We can knock India off: Swann

[Sid]

I didn't see the word 'will'...... I don't think that they will become number 1. If Eng beat SL 2-0 and India beat WI 2-0, India will be 127 points and England will still be 3rd on 117.

Ok ,so them being no.1 looks unlikely.I dont know what the result of the series will be but one thing I know for sure ,Swann's big reputation as a quality spinner will take a beating this summer.

[Rana]

It will be interesting to see duncan fletcher v England. This guy used to over-look Swann for Ashliey Giles lol.

[Cricket Tragic]

Yeah, because Swann's attitude and bowling was **** back then. Read about what happened when they picked him in 1999/00.

[Vijay.Sharma]

Yeah' date=' because Swann's attitude and bowling was **** back then. Read about what happened when they picked him in 1999/00.[/quote']He's definitely a totally different beast from back then. And he has been great against everyone so far...now comes his true Test. It's like how it was in the 70s and 80s...for a great batsman to be called a true great immaterial of type of bowling he had to perform against WIPQ and ISQ. Same like how it has been for a bowler to be great in the late 90s and early 2000s as a fast bowler his performance against Australian batting line-up was the real litmus test. Since the 90s that litmus test for spinners has been the Indian batting line up. And, we can extend that litmus test to include any kind of bowler if the Indian batting line-up from about 2007 is considered. I have held back from commenting on Swann many times because I just hadn't seen him bowl to even a half decent batting line-up of spin bowling. Of course I dunno his performance against SL so I haven't yet thought about where he fits in the great spinners since 85 when I started watching Test cricket. In fact for similar reasons I felt that the Aussie fans were being critical of Nathan Hauritz...I mean come on ur greatest spin bowler ever has been beat up like a mad dog by our batsman and u expect poor Haury to do any better? Hauritz is definitely the 3rd best Test spinner in the world today behind Swann and Bhajji.

[Rana]

He's definitely a totally different beast from back then. And he has been great against everyone so far...now comes his true Test. It's like how it was in the 70s and 80s...for a great batsman to be called a true great immaterial of type of bowling he had to perform against WIPQ and ISQ. Same like how it has been for a bowler to be great in the late 90s and early 2000s as a fast bowler his performance against Australian batting line-up was the real litmus test. Since the 90s that litmus test for spinners has been the Indian batting line up. And, we can extend that litmus test to include any kind of bowler if the Indian batting line-up from about 2007 is considered. I have held back from commenting on Swann many times because I just hadn't seen him bowl to even a half decent batting line-up of spin bowling. Of course I dunno his performance against SL so I haven't yet thought about where he fits in the great spinners since 85 when I started watching Test cricket. In fact for similar reasons I felt that the Aussie fans were being critical of Nathan Hauritz...I mean come on ur greatest spin bowler ever has been beat up like a mad dog by our batsman and u expect poor Haury to do any better? Hauritz is definitely the 3rd best Test spinner in the world today behind Swann and Bhajji.

mind you, knowing the ability of Swann, there will be games where he will rip through the Indian order. But not to say that there will be blank games for him aswell.

[vvvslaxman]

I think we are missing the point here . He didn't say "I can knock off India". He says "we can knock off India". So he basically has trust in his bowling resources. Anderson, Broad, Onions, Bresnan etc.. I don't deny they are good bowling unit. much better fielding unit. Also they have one of the best test opening pair in the world and a terrific no.3 batsman. After 3 batsmen they have Kevin Pietersen supposedly their best batsman. So they have some belief. India will have to target their weakness which is swing and spin.

[Vijay.Sharma]

mind you' date=' knowing the ability of Swann, there will be games where he will rip through the Indian order. But not to say that there will be blank games for him aswell.[/quote']And that's why I am keeping my fingers crossed. Murali had gained a reputation to rip thru line-ups but he never did that against India even in SL. He bowled very well but never ran thru in quick succession...it was sustained pressure. Warne came with possibly the most greatest reputation of ripping thru sides and poor fellow ended up with nightmares. To be fair, it was Jonty Singh who seized the initiative from Warne even before Rahul or Buddha came in to bat in that 97-98 series. And 2-3 yrs earlier in an ODI Kambli tore Warne apart like nobody's business and Warne's confidence was duly restored with an outing against the poms soon after. His debut was the best 1-150 against India. Wow I cant seem to be able to stop this gloating of how we have handled spinners!

[Alchemist]

Swann needs to learn from Gul. DO NOT TALK, THE INDIANS ARE LISTENING. They will target him.He will be taken apart by this batting lineup.

[Sujithdoc]

Virat kohl is a natural one down. I would rather he step up and open, than FTB Vijay.

[Cricket Tragic]

Let's not spoil another career by making him open. Vijay is rubbish and I don't think that he will do well overseas but there are other openers in first class cricket.

[Karan114]

^ Yep, and this is also the selectors' thinking these days - when Gambhir dropped out of the squad for the second Australia Test due to injury last year, they drafted in Abhinav Mukund, a specialist opener, in his place. No more of the shoehorning of middle-order batsman into the openers' spot these days (admittedly we did get Sehwag as an opener in this way but he was the only success amidst a sea of stop gap failures, not to mention Dravid being pushed to open despite his reluctance).

