*Official* West Indies Tour of England 2020

[honestbharani]

I honestly felt the only reason they would drop Broad was to get Woakes in at 8 for the batting insurance. Never thought he would be dropped for Wood, of all people.

 

[Flem274*]

Ultimately though the real damage - aside from the obvious, which is Root missing makes for a very fragile top order - is that England decided last week that we were going to pick an attack to bowl second in a high scoring game, and then never reconsider that when the weather on the first two days looked like making a mockery of that. Batting first wasn't just an error based on the conditions on the morning, it's also a poor reading of the players that both sides have avaiable.

The West Indies adapted their plan and we didn't. It rather feels like Stokes had his plan for the game given to him and understandably for a stand-in captain didn't adjust on the morning of the Test, even though that's presumably why we retained a 13-man squad in the first place.

Archer and Wood having a higher ceiling and with more variety than Broad and Woakes makes a lot of sense as a game plan if you expect the game to be 400 plays 350. As it is, it's more like an early season game where the bowlers can not only get a lot out of the conditions but also have a responsibility to do so without conceding runs. Bowlers who 'take the pitch out of the equation' can be a negative too.

i think the west indies made a mistake picking their attack for days 1 and 2. i think they will miss cornwall, even if it's just because the quicks might be huffing and puffing if the english dig in. the english can stick around, even if they don't score many.

hard disagree archer and wood have higher ceilings than the others or more variety unless you call being upredictable variety, especially wood. he's not that good, can't bowl long spells, drops his head and gets injured all the time. archer's pace is all over the place, drops his head and you wouldn't want him to bowl long spells either.

broad has the highest ceiling of any english bowler i've seen in my life and woakes is h4x at home. if the english selection came down to talent, they need to reassess quickly.

Fwiw I thought Dom Bess did a lot right yesterday and played a significant role in keeping England in the game.

hard agree, he's a great find.

 

[morgieb]

If England make 300, do we fancy Windies chasing 200? I actually think they might pull it off.

With a stronger batting lineup they shouldn't have any problems chasing 200, this isn't a minefield by any imagination and I don't see it breaking up significantly.

Question is whether the WIndies have the mentality/ability to chase 200. Would put the odds around 50/50, maybe slightly tilting England. 250 would clearly be England though.

 

[Flem274*]

i don't think the windies will chase 200 in the last innings. they're a very speculative batting side in that upper middle order, which is why so few of their young batsmen have stuck in test cricket. they play shots until they get out.

i hope brooks gets a hunger for runs because he's got the ability.

 

[harsh.ag]

Bess isn't good enough for me. Would get thrashed by Australia and India

 

[harsh.ag]

i don't think the windies will chase 200 in the last innings. they're a very speculative batting side in that upper middle order, which is why so few of their young batsmen have stuck in test cricket. they play shots until they get out.

i hope brooks gets a hunger for runs because he's got the ability.

I mean they're missing both Bravo and Hetmeyer right now, otherwise it's pretty settled

 

[Flem274*]

Bess isn't good enough for me. Would get thrashed by Australia and India

in those countries like every other visiting offie? most likely. in england? nah, at least not by the aussies.

sa aren't what they were but visiting offies don't enjoy south africa either and bess did well.

 

[Flem274*]

I mean they're missing both Bravo and Hetmeyer right now, otherwise it's pretty settled

they're both very speculative batsmen in how they play, especially hetmeyer.

with the windies this last decade i've always felt if you weather the storm for an hour or two they run out of steam and you can take the game away from them very quickly.

 

[Woodster]

i know selectors feel more comfortable when you have some extreme pace in the bank but i thought playing both was definitely an error and you could even argue broad is intimidating enough with his bounce to play anderson-broad-woakes-bess and get both bowling allrounders in there.

england is probably one of the most forgiving places for not having extreme pace as well thanks to the conditions and the duke ball swinging for longer (not to say england never has flat or tough decks - lords and cardiff spring to mind historically - but this one here doesn't require extreme speed imo).

My first thoughts when Broad was excluded and they went with Wood and Archer was one of excitement rather than genuine hope that was the right configuration. Love watching two bowlers when bowling flat out getting It down there over 90mph, however, the reality was that Broad simply had to play here. Was a big call and while it was exciting it wrong to leave Broad out on this pitch where he has the variation and skills to make a real impact on the game and given recent form he was very unlucky to miss out.

England is one of the very few places you could get away with a very samey looking attack (pace-wise) with Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Stokes, personally I would have had one of Wood or Archer in there (probably Wood) to offer something different and literally use him in four/five over bursts of high pace.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Sibley's pushing for the singles; positive cricket.

 

[GotSpin]

Huge session this

 

[Howe_zat]

Had a bit of a nervy moment thanks to the way cricket.com.au shows the score

 

[Magrat Garlick]

broke: 16/0
woke: 0/16

bespoke:

 

[Starfighter]

Sibley is setting up to repeat his first innings dismissal.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

That delivery from Roach was 83.3mph...might be his fastest of the match

 

[Flem274*]

if they're gonna keep straying into burns' and sibley's strength they need to put some fielders in the way, plus it might encourage them to follow the ball with their hands more if a gap on the offside is in the back of their mind.

 

[Howe_zat]

if they're gonna keep straying into burns' and sibley's strength they need to put some fielders in the way, plus it might encourage them to follow the ball with their hands more if a gap on the offside is in the back of their mind.

Largely agree with this, it's an orthodox field against two pretty unorthodox players.

That said, Gabriel got both these guys out by targeting the stumps in the first innings.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Is that the voice of Ian Bishop?

 

[Woodster]

Had to be patient this morning so far, but both batsmen have got one or two away when either Gabriel or Roach have slightly strayed in line. Looks a good day for batting, really good opportunity to get back into this Test for England today but that does depend on this fragile top order.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Almost the wicket ball of the first innings Burns dismissal