Tomorrow (yes that's right tomorrow being Sunday) starts the 3rd test match of the 5 match series between England and India at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. India are now 1-0 up in the series after a defeat which was quite a poor one for England down at Lord's and was India's first test match win at Lord's for around 28 years. On the last afternoon down at Lord's on Monday England's batting collapsed once more just as it did in their innings at Trent Bridge, although this time with some ridiculous shots as Ishant Sharma blew England away. The calls for Alastair Cook to be sacked as captain continue as Cook continues to lack cutting edge as a leader but also severly lack runs with the bat as well. Matt Prior though has decided to give the rest of the summer a miss admitting that he has been playing with injury in the first 2 test matches, handing a Test debut to young wicket keeper Jos Buttler who is a massive prospect for the future and could be one of the great wicket keeper-batsmen in years to come. There could also be one unforced change on each side as Chris Jordan is likely to come in for the unimpressive Ben Stokes after Jordan played very well again for Sussex last week. For India, Stuart Binny as the medium paced all rounder is likely to miss out as the Indian's switch back to 4 bowlers after 2 poor matches for Binny and Rohit Sharma will be the first batsman in line to replace him.
The pitch at the Ageas Bowl is likely to be one that has a good amount of pace in it and a decent covering of grass as pitches down there usually are and i'd be surprised if anything different was prepared.
So then, here's how I see this Test match panning out:
England
England need desperate and drastic improvement from all corners of their side really as the batsmen have been too prone to a middle order collapse so far this summer while the bowlers have been unable to clean up the tail really in all series in the last couple of years which has really added about 50 or more to the oppositions total unnecessarily. At the top Alastair Cook hasn't managed a half-century since the middle of the winter and the added pressure of the media and captaincy is really getting to him as England haven't won a test match since the 4th test Vs Australia last August at Durham. Ian Bell has also struggled this summer and he along with Cook are the 2 experienced batsmen of this line-up. As the first player who would go if England wished to play 5 full time bowlers Moeen Ali wouldn't be harmed by putting some innings together to back up the hundred he made at Headingley against Sri Lanka. Joe Root seems like he is starting to add more consistency to his game though which is exactly what England needed with him making 2 big innings already this summer along with Gary Balance who has settled into the job at No.3 really well and Sam Robson has also been pretty decent in my view. Jos Buttler on debut I expect to do well at some point during these last 3 test matches, especially as a man who can push things on with the tail at the end but also but also I think he could hold things together in a crisis which is a good trait to have.
Bowling wise James Anderson will be key again so it's important he's rested and ready with this being he 3rd test match in quick succession as the leader of the attack and clearly the best bowler of the series for England. Chris Jordan will provide a fresh set of legs if selected which may be one massive reason for selecting him after Ben Stokes has been poor and looking tired at times to be fair as well, Jordan will offer a new option to the attack. Stuart Broad has been struggling and he will need to be used well if England want to play him for all 5 matches as he's starting to struggle after 2 and it's been showing in his performances with not much flowing from Broad right now. Liam Plunkett has been good though on his international renaissance acting as more of an options man for Cook who he can employ to bowl a good length and line but also bully the batsmen with some effective short stuff which has been just as good.
Key Man: Alastair Cook really needs to start pulling his finger out this summer with no half-century since mid winter and no century since the start of last summer which is appalling and that's starting to affect his captaincy and the confidence of the England side as a whole which is then coming back to affect his own performances. Cook has the rest of the summer in my view to save his captaincy and place in the side so now wouldn't be a bad time to perform.
India
India have been pretty good in this series, while their tail enders may have gotten them out of trouble on a couple of occasions they've still been pretty solid at the top, while their bowling has been brilliant with some good spells from Ishant Sharma and Kumar to put England's top order in big trouble at times.
Murali Vijay has been by far the star man for India batting wise making a sack full of runs so far in this series and he is currently the leading run scorer on either side by quite a distance with one big hundred and another near miss of 95. Pujara and Rahane in the middle order have showed signs of decent form with the bat. However, while Jadeja can push things on further down the order MS Dhoni is having big struggles with his technique which in my view is massively faltering. Virat Kohli's start to the series has been shocking with nothing to show for it at all yet and he's made me look quite silly for giving him the title of one of the best and most exciting batsmen in world Cricket right now. Dhawan hasn't dealt well at the top of the order and he'd like to have an innings where he settles in and makes some big runs at the top.
If India switch to 4 bowlers, Ravi Jadeja will be a key player in holding up and end and bowling economically to allow Dhoni to keep Shami, Sharma and Kumar fit and firing at the other end and taking wickets which is why Graeme Swann was so effective for England as he built pressure which the seam bowlers could then use to get their wickets so effectively and then leave Swann to clear up the tail. Shami hasn't been the pick of the bowlers so far by any stretch with 4 wickets but Ishant Sharma has bowled 2 brilliant spells both on day 3 of the first test and day 5 of the second test which have put India into strong positions both times while the 2nd leading wicket taker is Kumar who has also been vital and did bowl a very good spell in England's first innings at Lord's whilst also picking up other big wickets at key times which has been vital for their cause.
Key Man: Murali Vijay has really set the tone nicely and led from the front as India's star batsman and opening batsman in this series so far, and his is the wicket England will want to get early if they are to keep India down to a low total, particularly in the first innings.
We should be all set then for another quality 5 days of test match cricket with the sides shaping up nicely and the hosts now needing to strike at the Ageas Bowl to square up the series. One little niggle from me and that's that I find it very disappointing that this test starts on a Sunday meaning we won't see any Cricket on the Friday or Saturday which could be a really bad error in scheduling and possibly lose Hampshire CCC some money on this test, much like their heavily rain affected first ever test match in 2011.
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