2nd Test: India v England at Visakhapatnam

Jimmy has been declared fit and will be in consideration for selection. With reports circulating that Woakes has a slight knee strain, it seems quite likely he will be rested and Jimmy will deputise.

It says a lot about how far Woakes has progressed over the last year that losing him is a blow. I thought he was absolutely magnificent in the first Test, bowling tight lines and causing troubles with the short ball.

I was never a Woakes fan and I have expressed such. He had been on the ECB's radar for a long time but injury hampered his progress. When I saw him initially I was less than impressed but I agree with you he has come on leaps and bounds.

Aggressive with ball and gives his all, committed in the field and values his wicket and bats the situation.

We need some rotation during this tough series though but the team will miss Woakes in all departments.

317-4 look a tad ominous.

I though Chef's post toss chat came across a bit negative, did it to you?

It will be a long hard slog for England to get anything out of this one. I think it is fair to say this was a big toss to win, especially if the pitch starts gripping and turning appreciably on day 2 as everyone expects. Rashid's drop of Kohli looking very ominous right now. It was a tough one, and unfortunately fell to England's weakest fielder, but you can't give him a second life, especially at home.

I was a little surprised that Cook went to Ansari ahead of Moeen with the new ball, though can understand his reasons with the two right-handed batsmen at the crease. In saying that, neither bowled particularly well.

Moeen ended up with a 3 Fer after 25 overs


England trail by 352 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the 1st innings

Stumps Day 2.

www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/video_audio/1066984.html

the matter of Duckett 

India are on top. And the track isn't doing as much as a few others have. Long road ahead for England, India must be patient.

Well that is quite kind of you to understate the shit we are in just now!

It is now on the shoulders of Stokesy and Jonny to scrape us out of this predicament and great teams can do that and I believe we could be  a great team.

Struggling to say awake at 2:04am to catch at least an hours play.

Come one you England!

We will do well to manage a draw here.