Vaughan: England paid the price in India for bullying teams at home

[Trichromatic]

Andy Flower, the England team director, has said England will have to go "back to the drawing board" to figure out how to play one-day cricket in the subcontinent after they slumped to a 0-5 series defeat in India. Flower said he thought England were better prepared for this series than they were when they were beaten by the same scoreline in 2008 but had been proved wrong by the results. (:hehe:) "This is a bad setback for us and we have to go back to the drawing board in terms of playing one-day international cricket in the sub-continent," he said. "We need time to reflect. I thought we'd learnt lessons from three years ago and put in place training drills which would equip our batsmen to deal better with the conditions out here, but I'm obviously wrong in that regard." () England ended the series in dismal fashion, losing their whole side for 47 in a dramatic collapse, after they were 129 for 0 chasing 272 at Eden Gardens. Alastair Cook, the England captain, said good starts and poor finishes had been a common theme of England's performances through the series. "We set up the game beautifully to go on and win, but they bowled well and we played a couple of poor shots. It was a bit of a disappointing end and a bit of a common theme," Cook said after the match in Kolkata. "We were in with a shout at 120-odd for nought and just got blown away at the end. It was very disappointing. We know you can lose wickets in clusters and we seem to have lost 10 there in a cluster." While India's spinners sparked England's collapse, the victory had been set up by a fierce late onslaught from India's captain MS Dhoni, who finished on 75 not out off 69 balls. Dhoni scored 212 runs in the series without being dismissed. He said he always focused on staying unbeaten till the end of an innings because then you could sum up which bowlers to go after. "I always want to stay to the end and whatever is in my area I look to hit it over the boundary," he said. "It's important to see which bowlers are left and who you can target. After that it's about who can bear the pressure well." "It was an ugly looking wicket and any ball could swing or keep low," Dhoni said of the Eden Gardens pitch. "It was very difficult to score on so we were fortunate to score 270 when 240 or 245 was in our minds. Then we just had to wait for the wicket to spin." Cook praised Dhoni's innings but said he thought India's total was gettable. "Credit to MS; at the end he hits it very well, he's a very hard person to bowl at and he single-handedly got them up to 270, which was probably gettable the way we started. But when you lose 10 for 50 you're not going to win anything," he said. Both Cook and Flower, though, insisted there were positives to take out of the series despite the emphatic scoreline. "Only four of us have played one-day series out here and it's great for the youngsters to get the experience," Cook said. "It will show where they need to improve and we all need to improve as a side. We got thoroughly beaten out here but there are quite a few positives; I thought Steven Finn [who took eight wickets over the five games] throughout the series has been excellent." Flower said the bowling department had shown promise but unfortunately the batsmen had not been able to handle playing spin and had left the bowlers with too much to do. "Our skills weren't good enough and our handling of the pressure wasn't good enough," he said. "We obviously haven't got the players into a good enough state to deal with the challenges of playing spin, judging length and moving feet. "I think our bowling side has shown glimpses of skill and if there'd been reasonable totals on the board they would have been better at defending them. But unfortunately the bowlers have had to bowl to very attacking fields all the time because that was the only way to win because of our under-par totals."

[flamy]

What happened to the world's best spinner?

[jairamesh]

"We need time to reflect. I thought we'd learnt lessons from three years ago and put in place training drills which would equip our batsmen to deal better with the conditions out here, but I'm obviously wrong in that regard."

Not all wrong, dropping Jimmy Anderson was one right thing, or else they would have been chasing 400 today!

[MCcricket]

This is the reason Mr Flower u have to be grounded , the euphoria of winning and proclaiming everyone else are sub par then loosing like novices u look like fools, keep that wisdom ,same to Beefy , Vaughan , Bumble.Gracious in victory and defeat that is Indian captains forte And yes count ur blessings , if there was a test series after ODI'S u guys would've been mauled,then even the learn odi line would'nt have worked, it is the batsmen , bowlers , fielders who can only perform at home , not to do with the format,I dont think the very same bunch would tackle the spinners in test's lol, the players looked like a deer caught in the headlight.

