txt, Game 20: West Indies vs England, Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica
Historically especially the during the glorious days of West Indian cricket, a West Indies vs England clash is usually a very one-sided contest with the windies bowlers causing absolute torture to English batsmen while the batsmen assaulted their bowlers in an exciting combination of calypso cricket. But going into this test match in 3rd place the English tentatively would have their chins up, given that if you discount performances of English fast bowlers in the new millenium against average West Indian opposition, England finally come to the caribbean with a fast-bowling attack capable of throwing serious punches at the West Indians.
So some intuitive selection have been made by England's selectors. Firstly in the batting Essex legend Graham Gooch has been called up as back-up instead of Herbert Sutcliffe or Geoff Boycott given his solid performances vs the West Indian pace battery during his career, due the inconsistent form of Surrey great Jack Hobbs. Ken Barrington has been axed given the selectors feeling that an middle-order rock would not be that effective in the West Indies thus the attacking duo of Kevin Pietersen & Ted Dexter have been called up. While the most entralling selection that really shows how serious the English are of winning this test is the selection of Frank "Typhoon" Tyson, the great one series wonder & arguably England's fastest ever bowler to bolster to fast-bowling ranks, especially with the Sir Ian Botham indifferent record against West Indian opposition.
For the West Indies selection is easy, given an unbeaten run in the competition. Changes were expected to be made given a semi-final birth secured, but given the importance of any clash against England to the players and the public an unchanged side is expected.
West Indies (probable): Hunte/Haynes, Lara, Headley, Richards, Sobers, Dujon, Marshall, Holding, Garner, Ambrose.
England touring squad: Hutton, Hobbs, Gooch, Hammond, Compton, Pietersen, Dexter, Stewart, Botham, Trueman, Snow, Larwood, Tyson.
Game 21: Pakistan vs India, Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan
The most anticipated clash of the competition has arrived. Pakistan vs India the greatest of all cricketing rivalries lock horns in this crucial 6th round test match with both teams needing a victory to get their hopes of reaching the semi-final back on track. Both come into this clash on the back of contrasting results, Pakistan come home after two tough away fixtures in Australia & England especially where they battled hard in testing conditions only to agonisingly fall short of victory while India would have had their confidence boosted with a good win in Sri Lanka.
The type of pitch has been the talk coming into the test match, would it be a slow turner this turning the test match into a battle of the spinners? or would the Pakistan use their home advantage are prepare a deck assist their fast-bowling armory?. As expected the latter has occured thus this crucial contest will be the classy Indian batting vs the Pakistani fast-bowling armory. The cricketening world cannot wait.
Pakistan (probable): Anwar/Majid Khan, Abbas, Miandad, Inzamam, Iqbal, Imran Khan, Wasim, Qadir, Waqar.
Indian touring squad: Gavaskar, Dravid, Tendulkar, Hazare, Umrigar, Vengsarkar, Mankad, Kapil Dev, Kirmani, Kumble, Nissar, Amar Singh, Srinath.
Game 22: Australia vs Sri Lanka, Adelaide Oval, Australia
The least compelling of the 6th round fixtures. The Australia's are already guaranteed a semi-final place and will be looking to give some of their great fringe talent a run, while Sri Lanka continue to play for pride and would have been disappointed coming into this fixture after failing to win at home over New Zealand.
Again even though scoring a century in South Africa, Australia captain Don Bradman's critics have continue to show scrutiny. But they will have to but their reasoning on hold for this test as Australia make changes. In comes Trumper, Ponsford, Ponting, Harvey, Marsh, Davidson, O'Reilly, Spofforth, while the Sri Lanka are likely to revert back to their common XI of the tournament although nothing has been confirmed.
Australian XI: Trumper, Ponsford, Ponting, Chappell, Harvey, Waugh, Marsh, Davidson, Lindwall, O'Reilly, Spofforth.
Sri Lanka touring squad: Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Gurusinha, Dias, A De Silva, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Ranatunga, Vaas, J Ratnayake, R Ratnayake, Malinga, Muralitharan.
About time
