*Official* England Tour of West Indies 2019

[Tom Flint]

I think next test we should put in denly for Jennings and broad for Rashid. Jennings is useless and should never have been brought back.

 

[jimmy101]

Been living under a rock for the past couple of days. Couldn't believe my eyes when I looked at the scores of this match. Go Windies!

 

[Woodster]

Not a lot on here Marc71178, even though people may have suspected it wasn’t the right composition. Still not entirely sure it was wrong (though I did favour Broad over Curran), difficult to tell when the batsmen bat like that.

 

[Prince EWS]

Not a lot on here Marc71178, even though people may have suspected it wasn’t the right composition. Still not entirely sure it was wrong (though I did favour Broad over Curran), difficult to tell when the batsmen bat like that.

There was lots of talk in the lead-up to the series on here about how picking two spinners here wouldn't be the right call, rendering a Curran v Broad comparison totally unnecessary to begin with. I think most of it was actually in the SL thread immediately after that series though.

 

[Woodster]

There was lots of talk in the lead-up to the series on here about how picking two spinners here wouldn't be the right call, rendering a Curran v Broad comparison totally unnecessary to begin with. I think most of it was actually in the SL thread immediately after that series though.

Yes I’m sure there was, it’s easy to discuss options when the game’s weeks away but that’s without knowing what the pitch is actually like, that obviously has a huge bearing on the team selection.

Even pundits use hindsight to lambast selections when they were rather passive in their opinion at the start of the Test.

 

[Beamer]

Had a feeling we would bowl well on this pitch. Tbh we have an excellent pace attack, there is even a statistical argument that it is better than England's, which is something a lot of pundits overlooked. Particularly when you don't play Stuart Broad!

We have 3 pacers averaging under 30 which is excellent in the modern game. They all have different attributes that can work on different pitches.

Kemar Roach has 171 wickets @27. Clever bowler with an action that creates strange angles. Excellent at bowling around the wicket to left handers

Shannon Gabriel has 121 wickets @29. Pace like fiyah, deadly against right handers.

Jason Holder has 88 wickets @ 28. Extra bounce, swing, seam and accuracy.

Those 3 can cause any batting lineup problems when they bowl together. The statistics over the last 2 years when they are in the same side confirm that. We also have three very promising seam bowlers to back them up in Alzarri Joseph, Keemo Paul and Oshane Thomas.

Our problem in this series was never going to be bowling England out IMHO, it was getting runs on the board. Luckily in that first innings we got them out so cheaply that runs didn't matter! We still need to find a way of batting more effectively in test cricket to bring our pacers into the game.

 

[Woodster]

Had a feeling we would bowl well on this pitch. Tbh we have an excellent pace attack, there is even a statistical argument that it is better than England's, which is something a lot of pundits overlooked. Particularly when you don't play Stuart Broad!

We have 3 pacers averaging under 30 which is excellent in the modern game. They all have different attributes that can work on different pitches.

Kemar Roach has 171 wickets @27. Clever bowler with an action that creates strange angles. Excellent at bowling around the wicket to left handers

Shannon Gabriel has 121 wickets @29. Pace like fiyah, deadly against right handers.

Jason Holder has 88 wickets @ 28. Extra bounce, swing, seam and accuracy.

Those 3 can cause any batting lineup problems when they bowl together. The statistics over the last 2 years when they are in the same side confirm that. We also have three very promising seam bowlers to back them up in Alzarri Joseph, Keemo Paul and Oshane Thomas.

Our problem in this series was never going to be bowling England out IMHO, it was getting runs on the board. Luckily in that first innings we got them out so cheaply that runs didn't matter! We still need to find a way of batting more effectively in test cricket to bring our pacers into the game.

The last paragraph realistically applies to both teams. The batting needs to improve markedly, especially from England’s top order. I’m expecting a real reaction when they get the chance to bat for a second time, hopefully at some point today! I’m not expecting a record breaking chase with current confidence levels in the gutter, but I do hope to see a more determined and dogged effort and at least show what some of these players are capable of and not rely on having a long batting order.

Kemar Roach surprised me I must confess. I was wary of Gabriel’s pace and the recent levels from Holder mark him out as a danger, but Roach I wasn’t quite sure whether he had that kind of performance in him, I now know he certainly has.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Roach gave us a hint last year in that famous spell that contributed to Bangladesh getting bowled out for 43.

He had it in him since then.
But that was Bangladesh. Sub-continental team.

This spell spell was sweeter because of the team it was against. Ranking-wise.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

No demons on the 3rd day wicket thus far.

It just needs some more baking from the sun

 

[lockton2skipper]

In the ground now , Windies batting well this morning.

 

[trundler]

Loved to watch those nonchalant drives in the last over. Good ol' Calypso cricket. Holder over the last year has been truly superb and no doubt the best AR in the world.

 

[trundler]

The resurgence of West Indian cricket ought to come with the poms being #BlackWashed

 

[mr_mister]

So this is the great Sam Curran. First time sitting to watch him. Rate his brother a fair bit higher as a bowler

 

[Borges]

England getting a taste of their own medicine; lower order runs aplenty.

 

[slippy888]

This is a chance for Joe Root to score big hundred and lead England to a victory if he wants to be rated with the elite batsman

 

[mr_mister]

Jason Holder how good.

He's like if Darren Sammy wasn't a hack with bat and ball

 

[Woodster]

This is a chance for Joe Root to score big hundred and lead England to a victory if he wants to be rated with the elite batsman

Not sure even Virat Kohli could lead his side to success in this Test, huge ask. Hopefully he’ll score plenty in the second innings but victories from this position come round exceptionally rarely.

 

[Borges]

Woo! Turn for Adil Rashid. And next ball, the short ball gets clobbered for six.

 

[wpdavid]

Pretty sure there was some lambasting as soon as that ridiculous attack was named.

You're being too modest mate. iirc you were one of 2 or 3 posters pointing out how weak our attack looked.
Beyond that, Root missed a trick not bringing back Anderson when they were 80 odd for 5 and were beginning to weather the Stokes & Ali storm. I know I banged on about that at the time, but piss poor captaincy annoys me. Credit Roach for bowling well, but England have made life much harder for themselves with dim-witted choices.

 

[trundler]

Finally 50.

Curran looks rather limited. Not much happening so he looks innocuous. He's still 20 though. Hope he's not another boring condition reliant trundler from England.