[kabira]

they lost 6-1 in Australia....so time for flower to get to drawing board for down under as well.

[nsareen]

MS Dhoni and England's angry men MS Dhoni knocked on the door of the England dressing room. "Good evening, Alastair. Good evening, everybody," he said. "Perhaps you would care to join us for a light supper?" Steven Finn leapt to his feet and began shouting and swearing angrily. "I hate supper. You can shove your supper where the sun don't shine," he yelled at Dhoni. "I don't have a problem with that," said Cook to nobody in particular. "It shows how passionate he is about mealtimes." "Oh, well, I just thought it might be a nice offer," said Dhoni. "Not to worry." "Hey," said Graeme Swann. "Hey, MS. Maybe we could get together for a bite to eat and a chat about life for us superstar cricketers, you know? The pressures, the incredible highs and lows, the movie premieres, the nominations for East Midlands Sports Personality of the Year." "Erm, I guess," said Dhoni. "Why don't you have your people get in touch with my people?" "I'll get Jimmy right on the case," said Swann. "Fame, she is a fickle mistress, is she not, MS? Take KP here, look how his career's gone right down the tubes since he had his moment in the spotlight and blew it like a rank amateur - no offence, Kevin." "The dressing-room spirit is as good as ever," interjected Andy Flower, discreetly gesturing to Tim Bresnan that he should stop flushing Craig Kieswetter's head down the toilet. "Well, I must be getting going," said Dhoni, edging towards the door. "It seems you fellows have a great deal to talk about. Have a most pleasant evening." "Go on, get out of here," shouted Finn. "Sling your hook." "I don't have a problem with that," said Cook, staring blankly into space and twitching slightly. "It shows how passionate he is about shouting at opponents." "Yeah, I sure showed him," said Finn. "We can certainly take a lot of positives from our swearing in this match." "Come on lads," said Flower. "Only 100 more overs of this ODI series." "Unless we bat first, obviously," said Cook. "And then a chance to defend our World No. 1 Twenty20 ranking." "I can hear those Indian players trembling from here," said Finn. "They don't like it up 'em."

[Cricket Tragic]

Is this meant to be funny? :facepalm:

[nsareen]

Is this meant to be funny? :facepalm:

:idunno: depends on your humor!!!

[J P K]

Dhoni takes dig at England's record in India Without uttering the word 'revenge', Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Tuesday indirectly took a dig at the Englishmen for their sorry record on Indian soil. Talking to reporters after a 5-0 whitewash over England with a thumping 95-run victory here, Dhoni said: "I don't want to sound rude. But if you the see the records of England it would be 16 is to 1 or so," he said. Dhoni said England were a very talented side but on Indian conditions their batting was yet to click. "I remember them as a very strong side and they can give you the punch with a good bowling unit. But they need to click as a batting unit. It's just that they have not done well in India." India too surrendered as visitors in the series in England where they lost the Test series 4-0, one-day series 3-0 and also the one-off T20 for a 8-0 drubbing. Dhoni said his team's weakness lies in bowling as they had failed to make use of the conditions in England. "I've not said anything different. We must realise our strengths and weaknesses. Of course it's a great series win. But our pacers could not bowl 10 overs. But it didn't happen here. We have to realise where we have to go better. "It's good to have bowlers. We need to improve as a team. Hopefully we have improved but we still need to be consistent and not depending on the venue. "We have to be more consistent with our bowling as well. These are the areas we need to emphasis upon so that we may not see a Raina bowling alongside Tiwary," he said. On the skipper batting at No 6, man of the series Dhoni said he had adjusted himself to the order. "The last time I played up the order was in Pakistan and I could not capitalise on a couple of innings. I was supposed to bat at 5, 6 or 7 and got myself adjusted. Now the format of the game has also changed. Now with split of powerplays the situations are different. We have to be good at slog overs and rotate strikes as well. It's about taking risks as well. "I have changed my style of batting. At 3 you can be flamboyant but at 5 and 6 you have to be careful." Reiterating his stand on terming the series as revenge, he said, "It's not about revenge. In sport you don't go for revenge. We are a good side. Our bowling did not perform to the extent in the series. For us it's about to do well but not setting examples." Asked about the brickbats they recieved after their England show, Dhoni said they have learned to take them in their strides. "It happens in the world. You are appreciated when you do well. It should be taken in an open heart. I can also sit and criticise. I was not too worried about criticism. We know cricket is big in India. It's a part of our life." India dished out a dominating show even without Sachin TEndulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, and Dhoni praised the youngsters for that. "It's difficult to replace the seniors talent-wise. But these youngsters have clicked as a unit. "They are slightly better fielders. They may save 8-10 runs which matter in ODIs. They have reacted in the right way. They waited to turn the game in their favour. But we really can't really replace Sachin, Sehwag and Yuvraj." Dhoni said he had no idea about a commotion involving Jadeja along with an English player. On the low turnout in Eden Gardens, Dhoni said, "We played a lot of cricket in India. The World Cup, IPL and then the Champions League were held here. Big stars like Sachin were missing. This is one of the biggest stadia in India so it's not easy to get a jam-packed crowd everytime." http://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/news/item/180229-dhoni-takes-dig-at-englands-record-in-india

