Articles by "Southampton"
Southampton, Sep 4: The victory against world no 1 India in the ongoing five-Test series is on par with beating Australia in the Ashes, said England coach Trevor Bayliss, who suggested they might experiment in the final match starting at London on Friday.
"It is right up there with beating Australia in the Ashes. Obviously India are a very good team, the number one team, and to knock them off is a very good feeling," said Bayliss after England sealed the series with a 60-run win in the fourth Test.
"There were some difficult conditions especially on day one. We have said before, under a bit of pressure these guys have got a bit of character which is a good sign going forward."
With opener Alastair Cook announcing his retirement after this series, and skipper Joe Root eagar to bat at number four, England will have to figure out their top-order in the final Test as well as in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka and West Indies.
Moeen Ali was promoted to the number 3 spot in the second innings of the fourth Test, paving the way for Root to bat at four and Bayliss said the off-spinner might be an option in that position in the right condition.
"I'm sure there will be discussions on a few things in the next couple of days. Batsmen would like to have a settled position in the order. You always find in any era or team there are one or two guys who have to be a bit flexible," he said.
"Moeen has been that guy for us over the last few years. When Root asked him if he was keen to do it he jumped at it. In the right conditions I would not put it past him.
"He works hard at his game. In spinning conditions he can cover that pretty well at the moment but his challenge will be on the faster wickets but we haven't got any of those for a while."
Bayliss, however, wasn't sure if Ali would be a permanent move and hinted it was possible for Root to revert to the role.
"Joe has always said he wants to bat at four. He understood where I was coming from that if we had a number three averaging 50 to allow him to bat at four, that would be handy. But I thought it was for the best of the team he batted at three," he said.
"Hopefully we can find someone who can do a decent job at number three and he can bat where he feels most comfortable. All credit to him. He has taken that role on with no problems. He has taken one for the team in that respect."
The coach also said they will take a call on whether to field both James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the upcoming series.
"We will get together after this Test and see who is fit and available. We will definitely want to win the last Test, and I see a future with them (Anderson-Broad) at the moment," Bayliss said.
"They are the most successful pace bowlers in this series and it will go down to how their bodies are feeling. We spoke before the series if their bodies would double up in close Test matches. So we will have to wait and see how they are in 48 hours' time.
"The numbers of Tests we have played this year have been spread out. There is another reasonable gap until we play the Tests in Sri Lanka. There is a bigger gap again and then another couple of months leading in to the West Indies. Them only playing Test cricket does give them a bit of a break."
The fifth and final Test begins on Friday at London. (PTI)
Southampton, Sept 3: India skipper Virat Kohli said his team cannot be satisfied with just competing overseas and it has to learn the art of crossing the line in pressure situation.
India suffered a 60-run loss in the fourth Test on Sunday after being dismissed for 184 while chasing a victory target of 245 set by England.
It cost India the series 3-1 and Kohli said that they need to understand situation whilst at the crease and not after the game.
"We can look at the scoreboard and say we were only 30 or 50 runs away, but we have to recognise that when we are in the midst of the situation, and not later. We know that we have played good cricket but we cannot say again and again to ourselves that we have competed," Kohli said.
"When you come so close, there is an art of crossing the line as well, which we will have to learn. We have the ability, which is why we are getting close to a result. But when a pressure situation comes, how we react to it, is something we have to work on a bit."
Like in South Africa, India started off the series lagging 0-2 but fought hard to reduce the deficit by clinching the third Test.
Kohli said his team needs to be more relentless and fearless to make better start to the overseas tours.
"Look we've spoken about the fact that even during the match when we're in a driving position, we should be able to capitalise on it and not let the opposition come in, and fight back again and again. We can take a leaf out of that," he said.
"Nottingham we did that, for three days we were relentless and we're on top. So we need to think about how to start a series like that as well. As a group we need to be more relentless when we start a series and be a bit more expressive and fearless at the beginning of a series.
"Especially in a long series because, as I've said at the start of the series, you have time to comeback, but you want to come back when you've played fearless cricket and you don't want to be catching up too much."
