England XI v India spoilers

JohnnyG · 23 Feb 2006 at 14:23

Yes this is the 'official' thread so don't post elsewhere

Fixtures:

March

1-5 1st Test, Nagpur
Scheduled start: 0430 GMT each day

9-13 2nd Test, Mohali
Scheduled start: 0430 GMT each day

18-22 3rd Test, Mumbai
Scheduled start: 0430 GMT each day

28 1st ODI, Delhi

31 2nd ODI, Faridabad

April

3 3rd ODI, Goa

6 4th ODI, Cochin

9 5th ODI, Guwahati

12 6th ODI, Jamshedpur

15 7th ODI, Indore

It's already looking shaky for us as Vaughan has had a recurrence of his knee injury, KP has injured his back & Collingwood has been having back spasms.
Ganguly has been left out for them & Sehwag has recovered from his injury.
There should be an announcement today sometime about the TV coverage. It seems Sky are out of the frame, so it could be PPV on Setanta, Zee TV, Sony or ARY. Seems really odd to leave such a decsision to this late a stage:/

JohnnyG · 23 Feb 2006 at 17:53

Doesn't matter how good the spin attack is, without one we're buggered

Edit: It does seem now that Sky are favs to get it & are pretty much holding Nimbus by the short & curlies. That would certainly be the best result out of all the options, doesn't help MOT much though

JohnnyG · 24 Feb 2006 at 11:24

Sky have indeed secured the series, probably the best outcome considering

JohnnyG · 24 Feb 2006 at 16:43

Panesar's been bowling ok, but Blackwell has been better, which I think is a shame in a way as I really want to see Panesar in the Tests

JohnnyG · 24 Feb 2006 at 18:43

Earlier in the day Fletcher said there wasn't any need to put anyone on standby yet, so there must be some bad news from the physio table

JohnnyG · 24 Feb 2006 at 18:47

S. Jones has got a virus too

JohnnyG · 25 Feb 2006 at 16:36

If Vaughan & Udal don't make it:

Cook
Strauss
Bell
KP
Freddie
G. Jones
Collingwood
Blackwell
S. Jones
Hoggard
Harmison

Doesn't look inspiring does it and that's assuming Collingwood, KP & Jones are fit

JohnnyG · 25 Feb 2006 at 16:53

Blackwell is captain at Somerset so he might be in the frame:/

JohnnyG · 26 Feb 2006 at 18:58

Owais Shah has now been called up too as KP is really struggling apparently, can you change the title to England 'A' v India now Kev

Edit: As Strauss has been put forward to most of the recent interviews he could well be in line for the captaincy if Vaughan doesn't make it.

And on a lighter note, Mark Ramprakash has joined my golf club after taking up the game recently

I'll try and get a pic or 2, but I'm not sure if I want to associate with a turncoat like him

JohnnyG · 26 Feb 2006 at 20:17

I know, we used 12 players during the whole Ashes series (Collingwood came in for the last Test), that's one of the reasons we did so well. I don't think we've been able to field the same team consecutively since

JohnnyG · 27 Feb 2006 at 12:04

What a mess

I suppose the only good thing that will come out of the tour now is that a few young lads wll get some experience they might not have:/

JohnnyG · 27 Feb 2006 at 20:56

Cook
Strauss
Bell
KP
Freddie
Collingwood
G. Jones
Blackwell
Plunkett/Udal/Monty/Anderson
Hoggard
Harmison

Can't be anything else now really

JohnnyG · 27 Feb 2006 at 21:07

Yep I think Blackwell will definitely play, mainly for his batting as you say.
Plunkett will get the nod above Anderson (because he's been there a while) if we play 1 spinner & Udal above Monty if 2, because of his batting too.

JohnnyG · 27 Feb 2006 at 21:16

I agree, I want to see Monty play & he is the future (hopefully) but his batting is pants & I can't see the selectors having the guts to play him. If we had a full batting line-up I hope it'd be different

JohnnyG · 28 Feb 2006 at 11:14

It's only Blackwell & Monty who haven't played before & one of them was always going to anyway due to Giles not making the tour.

JohnnyG · 1 Mar 2006 at 09:55

Well played Cook

We've got to bat the rest of the day at least, that pitch & outfield looks like it is full of runs & we've got to use it for as long as we can.

JohnnyG · 1 Mar 2006 at 10:22

Freddie's gone for 43, shocking lbw decision

JohnnyG · 1 Mar 2006 at 11:53

We'll be lucky to get 300 at this rate

We did manage to throw a few wickets away again, that seems to be the norm for us now.

JohnnyG · 2 Mar 2006 at 10:10

An excellent morning

If they want to put us under any real pressure they've got to start scoring quicker.
Monty looks like a proper bowler

JohnnyG · 2 Mar 2006 at 17:06

Vaughan is definitely not coming back

I can't see us getting them out as the pitch is still a dream so it's all down to how well we can bat in the last 3-4 sessions I reckon.

England XI v India **spoilers**

England XI v India spoilers