***Official*** West Indies in England

[Kweek]

Brumby if you don't mind me asking, what did they cut you for? Hope you get better soon, one of my friends had his appendix out recently and post op he self medicated with opium tea! Never seen the bloke so happy!

poor old brumby is suffering from gallstones

 

[oitoitoi]

poor old brumby is suffering from gallstones

Ah. Not fun.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

At least England can call up bowlers of Bresnan or Onions's quality when they need a replacement.

lol.

 

[Top_Cat]

England's Bopara hails IPL after Test century - Cricket - Sport - smh.com.au

Oh wait, T20's supposed to be crap, beneath Test cricket, etc. Apologies to all.

 

[Evermind]

Woah man, I was agreeing with you.

Alright then!

Errr...apologies.

 

[roseboy64]

I'd say Fidel's all but a world-class bowler by now. He's been real quality for quite a while.

Problem is, beyond those two bowlers they have nothing. At least England can call up bowlers of Bresnan or Onions's quality when they need a replacement. Neither even deserve a place in the side, but both are a lot better than Lionel Baker, who seems to be the best third seamer the Windies can come up with.

They have the body of a strong team now, but it's making the holes in it seem even bigger.

Baker is the incumbent so he starts but Richardson and Rampaul seem good backup. Pascal is nowhere near ready yet, but the other two I wouldn't mind being selected.

 

[Top_Cat]

So the WI shelled some chances. Better that than not creating them at all. They just lack a bit of skill at the moment. That'll come, hopefully. England's is a decent batting line-up so I'd say they'll be pleased witht he result, if not a bit disappointed with not getting Bopara out earlier.

WI seem to be on the up which is awesome. The problem, as previously pointed out, is the depth in bowling. Not such an easy problem to solve.

 

[Furball]

I dont think they bowled well enough to have any team 289/7 on a flat pitch, let alone the dozen catches that were dropped off them. Perhaps you may think so, because of Edwards and Taylor's bloated reputation, but I honestly dont think that changes the fact that they collectively bowled fairly poorly today.

Name one Test side that has a better new ball pair then.

 

[tooextracool]

Name one Test side that has a better new ball pair then.

Im assuming this is some sort of joke?

South Africa (Steyn, Ntini)
Australia (Johnson, Lee/Clark/Siddle)
India (Sharma, Khan)

And hypothetically, if it werent for injuries/selectors we would also have:
England (Anderson, Hoggard)
Pakistan (Gul, Akthar)

and quite possibly:

New Zealand ( Bond, O'Brien)

 

[Jono]

Alright then!

Errr...apologies.

Lol, I was just unsure as how you thought I was disagreeing with you.

Anyway, all good.

 

[shivfan]

For once I agree with you. This WI bowling attack shouldnt even be bowling out Bangladesh, and yet they have England reeling.

Bangladesh? A bit of an over-reaction, IMHO....

If that's the case, then watching England bowling in the Caribbean, I would say the same about the England bowling attack....

 

[shivfan]

Strauss said he would have bowled first as well. Don’t know why but it is now rather overcast.

In the end, it seems to have been a good call by Gayle to bowl first....

If the fielders had held their catches in the last session, England may well have been all out by stumps!

 

[shivfan]

I dont think they bowled well enough to have any team 289/7 on a flat pitch, let alone the dozen catches that were dropped off them. Perhaps you may think so, because of Edwards and Taylor's bloated reputation, but I honestly dont think that changes the fact that they collectively bowled fairly poorly today.

Bloated reputation?

Who on Earth have you been listening to?

WI fans are just happy that we have two pacers who are better than the likes of Nixon McLean and Merv Dillon. It shows an improvement in quality, however incremental. Nobody's claiming that they're Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee....

Somebody sounds a little unhappy with the first day's proceedings.

With the way the ball has been swinging, I'm not at all confident about how the WIndies will bat in the first innings....

 

[tooextracool]

Bangladesh? A bit of an over-reaction, IMHO....

If that's the case, then watching England bowling in the Caribbean, I would say the same about the England bowling attack....

and I wouldnt deny that being the case. Two poor teams are playing each other at the moment and if you are waiting for me to go over the top about the performance of either one of them then you might have to sit down. West Indies performance today was absolutely shocking, there is no denying that, whether you are a WI fan or not. and the same goes for England. Both teams are about even, and thats only because they are both rubbish.

 

[oitoitoi]

Name one Test side that has a better new ball pair then.

 

[BoyBrumby]

So the WI shelled some chances. Better that than not creating them at all. They just lack a bit of skill at the moment. That'll come, hopefully. England's is a decent batting line-up so I'd say they'll be pleased witht he result, if not a bit disappointed with not getting Bopara out earlier.

WI seem to be on the up which is awesome. The problem, as previously pointed out, is the depth in bowling. Not such an easy problem to solve.

Yeah, very fair point. Of all the crucial cricketing skills catching must be the easiest one to acquire. It is good to see the Windies on the way back, even if it's still early days.

Must be heartbreaking for the bowlers tho all the same, especially after such a Trojan effort on a slow and largely flat deck.

 

[four_or_six]

The commentators were talking about what Fidel Edwards's career bowling average would be if his teammates could catch. Kind of like a first-chance average for bowlers... would be interesting because at the moment his figures look very poor on the face of it.

 

[BoyBrumby]

The commentators were talking about what Fidel Edwards's career bowling average would be if his teammates could catch. Kind of like a first-chance average for bowlers... would be interesting because at the moment his figures look very poor on the face of it.

Hmmm.

Yeah, given the general arseitude of the fielding I reckon you can knock at least 5 runs off their averages for a truer reflection.

Two of the best three seamers playing in this test are West Indian IMHO.

Hardly the most original thought, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt this time.

Strongly suspect more than one meedja outlet swipes ideas off CW from time to time tho.

 

[shivfan]

and I wouldnt deny that being the case. Two poor teams are playing each other at the moment and if you are waiting for me to go over the top about the performance of either one of them then you might have to sit down. West Indies performance today was absolutely shocking, there is no denying that, whether you are a WI fan or not. and the same goes for England. Both teams are about even, and thats only because they are both rubbish.

There were plusses and minuses, so I would certainly not classify the entire team performances on both sides as poor....

Bopara batted well, in spite of his escapes. Edwards bowled well, and fully deserved to have his name up on the honours board. The ball he produced to dismiss KP was an excellent one!

Yes, Taylor was off-colour, but Benn bowled reasonably well too. No one is claiming that either is the new Glenn McGrath or the new Shane Warne....

The WI fielding in the final session was appalling!

You might think England are rubbish, because they seem to be regressing. However, I feel optimistic about the WIndies, because they are improving incrementally. Do you know how many runs the WI bowlers conceded the last time they played at Lords?

Yes, the WI still have some way to go, but they have finally moved off the number eight spot, and have Pakistan - and maybe even England - in their sights!

 

[four_or_six]

Hmmm.



Hardly the most original thought, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt this time.

Strongly suspect more than one meedja outlet swipes ideas off CW from time to time tho.

Perhaps, but not sure TMS commentators are sufficiently internet-literate, the way they still struggle over giving out the email address as if they're speaking a foreign language.