Let's skittle India and give Alastair Cook a reason to smile - Broad

[vvvslaxman]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-2698677/STUART-BROAD-Lets-skittle-India-Alastair-Cook-reason-smile.html#ixzz37xwDwAhD STUART BROAD: Let's skittle India and give Alastair Cook a reason to smi A lot of people would love to see Alastair Cook 100 not out at the close on Sunday with England having won this Test match. The scenario could have been written for him, assuming we can bowl India out this morning and give ourselves a chance to win. He can almost play a one-day innings. Sometimes when you are out of form you can just press the relax button and go out and play aggressively. I remember Paul Collingwood doing that brilliantly at Edgbaston in 2008. Under pressure: England captain Alastair Cook needs a big score and a Test win +3 Under pressure: England captain Alastair Cook needs a big score and a Test win Obviously Cooky's under a bit of pressure at the moment but it doesn't seem to be getting to him. Those of us who have been around the team for a while have been under pressure ourselves and inevitably you go a bit internal. But generally the players who've been around for 100 Tests or more are the best at coping with that side of the game and I've got no doubt at all Cooky will come through with flying colours. STATE OF GAME Sunday is going to be a fascinating day's play. We would have been happy with being level on Saturday so we were pretty pleased to get past their first-innings score. With the sun out, it didn't do much in the afternoon and we had a chat at tea about creating some theatre and making a big play of everything to create some pressure. That seemed to work. Challenge: England's bowlers face a tough day on Sunday as they look to bowl out India +3 Challenge: England's bowlers face a tough day on Sunday as they look to bowl out India Cheteshwar Pujara has said they need 300 to be safe and it's in our bowlers' hands. Chasing more than 250 would be a tough ask and would need someone in the top three or four to make a hundred. It's up to the bowlers to make sure we deliver this morning. If I was a fan I'd want to come along on Sunday. FIRST INNINGS After having them 145 for seven we could and maybe should have bowled India out for 200. But throughout the series we've seen the tails on both sides make runs. I don't think I've ever played in a game at Lord's where a team have been bowled out for 200 in the first innings so we were fairly happy with 290. It was tricky on the first morning because there was some extravagant seam movement. Often we were passing the edge by a distance. We hit our straps after lunch on day one but let them get away late in the day. PITCH After all the stick Trent Bridge got it is worth praising this Lord's wicket. It's fun to play on and fun to watch, the sort of wicket that keeps Test cricket interesting for fans. DRS Bowlers want DRS, batsmen want DRS, umpires want DRS. So why don't we have DRS? Batters want it to get rid of wickets like Ajinkya Rahane's. Umpires want it because it takes the pressure off. But we don't have it in this series. You go figure! BODY There are some sore bodies in the dressing room at the moment and I'm sure that's the same for India. This was always going to be a challenging series because the Tests are so close together and some rotation is still a possibility. The best Test bowlers bowl through pain and the players in this series are having to do that. My knee needs a lot of attention and I can't guarantee playing every Test in the series. I guess that's the same for everyone.

[vvvslaxman]

[JaiRamesh2]

From all the people, Sir Jaddu :cantstop:, put skittles on English bowlers. I think Anderson bowled 80% short after lunch, and Sir whacked him out of the attack.

[Utalk]

This guy has loud mouth but never performs consistently. He will give you one spell a series so India need to watch him. Ando on the other hand is getting on and India need to tighten the screws even more.