*Official* England in West Indies

[Zinzan]

Slow, low, occasionally uneven, and turning more and more as the day has worn-on.

Is only going to turn more as the game goes on, presumably, but that might well be offset by getting still slower and lower.

Cheers, that summation suggests to me the winning of the toss may be particularly crucial

 

[Richard]

Yup. Been several comments already along the lines of "good toss for Strauss to win".

I certainly think it is. We wait to see, but this might be a win-toss-win-game match.

 

[Jigga988]

It's definitely breaking up, when the ball lands it disturbs the surface. It's difficult to say how hard it actually is to keep one's wicket on this pitch since the West Indies only played one bowler. But it looks like the England selectors read conditions spot-on with the selection of two spinners (as they did the intentions of the West Indies- five batsmen is pretty much enough against a prank-attack like this). It's up to Monty and Swann to make the most of it, but if both bowl well they should get 20 wickets (big if though, especially in Monty's case).

Not so sure, this series not enough credit has been given to the Windies batsmen prior to an innings and perhaps too much credit to the England bowlers... lets keep in mind that Strauss wont be declaring until probobly after tea when he'll have that 5 or 10 over crack at us, think our first innings is vital, and I'd like to think we could bat out the whole of day three and then day four and five is likely to be a bit of a mine field, day two is guarenteed to be a stinker though...

 

[Uppercut]

Not so sure, this series not enough credit has been given to the Windies batsmen prior to an innings and perhaps too much credit to the England bowlers... lets keep in mind that Strauss wont be declaring until probobly after tea when he'll have that 5 or 10 over crack at us, think our first innings is vital, and I'd like to think we could bat out the whole of day three and then day four and five is likely to be a bit of a mine field, day two is guarenteed to be a stinker though...

Who's been giving credit to the England bowlers? I want to laugh at them.

 

[Jigga988]

Who's been giving credit to the England bowlers? I want to laugh at them.

Well, countless amounts of people at the ARG was saying how England would topple the Windies in 60 overs, (not referring to you btw, but your esteemed collegure Richard is one of those people)

Btw, at least you guys have an attack that consists of more than one bowler!

 

[Uppercut]

Btw, at least you guys have an attack that consists of more than one bowler!

Yeah, the O'Connell-Rankin axis is really exciting me these days.

 

[Jigga988]

Yeah, the O'Connell-Rankin axis is really exciting me these days.

lol who wouldn't be thrilled by such a prospect... whoops forgot you wern't an England supporter, my bad... for about the upteenth time... not really sure why people do that tbh?

 

[Uppercut]

Haha, you're probably more used to me being pro-England than most. If you were around when I was supporting South Africa or India against them it might not happen.

 

[shivfan]

Dyson tries to justify omitting Benn, and replacing him with Simmons....


BBC SPORT | Cricket | England | Strauss confident of Trinidad win

West Indies coach John Dyson, meanwhile, admitted his side were focused on preserving their lead in the series.

"We are trying to get the opportunity to win but obviously we are not going to totally make the pace of play," he said.

"We are in the position we are in and we are quite happy to maintain that position.

"It was a difficult day. The wicket was very slow, but we had a reasonable day. It's a reflection of the pitches - they have offered very little for the pace bowlers and spinners."

He defended the decision to drop front-line spinner Sulieman Benn in marked contrast to England's thinking.

"It was decided that on two occasions on dry, flat wickets Sulieman didn't really go through the England batting. He did in Jamaica but not since, so we decided on this occasion to go for the extra batsman," Dyson explained.

 

[Steulen]

Yeah, the O'Connell-Rankin axis is really exciting me these days.

Is Rankin back to full fitness? Good asset to have, way to quick for most Associate batsmen.

 

[Richard]

Well, countless amounts of people at the ARG was saying how England would topple the Windies in 60 overs, (not referring to you btw, but your esteemed collegure Richard is one of those people)

That they didn't was more down to the inadequacies of England's attack than anything else. There is no way a remotely good attack would've let Denesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn, Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards last 32 overs. A good attack would've won that Test.

 

[Matt79]

Not watching the Aus vs SA match Rich?

 

[Uppercut]

Is Rankin back to full fitness? Good asset to have, way to quick for most Associate batsmen.

Not entirely sure of his current state as we haven't had any cricket in a while. Last time we did he was in October and he was fine then so unless he's stubbed his toe on a fridge in the mean time he should be okay. Connell's actually outplayed him pretty much every time they've played together. Although I can understand why you might not rememember .

There's a bloke on the forum who knows him from CC trials, he could be getting a gig with Sussex soon.

 

[Richard]

Dyson tries to justify omitting Benn, and replacing him with Simmons....


BBC SPORT | Cricket | England | Strauss confident of Trinidad win

West Indies coach John Dyson, meanwhile, admitted his side were focused on preserving their lead in the series.

"We are trying to get the opportunity to win but obviously we are not going to totally make the pace of play," he said.

"We are in the position we are in and we are quite happy to maintain that position.

"It was a difficult day. The wicket was very slow, but we had a reasonable day. It's a reflection of the pitches - they have offered very little for the pace bowlers and spinners."

He defended the decision to drop front-line spinner Sulieman Benn in marked contrast to England's thinking.

"It was decided that on two occasions on dry, flat wickets Sulieman didn't really go through the England batting. He did in Jamaica but not since, so we decided on this occasion to go for the extra batsman," Dyson explained.

No mention of any disciplinary breach there, so if true it's for some odd reason being kept hushed-up.

 

[Uppercut]

No mention of any disciplinary breach there, so if true it's for some odd reason being kept hushed-up.

My insider source on Benn leads me to believe he's prone to that kind of thing. On tours he'll typically "try to drink every plane he gets on dry".

 

[Steulen]

Not entirely sure of his current state as we haven't had any cricket in a while. Last time we did he was in October and he was fine then so unless he's stubbed his toe on a fridge in the mean time he should be okay. Connell's actually outplayed him pretty much every time they've played together. Although I can understand why you might not rememember .

There's a bloke on the forum who knows him from CC trials, he could be getting a gig with Sussex soon.

Hah, yeah, the Dutch are absolutely **** at FC cricket.

We'll have England for lunch at Lord's in June, though...

 

[Uppercut]

Hah, yeah, the Dutch are absolutely **** at FC cricket.

We'll have England for lunch at Lord's in June, though...

Let's hope so

 

[Steulen]

Let's hope so

I guess you must be gutted btw. If not for the Zimbabwe situation it would have been your lot against England instead of us.

 

[Richard]

My insider source on Benn leads me to believe he's prone to that kind of thing. On tours he'll typically "try to drink every plane he gets on dry".

Oh yeah, he's a well-known bad-boy, has been for many years (was disciplined strongly and sent to a counsellor for shocking attitude on the WI A tour of England as far back as 2002). The point is, if something of that sort has happened here (which it appears not to have done) then WI are going a strange way about punishing him for it, as they're not making it public that he's been dropped for misbehaviour.

If you don't tell The World about it, there's no point dropping someone at all.

 

[Uppercut]

I guess you must be gutted btw. If not for the Zimbabwe situation it would have been your lot against England instead of us.

As nice as the guaranteed victory would be, I'm sure we'll meet them in the next round after rolling over Bangladesh again.