Batty is needed if you are dropping Ali

Plus you said that Billings and Hameed should be in the squad before he broke his finger so you obviously thought they should have gone from the start

Well this isn't going well

Selection has played a part but I think that India are just better than us in these conditions

No disgrace in that

Ali would surely be dropped before appearing at 10 and 11


You can't have both


One poor test????

He actually went DRS on the gloved catch. Did he not know that the ball had hit his glove and probably broken his finger. Leaving aside the sportsmanship angle, he wasted a review.

This is really a pitiful review.

NO he didn't .

Not sure how you can get this so wrong ?

Description on Cricinfo :

9.6
UT Yadav to Hameed, OUT, U Yadav finally gets the reward for a testing spell, and they are all looking at the pitch. There have been balls bouncing in front of the keeper from a similar length, which is just short of a good length. Hameed pushes forward ti this, and it kicks off from nowhere to hit him on the higher glove. Lobs up to Rahane at gully. Even the Indians looking at the pitch here. Poor Hameed. After a shooter in his last innings, he gets one that bounces from a length, like on a trampoline
H Hameed c Rahane b UT Yadav 9 (45m 31b 1x4 0x6) SR: 29.03

Something's pitiful, but it isn't Hameed's review.

So with Hameed knackered and Batty as useful as a chocolate teapot , though I see some others have done little with the ball in this match too.

In my view the selectors have really got a fair bit wrong for this tour. A last chance at redemption for them would be to bring in two young batsman who have more of a notion of how to play slow bowling. This tour is going down very fast now so lets play some wild cards in the vague hope that we can get out of the test series with some semblance of dignity

If you say categorically he did not review then i withdraw my earlier post.

I thought he had reviewed. Maybe saw the replays and assumed it was a review.

What have they got wrong ? Who shouldn't have gone and who should ? Baring in mind selectors don't have the benefit of hindsight

You said a fair bit wrong so that suggests to me a number of selections

Hindsight is a wonderful thing Darren but my only hope for this situation is to try out some new bloods and see how they fare. The middle order placings for us has been a revolving door that reminds me of how we were suffering at the might of the West Indies or australia. India have proved too good after a sluggish start so the least we can try for now is to put some new guys into the mix and prayer.

l will ask again then. Who shouldn't and who should have gone ?

For me, when the squad was announced, I didn't have aa problem with the 16.

I think you are over reacting big time. England were never going to beat India in India, it wasn't happening. It isn't as if we have been totally outplayed either, some good signs and some players playing well. It also isn't as if we are on a long losing streak of test series either.

Well for me Duckett was a hit and hope option. Batty was very much yesterdays man and nothing for india to lose any sleep over. Ballance proved to be well named, to my amazement the more he played the weaker he's become. The opposition and conditions havn't proved his downfall in my opinion he had a few chances but now its all over for him. Or is it do the selectors bring him back for one more game.

I cant believe we are going to lose this series just because India have two World class players who are playing at the top of their game.

Also England not playing any Warm up games before and inbetween tests is a disgrace as how can you go into a Test series against one best test teams in the world without playing a Warm up match. It would have been useful as we could see who was playing well and then the selectors could decide who deserved to be in the side

Duckett was a good selection. I think we all thought so on here at the time. He has under performed but he will come good I am sure

So who would you have taken instead of Ballance, Duckett and Batty ?

And do you not think you are over reacting ? Talking as if English cricket is in despair like it was in the 90s.

Yes I'm a bit despondent Darren I wear my heart on my sleeve and want to see England perform to their best. Serious drubbings in an away series are inevitable and at this point I'm not sure what we've gained. Hameed can get his hand repaired and then he has to aim for twelve months of hard cricket ahead I hope.

As for the selections I wish I could do it better than our current lot but I havn't got the picks for our missing players. I would have tried Scott Borthwick and either Keaton Jennings or Nick Gubbins but I'm not totally sure how they would have fared out in Bangla and India.

its a far cry from the constant drubbing days. We aren't a bad side in test and ODI. Some good players ( Cook, Bairstow, Anderson, Stokes ) and one truly world class player in Root. I never thought expected us to win this series but the future is bright with good talent coming through. If only we could get a top class spinner

Keep the faith mb 👍

Views like this always remind me of the Nasser Hussain quote that "a player is always better when he's not in the team". If we hadn't taken Duckett the amount of people who would now be claiming he was our saviour and why wasn't he picked. Billings might be an expert of domestic County Div2 spin, and of lesser relevance T20 spin, but this is test cricket in India against the world number one spinner. And let's not forget Moeen Ali is THE expert in batting against County Div2 spin and you don't rate him.

Whilst I believe that we should be playing against Bangla Desh a more serious tour would have been to use the time to just play 5 tests and a few first class games in India.


I never thought it.


I don't rate Ali either, certainly not in the England top order. Ok, he occasionally gets a big score when the conditions are favourable but he's not a top order batter or a good enough bowler.

Hameed has come in at 8

Does seem odd that if he is able to bat why he didn't come in ahead of Buttler

Root still there on 53* but with 6 down we still trail by 25

Pakistan have collapsed after tea in New Zealand


155/1 at tea to 230 all out

It's the first time in the history of Test cricket that a side has lost 9 wickets in the final sesson of a match

NZ win the series 2-0

Not sure if Ashwin is 100% fit as he's only just come on to bowl

Finds the edge of Hameed's bat in his fist over but the 'keeper doesn't hold on

Hameed has now 'survived' 50 balls

England now lead by 3

78/3 in the morning session making us effectively 22/7

Quite agree Should have come in first down this morning

Apparently, he did have an x-ray yesterday and they are 'analysing' the results....

How daft are the cricket rankings ?

We are about to lose another Test but have gone up to number 2

We will also have lost 3 out of the last 4 as well

(This is due to Pakistan losing in New Zealand)

New Ball taken .

Guess they will be aiming at Hameed's hand ..?