Fourth Test: India v England, 8-12 Dec.

[backfootpunch]

I'm starting to think cook should step down

He needs to concentrate on his batting and the extra responsibility might improve roots batting plus he is bound to be more pro active

[rich1uk]

my only concern with that is i am not sure how cook would handle playing under another captain

[andy]

I think Cook would be fine in that scenario...he has also said in interview recently, that he is looking forward to the day, where he can just open the batting, and stand at 1st slip, and let someone else make the decisions, whilst offering advice if needed..

[meninblue]

This has been a very frustrating series as an england fan

I was expecting us to get pasted and I'd say we have actually competed quite well in a series most thought would be 5-0 and one sided

Today sums up the series really, we get India 310-6 and have hope of a lead

A catch is dropped off the wrong batsmen at the wrong time and next thing you know the score is 450-7

The runs Indias last four wickets have scored in the last two tests have completely crippled us

It would be less annoying if we were getting pasted by a much better team but we keep getting into a position from which a win is possible only to fall at the final hurdle and let India off the hook.

I thought the captaincy during the initial stages of the kohli/jadeja partnership was appalling and enabled them to turn the momentum indias way very quickly. Especially the field cook set to jadeja when rashids was bowling and having adil bowl outside leg stump when he should have been trying to take wickets

You also have to wonder why root bowled so little

England clearly have competed better than Aussies did.
I doubt Aussies scored 300 plus in any innings.

400 plus in all first innings they have batted and one match which they ended up as favorites at draw time.

I'm quite happy with how we have played

India just have kohli and Ashwin

They are the difference, in the crunch moments they have stood up and took control

Root should be our kohli but he keeps getting himself out, he could learn a lesson from the way kohli played

Playing four seamers was an absolute joke

England pacers have given 130 runs for 1 wicket. Would an England spinner done badly than this

[rich1uk]

our two best spinners have taken 4 wickets for 290 runs in 89 overs

why would anyone assume someone who isn't good enough to get into the team in front of either of those would have helped us much ?

we shouldn't have played a 4th seamer but picking a 3rd spinner just for the sake of it isn't going to help either

i have absolutely no idea why they added dawson to the squad instead of rayner or leach

[backfootpunch]

our two best spinners have taken 4 wickets for 290 runs in 89 overs

why would anyone assume someone who isn't good enough to get into the team in front of either of those would have helped us much ?

we shouldn't have played a 4th seamer but picking a 3rd spinner just for the sake of it isn't going to help either

i have absolutely no idea why they added dawson to the squad instead of rayner or leach

Someone should be fired

The squad they picked was a joke

Batty
Ansari
Duckett
Ballance
Finn

All terrible inclusions

Duckett was fair enough I suppose as a selection but the other 4 should not be in the squad

[backfootpunch]

our two best spinners have taken 4 wickets for 290 runs in 89 overs

why would anyone assume someone who isn't good enough to get into the team in front of either of those would have helped us much ?

we shouldn't have played a 4th seamer but picking a 3rd spinner just for the sake of it isn't going to help either

i have absolutely no idea why they added dawson to the squad instead of rayner or leach

Rashid bowled a 28 over spell according to the verdict

At the very least a third front line spinner would have allowed him to have a break

[Arthur Crabtree]

Duckett was a fair selection. Finn was justifiable, but might have been changed after BD.

England's biggest error was treating the two tours as one. I don't think they'll do that again.

Wonder if Anderson is definitely fit.

[rich1uk]

duckett had to be selected after the year he had, winning the PCA player and young player of the year

yes there were questions about him doing it in division 2 in first class cricket but he did earn his spot imo

he's just been horribly exposed by spin friendly conditions and/or high quality spin bowling

[rich1uk]

our two best spinners have taken 4 wickets for 290 runs in 89 overs

why would anyone assume someone who isn't good enough to get into the team in front of either of those would have helped us much ?

we shouldn't have played a 4th seamer but picking a 3rd spinner just for the sake of it isn't going to help either

i have absolutely no idea why they added dawson to the squad instead of rayner or leach

Rashid bowled a 28 over spell according to the verdict

At the very least a third front line spinner would have allowed him to have a break

or a competent captain would have rotated his bowling better

he didn't bowl rashid for the first 90 minutes, a period we needed wickets before the likes of kohli and vijay got set again, probably because he was worried about how rashid had bowled yesterday. then when he did eventually bring rashid on he bowled him for almost the rest of the day

using one of the 11 available spaces for a 3rd spinner just to give your main spinners a rest seems a bit defeatist

[backfootpunch]

Duckett was a fair selection. Finn was justifiable, but might have been changed after BD.

England's biggest error was treating the two tours as one. I don't think they'll do that again.

Wonder if Anderson is definitely fit.

Finn has been poor for quite a while

And he's not the sort of pace bowler who succeeds in Asia

[Arthur Crabtree]

He was England's best bowler in Kolkata last time, and in the ODIs. I'm not sure he was 'unselectable' for the tour. He was a surprise pick in BD for the XI, but he hardly bowled and didn't seem in good form. He's a bit of an enigma, and it might be time to move on.

[backfootpunch]

our two best spinners have taken 4 wickets for 290 runs in 89 overs

why would anyone assume someone who isn't good enough to get into the team in front of either of those would have helped us much ?

we shouldn't have played a 4th seamer but picking a 3rd spinner just for the sake of it isn't going to help either

i have absolutely no idea why they added dawson to the squad instead of rayner or leach

Rashid bowled a 28 over spell according to the verdict

At the very least a third front line spinner would have allowed him to have a break

or a competent captain would have rotated his bowling better

using one of the 11 available spaces for a 3rd spinner just to give your main spinners a rest seems a bit defeatist

Compared to picking a 4th seamer in a series where 3 is arguably too many

There are sessions when one or two of the seamers didn't actually bowl

But I agree you look at roots figures and you have to wonder what cook was doing, he actually brought himself on too as soon as cook left the field and took two wickets, cook comes back on and sets terrible fields to jadeja and looses all the ground we had gained

[backfootpunch]

He was England's best bowler in Kolkata last time, and in the ODIs. I'm not sure he was 'unselectable' for the tour. He was a surprise pick in BD for the XI, but he hardly bowled and didn't seem in good form. He's a bit of an enigma, and it might be time to move on.

When has Steven Finn actually won us a test Once? twice?

he never really recovered from the hitting of the stumps debacle

[Arthur Crabtree]

I'd have picked 2+2. But then Mo and Stokes are getting in as top order bats. So that sort of accidentally gives you 3+3.

Credit to Rashid on the tour. Twenty wickets is superb. It'll be interesting to see how the spinners get on under a new skipper, when it happen.