England v India 2025- Test Match Series

When India delayed their declaration yesterday the stump mike picked up one of the England fielders saying it's going to rain at 10am tomorrow morning. Well it has arrived, meaning a delayed start. The forecast improves from midday with a clear outlook & the potential to make up time later. But if overs are lost and England are hanging on for a draw it will highlight a poor decision.
Overcast conditions will remain all day & I fully expect India will get the job done, but I'd prefer to be proven wrong.

Despite starting 1 hour & forty minutes late, only 10 overs have been lost, 80 overs is a long time for this England team to bat.

Revised Times
1st Session - 12.40 - 14.30
Lunch - 14.30 - 15.10
2nd Session - 15.10 - 17.10
Tea - 17.10 - 17.30
3rd Session 17.30 - 19.00

(05-07-2025 11:41 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  

(04-07-2025 11:26 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  

(03-07-2025 12:18 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  

(02-07-2025 07:14 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  England v India 2nd Test Edgbaston Day 5
Toss - England elected to bowl
India 587 (151 overs) Gill 269 Jadeja 89 Jaiswal 87 Washington 42 Bashir 3-167 Woakes 2-81 Tongue 2-119
England 407-5 (89.3 overs) Smith 184 Brook 158 Root 22 Akash 4-88 Siraj 6-70
India 427-7 dec (83 overs) Gill 161 Pant 65 Jadeja 69 no Rahul 55 Tongue 2-93 Bashir 2-119
England 271 (68.1 overs) Smith 88 Carse 38 Stokes 33 Duckett 25 Pope 24 Brook 23 Akash 6-99
India won by 336 runs
Target 608

If you keep inputting the opposition then eventually you'll end up batting on a turning wicket with footholes for the leg spinner to use.

This is the second test that England have put in India and they've put together a big score. They were lucky in the last test but not this one.

It's a good job that there are reviews nowadays as the umpires seem to get it wrong most of the time. Smith was given out and the ball was at least 8 inches over the top of the stups. Good job that there was still a review.

^^ Recent history backs up the decision to bowl first at Leeds. Credit has to go to India]s openers who saw off the early threat of the new ball. This is not the best bowling attack that England have put out for the last 2 Tests, Bashir & Tongue are work in progress, Woakes, Stokes & Carse have been good at time but too inconsistent. n the first Test India dropped a number of catches & had 2 batting collapses, 7-41 & 6-31 which kept England in a game that they had no right to win.
At Edgbaston I would agree, even without hindsight, it was a bat first day, the sun was out as I recall, it was almost certain that India would play 2 spinners, even though they picked Washington when Kuldeep is far better. They wanted extra batting, but it was a misplaced idea they scored 5 centuries at Leeds.
England were undone by the superior pace bowling not spin. In the first innings India's spinners bowled 31 wicketless overs, going at 4 & 5 run rate. In the 2nd innings the combined for 21 overs with a wicket apiece.
The pitch wasn't a minefield, the worse of the rough was outside the left-handers off stump of which England had only Duckett & Stokes. Duckett sadly didn't get that far, but coped well at Leeds by employing the reverse sweep. Stokes plays the stop less well & looks uncomfortable, but the majority of the foot-holes were too wide to be much of an issue. Stokes in partnership with Smith didn't mange the strike well at at all, Smith should've taken the majority of Jadeja's deliveries.
The pitch was still playable, & England should've made a better job of surviving less than 100 overs. This silly obsessionof wanting to chase down 4th innings totals needs a rethink.

England's squad for the 3rd Test at lords has expanded to 16.

Stokes © Archer, Atkinson, Bashir Bethell, Brook, Carse, Cook, Crawley, Duckett, J Overton, Pope, Root, Smith (wk), Tongue, Woakes

Bashir had match figures of 5-286 at Edgbaston, he is an average fielder & batsman, they have the option of Bethell who can provide a slow left arm bowling, exciting batting & excellent fielder, Root is more than capable as a back up off-spinner.

I would also consider a complete bowling refresh, Woakes, Carse & Tongue can make way for Atkinson, Archer & either Overton or Cook.

The England bowling was the weak link, quickies and spin.

I'm not sure that Bashir is the finished item. He hardly spun the ball in India's second innings yet all 3 of India's spinners were moving the ball at will.

And I agree wth changing the quickies. They were poor, especially with the new ball.