England set challenging total
England have set India a challenging total of 316. There were a few interesting things about the innings.
1. Collingwood was initially given not out when a big appeal for a run out was made, without referring to the 3rd umpire. The replay on the big screen showed that Collingwood was out so, after a delay, the decision was referred to the 3rd umpire after the crowd had made their feelings clear. Eventually the correct decision was made and Collingwood was given out. Lots of debate ensued about how the decision was given, but readers of Cricket Burble won't be surprised that I don't mind how the decision was made - the point is that it was correct in the end. There is no excuse for wrong decisions where the 3rd umpire could have been called upon.
2. Pietersen and Shah were involved in a mix up which led to Pietersen's run out. Pietersen jogged the first run and then turned and sprinted for a second - Shah didn't move. Who was at fault I don't know, but what was clear was that Shah had plenty of time to realise that one of them would be out and he should have sacrificed himself given that Pietersen was on over 50 and he was only just in double figures. That's not to say he didn't bat well from that point on.
3. Shah was out on 40 and not given. That decision has been added to the list of Cricket Burble wrong decisions. That wrong decision could have a big influence on the result of the game.
4. Mascarenas hit 5 sixes in a row off the last 5 balls of the innings. Yuvraj Singh was bowling which was a strange choice by Dravid, and he duly served up some lovely balls to hit. The hitting was very special by Mascarenas though.
Looking forward to listening to as much of the India innings as possible! You can listen to the commentary by clicking here.
4 comments:
To be fair to Shah on point 2, he did shout "NO" very loudly. The Cricinfo commentator may have exaggerated slightly when he said it could have been heard at Lords', but watching the highlights, he very clearly ordered KP back when Pietersen was no more than a third of the way down.
Yep, understand that - I saw the highlights and could see that the run out was Pietersen's fault, but I still think that Shah had enough time to realise that one of them was going to be out, and as the new(ish) batsman it needed to be him.
And left his place in the batting line-up under even greater doubt through another low score? You can see why he might not have fancied that!
I expect Owais was wanting clarification over whether his Cricket burble 'real average' would have taken a hit through such a self-sacrificing gesture...Ed?!
grumble, grumble, I suppose it should, yes. Thankfully, no need to worry about it as Shah didn't move!
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