England tour of India
1st Test: 15-19 November
Day 2
Brief scores: Ind 521/8 dec. Pujara 206*, Sehwag 117, Yuvraj 74; Swann 5, Anderson, Pietersen, Patel 1 each; Economy rates: Anderson 2.77, Swann 2.82, Patel 3.09, Pietersen 3.12, Bresnan 3.84, Broad 4.04
Eng 41-3 (18 overs) Cook 22*, KP 6*; Ashwin 2, Ojha 1
England vs India is usually exciting and the 1st Test at Ahmedabad is proving to be no different. Under Alastair Cook, England set out on a brand new mission - that of triumphing in India. England's record in India is not something to be proud of, but they have a better chance of winning this time. England were used to losing but their approach has been changing since Ashes 2005. The captaincy of Paul Collingwood has done them much good and they have cared more about winning in recent years. This is only his 3rd Test as captain but I believe Alastair Cook is a strong and stable person and he can replicate Collingwood. Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson, who is still here, prospered by the faith showed by Collingwood and it seems Cook believes in his players as well. He is the one who played a big role in bringing Kevin Pietersen back for this series. KP must be raring to score big after his absence from England matches. India is also keen to win as they are seeing this as "revenge series". Their drubbing in England last year (Tests: England beat India 4-0; One-day: England beat India 3-0 in a 5 match series; Twenty20: England beat India 1-0) is fresh in their minds. Unfortunately, Suresh Raina, who commented he wants to give some pain back, is not playing.

The only England bowler who can be praised in this match is Graeme Swann. The man never fails to perform. He does what Trott does with the bat. Other England bowlers lacked lustre and clearly missed injured Steven Finn. As is often said, Nick Compton is tailor made for Test cricket and scored runs in the warm-up games as well. Cook and Compton looked like a solid pair and I won't blame Compton for getting out the way he did. Some deliveries are such that any batsman can be pardoned. James Anderson, who is the permanent nightwatchman for England, was sent in yet again, though he didn't last long this time. England always sends a nightwatchman in this situation nowadays but it definitely shouldn't be this way. I think a nightwatchman is sent when only a couple of overs are left and you can't afford to lose a wicket and perhaps to surprise the opposition, since they have plans for the big batsmen. But, this is a decision which should be taken on impulse. A nightwatchman is not always needed, like when you are trailing behind by 500 and can't let the opposition mentally dominate you. India celebrated the fall of three wickets today. And England were shaken up thrice. Now, when either side looks at the scoreboard, they'll see the wickets as three, not two, even though No.11s usually score less than 10.

Adressing the media after the play today, Samit Patel said Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell can smash big tons. I agree, these 3 are the key. Alastair Cook is most consistent, Kevin Pietersen can dominate and change the game on his own and Ian Bell has often succeeded in helping England to draw.

More...

• Flintoff believes KP saga can be forgotten
• Will we see the Same KP?
• Performance equals power: Kevin Pietersen beats ECB
• England's ship was meant to sink
• Not The Most Conservative Sport Anymore

Yep..Done for rest of summer!! Man of the World Cup T20 and dropped from the T20 side too..Its a f**k up!! Surrey have signed me for 1 ..

 Kevin Pietersen shows his frustration at being dropped via Twitter, a while before the squad was officially announced

Pakistan may amaze us by banning their players, doing drugs, indulging in match/spot fixing and more but ECB and English cricketers are not too far behind. The big difference is that the jolts given by ECB and English cricketers are not disgraceful or unethical. Regarded as one of the best batsman by many, Kevin Peter Pietersen has been dropped. Yes, dropped. And the ECB did not even play safe by using the word 'rested' here. While cricket fans were still absorbing the spot-fixing scandal, ECB took a bold decision. England cricket fans can now take their minds off the spot-fixing. ECB has hit KP's ego, similar to what South Africa did, when they overlooked him and preferred Graeme Smith because of the racial quota system. KP will probably hit a few centuries and point the bat to Geoff Miller if he comes to watch KP play for Surrey.

Though I find his Twitter revelation very funny. Since when do cricketers need social networking/micro-blogging websites to take on selectors? He deleted the tweet in a few minutes but that doesn't change anything. There is a need to put some hold on this. Let me remind you that it's been 10 days since England cricketers were banned from using twitter and facebook while on England duty. The coaches, the selectors and Andrew Strauss do not support using twitter but the cricketers just don't learn. Andrew Strauss' captaincy has not impressed me much but he is a good one, for he dislikes twitter and Twenty20 and yet called Marcus Trescothick to ask him to play for England in the ICC World Twenty20 even though Strauss wasn't playing himself!

Another bit of bewilderment was provided by not calling Matt Prior back to the one-day side. Craig Kieswetter has been dropped from the one-day side but not the Twenty20 side. Steven Davies has been picked for both of the formats and will keep the wickets in both. Matt Prior, 28 year old, has been in great form and averages 42.13 in Tests and 25.38 in ODIs. Steven Davies is 24 and has only played an ODI (Oct '09) and a Twenty20 International (Mar '09) for England. Prior has more potential and I expect him to prosper in one day cricket as well.

Ian Bell, recovering from a foot injury, will play for Warwickshire against Nottinghamshire on Saturday, September 4. I missed Bell in the Test series and will miss him in the Twenty20s and ODIs too. He smacked Pakistan's bowlers all over the ground when Pakistan last toured England in 2006. Belly loves to play against Pakistan and would have made the series more interesting.

