Cricket?

[62tucker]

Yeah was the right call but I think they were more coming at it from the point of view of hopefully being able to manipulate when they'd bat and bowl in the twilight. I don't think they were particularly thinking about the pitch disintegrating within 20 overs

And hoping on day 5 it might spin a bit more for last innings

 

[Silverfisher]

And hoping on day 5 it might spin a bit more for last innings

Haha true! I reckon they thought there'd be next to no chance of a day 5 due to the swinging pink ball not no chance of a day 3 due to a Bunsen burner

Probably the most farcical game I've seen in 17 years of watching cricket

 

[CHUB2411]

Sorry but you also have to look at the England selection policy or lack of it .They send a squad to the Indian sub continent knowing full well even an ordinary pitch out there let alone a "doctored" one is probably going to turn square after a couple of days and top class spin bowlers are a must in the touring squad, firstly how many top class spinners have we taken in this squad on the tour{Leach & Ali Ali is back in England) and secondly who the hell picked the bowling attack for this test 4 seamers Anderson,Broad,Stokes & Archer then one and a half spinners Leach & Root why pack a team full of seamers to play on a wicket that is obviously going to turn, surely our selectors don't expect India to produce pitches that will help our bowlers like they did in the First test so aren't England a bit of a "one trick pony" not having the squad to adapt to the well known conditions in India

 

[Silverfisher]

Sorry but you also have to look at the England selection policy or lack of it .They send a squad to the Indian sub continent knowing full well even an ordinary pitch out there let alone a "doctored" one is probably going to turn square after a couple of days and top class spin bowlers are a must in the touring squad, firstly how many top class spinners have we taken in this squad on the tour{Leach & Ali Ali is back in England) and secondly who the hell picked the bowling attack for this test 4 seamers Anderson,Broad,Stokes & Archer then one and a half spinners Leach & Root why pack a team full of seamers to play on a wicket that is obviously going to turn, surely our selectors don't expect India to produce pitches that will help our bowlers like they did in the First test so aren't England a bit of a "one trick pony" not having the squad to adapt to the well known conditions in India

Fair points. I think they were hedging their bets on the pink ball swinging but the pitch took that out of the equation. Had Ali been still there instead of the ridiculous rotation he would have played over broad for sure but as he wasn’t they obviously weren’t sure enough about playing Bess whilst stokes isn’t fit enough to bowl properly at the moment so you can see why they did it.

No one could have foreseen a pitch that bad to be fair either so going off previous pink ball results wasn’t the worst idea in the world given the players we had available. Even if we had picked Bess and got them out for 30 less it probably wouldn’t have changed the result was just a lottery pitch. You can be sure he’ll play the next match though lol

 

[Lee Richards]

Regardless of the format the toss always has an impact on the game and it will never change.

Went to Lords with Worcestershire three times in the 90's and we lost all three one day games as we were put into bat first.
First hour late Summer and Lords is notorious for the ball swinging all over the place. We were out of all three games very early.
Teams bowling 2nd in the IPL usually have a massive disadvantage because of the dew. Most want to bat first so the toss is important.

As for this test match - by batting first on a massively turning pitch didn't that give England the advantage?

Can keep looking for excuses but thoughtless shot making and players out of their depth for this tour are the main factors.

 

[Silverfisher]

The old lords finals in September were reputedly a bit of a nightmare if you lost the toss. I believe they solved it a bit by putting the start time back a bit once they got flood lights as was then no longer so dewy early in the innings so the ball did less.

 

[62tucker]

Mind that stadium they just played in is amazing. 100,000 capacity I think. Imagine opening when 100,000 Indians cheering on a fast bowlers run up.

 

[Silverfisher]

Incredible isn’t it. Believe it’s well over 100k. Done themselves out of a couple days ticket sales with that pitch though

 

[Arry]

My main gripe is the off pitch umpire... there have been some shocking decisions by him in all three matches... as they are domestic umpires due to covid travel restrictions some of the 3rd umpiring has been terrible... and yes I heartily agree that India should be sanctioned for producing unfit pitches... Somerset were docked 12 points for producing unfit pitches for the county championship finals... and that was a pretty poor pitch... the Indians tracks in this series have been atrocious and the should be censured for it... they are famous for producing tracks to suit their bowlers... yes everyone can do it but most countries, England included produce fair tracks to play on... even the Aussies

 

[BBear]

I agree about the poor third umpiring and what with the poor pitches it just makes me not want to bother watching it. India are more than capable of winning without all this - I suspect some of their players are embarrassed by it and as for England I bet they can’t wait to get back home.