[anish233]

frankly i love hype when it comes to Test Cricket.. i love watching Dravid and Sachin bat in the English conditions. its always an honor.. hopefully we can pull htis test series off. :)

[Feed]

Duncan Fletcher's duel with Andy Flower will add spice to an Indian summer More... Duncan Fletcher's duel with Andy Flower will add spice to an Indian summer India thought they had a good coach in Gary Kirsten, and they did. He helped them become world champions as well as the No 1 ranked Test side, after all. 30 Apr 2011 By Steve James But the truth is that they only really had the apprentice. Now, with the appointment of Duncan Fletcher last week, they have the master. Kirsten was a protégé of Fletcher as a player, and then as a coach. They first met at the University of Cape Town where Fletcher began his coaching career. Kirsten was batting at No 9, bowling occasional off-spinners and was having fun at the bar. Fletcher took him aside one day and told him he was good enough to pay for Western Province as a batsman. Kirsten laughed initially, but deep down a seed of belief had been sown. Kirsten’s father had just passed away. So Fletcher became his father figure. “He became one of the greatest influences on my life and career,†wrote Kirsten in his autobiography. Ever since they have remained the closest of friends. Kirsten is one of the few people in the world who could have persuaded Fletcher back into full-time coaching. And that is precisely what he did during the recent World Cup. Of course, I should immediately declare an interest. I was Fletcher’s ghostwriter. I played under him at Glamorgan and am one of only a handful of journalists with whom he has a cordial relationship. But I still do not regard it as hyperbole to state that Fletcher possesses the sharpest cricketing brain on the planet. And there are scores of rather useful cricketers around who would be more than willing to testify to that: Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan, Herschelle Gibbs, Kevin Pietersen et al. It will not be a surprise if, in a couple of years’ time, Sachin Tendulkar is one of many Indians joining that list. India wanted a back-seat technician and in Fletcher they simply have the best man for the job. He will not be involved in selection; his media duties will be minimal, which is a good thing as that is his only weakness as a coach (not that games are won in the press). He will just coach. He will do what he loves most. He will throw to players in the nets just as he did to Kallis when the South Africa all-rounder was at school with his son, Michael. He will help, fine-tune and develop. Fletcher was tired when he finished with England in 2007. He will admit that now. But anyone who has seen him since has commented on his freshness and vitality. He is a ‘young’ 62. There is a perception, especially here in England, of Fletcher as an autocrat. It is wrong. Yes, his desire for power increased during his England tenure, but it was mainly down to a lack of faith in those he was working with. He had fought too many battles — implementing central contracts with the mainly dinosaurian counties was an absurdly arduous business — and had lost respect. He can sit in the background, as he has done in recent consultancy stints with South Africa, New Zealand and Hampshire. When he arrived at Glamorgan in 1997, he barely said a word for the first two weeks of pre-season training. He just observed and took mental notes. Captain Matthew Maynard said to me: “I think we’ve signed a mute!†We hadn’t. A first championship pennant for 28 years some months later said so. Two weeks ago in these pages, I penned a piece warning of the dangers of becoming India coach. It was almost directed at Fletcher. There had been rumours. I feared for his stress levels. And I think Fletcher did when Kirsten first approached him. But Kirsten has allayed those fears. As Kirsten didn’t, Fletcher will not have a base in India. He will fly in and out, with his family generously catered for too. The continued presence in India of bowling coach Eric Simons, whom Fletcher has described from their time together at Western Province as a “legend†in terms of his character and personality, will also help. So overall, rather bizarrely, it might just be that this is not as stressful a job as England’s. That might have been a temptation for Andy Flower. He too, along with the New Zealander Stephen Fleming, was approached by Kirsten. There is some doubt whether Flower or Fletcher was first choice. But both have come out of this well. Fletcher’s salary will probably make him the highest-paid coach ever in world cricket. And Flower will sign an improved deal soon, although it will not be a fixed-length contract, just better terms as a full-time employee of the England and Wales Cricket Board. As luck would have it, I am currently writing a book detailing England’s renaissance since 1999, with particular emphasis on the roles of Fletcher and Flower. A head-to-head this summer will be a rather neat conclusion! One area in which Fletcher will be keen to prove a point is one-day cricket. A reputation in this country for mediocrity in that regard still irks him. He still considers himself a better one-day than Test-match coach. One of his proudest memories is of his Western Province side beating England in 1996. His problem was the English one-day system. He was forever trying to fit square pegs into round holes. Not now with India. With a top order including Virender Sehwag there will be no “back to basics†policy, as England adopted against his will at the 2007 World Cup. It is but one aspect of a fascinating matchup. Fletcher v Flower. A big summer just got bigger.

[b555]

:dontmentionit:

[Captain of Bhangra]

Swann won't be posing the biggest threat. The likes of Anderson & Co will be dangerous. We relied a fair bit on Zaheer last time, and we were lucky that it started pouring with rain in one Test match, where we were on the brink of defeat. Beating England in England won't be easy. One of our seamers will have to stand up to support Zaheer properly, and our batsmen will be tested to the limits. I still think back to that 2007 series with awe. **** knows how we pulled that magic off...

[cricketpredict]

only time will tell .. This is way too optimism from Mr Swann!

[vvvslaxman]

My biigest worry is Jonathan Trott. This guy is like a rock.

[Rana]

My biigest worry is Jonathan Trott. This guy is like a rock.

In one day cricket he is like a blessing in disguise for the opposition, but in Test cricket he is England's best batsmen. He is better than KP and Strauss.

[Midfielder]

Swann will be singing has Swan song.

[Vijay.Sharma]

only time will tell .. This is way too optimism from Mr Swann!

Why are you called cricket'predict' if you leave everything to time to tell?