Tag: England

Michael Vaughan foresees England’s batting order may see a change after the Dharamshala Test is played from March 7-11…reports Asian Lite News

With England losing the ongoing Test series to India, former captain Michael Vaughan believes the Ben Stokes-led side haven’t been able to win their last three series in the format due to the failure of their batting department. With India taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series via a five-wicket win in Ranchi, it marked England’s first series loss under the captain-coach duo of Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

Before the tour to India, England had drawn 2-2 with Australia at home and 1-1 with New Zealand in their backyard. “It’s a huge week for several of England’s batsmen. When we think of this England team, we think of their wonderfully dynamic batting. But when you look at why they haven’t won any of their last three series, it’s down to the batting.”

“There never seems to be much scrutiny or noise around England’s batsmen. Even last week I chuckled. They lost in Ranchi in large part because they didn’t bat well enough, but there was lots of finger-pointing at Ollie Robinson, a bowler who scored an important half-century!”

“He looked well short of a gallop with the ball and dropped a catch, but I thought it was ironic ‘batsmen v bowlers’ stuff,” wrote Vaughan in his column for The Telegraph.

He also foresees England’s batting order may see a change after the Dharamshala Test is played from March 7-11. “The whole batting lineup has known week in, week out on this tour that it will be playing the next game. That is about to change because after this tour Harry Brook will be back.”

“He has to bat at No. 5 because he should be the bedrock of their batting with Joe Root. Does that mean England’s statement moment is coming? Consistency of selection is such a fine balance in team sports.”

“Making people comfortable is right, and England have generally batted well over the last two years. There comes a point, though, where when it’s your batting that is costing you the biggest series you can’t keep sending the same guys out there every week.”

Vaughan then touched upon the cases of wicketkeeper-batters Jonny Bairstow, set to play his 100th Test match, and Ben Foakes, who has been a part of some gritty partnerships in the series, but both of them have failed to get a big individual total in India.

“Jonny Bairstow plays his 100th Test in Dharamsala and I am delighted about that. It’s a great triumph of resilience and, even in terms of sentiment, I believe that if you get to 99 caps you deserve the moment of your 100th. However, you can’t escape that he could miss out on his 101st. He hasn’t played well enough across the 10 Tests he’s been back in the side, especially in India.”

“I also look at the ‘keeper, Ben Foakes. He has kept magnificently in India, but I get the sense that he’s not in the inner circle with this setup and that his batting still doesn’t suit them. The last Test was a good example: he is great in partnership with a batsman, but struggles kicking on with the tail.”

“Once again, his batting might not be enough however good his keeping is. England could give the gloves back to Bairstow at No. 7, where his batting is more dangerous, or they could look elsewhere. They’ve got a strong crop of young keeper-batsmen coming through, like (the other) Ollie Robinson, Jamie Smith and James Rew.”

“Overall, as a batting unit England have seemed in need of a reminder that Test cricket is a two-innings game. They have consistently been batting well in one, then screwing up the other.”

“In times gone by, being ahead on first innings just about won you the game, but teams fear chasing less now and can turn games around more easily. Ultimately, the game is about winning and England are struggling to do that against the very best sides.”

ALSO READ: Hero MotoSports Wins First World Championship at Abu Dhabi

This is the first Test series loss for England since Brendon McCullum took over the head coaching role….reports Asian Lite News

Former India captain and ex- head coach Anil Kumble has urged England captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum to take a hard look at themselves after suffering a series loss against India adding that Test cricket is about playing according to situations.

India beat England by five wickets in Ranchi on Monday to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the 5-Test series, which marked India’s 17th consecutive Test series win at home (the most by any country).

This is the first Test series loss for England since Brendon McCullum took over the head coaching role.

While giving his take on whether Bazball did not serve England well in the series, Kumble highlighted that playing in India and beating India here was never going to be easy.

“The challenge when England came here was obvious. Bazball or whatever ball you want to call it, playing in India and beating India here was never going to be easy. India have never lost a series at home in the last decade. They (England) knew that they had to be different but their bowling attack wasn’t something that they believed would be able to penetrate India’s batting line-up,” Kumble said on Jio Cinema.

