**Official** West Indies in England 2012

[Spark]

It's not always as simple as that tbf. Ponting and Clarke were legitimately out of form, and Hussey was hardly a hot favourite to be our best bat during the 10-11 Ashes.

 

[amanuensis]

Yeah. But if he was facing Rehman and Ajmal in Dubai right now he probably still would.

I don't recall Rehman dismissing him on that tour & he has no history of trouble with SLAs, save for one horrible misjudgement against Harris. He simply couldn't pick Ajmal's doosra, which is a rather severe handicap if you're being sent out at five.....

 

[GIMH]

Yeah. But if he was facing Rehman and Ajmal in Dubai right now he probably still would.

Hate the tendency to attribute differences in performance to "losing form" or "finding form" when there's such an obvious reason why he struggled in one situation but not in another. It's like that time all of the Aussie batsmen coincidentally lost form at exactly the moment England arrived in the country. Then coincidentally regained form one year later when India arrived.

True enough but I can't be the only one who worried he wouldn't find his groove again so quickly

 

[flibbertyjibber]

True enough but I can't be the only one who worried he wouldn't find his groove again so quickly

Never doubted him at all.

 

[Uppercut]

It's not always as simple as that tbf. Ponting and Clarke were legitimately out of form, and Hussey was hardly a hot favourite to be our best bat during the 10-11 Ashes.

Yeah, I'm not saying that form doesn't explain any fluctuations in performance. But it was very noticeable how the Aussie lineup as a whole was visibly in worse touch by the end of the series than they had been at the start. And for the series against India, the reverse was true, especially for Ponting.

 

[Cabinet96]

It doesn't seem to deteriorate AT ALL anymore. Its been like this a while now. I think it was 06 when we played Sri Lanka and they racked up 500 in the follow on, looking like they could bat forever. If the ball stops swinging its bloody hard to get wickets.

I remember going to the 4th day against SA in 2008. We'd bowled them out cheaply in the first innings and had a big lead. They were following on and duly lost 1 wicket on day 4 and only 3 in the whole innings.

I think quietly England will have got just what they needed from this game, Strauss and Bell's getting runs is just what England were looking for with the whole summer still ahead, add to that the bowlers getting more overs under their belt.

AWTA.

 

[Biryani Pillow]

Obviously this match isn't over yet. But do we think England will field the same 11 on Friday. I didn't see yesterdays play but evidently Bres had a bit of a stinker from his figures.

Do you think they might go with Onions as its Trent Bridge and will likely swing (though the weather is looking great for the week coming)

No.

Bresnan did not have a stinker. Bowled pretty well with no luck, got movement when conditions weren't in favour of it.

He's as likely to swing the ball as Onions is - and is a better all round bowler.

All the WI supporters in the ground look like the remnants of those who were cheering Lloyd's men on in '76.

I was there today (thought the crowd was what I would expect in the situation) - there were 3 or 4 indulging themselves where in the late 70/80s there may have beem 10 or 12 thousand.

One chap early on was urging the bowlers to 'pitch it up!'

Bit different to back then when it was more likely to be 'make him smell it!'

Personally I was never worried. There was likely to be a little help with the new ball but as soon as that softened a little the pitch would pose no problems - as yesterday - and the bowling was better yesterday.

Although I doubt it would have mattered I felt Sammy had to give Roach an eyeballs out spell before lunch, and if not certainly afterwards.

To bowl Samuels at all made little sense - and absolutely none after lunch (unless they wanted to get back to the hotel quickly).

 

[Furball]

Was out all morning but it was nice to check the score and find England hadn't collapsed in a heap.

 

[Mainze]

That was a very enjoyable test match from start to finish, the West Indies made a good fist of it. Looking forward to the second test in Nottingham on Friday, its just a shame Chris Gayle wont be there

 

[Jager]

Yeah, the bowling of Samuels was puzzling. If I remember correctly, he was bowling from the nursery end too, which meant that he spin was going against the slope (I may have got this the other way around, but I think I am right). For someone who doesn't spin the ball a lot, it seemed strange.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

David 'Bumble' Lloyd ‏@BumbleCricket:
Last hour been called arrogant / tosser / muppett ... But not face to face , funny that , I say funny that

 

[tooextracool]

Yeah. But if he was facing Rehman and Ajmal in Dubai right now he probably still would.

Hate the tendency to attribute differences in performance to "losing form" or "finding form" when there's such an obvious reason why he struggled in one situation but not in another. It's like that time all of the Aussie batsmen coincidentally lost form at exactly the moment England arrived in the country. Then coincidentally regained form one year later when India arrived.

I agree with some of this, but I don't think I am on the same page regarding Bell struggling because of the conditions. Bell has scored runs against better bowlers on slow/turning pitches in Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the past, his failures in the UAE were almost entirely down to not being able to pick Ajmal and almost nothing to do with Herath and/or Rehman both of whom merely capitalized on Ajmal's success in shattering Bell's confidence.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

David Lloyd getting a lot of sticks after saying Narine, "Didn't see him, didn't play a test"

 

[LegionOfBrad]

Sammy has been fined 80% of his match fee for slow over rate. He admitted bowling Samuels to try to improve it at the end. That's according to Andrew Miller on twitter.

FFS!!!

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Congrats England fans for the win.

Happy days with England winning and "Tim Malcolm Lara Bresnan" being shown a glimpse of his true average with bat and ball (30 plus with the ball and under 20 with the bat).

 

[GIMH]

He was bowling him when we still needed about 100 wasn't he? Unless he just means when he brought him on again when the game was dead

 

[GIMH]

Congrats England fans for the win.

Happy days with England winning and "Tim Malcolm Lara Bresnan" being shown a glimpse of his true average with bat and ball (30 plus with the ball and under 20 with the bat).

I think you'll find his true average is whatever he actually averages

 

[Agent Nationaux]

His true average will soon be discovered. He has had a good start will I will be happy when it's 30 plus with ball and under 20 with bat.

 

[weeman27bob]

His true average will soon be discovered. He has had a good start will I will be happy when it's 30 plus with ball and under 20 with bat.

No, I'm pretty sure his true average is what he currently averages. His future average might change either way, but his true average is what he currently averages, anything else is just a prediction.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

He was bowling him when we still needed about 100 wasn't he? Unless he just means when he brought him on again when the game was dead

Yeah he brought him on well before lunch.