*Official* West Indies Tour of England 2020

[Lillian Thomson]

Tony Greig really only played Test Cricket while at his peak aged 25 to 30 and was very consistent as a result. Ben Stokes has now become the batsman Ian Botham could have been late on in his career with a bit more dedication, but that's life.

 

[wpdavid]

He is very much the forgotten man of the great English (yeah, yeah...) post-war all-rounders, probably for the reasons Howezers suggests & also maybe because England was enjoying one of our not infrequent visits to the cricketing doldrums for much of his test career (the 76/77 win in India being the major exception), but his stats suggest he's worthy of discussion as being perhaps the best of them all.

He was just a little bit before my time, but from what I've read and heard he's possibly the only one of the famous five (Bailey, Botham, Flintoff, Stokes and him) who wouldn't have made the test XI on his bowling alone at some point in his career.

Sir Ben is actually an arguable case too, I suppose.

Maybe it time for a "Rehabilitate Tahnny" campaign...?

It wasn't just that Greig defected to WSC; he was a prime mover in setting it up in the first place. That was a huge minus at the time. I think you're right about his bowling, but trundler's right about him being under-rated, particularly as a batsman. His final average of 40 may not look special now, but things were different then, and he often made his runs when the going was tough. I could argue that he was the best batsman of the lot, but not the best all-rounder as his bowling wasn't a patch on peak Botham or even peak Flintoff, and probably not Bailey, although Trev was a few years before my time. But I loved his attitude and, for those of us starting following English cricket in the early 1970s he was a breath of fresh air. His time as captain's under-rated too btw.

EDIT - Fair point by LT.

 

[Howe_zat]

Bairstow properly tonking Adil Rashid in the warmup now.

Edit: Responds by bowling Evans. Fun.

 

[Nintendo]

75 ball ton for bairstow. Has looked great.

 

[Howe_zat]

And out for 127 off 88 balls. You'd expect to see him play every ODI. Kinda makes me wonder where Jason Roy is.

Ali's XI seems to actually have nine players in it considering Reece Topley is batting at seven.

Edit: The on-screen score now revelas the new batsman to be Durham's Brydon Carse, which makes a bit more sense.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

According to cricinfo, there are less than 22 players named in the match because some batsmen are expected to bat for both sides to increase practice time.

 

[DriveClub]

Good knock by Ali, 85(45) missed out on a 100 was only a couple of blows away

 

[Howe_zat]

According to cricinfo, there are less than 22 players named in the match because some batsmen are expected to bat for both sides to increase practice time.

Sounds plausible, Liam Livingstone has just come in to bat at 8.

...and is out first ball. Good use of the extra practice time.

 

[DriveClub]

Ali's team score a formidable 325 from 40 overs. Bairstow 127(87) and Ali 85(45) top scorers, Rashid while expensive picks up 4 wickets. Entertaining innings

 

[Beamer]

The weather forecast for the next test is pretty shocking. Looks like Friday will be the only full days play with big interruptions due on all the other days. That would be a massive shame given how well it is poised.

 

[honestbharani]

****ing England.. get a climate FFS.

 

[Howe_zat]

Quite strange to see Liam Livingstone bowling a full set of overs. Parkinson didn't bowl so perhaps he's injured.

No real reply to Bairstow and Moeen's batting, Morgan dismissed in the 30s and it was a bit of a procession from there, despite Livingstone's bowling.

 

[mackembhoy]

Quite strange to see Liam Livingstone bowling a full set of overs. Parkinson didn't bowl so perhaps he's injured.

No real reply to Bairstow and Moeen's batting, Morgan dismissed in the 30s and it was a bit of a procession from there, despite Livingstone's bowling.

Out of the series

https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1285612141366648832

 

[Isura]

My team for the next test, give the squad they've selected:

Kraigg Braithwaite
John Campbell (last chance, though wouldn't complain if they bring in Da Silva)
Jermaine Blackwood (lets bat him where he got all his runs for Jamaica)
Shamarh Brooks (have been reasonably impressed with him, against my expectations)
Roston Chase
Shane Dowrich
Jason Holder (needs to step up with the bat)
Rakheem Cornwall (should play every test, enough of the BS)
Alzarri Joseph
Kemar Roach (so close to 200 wicket milestone!)
Chemar Holder (give Shannon a rest)

Replace Campbell with De Silva and that's a ***y team! Would be fun to watch.

 

[Adders]

The weather forecast for the next test is pretty shocking. Looks like Friday will be the only full days play with big interruptions due on all the other days. That would be a massive shame given how well it is poised.

Faaaaark, seriously? That'll be a real shame.

 

[stephen]

Has anyone had a better 18 months than Ben Stokes (maybe only Labuschagne)? He's been seriously gunning it lately. From his world cup exploits to his test winning knocks he's really done it all with the bat.

 

[Nintendo]

I would have said David warner if not for the ashes. Noene else really comes to mind, maybe babar azam?

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Has anyone had a better 18 months than Ben Stokes (maybe only Labuschagne)? He's been seriously gunning it lately. From his world cup exploits to his test winning knocks he's really done it all with the bat.

Yeah, a real purple patch...not spent in a 6x4 cell.

 

[morgieb]

Faaaaark, seriously? That'll be a real shame.

BBC's a little bit more optimistic, but it seems like Saturday at least looks like a washout and Sunday and Monday look potentially heavily interrupted. Tuesday might be OK? Still going to be hard to get a result in effectively 3 days without some big compromises.

 

[Isura]

BBC's a little bit more optimistic, but it seems like Saturday at least looks like a washout and Sunday and Monday look potentially heavily interrupted. Tuesday might be OK? Still going to be hard to get a result in effectively 3 days without some big compromises.

Genius idea to play 3 tests in Manchester.