*Official* England in West Indies

[GIMH]

WI win the toss and bowl

edit, Richard gets revenge

 

[Richard]

The selectors have clearly lost their minds

This decision is no worse than some others in recent times - in fact less so than several.

 

[TT Boy]

Does anyone know of any audio links? I can watch the game but I really do have to do some work.

 

[Richard]

harmison in for sidebottom, swann in for panesar, official

slightly surprised at sidebottom's dropping though sky have been hinting at it all day. Pleased anderson gets a go though. Really surprised about panesar being dropped, wouldn't have been had he not been picked on friday, anyway, time for change etc. Scaly will be pleased.

harmison replaces not anderson but sidebottom and, interestingly, msp out with swann in. Blast that corrin.

Think msp needs that break and swann deserves his chance - if you insist on picking a spinner. Sidebottom being dropped is a terrible decision though, whatever way you look at it.

gayle fields first again.

wi win the toss and bowl

edit, richard gets revenge

EDIT: how extraordinarily odd that many capital letters have been stripped from the above quotes.

 

[Richard]

Does anyone know of any audio links?

Not that're available in China, no.

 

[TT Boy]

Sidebottom out seems pretty stupid. I like watching Jimmeh and Swann though.

It was stupid playing him at Sabina - This makes sense considering he has hardly had any cricket in the past 6 months.

 

[shivfan]

An unchanged WI side, with Hinds playing instead of Marshall....

 

[wpdavid]

An unchanged WI side, with Hinds playing instead of Marshall....

 

[wpdavid]

It was stupid playing him at Sabina - This makes sense considering he has hardly had any cricket in the past 6 months.

Yes, this makes far more sense. The timing of Swann in for Panesar is downright odd though.

 

[Richard]

An unchanged WI side, with Hinds playing instead of Marshall....

Well you'd rather hope so.

 

[Scaly piscine]

England in decent selection shock.

Went the completely stupid way round of doing it, but got there in the end.

 

[GIMH]

What are you going to have to complain about while this match is on with no Bell/Panesar in the side?

 

[pskov]

Agree with Sideottom being dropped, he was completely non-threatening in the last test. Ideally he shouldn't have toured and spent the winter working on his fitness, going on pre-season tours with his county and getting ready for a full county programme at the start of the season so he was fit for the Windies tests at home and then ready to go for the Ashes.

 

[pskov]

I presume Swann for Panesar is because they think spin won't play an important part but want to hedge their bets by still picking a spinner, so go for the one who offers more with the bat and in the field to compensate.

 

[shivfan]

It would be a bit silly to think spin won't play a part at the ARG....

After Day One, expect the spinners to have a lot of work to do, when the rain moves away.

 

[wpdavid]

It would be a bit silly to think spin won't play a part at the ARG....

After Day One, expect the spinners to have a lot of work to do, when the rain moves away.

A case of lose the toss therefore lose the game?

 

[Jamee999]

Harmison for Sidebottom is LOLbad, it's like if we make a good decision or two (Bell/Shah, Swann/Panesar) we have to balance it out by dropping one of our better bowlers.

In other news, if this is the 3rd test, is it now a 5 test series?

 

[Richard]

A case of lose the toss therefore lose the game?

A really good opening partnership might do the trick against what remains a moderate West Indies attack. Sadly, we currently have only half of such a thing.

 

[Richard]

In other news, if this is the 3rd test, is it now a 5 test series?

Yes. But obviously, in reality, no. No more than the 1998 series was a six-Test one.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Looking forward to this - brave England selection and very happy with the XI.

Interested to see who Scaly blames should we screw up, mind...