India v England - Official seventh ODI match thread

[Mike]

It's a common excuse that England aren't good players of spin and the stats from this series seem to bear that out:

Slow bowling:
India: 152.4 overs costing 639 runs - econ: 4.19 - 27 wickets
England: 75.2 overs costing 317 runs - econ: 4.20 - 6 wickets

Those stats show that India served up twice as many overs of slow bowling than England. The economy rate was similar but India took four times as many wickets. Harbhajan Singh was the difference between the two sides taking 12 wickets.

Name                Mat   O    M    R   W    Ave   Best  4w 5w   SR   Econ

Harbhajan Singh      5   50    5   187  12  15.58  5-31   -  1  25.0  3.74

In the last two matches in which Harbhajan Singh didn't play I thought England were more competitive.

I think the other problem England has is that they try to make as many runs as possible from boundaries resulting in too many dot balls. The following stats from the 7th ODI:

England: 154 runs from boundaries and 152 dot balls.
India: 128 runs from boundaries and 133 dot balls.

Perhaps the England batsmen do this to conserve energy or perhaps they are poor judges of a single. For example: Ian Bells run out. You can't get run out if you don't take singles.

[Crunchy]

Flintoff had the best England batting average in the ODIs in Pakistan - 46.75. He had a bad series in India - 18.25.

ODI
Career avarage dropped from 34.87 to 34.28 in last 25 matches. Average in last 25 matches is 32.66.
In India: 18.25. In Pakistan: 46.75

Test
Career avarage improved from 32.98 to 33.47 in last 19 matches. Average in last 19 matches is 34.45.
In India: 52.80. In Pakistan: 20.83

ICC ODI Rankings for batting:
18/09/2004 (7) - 07/07/2005 (23) - 21/12/2005 (11) - 25th March 2006 (14)
This ranking will drop even further after the results in India are included in the next update.

It's fair to say that his ODI batting is on a gradual decline but that could be due to the amount of cricket he has played and his extra bowling duties. Botham suffered a more pronounced decline in his twilight years. I think Flintoff should be completely rested from Test and ODIs against Sri Lanka so he is refreshed for the Pakistan series otherwise he will end up a shadow of his former self.

I think we all know his career averages are an irrelevance because he was in the England team a couple of years before he should of been, so anything he produces is still probably gonna be better than his career averages. Thats what i'm saying though it's because of being flogged into the ground. I agree about resting him but not for test matches he should be rested from odi's say until the VB series in Australia. Resting him for the odd one day game here and there will have very little impact in regards to burnout.

His odi record.
batting bowling
2003 45.07 18.60
2004 57.55 21.31
2005 35.00 32.96

[DomainK]

India's record flow of wins continues. This team is definitely building up well just before the world cup. The way almost everyone is contributing is just great to watch. Once known to be chokers, India now has a world record in chasing. Several things need to be worked on though. The openers still remain a worry for India. Dravid is best suited down the order and Sehwag is out of form. I believe Sehwag should continue. Form is a temporary thing and will not continue for a long time. He will be back in form in one of the upcoming matches. The question is who will partner him. Two clear choices for the time being ate Utthapa and Gambhir. We have enough time to test Utthappa with Sehwag and see how it goes.

The other thing is how this team performs outside the subcontinent. Most of the recent wins have come inside the subcontinent. I believe there shouldnt be much problem. Dravid, Sehwag, Sachin, Yuvraj and Laxman have a very good record outside the subcontinent.

[Karthik]

I think the way Uthappa got run out was foolish.He turned his back at the ball and jogged slowly.Nevertheless,a good inning by the debutant.It was India's 16th consecutive win while chasing

[DomainK]

I think he wasnt aware at all that the throw was coming to his end. But that was definitely foolish and he looked stupid in the end. As a batsman, u must reach ur crease as quicky as possible if you are not sure where the throw is going. Somethig they teach at school level. He will remember it now....afteral he missed his debut century because of this.

[south beds mikey]

I dont think anyone should be surprised by this series. India are far superior in ODIs and the result reflected this. If the world cup started tomorrow its probably a straight fight between India and the Aussies