England tour of India
1st Test: 15-19 November
Day 4
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 191 Prior 48, Cook  41; Ojha 5, Ashwin 3
Eng 340/5 Cook 168* Prior 84*; Yadav 2, Ojha 2
Alastair Cook is trying to ensure this series is not a re-run of previous England tours to India. Showing utmost strength and patience, he led the England fightback on Day 4 as a captain leading from the front. Scoring hundreds in both of his previous Tests as captain as well as today, he becomes the only captain to score a century in first three Tests.

Some of the best Test matches are those which are drawn by fighting back from a terrible position. England has been featured in its fair share of such matches. In these games, the lower order and keeper Prior have stepped up to the plate, Cook has been a run machine for the past 3 years, Collingwood played his part when he was there, Jonathan Trott scored runs consistently from the start of his career (Aug '09) till the end of last year but Kevin Pietersen has failed when it has mattered the most. How does his batting average matter then? Your best players are those who win and save the most matches for you, who can handle pressure when it matters most.

The game at Chennai in '08 is an unforgettable one. Kevin Pietersen was England's captain back then, and he set India a target of 387, declaring at 311/9 with 29 overs to go on Day 4. Sehwag made this feat easy, not only achievable with 83 from 68. Sure, the following batsmen had some work on their hands but with such a flashy start, there can be no lack of confidence. Players like Jonathan Trott mostly care about their personal performance, but they are valuable because they care too much about it. There is no doubt about Kevin Pietersen's ability to demolish a team on his own or to be one of the most entertaining but to be a valuable asset in Test cricket, he needs to bat better when it matters. And not just score 40 something, but save the game like Cook and Prior are doing in this Test. Test matches are games of big runs. At least in one of the innings, the team must score 400+ to win or to draw. And this task is for the main batsmen, the middle order.

Coming back to today's play, Nick Compton played 128 deliveries but scored only 37. This is something to be worked upon. There isn't much use of surviving so many deliveries if you aren't scoring many runs. All his hard work didn't account to much considering England must score 500+ to save the match and 37 doesn't make a big part of that. Cook was unbeatable, he was unshakeable. The good thing is that he not only scores runs consistently but also scores big. His early centuries were between 104 and 127 but he now has scores such as 235* (vs Australia), 189 (vs Australia), 294 (vs India) and currently standing tall at 168* against India. Cook now has 21 centuries under his belt, which means he is only behind three Englishmen who have scored 22 tons each. He'll turn 28 next month and taking his career into account, it is unlikely that the ECB will drop him over a tiff. He probably has many more years of cricket left in him, so it is most likely he'll register his name in the list of top run getters and century makers in world cricket. English cricket is being taken to newer heights. Now England have a World Twenty20 championship in their kitty, Ashes '05, '09 and '10, Alastair Cook will probably become the first Englishman to reach 10,000 Test runs. The only feats remaining are the World Cup and a 400-wicket taker.

After the solid fightback from Cook and Prior, England should be able to save the game from here. I mean, it's still a tough task but it'd be disheartening to see England lose from here. Swann, Broad and Bresnan are pretty much all-rounders so I believe England will come through. That will give England the perfect start to the series. Though Bell is heading home for the birth of his child and Tim Bresnan needs to be replaced with Steven Finn or Monty Panesar so England will have some selection to do.

Catch the action live at 9:30 local time (4 am GMT). See you soon with hopefully some good news. Cheers.

Well, this is hilarious. The team which beat Pakistan (at home) by 3-1, Australia (away) by 3-1 and India (at home) by 4-0 has been whitewashed by Pakistan. England are still No.1 on ICC Test rankings though.

Batting has long been a concern for England, but Cook's and Trott's success let other batsmen get away with it. When the whole team fumbles, no one goes ignored. Apparently, England's lower order fights till they can, but the batsmen don't. Prior's average in this series was 37.50, the highest among England players. The second highest was Trott's - 26.83, which is of course way below a good batsman's average. Just because these were Tests, strike rates can't be ignored. Cook and Strauss stayed at the crease in some of the innings, but it didn't help as the runs dried, which built the pressure. Also, Prior and Broad were left stranded when they got going, which shows how irresponsible English batsmen are. Both of them showed that this isn't the toughest pitch to bat on, positive intent works in your favour if you are courageous enough against tough tasks.

Kevin Pietersen is the first one to get some flak, when England crumbles. Or rather when he doesn't smash a few centuries and a double century in a row. Because, one century just isn't enough. It gets him remarks like "Great batsmen can bat all day, Kevin Pietersen is too impatient to be great." But, captain Strauss' average in the last 11 Tests is 27.41 with no century. And in this series, Ian Bell has only scored more runs than Monty Panesar and Chris Tremlett. Perhaps England should try reversing the order, with Matty Prior, Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Graeme Swann being the top 4. Can't do much worse than the batters anyway. I guess the tail-enders play free-spiritedly, with dreams of becoming heroes, while the batters take pressure and consider runs a "job" they have to do. May be because bowlers are used to being fighters, they keep bowling, close calls for them mean they are on the right track. But, even if things aren't going their way, they know one lethal delivery could make their day. On the other hand, as a batsman, you know you have to keep going, ball by ball, run by run. Miracles happen slowly in the life of a batsman, but it's not always the case with bowlers. Luck plays a role for bowlers, they are dependent on the batsman to make a mistake. But, nothing comes to the batsmen easily, they have to work their way, steadily.

England one-day squad: A Cook (capt), J Anderson, J Bairstow, R Bopara, T Bresnan, D Briggs, S Broad, J Buttler, J Dernbach, S Finn, C Kieswetter, E Morgan, S Patel, K Pietersen, G Swann, J Trott.

England Twenty20 squad: S Broad (capt), J Anderson, J Bairstow, R Bopara, T Bresnan, D Briggs, J Buttler, J Dernbach, S Finn, A Hales, C Kieswetter, E Morgan, S Patel, K Pietersen, G Swann.

Pakistan one-day squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Wahab Riaz, Hammad Azam.

Pakistan Twenty20 squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Asad Shafique, Adnan Akmal, Awais Zia, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan, Hammad Azam.

With a team as ecstatic as Pakistan, and an opener as flamboyant as Kevin Pietersen, (Yeah! News just in.) the 4 one-day series and 3 Twenty20 series promises to be exciting. I have missed Steven Finn, looking forward to seeing him play. Until then, take care. See you next time.

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 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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