***Official*** England in West Indies 2015

[greg]

Well that was annoying. Another reminder of how hard England find it to win cricket matches these days.

Think it guarantees that Moeen will be straight in.

 

[Burgey]

Massive kudos to Ramdin, Holder and Roach. Sticking around for that long on day five when you're 5 down for bugger all and the second new ball hasn't yet been taken is a huge effort.

 

[Stapel]

Impressed by Holder. In a way, it makes his rise to ODI captaincy look decent.

 

[Flem274*]

Holder WAG!

 

[Scaly piscine]

Cook's declaration was fine. Just the shame about everything else really.

England's new ball bowling and abject captaincy are the main reasons England didn't win this. West Indies opened the door with a few dismissals, but England weren't good enough to take the chance.

 

[wpdavid]

We'd better get used to it for the foreseeable future. It's hard to see our attack troubling anyone on these pitches or against Aus in the summer. Or NZ come to that.

With hindsight, it's Jordan that should have been left out for Rashid, not Tredwell, just to offer something different on this track. That being said, Tredders' 1 wicket in 40 overs is probably a truer reflection of his abilities than when he got lucky in the first knock.

Anyway, congrats to Holder and off to bed.

 

[Burgey]

Nice touch, this i/v between Botham and Anderson.

 

[WalkingWicket]

Don't get what Jordan offers with the ball. Sure, he's quick enough, but it's a weird sort of quick, more (fast-)medium than actually fast. He just stabs it in, complete with an atrocious run-up, and never looks like he'll take wickets.

But he's a f***ing gun in the field.

 

[Maximas]

With hindsight, it's Jordan that should have been left out for Rashid, not Tredwell, just to offer something different on this track. That being said, Tredders' 1 wicket in 40 overs is probably a truer reflection of his abilities than when he got lucky in the first knock.

Bowling your side to victory as a finger spinner on a pitch not really doing a huge amount for you is very tough, especially a guy like Tredwell who is much more suited to being foil to the quicks than the main dish himself, thought he did alright

 

[Beamer]

Yes Jason! Such a wonderful innings, great courage and team spirit. It's matches and days like this that we need to get through to develop as a test side. I certainly didn't think we'd save it.

In fairness, it was a road on day 4 and 5 but that was still a long time to have to bat with the pressure of saving a test.

Also congrats to Jimmy, a thoroughly deserved landmark.

 

[viriya]

Good to see relative unknowns at test level getting tons for WI.. points towards more draws in the future if they can consistently get 350+..

Holder probably should be batting higher up - Ashwin level or better?

 

[greg]

Good to see relative unknowns at test level getting tons for WI.. points towards more draws in the future if they can consistently get 350+..

Key thing is to perform in both innings. Too often the weaker teams flatter to deceive in Test cricket with a decent first innings effort only to collapse in the second and subside limply.

 

[Niall]

Isn't a criticism of Rashid is he feasts on tail enders?

To conservative of a declaration from England, you would have thought they would have learned from last time.

Props to Holder though.

 

[weldone]

That being said, Tredders' 1 wicket in 40 overs is probably a truer reflection of his abilities than when he got lucky in the first knock.

Yes. Moeen is being missed.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Missed the last 2 sessions as was out. Well done West Indies and congratulations to Holder on the maiden ton.

Made up for Jimmy, top effort, on to 400 now and many more hopefully.

 

[Raffski]

Isn't a criticism of Rashid is he feasts on tail enders?

To conservative of a declaration from England, you would have thought they would have learned from last time.

Props to Holder though.

Nah the declaration came at the right time, I mean WI blocked/stumbled to 350 anyway, setting a total much lower would've been too risky
Bigger issue was Tredwell's expected lack of penetration- Moeen returning should hopefully solve that

Pitch might've been flat but I feel the pace attack was really shown up- got less out of the new ball than Roach and Taylor, and although they were able to keep it tight in general they offered little threat. Having three similar type bowlers is a major issue imo, they're desperately in need of some variation

 

[Gnske]

Was Blackwood's shot as bad as it sounds?

 

[Niall]

Nah the declaration came at the right time, I mean WI blocked/stumbled to 350 anyway, setting a total much lower would've been too risky
Bigger issue was Tredwell's expected lack of penetration- Moeen returning should hopefully solve that

Pitch might've been flat but I feel the pace attack was really shown up- got less out of the new ball than Roach and Taylor, and although they were able to keep it tight in general they offered little threat. Having three similar type bowlers is a major issue imo, they're desperately in need of some variation

I think they batted on to long 400 + was more than enough. It wasn't as stupidly late like the first test against Lanka last year and what Strauss done last time in the West Indies to be fair. You got to be a little more ballsy at times with this type of thing, Strauss got it wrong and it killed England last time.

I do think this time England win the series, so it will be a footnote at least.

Ali coming back will help, agree massively with that.

 

[Furball]

Was Blackwood's shot as bad as it sounds?

Worse.

 

[Jono]

Awesome from Holder. Encouraging stuff.