England are in India already?

F*ck me, it was only a week ago that the Stanford farce was completed. Didn't even realise that they played their first tour game in India today against a Mumbai XI.

Comfortable victory for England.

They got here 2-3 days ago.

Henry wrote:F*ck me, it was only a week ago that the Stanford farce was completed. Didn't even realise that they played their first tour game in India today against a Mumbai XI.

Comfortable victory for England.

I think they flew straight from the WI to India with a stopover in London for a change of clothes. I believe Sidebottom is injured and won't be playing the first two ODIs.

I don't think one should read too much into that vistory over a Mumbai side. Still trying to figure out what would be the best side to field against a young Indian side that impressed against Australia in Australia.

hmm, never heard about any of the players in that game. anyone? kartikeya may have heard of them

The One wrote:hmm, never heard about any of the players in that game. anyone? kartikeya may have heard of them

Well Kulkarni is the obvious one. Played a few tests about 7-8 years ago, right? Seems like he's been talking wickets for Mumbai for decades.

ah yes, besides nilesh of course. old bombay hand, left for maharashtra couple of years back and wants to play for bombay again. quite a bit past it though

the ranji season is on, so first team or fringe players are not likely to play in these games

Sounds a bit like the game the tourists play at Arundel on a tour of England first up - against the has beens & never will be's...

Will England make an impact in India?

Yes it will. ODIs will be pretty close, and the test series wil be interesting if we get fair pitches.

Good news that Fred bashed a hundred, though. Key to the whole balance of the side rests on Flintoff being in some batting form - particularly when the Tests (briefly) come around.

It's all about Fred, but more bowling-wise, methinks.

We don't need him as a batsman in ODIs when we bat down to about 10 million. Usually with better batsmen below him in the order.

As for the Tests, well, we'll probably need all of 6, 7 and 8 to do the run-scoring when Cook, Strauss, Bell and Collingwood have had their 'go.'

Collingwoods game actually suits the sub-con more than it does Aus for example - low backlift and very bottom handed.

I'm more worried about Cook & Strauss - can't see them doing anything in current form

And as i've said before we'll need a bit of luck with the toss.

India bat first and rack up 500, well.... you know the story.

As for the ODI's - who knows? There's always a stanford performance around the corner...

What's wrong with Cook's current Test form? He was one of our best batsman against SA.

60's won't cut it - we'll need 450+ in India