm not sure how far through the day it is :/ but assuming it's just gone lunch or something like that I'd say that this match could still go either way. 140 odd runs and 6 wickets to take, if England get Tendulkar or Juvraj out in the next ten overs or so we're in with a real shot. If India bat sensibly however they should go on to win this, it has been an excellent match.
 
I wouldnt count england out yet, the new ball will decide it.. but you guys definitely and amazingly have the upper hand.

[edit] - so much for that theory..

Have a nice day.
 
That was a fucking good match man and even though England lost I think they finally played some good cricket.

good game, really :)
 
Deep down, this shit's what cricket's really about. I have no idea why, I just feel a completely overwhelming sense of national pride. This wasn't just like, India dicking around and coming back to win. This seriously was an excellent contest between two of the most competent, capable teams to be facing each other, especially after Mumbai. And both sides did exceptionally well. I think England's main downfall was having to rely solely on a couple batsmen, because they couldn't consistently score runs after losing those wickets. On the other hand, you have India, where everyone tended to score very close to other batsmen, and even after losing Sehwag, Laxman and Gambhir, India wasn't too phased because they weren't relying solely on their runs.

Swann had a fantastic debut, and I think he's got a chance at a promising test career. Whether or not that career happens is debatable. Actually to be honest, I think that the entire English bowling side did much better than people will give them credit for. I mean, you're up against Sehwag who decides he's done playing Test cricket in favour of the one-day game, Gambhir who scores runs, finds he likes it, and decides to continue, Tendulkar who basically says to himself, "I'm gonna win this match", and Yuvraj Singh who decides to go out and have himself a good time. India's batting lineup minus Dravid spontaneously decided to go out and grow a pair. You can't really fault any English bowler for the loss, the simple truth is that India's batting was nothing short of spectacular.

Poor KP, I'm sure he's feeling well about Yuvraj's 85.
 
Pretty good finish from India. Tendulkar played well to hold it out there and win the game. Yuvraj played well too, nice come back and should hold his test place with these runs scored. England were great too, but just didn't get the breakthroughs they wanted. Oh well, next test comng up should be interesting.
 
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

I knew England would mess this up, you could see it coming a mile away, because it's the sort of thing England does nowadays. We had a commanding lead and somehow let it slip. Fair play to Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Sehwag and co. but I'm really still pissed off with how we let India off the hook.
 
Declaring at 9 down was probably the worst decision. They should have atlest tried to score some quick runs and get all out, or could have played defensively for a draw...
 
Well England was in control; they weren't planning on needing to settle for anything, and there was little to no indication that India would be able to score 387 at all. And given how the match ended, it's just as likely that the extra runs that'd have come from not declaring wouldn't have mattered at all.
 
Well India wins a very close contest. I can't wait for the mohali test and I can watch it properly since christmas break is coming and I don't have to worry about school :)

I don't think the declaring at 311/9 was the mistake. It was the 57 or something runs in 22 overs that cost them. That time they should have got a good 75+ runs because that was the time to get quick runs and then declare. I guess they were a bit confused and didn't quite know when to declare and what was a good target. Great stuff from Yuvi and Sachin though to pull it off. I hope Dravid really gets going in mohali.
 
Wow that is some start that SA got 3 quick wickets early on and that of hayden, ponting and hussey but now I just think they are letting Australia off the hook. I don't see much need to bowl Kallis for that long, he needs to bowl much better. I think he is trying to get wickets and bowling wide outside the off stump to get the edge, but I think he should look to stop the runs and let molkel attack a bit more.
 
Wow that is some start that SA got 3 quick wickets early on and that of hayden, ponting and hussey but now I just think they are letting Australia off the hook. I don't see much need to bowl Kallis for that long, he needs to bowl much better. I think he is trying to get wickets and bowling wide outside the off stump to get the edge, but I think he should look to stop the runs and let molkel attack a bit more.

clarke and katich rebuilding nicely now. 3/150ish i think.....

btw i really enjoyed the first india/england test. was watching the run chase on cricinfo. i absolutely LOVED watching the poms' cocky comments drying up as india gradually beat them down :D
 
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