***Official*** West Indies in England

[andruid]

Can I ask why England did not just invite Bangladesh instead?

 

[TT Boy]

Can I ask why England did not just invite Bangladesh instead?

Coming next year...

 

[Manee]

Coming next year...

And it would be silly to play the same team twice in succession.

 

[Beamer]

Can I ask why England did not just invite Bangladesh instead?

Maybe we should have asked the same question when England were humiliated in Jamaica? It is at times like these when posters show their class, and you display none with comments like that.

 

[TT Boy]

And it would be silly to play the same team twice in succession.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Coming next year...

WI were supposed to, too.

 

[TT Boy]

Really pleased by the way we didn't just win, but we won convincingly and everyone contributed well. I like this team and I like their attitude.

I don't think necessarily we need to do away with May tests, although six for the summer seems sufficient, and works well when there is no Ashes. I will be really pleased if WI are replaced by Pakistan next summer though. I'd much rather watch us playing a team who act as though they give a ****.

They were ****house last time they toured. Only turned up at the Oval...

 

[roseboy64]

Here are my musings on various individual players in the series:

England:

Jimmy Anderson - Awesome and absolutely unplayable at various points in the series. If the Aussies face overcast conditions for much of the Ashes they may well be in trouble as they are not exactly super against swing either.

Graham Onions - I'm extremely impressed, he has the attributes to be a solid test match bowler in most conditions, and a destroyer when there is movement off the pitch. I can see him getting a decent number of wickets in the Ashes.

Tim Bresnan - Not overly impressed tbh, though his opportunities have been limited it has to be said. Will be ok when it swings but I have my doubts about his effectiveness when it doesn't swing.

Ravi Bopara - Looks very good and I enjoy watching him bat. We have been generous enough to drop him on a number of occasions and I doubt the Aussies will do the same, but I still think he is the real deal.

Windies:

Fidel Edwards - Top bowling at Lords that should have put us in an excellent position if not for poor fielding. Less impressive in this test but conditions were not in his favour. He is developing into an excellent tearaway fast bowler.

Jerome Taylor - Simply not himself during this entire tour, pace was 3-5mph down and he looked to be placing the ball rather than bowling it with effort. Very disappointing as a fully fit and firing JT would have been so good in these conditions.

Lionel Baker - Not good enough IMHO. Not as quick as Fidel or JT, he's not that accurate, doesn't get much movement even in these conditions and he is the same height so doesn't add anything different. Ravi Rampaul should be our 3rd seamer. If they want extra height it should be Richardson and if they want pace like fiyah it should be Pascal. It's not rocket science FFS. Sometimes our selectors make things seem so difficult.

Devon Smith - Why why why was he even here? I will not even bother following the Bangladesh series if he is not replaced by Adrian Barath.

Lendl Simmons - Is clearly a talent and plays some extremely pleasing shots but his technique has been well and truly found out. The selectors will have to decide whether we can do better at number 4 or if they should persist with him. I personally think Dwayne Bravo is a better batsman than Simmo anyway and I would bat him at 4. He tends to bat better when he is given more responsibility.

My team to play Bangladesh in July:

Chris Gayle (c)
Adrian Barath
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Dwayne Bravo
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Brendan Nash
Denesh Ramdin
Jerome Taylor
Suliemann Benn
Ravi Rampaul
Fidel Edwards

Reserves:

Lendl Simmons
Andrew Richardson

Can't disagree much there. Toss up between Richardson and Rampaul but I would prefer Richardson to get the nod. Would have gotten in before Rampaul earlier if not for injury and Rampaul needs to get his weight down.

 

[Beamer]

Can't disagree much there. Toss up between Richardson and Rampaul but I would prefer Richardson to get the nod. Would have gotten in before Rampaul earlier if not for injury and Rampaul needs to get his weight down.

I personally think Rampaul is a better bowler than Richardson but I agree that Ravi could lose some weight. Rampaul, Richardson or Pascal, I don't really mind as long as it's someone different from Baker.

 

[andruid]

Can I ask why England did not just invite Bangladesh instead?

Maybe we should have asked the same question when England were humiliated in Jamaica? It is at times like these when posters show their class, and you display none with comments like that.

Because back then at least the West Indies could be arsed to make an effort and actually play some good cricket. Consider England had just played the Windies and unlike the Banglas, most of them had other thing they would rather have been doing (see IPL). Its been widely acknowledged that this series exists mainl;y cos the ECB has a quota home tests it has to fulfil with BSkyB and therefore when the original guests (Zimbabwe) could not make the trip (for obviuos reasons) they shoe-horned in the West Indies and a replaceament, after Sri Lanka were unable to commit due to their own senior player's IPL commitments. Consider the attitude of some of the West Indies senior players (Chris Gayle especially) on this tour and how distracted and disinterested they have looked on the field. Consider that even then their best all rounder Dwayne Bravo has still to turn up at all.