“England’s senior batters including Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, other than the Ranchi Test, didn’t contribute consistently. There were some key moments that they grabbed on a couple of occasions but other key moments they let go. It’s all nice to say that ‘this is the way I bat’, but you can’t bat like that all the time. You have to hold back.

“In Test match cricket, that’s what it is. It’s about situations and that’s what Root did in this (Ranchi) match. No wonder he was successful, something that England will have to discuss and look at,” he added.

The former coach also shared his views on the pitch in Ranchi while adding that pitch conditions, DRS calls after affecting team’s mindset that ultimate give advantage to the opposition.

“The pitch certainly got slower. But the moment you start thinking about the pitch, about conditions, about DRS or things that are not in your control, it certainly starts affecting your mindsets and that’s something the opposition will pick on,” said Kumble.

McCullum Backs Young Spinners

England head coach Brendon McCullum has suggested to the top administrators of English County Clubs to give opportunities to Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley after the young spinners performed admirably during the Test series in India despite their inexperience.

For England to build on a breakthrough tour of India, McCullum had given opportunities to Bashir, 20, and Hartley, 24, despite both of them having modest records and little experience.

The duo have been England’s bright spots in a series, that they have lost 1-3 with the fifth and final Test yet to be played. Both have claimed their first-ever five-wicket hauls in a Test match. Bashir’s eight wickets for 198 in Ranchi increased his England Test wicket tally (12 in two games) to surpass his first-class wicket tally (10 in six games).

Considering their performance so far, McCullum pleaded with the administrators of County Cricket clubs to give the rookie spinners more opportunities because neither Bashir nor Hartley are first-choice spinners for their teams. Bashir’s injured teammate Jack Leach, who is set to undergo surgery this week to treat a knee injury, is the first-choice spinner at Somerset while Hartley’s club Lancashire has recently signed Australian spinner Nathan Lyon.

Though McCullum said he understood why Lancashire opted for Lyon, he still urged the clubs to give more opportunities to young England spinners. “It will be a slight frustration of ours if they weren’t given opportunities at county level,” McCullum was quoted as saying by the English media.

“There’s a very real possibility that might be the case, but without wanting to dictate to counties because they have their agendas as well. When you see performances like we have out of those two bowlers throughout the series, I think you’d be slightly mad if you didn’t give them more opportunities in county cricket,” McCullum said.

The England head coach said playing more matches will help the spinners improve their skills.

“It would be nice to think they’d get plenty of opportunities so that they can improve at a quicker rate. Whether those opportunities are with counties or with England, I think we’ve just got to keep trying to get cricket into them. Whatever opportunity we can, we’ll try and give it to them. Because there are two guys there more than good enough for international cricket. They’re also tough characters.

“What you can’t tell from the outside of a man’s body is the size of their heart – and we’ve seen both of them have big hearts and they’re up for international cricket. It doesn’t get any harder than it is right now. They’ve both stood up and performed, so we’ve just to keep giving both of them chances,” McCullum added.

ALSO READ: Gill, Jurel Seal Series Win for India

ALSO READ: VVIP Uttar Pradesh Crushes Rajasthan Legends in IVPL Match

Combining powerful strokeplay and impeccable timing, Jaiswal would again drive twice off Hartley and reached his fifty in 47 balls with a pull past mid-wicket for four…reports Asian Lite News

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal led India’s response with a blazing unbeaten 76 off 70 balls as the hosts’ ended day one’s play in the first Test at 119/1 in 23 overs, trailing England by 127 runs after the spinners took eight wickets to bowl out the visitors’ for 246 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday.

Electing to bat first on a pitch which was dry from one end and green-ish in the middle, fans waited with bated breath to see England’s attacking style of playing Test cricket. They were great in patches – the opening partnership between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett yielded 55 runs while Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow had a stand of 61 runs for the fourth wicket.

England’s first challenge of fronting up to Indian spinners in their Bazball era ended in favour of the visitors’. Eight England wickets fell to spin as they were left in spot of bother twice at 60-3 and 155-7. Stokes, the England skipper, brought up his 31st Test fifty after lunch, while making precious runs with the lower-order to take England past 200.

Three wickets each taken by Jadeja and Ashwin respectively, though the former was expensive due to coming in line of the Stokes onslaught. Axar Patel took two wickets, while fast-bowler Jasprit Bumrah also had two scalps.