[Rightarmfast]

This is the reason Mr Flower u have to be grounded , the euphoria of winning and proclaiming everyone else are sub par then loosing like novices u look like fools, keep that wisdom ,same to Beefy , Vaughan , Bumble.Gracious in victory and defeat that is Indian captains forte And yes count ur blessings , if there was a test series after ODI'S u guys would've been mauled,then even the learn odi line would'nt have worked, it is the batsmen , bowlers , fielders who can only perform at home , not to do with the format,I dont think the very same bunch would tackle the spinners in test's lol, the players looked like a deer caught in the headlight.

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[Rightarmfast]

Totally back the viewpoint that England would have been MAULED had there been a test series following the ODI's. Theres no way in the world they can play in the subcontinent. England team at best is a mediocre team capable of winning at home or similar conditions when they they oppositions are psychologically and physically down !

[achilles]

Good head on his shoulders. Btw, can someone please tell us what the heck happened-

Dhoni said he had no idea about a commotion involving Jadeja along with an English player.

[achilles]

But I thought he was "proud of his team's performances".

[bajrang]

^^during handshakes after match jadeja said something to bell , bell replied, jadeja turned around and made some more comment ( he was smiling while making those comments), jade dernbach jumped in the conflict and jadeja went on his way.

[achilles]

^^ Typically whiners, the Pommies.

[Moman211]

Totally back the viewpoint that England would have been MAULED had there been a test series following the ODI's. Theres no way in the world they can play in the subcontinent. England team at best is a mediocre team capable of winning at home or similar conditions when they they oppositions are psychologically and physically down !

Keep dreaming and you seem to have forgotten the fact that India got destroyed and dominated 8-0! Your team is a fantastic ODI team but an average test team. Same for England except the other way round.

[Trichromatic]

Keep dreaming and you seem to have forgotten the fact that India got destroyed and dominated 8-0! Your team is a fantastic ODI team but an average test team. Same for England except the other way round.

At least you accepted that for now, otherwise English experts were predicting England to win 5-0 in India. Is strength of your team so fickle?

[Moman211]

At least you accepted that for now, otherwise English experts were predicting England to win 5-0 in India. Is strength of your team so fickle?

to be honest with you i was expecting India to win but not like this tho.

[cowboysfan]

Flowers drawing board=underground network of mercenary south africans.This time he needs to recruit someone better than Keiswetter and dirtbag,maybe he should try some zimbabweans this time.

[hiha]

Keep dreaming and you seem to have forgotten the fact that India got destroyed and dominated 8-0! Your team is a fantastic ODI team but an average test team. Same for England except the other way round.

average test team after one series? india were #1 nd after getting beaten in england r still #3 nd can be 2 after 1 month....so how is being #1 till august ,still # 3 now, makes india an average test team :hmmm: when england comes 2 india nxt year for d tests, i will ask u d same question after they get humiliated :two_thumbs_up: nd ya 1thing u said is correct , india r very good odi side, but england very ordinary in odi`s ranking shows dat