Now given Bangladesh unlike Sri Lanka and West Indies have only one senior player in the IPl (who has only played one game), and that they hardly get to play any meaningful cricket with anyone at all you would expect that they would grab the opportunity with both hands and even if we wound up with the same innings defeats that we have found ourselves looking at now that the Windies have sort tuirned up and wasted 6 days of test cricket with these rather abysmal efforts. Sarwan's ton aside none of the players can be accused of trying very hard

Personally I would rather have weaker opposition put 100% in and lose that a strong team make a mockery of the game with such a poor attitude.

And it would be silly to play the same team twice in succession.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Can I ask why England did not just invite Bangladesh instead?

I think the ECB assumed there's still a certain cache to tests against the Windies; Bangladesh in May is a tough sell. I personally suspect that we only play Bangladesh because we have to.

As it turned out tho the crowds for the Windies were a wee bit disappointing & the Windies barely competitive, so we might as well have invited them anyway.

 

[Beamer]

Because back then at least the West Indies could be arsed to make an effort and actually play some good cricket. Consider England had just played the Windies and unlike the Banglas, most of them had other thing they would rather have been doing (see IPL). Its been widely acknowledged that this series exists mainl;y cos the ECB has a quota home tests it has to fulfil with BSkyB and therefore when the original guests (Zimbabwe) could not make the trip (for obviuos reasons) they shoe-horned in the West Indies and a replaceament, after Sri Lanka were unable to commit due to their own senior player's IPL commitments. Consider the attitude of some of the West Indies senior players (Chris Gayle especially) on this tour and how distracted and disinterested they have looked on the field. Consider that even then their best all rounder Dwayne Bravo has still to turn up at all.

Now given Bangladesh unlike Sri Lanka and West Indies have only one senior player in the IPl (who has only played one game), and that they hardly get to play any meaningful cricket with anyone at all you would expect that they would grab the opportunity with both hands and even if we wound up with the same innings defeats that we have found ourselves looking at now that the Windies have sort tuirned up and wasted 6 days of test cricket with these rather abysmal efforts. Sarwan's ton aside none of the players can be accused of trying very hard

Personally I would rather have weaker opposition put 100% in and lose that a strong team make a mockery of the game with such a poor attitude.

Fair enough.......

 

[superkingdave]

Looking forward to watching the highlights tonight, sounds like the ball was moving all over the shop. Interesting if we get conditions like this in the Ashes, we'll probably get 300(Aus) plays 150 &100 though.

 

[fredfertang]

Looking forward to watching the highlights tonight, sounds like the ball was moving all over the shop. Interesting if we get conditions like this in the Ashes, we'll probably get 300(Aus) plays 150 &100 though.

................. ye of little faith ..............

 

[GIMH]

Roll on the ODIs please. Couldn't give two cents about this series. Just looking for individual performances. Never wanted it played in the first place.

 

[rivera213]

Anderson was great in this game, and hopefully Onions will develop into his opening ball partner. Swann has bowled pretty decent though he needs a "wrong-un" in his armoury to trouble the top teams consistently I feel.

Broad has bowled well in patches, but he still doesn't do it consistently. I see Ponting, Hussey, Hughes & Clarke jumping over him tbph.

Bresnan did well in the 2nd innings. He'll more than likely make way for Flintoff when he is fit and that may be enough in English conditions.

Australia have Johnson who is top notch, Siddle who (on form) is a handful but no spinner of note and not a quality old ball partnership.

 

[Manee]

Anderson was great in this game, and hopefully Onions will develop into his opening ball partner. Swann has bowled pretty decent though he needs a "wrong-un" in his armoury to trouble the top teams consistently I feel.

I disagree. A quality off spinner with an arm ball does not 'need' a doosra.

 

[andruid]

I disagree. A quality off spinner with an arm ball does not 'need' a doosra.

No harm having a good deployable one in the armoury though...

 

[rivera213]

I disagree. A quality off spinner with an arm ball does not 'need' a doosra.

Swann wont run through batting line-ups like Australia, India or South Africa's consistently without a doosra. I guarantee it.

 

[Uppercut]

Swann wont run through batting line-ups like Australia, India or South Africa's consistently without a doosra. I guarantee it.

There's not a bowler under the sun who can "run through" lineups of that quality "consistently".