*Official* England in West Indies

[Richard]

Possible I guess. Assuming Bopara scores some good runs in these final two tests then I'd be happy with:

Strauss
Cook
KP
Bopara
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
...

But I'd have to see Bopara make a hundred before being comfortable with that really.

Shah should have a much better chance of making a century than Bopara, he's a better batsman.

 

[roseboy64]

Fallen to pieces here at the end.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Speed gun for Fidel's last over interesting; every ball after the drop was at least 4mph quicker than those before. Nothing like a burning sense of injustice to get a quick's dander up.

He's deserved better, been a whole-hearted spell.

 

[wpdavid]

Possible I guess. Assuming Bopara scores some good runs in these final two tests then I'd be happy with:

Strauss
Cook
KP
Bopara
Collingwood
Prior
Flintoff
...

But I'd have to see Bopara make a hundred before being comfortable with that really.

Bopara as high as 4 is a huge leap of faith, tbh. Maybe in a year or so if he proves himself first. KP maybe could bat at 3, but him at 4 is one of the few bits of the side that's working. If it ain't broke, and all that.

 

[GIMH]

Nice ball that

 

[roseboy64]

Was Gayle's shell as bad as Smith's?

Worse.

Wow.

His catching's not been great this series.

Nah reckon Smiths was worse to be honest, Gayles was a least to his right hand side

Whoops thought it was Devon Smith.

 

[Richard]

Yeah nah Graeme Smith's miss of Ponting earlier today was worse than Gayle's of Strauss.

The Ponting one was costly but not absolutely massively so; the Strauss one much more so.

 

[ozone]

Another good day for England, particularly for Strauss and, despite his dismissal, Cook. Shah should be disappointed though, won't get many better chances to score runs. Optimistically, England could declare on about 600 tommorrow evening and have a go at WI for 10-15 overs. At worst, we should get about 400-450 which is still a score which, more often than not, avoids defeat.

 

[Rebecca]

Yeah nah Graeme Smith's miss of Ponting earlier today was worse than Gayle's of Strauss.

The Ponting one was costly but not absolutely massively so; the Strauss one much more so.

Eh?

 

[GIMH]

I'd have taken 300-3 at the start of play, some moments of silliness in the final session though

 

[Jigga988]

Another good day for England, particularly for Strauss and, despite his dismissal, Cook. Shah should be disappointed though, won't get many better chances to score runs. Optimistically, England could declare on about 600 tommorrow evening and have a go at WI for 10-15 overs. At worst, we should get about 400-450 which is still a score which, more often than not, avoids defeat.

So basically copy everything you guys did in Antigua and hope it works this time... was so p.o. with that drop, that will cost Windies and has probobly ruined any hope Windies had of winning, would've said that a positive in the end of the day was the run rate but in the end that rocketed too, I predict that little 8 over slot will be huge in determining the end result here...

 

[Richard]

Eh?

Think Ponting was dropped on 40 and ended-up with 83 or something before Ntini knocked him over... Strauss was dropped on 50-odd and ended-up with 143.

 

[Richard]

was so p.o. with those drops, they will cost Windies and have probobly ruined any hope Windies had of winning

Fix'd.

 

[Rebecca]

Think Ponting was dropped on 40 and ended-up with 83 or something before Ntini knocked him over... Strauss was dropped on 50-odd and ended-up with 143.

Yes, sorry - I see what you meant now.

 

[Uppercut]

Think Ponting was dropped on 40 and ended-up with 83 or something before Ntini knocked him over... Strauss was dropped on 50-odd and ended-up with 143.

On the other hand, England might well have piled on runs anyway even if he'd held that. Whereas SA had the chance to have Australia 4 down before lunch, and still haven't really recovered from that drop. So both were pretty huge in the context of the matches.

 

[ozone]

So basically copy everything you guys did in Antigua and hope it works this time... was so p.o. with that drop, that will cost Windies and has probobly ruined any hope Windies had of winning, would've said that a positive in the end of the day was the run rate but in the end that rocketed too, I predict that little 8 over slot will be huge in determining the end result here...

I think it'll be a very different test actually, although England will probably have a similar first innings score. Don't think the result of the game will still be in doubt on the fifth evening, or maybe even for much of the day. Although the fragile nature of the two batting line-ups mean anything is possible.

 

[Richard]

On the other hand, England might well have piled on runs anyway even if he'd held that. Whereas SA had the chance to have Australia 4 down before lunch, and still haven't really recovered from that drop. So both were pretty huge in the context of the matches.

Oh, the Smith one was lamentable, fo' sho'. Mind, I'd not be confident at all that England would've piled-on runs as they have had Strauss gone then. He's clearly in terrific nick currently, and though he's not going remarkably well without let-offs, just one could prove huge - and has, twice in a row. He's certainly currently hitting the ball better than all the rest of the England batsmen.

 

[Jigga988]

Oh, the Smith one was lamentable, fo' sho'. Mind, I'd not be confident at all that England would've piled-on runs as they have had Strauss gone then. He's clearly in terrific nick currently, and though he's not going remarkably well without let-offs, just one could prove huge - and has, twice in a row. He's certainly currently hitting the ball better than all the rest of the England batsmen.

Yup, agreed, KP hasn't looked all that threatening this series bar the first innings, definitely not got the timing of the Windies wickets in the series. I'd bank on WI getting one early wicket and then anything could happen from there, quite eager to see how my Essex boy will hold up...

 

[Woodster]

Shah should have a much better chance of making a century than Bopara, he's a better batsman.

I'm confident Bopara will enjoy the better Test career of the two. I believe he will be a very decent England number 4/5 batsman for some time to come. It may be that his time is not just yet, but I think he's going to be pretty difficult to shift once he has a score under his belt.

On his day, makes things look ridiculously easy (although admittedly he is yet to show it at this level), and uses his wrists to great effect off his pads, and doesn't try to hit the ball too hard. I really think he has potential.

 

[Woodster]

England in a very strong position, just hope we don't lose some of the momentum we've built up on day one, and surrender our dominance by losing a few cheap wickets early tomorrow. Important we push on and close in on 500 towards tea, ideally.

Think there are promising signs for the bowlers too. There is definitely some swing around, and we have a couple of excellent exponents of this, while the spin and bounce Benn found will have Swanny rubbing his hands.