Stokes, coming back to action after a left knee surgery last year, proved that he still possesses of his famed fighting qualities, seen by hitting six fours and three sixes to hit 70 off 88 balls and lead a late counter-attack for England.

He followed his all-familiar pattern of starting slow, before pressing the accelerator for entering a higher gear and clearing the boundary ropes with aggressive stroke-play, seen from him getting his last 53 runs off his final 36 deliveries.

By stumps, Jaiswal had launched a stunning onslaught on England’s bowlers, particularly on debutant left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, to get a 47-ball fifty and continue his sparking start to Test cricket.

In the morning, Crawley and Duckett played some cracking shots off the middle of the bat to fetch boundaries at a fast rate, especially whenever Mohammed Siraj pitched it full, to score 41 in first eight overs. Duckett also took the attack initially to Jadeja, scooping and sweeping of him to take two fours.

After that, India pulled back things quickly – Ashwin got one to come in straight after pitching and rapped Duckett on the front pad. Jadeja then got one to turn in and take a jittery Ollie Pope’s outside edge on a hard push to Rohit first slip. Ashwin had his second scalp of the session when Crawley chipped a drive to mid-off, who ran forward to take a low catch.

Bairstow looked comfortable in hitting five boundaries off Ashwin and Jadeja, getting majority of his runs square of the wicket through the off-side. Root looked solid after the initial hesitation as he and Bairstow took their fourth wicket partnership to 61 runs.

But after lunch, Bairstow was dismissed by a near-unplayable delivery from left-arm spinner Axar Patel. Bairstow was looking for another shot to be played off the backfoot, but the ball coming with a tall release point and from wide of the crease, spun away after pitching in the middle and went past the outside edge to hit top of off-stump.

Root continued to sweep his away before it caused his downfall as his pre-mediated sweep took a big top-edge to short fine leg off Jadeja. England continued to lose momentum post lunch as Ben Foakes went after a spinning away delivery from Axar and nicked to wicketkeeper KS Bharat.

Bumrah joined the wicket-takers party by slipping in a slower off-cutter which took the inside edge of Rehan Ahmed behind to Bharat. Debutant Hartley shined in a small cameo of 23 off 24 runs, including a slog-sweep off Ashwin for six. But he was castled by Jadeja, who got the ball to uproot his leg-stump after beating him on the inside edge.

From the other end, Stokes got his first boundary in 53 balls with a switch-hit past Jadeja and repeated the same shot against the spinner. Stokes again went after him, hitting down the ground, heaving over leg-side and then reverse-sweeping in front of square for three boundaries.

Wood showed no intentions of hanging around by driving Ashwin past point for four till tea arrived. After that, Stokes smashed Jadeja for two back-to-back enormous leg-side sixes to bring up his fifty, after being given a reprieve by Bharat on the first ball of the third session.

After Mark Wood was castled by Ashwin while attempting a big heave, Stokes lofted the off-spinner for six and then got a four off Bumrah. Eventually, Bumrah beat Stokes comprehensively on the outside edge and rattled his off-stump to wrap England’s innings in 64.3 overs.

Jaiswal started India’s innings with a first-ball boundary flicked off Mark Wood. He then welcomed Tom Hartley into Test cricket with two slog-swept sixes and then pulled, followed by driving twice to pick three fours.

Combining powerful strokeplay and impeccable timing, Jaiswal would again drive twice off Hartley and reached his fifty in 47 balls with a pull past mid-wicket for four. Captain Rohit Sharma was a mere spectator in an 80-run opening stand dominated by Jaiswal, though he hit three boundaries.

He fell for 24 after being deceived in flight by Leach and his lofted drive caught by Stokes at mid-on. Jaiswal continued to hammer boundaries off Hartley and Rehan Ahmed till stumps arrived. With a strong day one, India would be hoping that Jaiswal converts his blazing knock into a big innings on day two.

Brief Scores: England 246 in 64.3 overs (Ben Stokes 70, Ben Duckett 35; Ravichandran Ashwin 3-68, Ravindra Jadeja 3-88) lead India 119/1 in 23 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 76 not out, Rohit Sharma 24; Jack Leach 1/24) by 127 runs

ALSO READ: Rohit Captains ICC ODI Dream Team