2nd Test: England vs West Indies at Headingley
The second test of this series is upon us with the first encounter ending in a tame draw. The weather hampered the first test with rain and bad light interrupting play quite regularly.
The Windies struggled early on, their bowlers letting England rack up a massive first innings score. Poor fielding and ordinary bowling didn't help their cause as the English made the most of their home conditions. Collingwood, Bell, Prior and Cook all racked up centuries as they piled on the runs in the first innings before declaring.
However, the Windies too proved they were more than capable with the bat and managed to score some runs of their own. But, there was no-one who could register a big score and ultimately they trailed on first innings. Another English declaration left a modest total for the Windies to chase but rain on the fifth day stopped all that.
England's bowlers will again be tested in this match. Hoggard was injured in the first game and will miss as does Andrew Flintoff who is still not fit to play. Ryan Sidebottom comes in for his first match in six years and is one of four bowlers in the side with Pietersen, Collingwood and maybe returning captain, Michael Vaughan to shoulder the 5th bowler duties.
Vaughan is also a big inclusion. He returns and immediately inherits the role of skipper and he should be able to add another dimension towards England's psychological tactics. Whether he is able to have an influence with the bat and/or ball if required is another matter.
West Indies should go in unchanged. They weren't too bad in the first test although their bowlers certainly took a bit of a pelting, especially in the first innings. They will be looking to take early wickets when they get the opportunity to bowl, they can't afford to let the English batting line-up get four more centuries.
Expect a good game here. Both sides seem to be relatively even and with good weather expected early, we should see a cracking match.
England XI (probable): 1 Andrew Strauss, 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Michael Vaughan*, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Matt Prior+, 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 Ryan Sidebottom, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 Monty Panesar.
West Indies XI (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Daren Ganga, 3 Devon Smith, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan*, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Runako Morton, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Denesh Ramdin+, 9 Daren Powell, 10 Jerome Taylor, 11 Corey Collymore.
Umpires: Asad Rauf and Rudi Koertzen
3rd umpire: Ian Gould
Weather:
(All Temperatures in Degrees Celsius)
Friday: Mainly fine, 18
Saturday: Mainly fine, 15
Sunday: Heavy Rain, 10
Monday: Heavy Rain, 10
Tuesday: Light Rain, 13
Game starts at 6pm AWST (11am local time, 10am GMT).
The second test of this series is upon us with the first encounter ending in a tame draw. The weather hampered the first test with rain and bad light interrupting play quite regularly.
The Windies struggled early on, their bowlers letting England rack up a massive first innings score. Poor fielding and ordinary bowling didn't help their cause as the English made the most of their home conditions. Collingwood, Bell, Prior and Cook all racked up centuries as they piled on the runs in the first innings before declaring.
However, the Windies too proved they were more than capable with the bat and managed to score some runs of their own. But, there was no-one who could register a big score and ultimately they trailed on first innings. Another English declaration left a modest total for the Windies to chase but rain on the fifth day stopped all that.
England's bowlers will again be tested in this match. Hoggard was injured in the first game and will miss as does Andrew Flintoff who is still not fit to play. Ryan Sidebottom comes in for his first match in six years and is one of four bowlers in the side with Pietersen, Collingwood and maybe returning captain, Michael Vaughan to shoulder the 5th bowler duties.
Vaughan is also a big inclusion. He returns and immediately inherits the role of skipper and he should be able to add another dimension towards England's psychological tactics. Whether he is able to have an influence with the bat and/or ball if required is another matter.
West Indies should go in unchanged. They weren't too bad in the first test although their bowlers certainly took a bit of a pelting, especially in the first innings. They will be looking to take early wickets when they get the opportunity to bowl, they can't afford to let the English batting line-up get four more centuries.
Expect a good game here. Both sides seem to be relatively even and with good weather expected early, we should see a cracking match.
England XI (probable): 1 Andrew Strauss, 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Michael Vaughan*, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Matt Prior+, 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 Ryan Sidebottom, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 Monty Panesar.
West Indies XI (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Daren Ganga, 3 Devon Smith, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan*, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Runako Morton, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Denesh Ramdin+, 9 Daren Powell, 10 Jerome Taylor, 11 Corey Collymore.
Umpires: Asad Rauf and Rudi Koertzen
3rd umpire: Ian Gould
Weather:
(All Temperatures in Degrees Celsius)
Friday: Mainly fine, 18
Saturday: Mainly fine, 15
Sunday: Heavy Rain, 10
Monday: Heavy Rain, 10
Tuesday: Light Rain, 13
Game starts at 6pm AWST (11am local time, 10am GMT).