*Official* West Indies Tour of England 2020

[Beamer]

Very much doubt that Hetmeyer would do better than Blackwood has.

He's a wildcard as he's just ludicrously talented. I expect you're right but tbh another player averaging 35/40 like Blackwood had would have done nicely!

I really feel we have to get Pooran and Brandon King to score FC runs and into the system.

Doing the same thing over again and expecting different results is silly.

 

[Bijed]

Very much doubt that Hetmeyer would do better than Blackwood has.

I'm not convinced Bravo would have been a net positive in hindsight either, since I assume he'd have been playing instead of Brooks who's probably done about as well as Bravo might have. He'd almost certainly have been better than Hope but I'm pretty sure Hope was always getting picked regardless of exactly who toured.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Never been wholly convinced by Holder's batting. Needs to step up here.

He is a very very good lower order player. Given he has a Gillespie type average with the ball and averages more than Graeme Hick with the bat he goes down as a fantastic allround cricketer.

 

[Jack1]

England need to get Anderson and Broad straight on in the morning after Archer completes his over. Try to get the last four quickly and enforce the follow on.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Depends on the weather and how the bowlers feel in the morning. Yes it would be good to enforce the follow on and win the series but if broad and Anderson are stiff tomorrow morning it would make sense to bat and rest them to set 400ish to win.

 

[Howe_zat]

Not sure what to make of Bess not bowling within 50 overs, though I can't really point out a time I would've brought him on.

 

[TestMatch]

Remember when, after the first test, many thought these 2 teams were evenly matched?

The sad thing is, WI don't have anyone else to replace these guys. Who's been lighting up the domestic circuit? Pooran is the only one who leaps to mind, and he hasn't played domestic tests in ages. Darren Bravo seems to be washed up. Hetmeyer has a 50 percent chance of becoming another Blackwood. The Windies cupboards seem bare.

 

[Howe_zat]

Remember when, after the first test, many thought these 2 teams were evenly matched?

The sad thing is, WI don't have anyone else to replace these guys. Who's been lighting up the domestic circuit? Pooran is the only one who leaps to mind, and he hasn't played domestic tests in ages. Darren Bravo seems to be washed up. Hetmeyer has a 50 percent chance of becoming another Blackwood. The Windies cupboards seem bare.

They've got a second innings

 

[Beamer]

Remember when, after the first test, many thought these 2 teams were evenly matched?

The sad thing is, WI don't have anyone else to replace these guys. Who's been lighting up the domestic circuit? Pooran is the only one who leaps to mind, and he hasn't played domestic tests in ages. Darren Bravo seems to be washed up. Hetmeyer has a 50 percent chance of becoming another Blackwood. The Windies cupboards seem bare.

Plenty of talent showing itself in the FC set up, but it's only been professional for 2 years.

I don't think we thought it was really evenly matched, more that with our bowling attack and one or two good innings we could win. The first test proved that correct. With three back to back tests, our bowling has run out of energy, we haven't played any reserves etc.

So we didn't bowl England out as cheaply and as everyone knows our batting isn't really good enough if the opposition has runs on the board.

We need to try some new batting options if we are to win matches more regularly.

 

[Beamer]

I'd also add that with the gloomy light and overcast conditions it's hard to think of a harder attack to face for any batting lineup. England were spot on this afternoon.

 

[Howe_zat]

England were spot on this afternoon.

Yup.

 

[Beamer]

Yup.

With those overhead conditions that is just deadly.

 

[Beamer]

With those overhead conditions that is just deadly.

Though I would say that since the 2nd innings of the first test our footwork has been sub par. Always trapped on the crease.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Though I would say that since the 2nd innings of the first test our footwork has been sub par. Always trapped on the crease.

Bowling improving from first test puts doubt in the batsmans mind. We have bowled very well in 2nd test and today. Not many sides could cope with that in England.

 

[Howe_zat]

We have also picked a lot more of a consistent attack who haven't needed to resort to changes of pace and bumpers, which didn't work very well with all three of Wood, Archer and Stokes in the first test. The latter two have bowled very well in patches but having at least two of Anderson/Broad/Woakes to pitch it up and settle into a rhythm is more more likely to take advantage of some of the visitors' technical weaknesses.

 

[Beamer]

Bowling improving from first test puts doubt in the batsmans mind. We have bowled very well in 2nd test and today. Not many sides could cope with that in England.

Agreed. Though I'm disappointed they haven't at least found a way to get a few more runs as it's clear, even when they're tired, that our bowlers cause problems.

At the end of the day we're up against an excellent attack in their own conditions with a batting lineup that isn't up to it.

 

[trundler]

We have also picked a lot more of a consistent attack who haven't needed to resort to changes of pace and bumpers, which didn't work very well with all three of Wood, Archer and Stokes in the first test. The latter two have bowled very well in patches but having at least two of Anderson/Broad/Woakes to pitch it up and settle into a rhythm is more more likely to take advantage of some of the visitors' technical weaknesses.

Yeah, who'd have thought 1100 wickets mean something. Been a very disciplined effort and a sustained one at that. Archer being allowed the freedom to do his own thing makes him a better bowler too.

 

[Flem274*]

hard to be mad when the batting has played to its level. they're down a couple of players and just not that good.

Remember when, after the first test, many thought these 2 teams were evenly matched?

The sad thing is, WI don't have anyone else to replace these guys. Who's been lighting up the domestic circuit? Pooran is the only one who leaps to mind, and he hasn't played domestic tests in ages. Darren Bravo seems to be washed up. Hetmeyer has a 50 percent chance of becoming another Blackwood. The Windies cupboards seem bare.

remind me who holds the wisden trophy?

englands home bowling, if they picked the obvious trio and not the likes of wood, was always likely to be too much for the west indies batting but it's also true a stiff breeze poses a mortal threat to the english batting, especially sans root.

 

[Beamer]

I'd like to see more aggression and positive intent in the morning and whenever our 2nd innings is. The bowling is excellent so let's get it off that line and length, or at least try.

Blackwood did it to some extent, Holder has looked nice and positive. We were bowling just as well this morning until Stuart Broad trolled us off our line and length.

Worth a go anyway. Hopefully Rakheem gets some runs.

 

[aussie tragic]

There have only been 2 players in history to score more than 300 runs and take 12 wkts in a 3 test series (averaging over 100 runs and 4 wkts per match)

Sobers: 342 runs @ 114.00 and 14 wkts @ 25.00

Mushtaq Mohammad: 327 runs @ 81.25 and 12 wkts @ 24.58

Stokes currently has 363 runs @ 90.75 and 9 wkts @ 16.33.

3 more wkts and he's right up there with these two for all-time best 3 match series.