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Trainwreck2100
04-02-2006, 01:14 PM
India v England, 3rd ODI, Goa

More runs likely in hot and humid Goa

Cricinfo staff

April 2, 2006



Paul Collingwood: looking to convert periods of domination into a positive result © Getty Images
Already down 2-0 in the seven-match series, England need to turn the momentum around quickly, else the second half of the series could be reduced to a time for experiments and trying out new talent. India hold the whip at the moment, but they would do well to remember that one season back they were 2-0 up in an ODI series at home against Pakistan, and then went on to lose four in a row.

Though England lost at Delhi and Faridabad, they have by no means been outclassed - in both matches, they held the whip for significant portions, and could have been 2-0 up with better application and some luck. Paul Collingwood said as much in a chat with the media before the game: "We are not down and out yet. There were passages of play when we dominated during the series. Really, we have got to transform that into a win in the game on Monday," he said. "I think it is probably the mental side of it rather than anything else. We have got the skills and personnel. We have to take that a little bit further and elevate it."

Despite the results, India's performance, especially their batting, has hardly been convincing - at Delhi they lost their top five for 80, while they slumped from 61 without loss to 92 for 5 at Faridabad. Rahul Dravid, though, sought to play down the batting concerns, and instead chose to concentrate on the superb comeback in the second match. "The top order performed well against Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan. Overall I am happy with the batting in the one-dayers," Dravid emphasised. "I agree there could have been a few more runs from the top order especially in the last two games where we could have done better. "[But] the last game was won by two batsmen [Suresh Raina, who made an unbeaten 81 and Mahendra Dhoni, who made 38]."

A major concern has been the form of Virender Sehwag, who has only managed three fifties from his last 30 ODIs. However, Dravid indicated that the think-tank would keep their faith in the Sehwag-Gautam Gambhir duo at the top of the order. "We have got good starts though we would have liked them to have carried on. But this is a seven-match series and hopefully they would do so in the remaining games."

The pitches at both Delhi and Faridabad made run-scoring a difficult proposition, but Dravid indicated that batsmen will have more reason to look forward to the one at Goa. "It looks a good cricket wicket. It looks firm. It seems to be a better wicket than the one in the last game. I can't say what will be a good score on this wicket but it probably looks to be a 250-plus score wicket."

What won't please either side, especially England, is the hot and humid conditions at Goa. "It is a big challenge, the humidity, for both batsmen and bowlers," Dravid said. "We need to make sure we stay hydrated." Collingwood echoed those sentiments: "The key is the humidity. It is very hot and I think it is going to be a cauldron out there. We have to be careful about dehydration. We have played in Sri Lanka which is close to these conditions. We have experienced this before and it should not be an issue."

The heartening news for India is that Munaf Patel has recovered from a bruised heel and is available for selection. India might opt to play him in place of Sreesanth, who has gone for 79 in 11.5 overs in the first two games.

India (from) Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopala Rao, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Munaf Patel.

England (from) Matt Prior, Andrew Strauss, Vikram Solanki, Owais Shah, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff (capt), Paul Collingwood, Geraint Jones (wk), Ian Blackwell, Liam Plunkett, Kabir Ali, James Anderson, Matthew Hoggard, Gareth Batty, Sajid Mahmood.

Trainwreck2100
04-02-2006, 01:15 PM
It's hard to believe any team with Collingwood would be down 2-0

Trainwreck2100
04-02-2006, 01:49 PM
cmon people this shit is important

helwardman
04-02-2006, 02:43 PM
Cricket is very important, you are right.
England always struggle on the sub-continent although they did well to square the test series at 1-1.
They have struggled with injuries and are missing Vaughan, both on and off the pitch.
It's a 7 match series so there's still time to pull back.

Trainwreck2100
04-02-2006, 03:20 PM
Cricket is very important, you are right.
England always struggle on the sub-continent although they did well to square the test series at 1-1.
They have struggled with injuries and are missing Vaughan, both on and off the pitch.
It's a 7 match series so there's still time to pull back.

damn right

http://www.emat-tucson.org/England/Pictures/EnglandFlag.gif

helwardman
04-02-2006, 03:50 PM
So are you english or just making fun of the beautiful game?

Trainwreck2100
04-02-2006, 10:37 PM
So are you english or just making fun of the beautiful game?

neither

darrenbatty
04-03-2006, 09:53 AM
India is on a hot streak right now.. Kind of hard seeing England coming back from 3-0 down.. wrong time for the streak though.. would have been better coming close to the WC..

Trainwreck2100
04-03-2006, 10:14 AM
Singh was unconcius, he came to play.

darrenbatty
04-03-2006, 04:30 PM
He has been playing well lately... the younger guys are doing pretty well... raina, kaif, dhoni, pathan.. good nucleus for the WC

NZHayden
04-03-2006, 07:15 PM
fun little cricket game - www.stickcricket.com