When asked about the batsmen's failure in this game, and the series, as a whole, the skipper said, "It's very difficult to recognize key moments in the first innings of a Test match. But after I got out, I myself felt that had I batted for longer that day the lead could have been bigger.
"But even after that we thought we could get a couple of more partnerships and extend the lead if possible. Eventually Pujara had to play a blinder to get us to a lead of 30 odd. So that's the only thing that I feel could have extended our lead a bit more in this first innings.
"Apart from that as I said as captain I don't see many areas we need to think of as negatives because we tried our best."
Kohli said his team never gave up and made England earn the victory.
"Not many teams come close to us when we play at home. But to make the home sides earn victory against us, that's a huge boost for us. As a group we feel that we have pushed the home side to earn victories and we haven't thrown in the towel," he said.
England's Moeen Ali took nine wickets for 134 runs as India succumbed twice to his off-spin.
While Kohli praised the off-spinner, he also defended R Ashwin, who couldn't work similar magic in this game.
"Ashwin tried his best. He pitched the ball in the right areas. He didn't get the results he would have intended. We all try to do well. Some innings it doesn't come off," he said.
"On flat wickets batsmen can get out. So this was one occasion where Ashwin could himself feel he could have got more purchase out of the wicket. The batsmen played well. There could be a lot of factors when you look at that situation.
"But Moeen bowled really well. If you have to single out his performance, I think he was relentless with the areas that he bowled in and the speeds that he bowled at, so deserved to get the wickets he got eventually," he added. (PTI)
Southampton, Aug 31: Wrecker-in-chief Jasprit Bumrah doesn't believe India squandered a good position after all-rounder Sam Curran lifted England to 246 following a top-order collapse on the opening day of the fourth Test here.
Curran's resolute 78 bailed England out after they were reduced to 86 for six at one stage. The 20-year-old put on vital lower order partnerships with Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad.
Bumrah said that it wasn't possible to induce another collapse in the English line-up.
"You can't wicket 5-6 wickets every session," said Bumrah, who took two crucial wickets in the morning session to trigger a collapse.
"They played well too, and built a good partnership between Sam Curran and Moeen Ali. When Curran came in to bat, he was playing the waiting game. As the ball got older, it stopped swinging a lot and there was less seam movement as well.
"Then he played some shots and they scored some runs. After the break, we decided we had to create pressure again and work hard for a wicket, and things would follow."
Bumrah said India were happy to be in the position they are in, and will look to exert further control in the match on day two morning.
"If you'd told us in the morning that we'd get them out for 250, we'd have taken that any day. We had them 80 for five, but they played well too," he said.
"You can't be too greedy and expect too much: 'Oh, they're 80 for five, so you should get them out for 100.' We're happy with this score and if we bat well, it will help us going forward."
Bumrah, who claimed three for 46, said India were surprised at the amount of movement their attack generated throughout the day, especially in the morning.
"When we started in the morning, there was a lot of seam movement and swing. We also wanted to bat first. So that (movement) was a little more than we expected. We thought there would be a little help but this was more than we expected," said Bumrah.
"You don't want to try too much in that case. It's always better for the bowlers to stick to a line and length, and that helps you get wickets. As a bunch when you're getting wickets, it's always good. You can create pressure from both ends."
He took two quick wickets in the first spell as England's top order had no response. Keaton Jennings was bamboozled and didn't know how to leave the ball as it came in sharply.
It signified a good comeback to international cricket for Bumrah, who has now taken 10 wickets in just three innings after missing the first two Tests due to injury.
"Whenever a plan works it's a good feeling. But (was Jennings' dismissal) a dream delivery, I don't know about that. That's not a new ball. I usually have the in-swinger (to the left-hander) and the out-swinger to the right-hander," he said.
"I bowled that to Chris Gayle in the World T20 semi-final as well. It's not a new delivery. When you have too many options, you don't want to use all of them in a single day. Whenever you feel that option is suitable, you use it," he added.
Bumrah said he always tries to learn new things.
"There's always a lot of hard work because I try to always learn new things and add them to my armoury. It's good to have a lot of options because you're always in a good space when you're bowling in the match. That is always my aim," he added. (PTI)
