England v India: 2nd & 3rd Tests: Paying the Price for Timidity

 

England v India: 2^nd & 3^rd Tests

Paying the Price for Timidity

November 29^th 2016

The 1^st Test ended on a high. England dominated. They looked the stronger side. India were poor. But for a timid declaration, England would surely have won.

It looked too good it be true. And it was…

India were able to take the positives of having held out for a draw in a match that they could well have lost and have never since surrendered the initiative. I had the great fortune to miss most of the 2^nd Test on a trip. It was a good, old-fashioned, made-in-England, massive foul-up. The pitch was nothing like as difficult as predicted, as Cook and Hameed showed in the second innings, but England paid for a couple of disastrously sloppy sessions.

In both innings, India were wobbling – 22-2 and 17-2 – and allowed to recover. At 248-2 soon after Tea on the first day you knew already that only an Indian collapse of epic proportions could save the match for England. The collapse duly happened, but from a platform of 317-4 after the first day: it meant that the match, realistically, was gone. Even after making a slightly sub-standard score in reply – 300 would have been about par for England – there was still just a chance if India could be rolled-over cheaply second time around. Broad and Anderson gave England a fighting chance with their new ball burst, but could not follow through. This being England, it is the hope that kills: even after the stand of 77 between Rahane and Kohli should have made the match safe, Broad and Adil Rashid so nearly dragged England back into contention by inducing another Indian collapse that stopped just short of a full-up panic.

Many fans would not have played Stuart Broad this winter thinking that he would be totally ineffective, but he has bowled his heart out and 8-211 in the three Tests that he has played over the winter has been scant reward, particularly as he bowled through a serious injury that may yet end his tour and suffered considerable pain in this Test. Similarly, after the Bangladesh Tests many people thought that Adil Rashid’s Test career might be over but, suddenly, he has flourished. In his first four Tests he took 11 wickets at 60.8; in his last four he has 22 wickets at 27.8. A decidedly depressing 117-3 became 162-9 and hope was threatening to re-kindle. The et tu Brute moment though was the last wicket partnership that did serious damage to Adil Rashid’s bowling figures and killed-off any lingering chance of a phoenix-like recovery.

India have refused to be killed off throughout the series. Simple as that.

The nominal England chase just demonstrated it. 75-0 after 50 overs. Hameed and Cook coping superbly and the Indian attack wilting visibly. The Close was in sight. Going into the last day with all wickets intact, England would have had real hopes of escaping with the draw. Suddenly it was 87-2 with both openers out and you knew that the match had gone. 75-0 became 115-6. Batsmen played like lemmings fooling around with hand-grenades in a minefield.

3^rd Test? More of the same. Win what was expected to be a critical Toss. Bat. And have a sub-standard first session. Even then, England should have crossed the psychological barrier of 300. It would have given them a real chance. No matter. Stokes and Adil Rashid (him again), engineered a magnificent fight-back with the ball. At 204-6, England hoped for a lead of 40-50. At 301-7, they hoped to limit the damage. India’s last 4 wickets though more than doubled the score. It was horrific. Catches went down. Chances were missed. England surrendered. And, through this, Moeen Ali, England’s most threatening-looking bowler for much of the winter, as in the 2^nd Test, watch most of the action from the outfield, as he had in the second innings of the previous Test. Why? Who knows? Was he injured and unable to bowl? Apparently not!

After a promising start to the series, England’s cup of woe has started to overflow.

·         Hameed has gone home injured. Needs an operation.

·         Stuart Broad has left into to rehabilitate in the hope that he may be able to return for the 4^th Test. If he does not, it looks like the iron bird home.

·         Chris Woakes is under assessment and in danger of possibly having to leave the tour (cracked thumb).

·         Gary Ballance is in desperate form and almost un-selectable.

·         Ditto Ben Duckett.

·         Zafar Ansari’s promising start has been shown to be a mirage. He is looking increasingly out of his depth.

·         Gareth Batty’s selection has been shown to be well-intentioned, but misguided.

And, despite having six players either too out of form or too injured to be considered, England have two players (Finn and Ball) who Air India apparently lost in transit. Jake Ball’s family must be thinking of reporting him to police as a missing person. Right now, his best chance of playing a Test must be as a specialist bat, so stretched are resources in that department.

When you are 134 behind, to slip to 107-6 is the last thing you need. England bat deep, but it is India’s tail that is wagging in this series. First Root and Hameed and then Hameed and Woakes initiated partnerships that threatened to turn things around, but it was not quite happening. Even Hameed and Anderson started to build a partnership. Hameed's courage deserved so much better support. If any one of his partners had batted on for just half an hour longer, India might have started to fray, but each time a wicket fell just before England could start to think seriously about getting back into the game.

A chase of 180 might just have been interesting, 103 was not.

Chris Woakes showed what was possible, cracked bone and muscular issues notwithstanding, by removing Vijay with his fifth ball, but when you have so few runs to play with, even if the opposition were to slip to 17-4, realistically, they are always going to scrape over the line and India are so much better than that.

India are now 2-0 up. England are struggling both against the Indian pace attack and their spinners and Ravi Ashwin’s travails against England in the past are becoming a distant memory.

Add in an injury crisis  and issues of form and confidence and England are in a mess.