England tour of India, Jan 25 - March 11

[Durhamfootman]

The key word in what I said was 'balanced'. Jadeja gives India 7 genuine batters and 5 genuine bowlers and I'm not sure that Sundar does that, tbh, at least not with only 4 tests under his belt.

England have the same problem with Stokes and when he is unable to bowl England have to do stupid things like give the gloves to Bairstow to allow them access to 5 bowlers. Less of a problem in India, of course, because Root fulfils the 5th bowler role.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Big concern for the next game is whether Leach will be fit. Maybe Rehan will be challenged by a pace bowler, but that would leave England with two specialist SLAs, if Leach is available. Bashir is an off spinner, so offers variation.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Bashir was born in Chertsey, same as Ashley Giles.

[bigfluffylemon]

Leach confirmed out

[Arthur Crabtree]

Huge blow.

Stokes says he aims to bowl again next summer.

[alfie]

Always likely Leach would struggle to get up for this one after his injury - fortunately a bit of a break before the third game.

Bashir stands a good chance of getting a debut - rather earlier than expected as he originally appeared to be on the tour primarily for experience. Do think if he does play I'd like to see Anderson there for control - well in fact I'd hope Jimmy plays in any case : reckon he probably offers more on these pitches than Wood , having a very good past record in India.

Depends a lot on the pitch , of course. But with Root showing his ability to do a job with the ball there is a case for mixing it up this time , allowing the possibility of two pace bowlers , and two spinners turning opposite ways. Quite a few combinations to choose from though : I'm sure they aren't going to automatically just bin Rehan on the strength of his rather disappointing efforts with the ball in Hyderabad. Cricinfo even floating the idea of Lawrence as a means of lengthening the batting while giving an alternative spin option - which I think is a little too "funky" even for these fellows. But you never know...

India have their worries with the loss of Jadeja and Rahul. But we saw in Australia a year or two back how well they bounced back from being bowled out for 36 and then losing their best batsman - not to mention most of their first choice bowlers over the series ! That and the fact that they came back rather forcefully three years ago when England went one up (admittedly with the aid of some rather extreme surfaces) says that it would be foolish to start casting the tourists as favourites on the strength of one (remarkable !) victory. Think we can look forward to a proper contest at least - which is what we all want to see anyway , no ?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Supposed to be a better batting pitch tomorrow, so possibly an occasional spinner will be less effective.

Maybe being a front line spinner will impare Root's batting too. It's a lot to ask, to bowl as a front line spinner right through the series.

Presumably plan A at Hyderabad was Rehan bowling most of the overs that Root was given.

[GarlicJam]

In Anderson's very long career, has he ever been the only pace bowler in a test?

[Slipstream]

In Anderson's very long career, has he ever been the only pace bowler in a test?

No. He once bowled with Stokes in India
http://howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/M ... hCode=2435

[Durhamfootman]

Bashir plays tomorrow

[Arthur Crabtree]

Exciting pick.

Anderson for Wood too.

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.

[sussexpob]

In Anderson's very long career, has he ever been the only pace bowler in a test?

There is only one example in English test history of England not fielding two valid pace options..... and that was last week in the first test.

The only other time England have bowled only one pacer in a test is 1888 at Old Trafford, when Johnny Briggs and Bobby Peel tore Australia apart in both innings, with some help from Lohmann taking the new ball.... although those games are not really considered tests anymore, and its been considered removing their status, so this tour may rule as the only example of both sometime soon (all the Ashes between 1885-90 were just private funded Xis touring domestically to play state/county/club cricket - test match status was awarded to some matches where the home side combined players from different teams, but they were never considered England v Australia games, or had official backing).....

Interesting side fact...... Briggs in the home Ashes series that followed this one, had to retire hurt in the match at Leeds after having a seizure on the field. He died in his 30s from the effects of his illness. This was to have a profound effect on his captain, Arthur Shrewsbury, who apparently became paranoid after Briggs death that he also had an incurable illness, which gave him severe depression.... he ended up buying a gun and blowing his head off not long after Briggs died.

[Durhamfootman]

well, that's cheered me up no end, SP

thanks for that

[meninblue]

India won the toss and opted to bat first.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Made a good start too. But first Test wicket for Bashir. Well done to the tall off spinning debutant.