Cricket

anyone watching the final?

listening.

Off to see Fire in Babylon tonight. Friend saw it at the film festival last year and said it was excellent.

Fire In Babylon looks amazing. I hope it gets a decent release. As a lifelong West Indies fan, the trailer alone is pretty emotional.

Not a West Indies fan as such, but yes, also get emotional about the period. I know the reduced participation of subsequent generations of the West Indian diaspora in cricket, both as players and spectators, is down to a lot of different things, but it's always a cause of anger to me the way that English cricket, esp at the Oval, has done absolutely nothing to try to maintain or encourage locals to come and see the cricket, and instead rammed the prices up and made the purchasing of tickets a matter of booking as far in advance as possible.

Causes for hope - One of the things I like about the current West Indian team is that they have several talented players who seem very enthusiastic and keen to win - Bishoo, Darren Bravo esp. Some thrilling players, and I hope the one-day results are reflected in the Tests as I think most cricket fans would like to see a strong Windies team.

Apparently the film's being made mandatory viewing for all West Indies cricketers. Bravo and Bishoo both have huge potential and seem to have the right attitude. The real frustration since the mid-1990s is that there has never really been a lack of ability in the squad. There's a lot of talk about basketball taking the place of cricket in schools throughout the region but cricket remains hugely important and that's reflected in the raw talent that so many young players show. What's missing has been leadership and mental toughness. That's down in part to the players but also the fault of the shambolic organisation of the team. I'll keep the faith though.

Sri Lanka making this match interesting with an impressive collapse.

Wow.

oh my

love to see this in test cricket

http://www.espncricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/133500/133562.jpg

England are going to win this :-)

They definitely are now. LJ sorely missed.

He certainly knew his cricket.

hahahaha the crowd look like morons now

well played india

im assuming it came from 'upstairs' in India's association. Id bet strauss woulda appealed but the ecb/mcc woulda gone nutso. LJ if youre reading this, i bet you think dhoni was right to appeal but had strauss done so you would have taken the opposite view ;)

I was in the crowd today at Nottingham. Pretty amazing stuff- we didn't know what was going on until Bell walked out again, then everyone started clapping, which was a strangely moving experience.

Also, Prior and Bresnan were taking the Indian bowling apart at the end of the day, the latter looked really, really ragged. I predict more pain on that front for the Indians tomorrow.

Looking that way. Sharma looked miserable as Prior knocked him for boundary after boundary. England look to have nothing to lose at this point but need to be wary of the rain predicted for Tuesday. Let Prior reach his tonne and then declare?

forget about the rain just keep going and scoring quickly. wkts could still tumble 1st thing so just pile em on. the more runs we get, the longer we can keep close catchers in. Also pitch should still be good so dont let india bat while it is. Make the game out of their reach if possible then you still have 4 or 5 sessions to bowl em out, esp with 3 of those on a last day pitch. Dont let them get to 250-2 on a 4th day.

but yknow they could bowl us out in 20 mins tomorrow so in other words dont think about declaring, just bat the whole session scoring quickly as possible then think about it.

LJ?

forget about the rain just keep going and scoring quickly.

Agree with the latter statement but not the former. They were batting like it was a last wicket stand at the end of today anyway but Strauss, based on his ballsiness in the previous test, is not going to want Prior/Bresnan/Broad/Swann to bat all day if it means drawing the game rather than winning it. If they can get to 450 before lunch then great but if not he should still put India in and have a bit of confidence in his bowlers.

lj probably wanted to declare when bell was repreived

anyway IF they can get to 450-500 lead then they should. While its a good pitch take advantage, dont give it to india. A good start on a flat pitch could give them belief.
It all depends how the pitch plays in the morning. If its misbehaving then a declaration wont come into it, just get out there and pile it on. Theres 2 days left. They shouldn't even be thinking about declaring til lunch.

you dont give a batting line up like India 2 whole days to get 400 runs. They could plod along taking no risks and make that in plenty of time esp if the pitch plays like today. Dravid and Tendulkar could knock that off in their sleep. Game would be almost over by close of play then.

450+ should be impossible though, esp if they have to bat through a whole 5th day to survive.

If an England captain had done what Dhoni did yesterday, i.e., withdraw the dismissal of an Indian batsman, then watch his team get absolutely murdered in the subsequent session, likely lose the match and potentially the series, he'd be getting crucified now - Atherton, Nasser, Vaughan, none of those guys would have done that. Strauss maybe...

So, yes, everyone is all lachrymose and sentimental over the Spirit of Cricket as long as your team wins!

of course. still makes football look like a vile, barbaric game by comparison.

also this tbh:
England batting coach Graham Gooch on Test Match Special: "We hope to bat to around lunchtime and then with such a huge total the pressure will be on India, but we'll need to bowl well and some of their batsmen are in good form."

Dravid gone, game over IMO.

Time for a cheeky little double hundred from VVS methinks!

More like a cheeky double two.

that was a snorter, unplayable. Anderson hasn't bowled particularly well this match but he's so dangerous nevertheless.

wtf was dhoni thinking

It's a massacre

... oops, too soon, apologies

now sachin's done it too

shockah. Think Anderson has taken Sachin's wicket the most times in Tests now?

no its murali

Having to contemplate the distinct possibility that England are good at cricket

not used to it

To think India had passed England's first innings with plenty of wickets remaining and looking likely winners.

Having to contemplate the distinct possibility that England are good at cricket

It's also August and sunny wtf

BBC Test Match Special's Geoff Boycott

"No footwork, simple as that. It was very full and Mishra didn't get his feet out, he's a leg-spinner and not a very good bat. The India tail is pretty poor, they don't have batsmen like Prior, Bresnan and Broad who can get you out of trouble. I couldn't bowl that well but I'd have liked a go at these. Imagine Fred Trueman, he wouldn't have taken off his cap and jumper to bowl to these guys."

lol

BBC Test Match Special's Michael Vaughan
"What do they with Cook in terms of the declaration? Do they let him get Graham Gooch's 333? Do they let him get past Len Hutton's 364?"

Quandry.

well since the umpires are taking them off england may as well stay and bat on rest of day because this is real bullshit taking them off for light when the floodlights are on,there's no danger, the england players are set. Its utter bullshit.

But fuck declaring, just bat on tonight. No point in declaring if india wont bat. There's 2 whole days to go anyway

this really is a disgrace

I'd be really angry if england declare and india hardly bat due to "bad light" and the session is wasted.

Get them back out. Its bullshit!

here we go.

I'll be really pissed off now if Cook gets out after his concentration being disturbed. lol

who was that woman that came on to talk to the umpires and they called the players out right after? She obviously talked sense into them.