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**Jayesh87** · 11-11-08, 03:58 PM

England collapse to heavy defeat

One-day warm-up match, Mumbai (Brabourne Stadium):
Mumbai President's XI 222-7 (50 overs) beat England 98 by 124 runs
Match Scorecard

England crashed to a humiliating defeat as they were bowled out for just 98 in their final warm-up match ahead of the seven-match one-day series in India.

The batsmen were unable to cope against a side made up mainly of club players, losing by a massive 124 runs.

That was after the Mumbai President's XI, asked to bat first, made 222-7.

England lost their first five batsmen inside 12 overs, and seamer Kshemal Waingankar - with just one previous first-class cap - claimed five wickets.

Stuart Broad had a sore knee and was pulled out of the match as a precaution, and with Ryan Sidebottom (Achilles) still recovering it meant the tourists had only three fit specialist pacemen in the side.

But the problems were all with the bat - and there will be obvious concerns for England with the first one-day international of seven looming large in Rajkot on Friday.

It is, after all, only 10 days since they were skittled for 99 by the Stanford Superstars in Antigua.

But in Mumbai on Sunday - at the same Brabourne Stadium where they batted so poorly in Tuesday's defeat - Andrew Flintoff's century had taken them to 297-4 and an easy victory.

Warwickshire batsman Ian Bell had looked in good touch when scoring 58 in that emphatic victory over the Mumbai Cricket Association.

But he lasted just two overs on Tuesday, hanging his bat outside off-stump almost in practice at a cut shot - and edging the ball behind.

Wicketkeeper Matt Prior suffered his second successive failure of the tour in the next over when he was given out lbw to seamer Rajesh Verma, from a delivery which kept low.

Waingankar then claimed the key wicket of Kevin Pietersen, who advanced down the wicket trying to whip the ball through mid-wicket but was hit on the pad - and the umpire upheld the lbw appeal.

Samit Patel, promoted to number five, was fortunate to survive another lbw appeal two balls later as he tried to rescue England in partnership with Paul Collingwood.

Their stand lasted only five overs, however, when Collingwood advanced to Verma and drove straight to mid-on to leave England in disarray.

Patel lasted a further three overs before also falling, this time edging Waingankar to second slip as the England collapse continued.

Flintoff lasted just one over before edging behind, and Ravi Bopara fell in similar circumstances - while Luke Wright became Waingankar's fifth victim when he played on, pushing forward defensively.

The dismissal of Steve Harmison left the scoreboard on 64-9 - whereupon Graeme Swann (24 not out) and James Anderson (20) showed there was little wrong with the pitch, putting on 34 for the last wicket in the most profitable stand of the innings.

England had done well enough with the ball, keeping the hosts to 222-7 off their 50 overs with Harmison taking 2-38. Patel also took two wickets but proved more expensive.

Having elected to rest batsman Owais Shah, England won the toss and Anderson - who impressed with 3-15 in the first match - took the first wicket.

They struggled to break a stubborn second-wicket stand worth 82 between Sushant Marathe (65) and Paul Valthaty (44), but three wickets then fell to the spinners and England seemed to be on top.

That impression continued despite the late intervention of Shoaib Shaikh, who hit two sixes off Patel and another off Collingwood, en route to 37 off 35 balls.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cric...nd/7721282.stm

**Jayesh87** · 11-11-08, 04:02 PM

Pietersen calm after dismal loss

England captain Kevin Pietersen said his team had been taught "a few quick lessons" after being thrashed by 122 runs by a club side in Mumbai.

They were dismissed for just 98 three days before the first of seven one-day internationals against India.

However, Pietersen insisted nothing should be read into England's display.

"I'm not sure if we were fully focused but this is a really good lesson. I don't see this is a bad thing. I think the guys are all right," he said.

"The wicket wasn't difficult. We didn't apply ourselves as we should have. I think there was just a bit of indiscipline in some of the shots and some of that just crept in.

"What counts is the internationals We just need to turn our heads on now and make sure we start on Friday. Today doesn't really count in the grand scheme of things.

Tuesday's display was in stark contrast to England's 122-run victory over a Mumbai Cricket Association side on Sunday and highlights the scale of the task ahead of them as they attempt to win their first one-day series in India since 1983-84.

The hosts had made 222-7 against an England attack depleted by the withdrawal of Stuart Broad for precautionary measures because of a sore knee.

