I think the standard of umpiring in this series has been shockingly poor for both sides,fortunately the poor decisions have not really changed a game as England were denied by the weather in the 1st test and totally outplayed in the 2nd.This game should be a draw and India will go on to deservedly win the series as they took the chance that England couldn't to win a game.

Funny yes. That is why I said every body complains but you must admit that the english take this far too seriously. Take soccer for example. I do believe it was Simeone and Ronaldo who cost England the last 2 world cups. Of course it cant be the fact that the English team just was not good enough now can it. At least we SAffers blame Donald for losing the World cup and not the opposition.

There is no need to take it personal but you have to admit that England do have a reputation of blaiming other for there failures.

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?

I don't know about SA, but actually you are wrong about the Indian commentators. With a exception of a few like the big-headed gavaskar, they are amazingly neutral on the radio and TV. In fact there was a time back in the 60s & 70s when the Indian radio commentators went the other way - being over-critical of their own players and praising eveything that the visiting team did.

This morning, Jonathan Agnew joined the arguement about how that dropped Tendulkar catch was the worst disaster for England since WW2. It is obvious that the commentators are shaping up to give excuses if England fail to win this match and so lose the series. Even if Tendulkar gets out early today (and thereby that dropped catch did not make much differece), Matt Prior will be a convenient scapegoat to be crucified as the sole reason if England do lose. Not that I'll shed any tears for Prior - he is an ignorant and unsporting nitwit - but it is interesting to see the same cycle of excuses and scapegoats repeating itself year after year in the belief that rest of the cricketing world will not see through it. In fact, most of them are laughing behind your backs.

Hey GF! You're right about us taking it seriously. We're not the only ones. Think about what happens when things go wrong on the sub-continent, the teams then get treated badly. Generally, people try to find reasons why things go wrong and it's easier to blame someone else. At Lord's we can blame the umpire for not giving SreeSanth out but we can also get at the team for bowling their overs too slowly (and the press did this!). As for yesterday we are already starting the witch hunt for Matt Prior (just as you did AD after Edgbaston 99)!!

In public the english will often blame external factors i.e. cheating opposition. In private most of us will admit we aren't / weren't good enough. Sometimes you have to accept that, sometimes you also have that feeling you've been robbed.

Fair enough. Lets move on shall we.

NE, what do you think should be England's plan to win the game from here. Of course they need to bowl India out asap but who do you think will need to fire in order to do this. I think that England should start off with Tremlett and Sidebottom. Try to keep it tight and continue to pepper Tendulkar with short balls. IMO the drop of Tendulkar is not as bad as it seems because he is really keeping England in the game with his slow batting. If however, Dhoni smashes a quick 50, then England will be under pressure.

What do you think of Vaughn and Cook opening the batting and maybe bring Strauss down the order. Vaughn is on form and may be able to get England off o a good start.

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?

That is a fact. In the 2002 Football World Cup match between Brazil and England, majority of the England supporters - media included - insisted that Ronaldinho's winning goal that put England out of the tournament was a "fluke" while just about everyone else disagreed. Ask yourself how many England fans would have considered that great free kick as a fluke if Beckham had scored it instead.........remember the reaction to that other goal against Greece?

It's going to be tough. The first hour is key. Dropping any player is always a bad move in a Test as you want the next batsman in sooner rather than later. We need to get into the tail quickly and then bat positively, sounds simple but it sure isn't.

On another note Nasser Hussain says that Dinesh Karthik tells him that he did indeed edge the ball from Sidebottom. Snicko got it wrong, gut instinct got it right. This is why technology shouldn't always be trusted.

Laxman edges Sidebottom to Strauss at first slip and Prior takes it off him and drops it. How many does he have to mess up? It's Geraint Jones all over again! (One ton in your first Test series against someone rubbish and then nothing but dropped catches). Drop him now and save us the pain.

Well, Andreson has served up a few pies to get Laxman going and now he is taking on Sidebottom as well. This is not the start England needed this morning. Should have used Tremlett with the new ball. India racing along at 347/4.

Prior just dropped Laxman. Well, Prior really is a pathetic keeper. I am surprised that he has such a big mouth. He needs to be dropped asap. Rachael is probably pulling out her hair

Poor old Sidebottom. He really has bowled well and his figures have not reflected this. Anderson taking wickets with long hops while beautiful away swingers from Sidebottom find edges and are dropped by Prior.

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434, world record for the shortest period. Whos choking now?

India off to a flying start for the day. If these two score centuries, we can hope to get the English batsman out twice in the remaining days.

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My computer can beat me at chess.....but its no match for me at kick boxing.