England tour of India, Jan 25 - March 11

[Durhamfootman]

Uh oh

[Arthur Crabtree]

Hero time for Gentle Ben.

[Durhamfootman]

England 6 down for not many.... all to spin

[Arthur Crabtree]

I had 250 in mind as an that'll-do score. Looks a long way off.

[meninblue]

Sir took big wicket of Joe

[meninblue]

Score 6 down for 141. Indian bowlers have done very well thus far.

[Durhamfootman]

7 down

[sussexpob]

Going to get 200 probably, so it's not even a disaster in context

[Durhamfootman]

Hero time for Gentle Ben.

8 down, but with a more than useful knock from Hartley and Stokes taking England past 200.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yes, could be worse.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Time for Stokes to employ the turbo-boosters.

[sussexpob]

Yes, could be worse.

Indeed. This better than anything we produced on spinning tracks in the last 3 tests of the last tour, where in one game I think we even failed to score 200 total runs in one match, and made 3-4 scores that barely/did not make 100.

215/8 feels like a mammoth total for an England team away in India if the pitch is playing like billed (not had time to tune in today).

Of course, I expect India to now make 700/6 declared, but baby steps and all.

[bigfluffylemon]

Yes, could be worse.

Indeed. This better than anything we produced on spinning tracks in the last 3 tests of the last tour, where in one game I think we even failed to score 200 total runs in one match, and made 3-4 scores that barely/did not make 100.

215/8 feels like a mammoth total for an England team away in India if the pitch is playing like billed (not had time to tune in today).

Of course, I expect India to now make 700/6 declared, but baby steps and all.

Indeed, well done Stokes and the lower order for turning a disaster into merely a bad total.

I can't see England's spinners knocking India over for a low score, but I guess you never know.

[sussexpob]

Match aside, I would have liked England to have pulled out of this game. This visa issue with Bashir is a scandal, especially when he submitted his application seemingly several weeks before the game when he was first picked for the tour... this is not the way professional sports should be handled, especially when its targeted against people of a certain heritage. Even Usman Khawaja, who has been an international stalwart for Australia for several years, had serious issues getting in the country to play, just because he has Pakistani heritage.

Its not right. I am sure the authorities could do much better than this, and we cant have a situation where teams turn up for games without players in the squad missing games because of this nonsense.

But of course, money talks and b*llshit walks, so I guess the ECB will bend over and let the BCCI and India do what they want.

[Arthur Crabtree]

D'Oliveira-esque?