Pietersen's side lost their first six wickets for 38 runs in reply and were 55-8 before Graeme Swann (24 not out) and James Anderson (20) put on 34 for the last wicket.

Pietersen, who has scored 6 and 0 in India so far, admitted his side was rusty but was confident his side would improve in the first one-day international against in Rajkot on Friday.

"We played our last competitive game before the Stanford week, round about 3-4 September," he said.

"That was a long time ago. We had a good seven weeks off into that week. And now we are back into the real, real tough stuff to come here to India.

"It's Friday that counts for us now and we will be coming real, real hard on Friday. It's a big, big series for us."

England have either won spectacularly or folded dramatically in the short time they have been led by Pietersen.

When hauled in at short notice to replace the suspended Paul Collingwood in the final one-day international against New Zealand in late June, he presided over a 51-run defeat.

But when taking the captaincy full-time after Michael Vaughan's resignation he enjoyed a honeymoon period in which the team won the last Test against South Africa, then beat those opponents 4-0 in one-day matches.

But in the $20m Stanford finale on 1 November, England were bowled out for 99 by the Stanford Superstars to be thrashed by 10 wickets.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cric...nd/7721959.stm

**Jayesh87** · 11-11-08, 04:02 PM

**Jayesh87** · 11-11-08, 04:04 PM

Vaughan to the rescue?

Former England captain Michael Vaughan will join the national team's performance programme in India.

The 34-year-old was not in the original 15-man squad but is expected to fly out with them on 21 November.

Vaughan received a central contract in September but was left out of the two-Test series starting in India on 11 December and took a three-month break.

He is keen to force his way back into the squad for the series against the West Indies and Australia in 2009.

England play a four-Test series in the West Indies, beginning in Jamaica on 4 February, before a home series - against Sri Lanka or West Indies - and then the Ashes later in the summer.

The England performance squad will be skippered by Kent's Robert Key and spinner Monty Panesar will also join them after his plans for a spell playing club cricket in Sri Lanka fell through.

England and Wales Cricket Board national selector Geoff Miller said when announcing the Test squad for the tour of India that Vaughan's poor form since stepping down as England captain meant he would not be included in the Test squad.

"Michael's place cannot be justified based on recent form," said Miller, who expected Vaughan to "work on his game".

Vaughan then announced his sabbatical from the game but recently hinted in his newspaper column that he would join the Performance Programme.

The senior England squad are currently in India, preparing for a seven-match one-day series before the two Tests.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cric...nd/7721616.stm

**Jayesh87** · 11-11-08, 04:07 PM

Chak De India

**Jayesh87** · 11-11-08, 04:10 PM

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=F2i4-OFHmT4

**Jayesh87** · 12-11-08, 02:59 PM

Team News:

Sidebottom ruled out
Broad to have fitness test tomorrow

Ishant Sharma ruled out
Sachin to be rested for first 3 ODI's

**tsb** · 12-11-08, 03:23 PM

Limbering up for this one.

Only two test matches! What utter ****e.

**Parm** · 12-11-08, 04:08 PM

yup cant believe only 2 test, almost pointless. Think England will provide us with a sterner test than those Aussies.

**Red Chilli** · 12-11-08, 05:28 PM

Originally posted by Parm View Post

yup cant believe only 2 test, almost pointless. Think England will provide us with a sterner test than those Aussies.

I don't. I epect the same result, 2-0 to India

**Parm** · 12-11-08, 05:31 PM

Originally posted by Red Chilli View Post

I don't. I epect the same result, 2-0 to India

I think they will make it quite competitive, but I do expect a series win for us, probably 1-0

**Red Chilli** · 12-11-08, 05:34 PM

Originally posted by Parm View Post

I think they will make it quite competitive, but I do expect a series win for us, probably 1-0

I'll be surprised if we take more than 25 wickets in the series and average a score (as a team) of more than 220

The side isn't experienced enough and certainly isn't good enough. Your spinners will make us look like a pub team and our bowlers aren't used to the conditions.
I reckon even Monty will take a pasting, he might be a decent spinner but that's meat and drink to your batsmen .

**Joe King** · 12-11-08, 05:53 PM

India will walk it

**Sarb** · 13-11-08, 01:45 PM

Am I mistaken or is there a lot of reverse psychology going on here?

Monty P did well on the last tour of India. But then that is expected because he is an Indian

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