england cricket tour

daeve

from BBC website....

0901 Panesar is given the ball for his first Test spell

0903 Some prodigious turn out of the rough from Panesar beats Jaffer all ends up and spins away past slip for four byes, and there is a confident lbw appeal rejected in an encouraging opening maiden.

0910 There is a confident appeal from England as Panesar has Jaffer caught at silly point, it is referred to the third umpire but replays show the ball was played into his boot then hit the ground before reaching the fielder.

peace & love

daeve

Periscope

An excellent fightback by England and when Sehwag fell they were definitely on top. Dravid and Jaffer leading a very slow recovery by India. One thing in India's favour is that they have 6 specialist batsmen which should help them catch up with England and chase whatever they need in the last innings. However the spinners are going to have to stand up. Their combined figures were 3 for 181 and that included a tail-ender and a dodgy lbw. Perhaps there will be more turn on days 3/4.

kidsan

im very pleased to have been proven wrong!!

be nice to take a few wickets tomorrow though....K

daeve

....hey, what a game this is turning out to be....great stuff from India's Muslim & England's Sikh....looks likely that England will take a first innings lead....India might find chasing, say, 250 a tough ask in the 4th innings, unless Anil & the Turbanator can rip through the England batting...anyone else gonna be at Mumbai for the decider....?

peace & love

daeve

W Jaffer c A Flintoff b M J Hoggard 81 184 15 0
V Sehwag c K P Pietersen b M J Hoggard 2 6 0 0
R Dravid lbw b M J Hoggard 40 122 6 0
S R Tendulkar lbw b M S Panesar 16 45 2 0
V V S Laxman lbw b M J Hoggard 0 1 0 0
M Kaif b M S Panesar 91 263 12 0
M S Dhoni c G O Jones b A Flintoff 5 10 1 0
I K Pathan c A Flintoff b M J Hoggard 2 14 0 0
A Kumble c A N Cook b S J Harmison 58 168 10 0
Harbhajan Singh not out 0 3 0 0
Extras 2nb 5w 17b 3lb 27
Total for 9 322

Bowler O M R W
M J Hoggard 30.0 13 57 5
S J Harmison 27.0 5 75 1
A Flintoff 29.0 10 68 1
M S Panesar 41.4 19 72 2
I D Blackwell 7.0 0 28 0
I R Bell 1.0 0 2 0

SHIMLA

England in a commanding position at the end of day 4 with A.Cook hitting a ton on debut ! Well played, England !

With just a day to go, the Test seems headed for a draw.

__________________
Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop !

daeve

...that's got to be the most likely outcome, but this has been a game of twists, turns & surprises....with Sehwag, Sachin and Dhoni in the team can't rule out an Indian win (however unlikely)...an exemplorary day in the field (lots of missed catches by both teams so far) could give it to England....like I already said, you just gotta love Test cricket, whichever way it goes....

peace & love

daeve

tomprice20

A draw?!

I know English cricket is a perpetual lesson in disappointment but surely the most likely outcome is Freddy knocks a half-century in 30 balls tomorrow morning and Harmison regains his lost line, length and confidence enough to knock over the Indians cheaply for an historic victory.

... fingers crossed!

kidsan

Of late, i'd have to disagree with 'perpetual', but disapointments there have certainly been over the years.

Personally, i shall be happy with a draw and the massive confidence that the new players will have gained over the last few days....but, you never know, a quick ton before lunch and Hoggy to repeat his fine performance and we could be looking at an historic win!

saurabhawasthi

just my two cents on this:

Of late, India seem to be getting better chasing any kind of totals - plus, the wicket doesn;t seem to be cracking up yet - so, the optimist in me hopes we can chase down a 350-45o target or at the very least - hold onto our wickets and draw the game. Go Dhoni!!

SHIMLA

Theoretically, all four results are possible, but a draw is the most likely one.

9hanover

imagine my relief when I discovered we shall be arriving in Delhi the day AFTER the one day match. My husband is a cricket fanatic, I am not!

stormysky

Well, finally it did end in a draw. But then what a fascinating last session on day 5 ???
I was really nice to watch India trying to chase 9 an over for 25 overs...

Would've been great if it had been a little closer...

sk

daeve

Well, what a great start to the series, setting things up very nicely for this week's encounter in Mohali....Hoggard straight into the groove and Harmison finding his rhythm in the second innings, Monster Panesar looking just as troublesome as Harbajan & Kumble, Ali Cook a fantastic find....India will further strengthen their batting with Yuvraj, Dravid as implacable as ever, Jaffer making the breakthrough, Tendulkar showing us some genius at the end....great showing from a number of debutants (Cook/Panesar/Shreesanth) and marginal players (Jaffer/Kaif/Collingwood).....I'll be happy with a further draw at Mohali, leaving the series to be decided on the Mumbai knife-edge......

peace & love

daeve

kidsan

so, here we go again....

spin or seam seems to be the big question with the pitch for tomorrow...let's see what they've prepared for us.

sadly, the 1st day's play will be almost over by the time i get up tomorrow but I'm feeling much more confidant after nagpur

daeve

...for 0415 GMT...do England have the initiative, or did the Indians seize it back with their late counter attack at the end of the Nagpur game?....my feeling is that the last one was England's draw and that the tourists go into the Mohali game just slightly on top.....

...is there any English language radio commentary in India? I have a very fetching cap with built in FM/LW radio & earplugs...should I bring it to Mumbai with me....?

peace & love sisters & brothers

daeve