*Official* England in West Indies

[Furball]

It's funny, my first thought was missing leg with that one. Clearly wasn't any bat on it, but I did wonder at first whether it was missing leg. HawkEye obviously suggested not.

Yeah, my first instinct was that it might have just been doing too much.

It's the fact that Harper gave a run for it that baffles me.

 

[Richard]

Daryl Harper makes error. Stop the press.

 

[Uppercut]

You could argue each of those things, but I'm really not sure I would. Perhaps diabolical is too strong a word, but I still think Strauss' captaincy has been poor and if West Indies' batsmen hadn't made so many errors I think people'd be criticising his captaincy come the end of the day, and now won't be because West Indies' batsmen's errors have let him and the team off the hook.

But despite a lot of the dismissals being down to batsman error, they have bowled well. In difficult circumstances, and without much luck at times. It's not really fair to look just at the dismissals in isolation, if they'd been bowling badly, the Windies almost certainly would've made less mistakes.

 

[Richard]

Freeeeeeeediiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

 

[pskov]

Nash the limpet gone. Now just a matter of time you'd think before England have to decide about the follow on.

 

[Richard]

But despite a lot of the dismissals being down to batsman error, they have bowled well. In difficult circumstances, and without much luck at times. It's not really fair to look just at the dismissals in isolation, if they'd been bowling badly, the Windies almost certainly would've made less mistakes.

Debateable. Sarwan, for example, had only just hit a few boundaries. Smith had just come off a drinks-break - that ball. Gayle had been hitting it all over. Ramdin, well, it was his first ball. Chanderpaul, well, he just doesn't do that sort of nonsense, he plays each ball on its own merits without worrying about what's gone before.

I'm not saying Swann hasn't bowled well because he has, but I don't think you can put any of West Indies' batsmen's errors down to anyone bowling well.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Nash the limpet gone. Now just a matter of time you'd think before England have to decide about the follow on.

Stick them in again. Fred & Harmy aren't going to get any significantly better by day five.

 

[Richard]

Nash the limpet gone. Now just a matter of time you'd think before England have to decide about the follow on.

I can't believe they'll refuse, and on this pitch with no back-to-back games and being 0-1 down you'd have to say it'd probably be the right choice.

 

[pskov]

Stick them in again. Fred & Harmy aren't going to get any significantly better by day five.

Would be my decision too, but I'm not sure if Strauss would be brave enough to do it. The fact that they are 1-0 down in the series means they definitely should in my opinion.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Rudi's given one!

Dead as, for the record.

 

[Richard]

Swannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyyyyy has 5, and finally Rudi gives one. Hopefully he can get 6 as well.

Suliemann Benn's pads remind me of someone from the 1900s.

 

[pskov]

Well with that Monty might as well fly home now. Not going to replace Swann barring injury for the rest of this tour.

 

[Richard]

It's never a good idea to have just 1 spinner in a touring party TBH. Fortunately this should now almost completely rule-out any remote danger of Adil Rashid playing Tests this tour.

 

[Uppercut]

Debateable. Sarwan, for example, had only just hit a few boundaries. Smith had just come off a drinks-break - that ball. Gayle had been hitting it all over. Ramdin, well, it was his first ball. Chanderpaul, well, he just doesn't do that sort of nonsense, he plays each ball on its own merits without worrying about what's gone before.

I'm not saying Swann hasn't bowled well because he has, but I don't think you can put any of West Indies' batsmen's errors down to anyone bowling well.

That's only partly the point i was making though. Put simply, bowling well is, by definition better than bowling badly. Often you bowl well for no reward, and often bowl badly and pick up plenty. But cricket is, to an extent, an exercise in probability. England have bowled just about well enough to justify having the Windies at 279/8, and on another day it would have been the good deliveries that got the wickets. On this occasion it was batsman error, but that's how it goes.

On an unrelated note, FIVE FOR SWANN . Credit to the selectors for finally giving Monty the chop.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Well with that Monty might as well fly home now. Not going to replace Swann barring injury for the rest of this tour.

There's a slight chance England might play 2 spinners in the next Test. Maybe.

 

[Richard]

England will bat again. ITSTL.

 

[Kweek]

England will bat again. ITSTL.

hmm

 

[Uppercut]

England will bat again. ITSTL.

 

[Richard]

Freeeeeddddddddddiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii gets a tailender out, not that usual. Good to see him and Swannnnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyyyyyyy sharing the wickets this innings. Strauss and Cook will now have 12 overs, if my calculations are correct.

 

[Neil Pickup]

England will bat again. ITSTL.

Don't agree with this one. We will have to be very, very positive tonight and tomorrow morning to set it up appropriately: would like to see 450 in 5 sessions - so 170 tonight and tomorrow.