West Indies In England

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troll3y

troll3y

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I'm very excited for tomorrow: after seeing Mute Math in concert tomorrow night (!!!), I'll be coming home and parking myself in front of the computer to stream the opening Test. The only bummer is that the two events coincide and I'll have to miss the first session(s).


Call me an optimist, but I can see the West Indies putting up a fight and not folding over so easily. Their second innings against the Lions was extremely encouraging, as it is usually their second innings where things start to go awry. I was so happy to see Kieron Powell get a hundred at the top of the order, and I dearly hope that he and the top order can take that encouragement into the five-day format.

The Met Office warns that showers could be heavy on Sunday and Monday, but there are only passing showers to worry about on the preceding two days, and we might get a full 90 overs in on the opening day. I'm sure the West Indians will want to rug up to the 16°C maximums, though. Even with the overcast conditions, I'm still not sure about a four-pronged seam attack -- I would still like to see another spinner alongside Samuels. One option might be to drop either Barath or Kirk Edwards, bat Samuels at three (optional), push Ramdin up to six and slot Deonarine in at seven with the four pacemen to follow. We'll see what happens tomorrow.


And I still would like to know the whereabouts of one Jerome Taylor, if anyone knows.
 
Well the early batting order in this second innings for the Windies rolled over but Samuels and Chanderpaull have really changed the Windies fortunes with their current partnership.
 
well, now we're in a tantalising state: another 181 runs needed with only 8 wickets remaining on a fifth-day pitch. I reckon (hope) the Windies will come out firing, and we should be in for a scorcher!

I don't really mind that the Windies score at 2.5-2.6 per over, so long as they're posting respectable totals; this is part of their long road back to respectability in the cricketing world, and once they're completely comfortable at the crease, they can put a tiny bit more weight on the accelerator. Their second innings in particular was very encouraging, with great strength and resistance in the middle- and lower-order. Their top four is still a bit of a problem, though, and it would have been ideal if Sarwan, Gayle, or Nash were able to come in for Kirk Edwards; I keep saying it, but they're in dire need of experience at the top. Barath gave us a brief glimpse as to what he could do, and Powell's centurion heroics from the tour game haven't been forgotten.

From England's perspective, if there's anyone you want at the crease in this predicament, it would be Cookie and JT. England aren't the greatest at fourth-innings digs though, it has to be said, but on paper, they definitely have the depth to see them home, especially with batting all the way to number eleven. For the sake of the game, and to see the West Indies do well, I would love to see the bowlers re-ignite the Fire of Babylon to take this Test down to the wire. Realistically, however, England should have enough to take this one.
 
Just got home. It would have been tense at 57 for 4, but it's a tale of two scoring rates: England are batting freely, scoring at 3.5-4.0 per over, compared to the pensive and defensive 2.5 RPO rate of the West Indies. They're still in the rebuilding process, but the Windies can hold their heads high after the way they fought on days four and five. More of the same in Nottingham, I say!

I wonder if Sarwan will line up for Leicestershire in the two-day game (two-day game?!) against the Windies at the start of next month. He has just come out and said that certain coaches are the reason behind his absence from the West Indies team.
 
Mugshot said:
Im starting to feel like the only person posting here!
Click to expand...
yeah, I get that same feeling sometimes. All the action seems to be in the Club cricketing threads.


At least I got "more of the same" from the Windies' last Test. Their same old problems are evident, but they're doing themselves proud in this series. From an English standpoint, they've set the South African series up very nicely. They wouldn't want to make too many changes to the squad, I'd imagine; I can see them bringing Bopara back into the side to bolster the number six spot. Checking up on Eoin Morgan, I see he's still struggling at Middlesex. I still hope to see Steve Finn play at some point this summer, too.
 
I post here a bit just not that much happening at the moment for an Australian.

Watched a little bit of this, WI have been ok in patches and slowly improving just still nowhere near the class of England especially at home.
 
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