Middlesex provided the last bit of shock by releasing star batsman Owais Shah. Shah was in form, scoring more than any England player when he was dropped from the England side and now he has been ditched by Middlesex and in search of a county team. Absurdly, Eoin Morgan, who now plays in all formats for England, has been retained by Middlesex. Don't know their criteria of contracting a player but it's very different from mine.

One of the best England bowlers, Ryan Sidebottom is all set to leave Nottinghamshire. Sidebottom had commented a while ago that he wanted to end his career with Nottinghamshire but Notts have a policy of not offering more than a 2 year contract for a 32 year old player. But they have offered Sidebottom a performance based 3 year contract in addition to an unconditional two years but Sidebottom stated that this is the last contract he will sign so he wants a longer contract for the best interest of his family. Sidey does not expect England to renew his central contract since they rarely pick him for Tests. He will be welcomed by fans and counties with open arms since he is the most performing bowler in the county circuit. He is likely to join Lancashire, Hampshire, Somerset or Surrey. He will join the England team for the Twenty20 and ODI series against Pakistan.


I'll try to absorb all the shocks till Sunday (spot fixing, KP dropped, Prior still not picked, Shah released). I was not a serious cricket fan until Feb 2006 so I read about all the match fixing which has taken place over the years on Sunday and Monday. Earlier, I had just heard about Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja (not sure about Jadeja) being banned, Shane Warne indulging in match fixing, Hansie Cronje being questioned in India, Pakistan fixing the 1999 World Cup final. But obviously, it did not affect me at that time and I didn't know that it had been going on such a large scale. I had not expected cricketers to be so unethical. No idea what people are going to do with so much money and why some cricketers don't care about their team or country pride. Signing off, jimmymycrushie.

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After clinching their first ever victory over England, Bangladesh came back to their style of playing cricket. Ian Botham had suggested that this is a bowl first pitch and that's what Bangladesh did. Andrew Strauss made 154 from 140 balls, batted till the 46th over, smacking the ball around the park. He struck 16 fours and 5 sixes! No, boundary wasn't as short as South African grounds. Often disregarded as someone who plays with a bad strike rate, England captain Andrew Strauss batted with a good strike rate in all three matches of the series and grabbed the Man Of The Match and the Man Of The Series awards. Trotty did quite well too, with a ton in the 3rd ODI at Edgbaston. I don't really remember any centuries by English batsmen this year except the 2 by Eoin Morgan, against Bangladesh and Australia and the one by Kieswetter against Bangladesh. Strauss and Trott broke a few records today. Their partnership of 250 is the highest for England. Earlier, the record was held by Andrew Flintoff and the man who still holds it, Andrew Strauss (226 against West Indies at Lord's in 2004). Luke Wright was praised for his duck, yeah praised for duck, because he hasn't really scored many runs in the past few matches (past few years would also be appropriate here) but he put the team before himself, he came out to bat in the 41st over, so he needed to go big. Bopara, the comeback batsman provided some entertainment after Strauss went, hitting 45* off 16 deliveries! He could score the fastest half-century beating Sanath Jayasuriya (17 balls). Simon O'Donell (Australia) had scored a half-century in 18 balls and so did Shahid Afridi, twice.
                                                                  Back to the match, England dropped Jimmy to bring in Bressie lad. Actually, dropped for us, they call it "rotation". You could use that word for someone who had been playing a lot, who needed rest and you could rest him since England have got a dozen fast bowlers. Personally, I always wanna see Jimmy play, for reasons other than cricket. I'm not talking about looks, people do have personal choices. That was similar to what Michael Holding said during the match. They were all talking about him. I don't really see the point in bringing in Bresnan for James Anderson. If you want to drop him then why not bring in someone better, someone who can actually pick up wickets, someone like Sidebottom. I wonder why he stayed on the sidelines during the 5 matches against Australia and I wonder why Jimmy stayed on the sidelines during the whole ICC World Twenty20. All right, I understand you gotta have extra players when you are on tour but why Sidebottom? These guys should play for their County teams if they are not playing for England. Bresnan picked up one wicket in the 3rd One day. Shahzad impressed again, getting rid of both the openers. But he pulled a hamstring during his 4th over, went out of the field. He came back after a while (I wonder why, not like he is a fielding all-rounder like Wright) but didn't bowl after that. Wright overstepped the crease and Shakib Al Hasan provided some humour by starting to run when he saw Kieswetter throwing at the stumps. Collingwood even missed it but Shakib didn't try so Colly realized he had more time and took the bails off and the everybody burst into laughter. There was another funny moment, not as funny though, on the next delivery, when Mahmudullah came out to bat and everyone except Kieswetter remembered that it was a free hit. Kiesy started celebrating! Threw the ball so high in the air that the batsmen almost took a single!
There was nothing more in the match to write about. I got pretty bored afterwards. So did the crowd at Edgbaston who left the ground a while before England won. Bangladesh were 111/6 in 22 overs and the required rate was 8.46. After that, they never really tried. As if they had forgotten that they were playing an International match. It looked a net session. England weren't ripping them off and they were just standing at the crease. They were just waiting for 50 overs to finish. Waiting for the game to be over. That's what I waiting for too, but not in that way. I just wanted England to take the wickets and finish it off or Bangladesh to try and lose their wickets after a while. From over 22 to over 37, only 49 runs were scored, 2 of which were maidens. They did hit a few shots after that, especially Shafiul Islam who had given 97 in his 9 overs earlier in the day. Bowled well at Bristol though. Bopara and Yardy took the wickets at the end. Bopara finished with figures of 4 for 38 in 10 overs.