**Official** 2004 Natwest Series (Eng, NZL, WI)

[Andre]

No offense to Flintoff and Strauss but that was pretty ordinary bowling.

A narrow viewpoint.

The way that pair batted, any bowling would look ordinary. Absolutely unbelieveable partnership.

 

[Blakey]

well you would expect any batsmen to do well against a team with only 2 frontline bowlers playing.

 

[Andre]

Dwayne Bravo has the most wicket of the tournament, and Chris Gayle would probably hold his place in the West Indian ODI side as a bowler, bare those in mind....

 

[wpdavid]

The way that pair batted, any bowling would look ordinary. Absolutely unbelieveable partnership.

Well, they've certainly made a decent contest of it. I've only been able to follow it on Cricinfo, but they seemed to pace their innings superbly. If only we had a top 3.

But WI are well capable of chasing that total - it's almost identical to the ones they twice successfully chased against the same opposition in the Caribbean a few months back. This wicket probably isn't quite as flat as those ones, but it looks pretty true and the sun's even shining in London now. Should be a cracking contest.

 

[Arjun]

Is Flintoff going to get any overs today? He seemed quite fit in the innings he played. They can't depend on Collingwood again, can they?

This was one very impressive partnership. Much as Flintoff may hog the attention for his blistering hundred, the contribution of Strauss cannot be ruled out.

 

[roseboy64]

The batting was good but the bowling at the end wasn't that good.They didn't put the ball in the right places and with Flintoff's slogging power you can't do that.That gave Strauss the confidence to go after the bowling so in effect it wasn't that good of a bowling performance.Seems to me that there is something wrong with Lawson as i don't think any side in their right mind would only play two specialist bowlers.

 

[garage flower]

The English are not yet out of danger...they have to defend this total well, at least this time.

Why is Lawson out? Surely, with his pace, he can do a lot better, can't he?

Lawson's ill apparently and Rampaul has sore shins. No other bowlers in the squad except Darren Sammy, who's an untried bowling all-rounder (?).

 

[roseboy64]

I never heard of Sammy before this series and I live in the West Indies.

 

[Andre]

Well, they've certainly made a decent contest of it. I've only been able to follow it on Cricinfo, but they seemed to pace their innings superbly. If only we had a top 3.

But WI are well capable of chasing that total - it's almost identical to the ones they twice successfully chased against the same opposition in the Caribbean a few months back. This wicket probably isn't quite as flat as those ones, but it looks pretty true and the sun's even shining in London now. Should be a cracking contest.

Is it not being televised in England David?

I watched it out here, one of the best partnerships in ODI cricket I've seen for a while. Well paced - both batsmen started slowy by their standards - and increased the tempo dramatically.

To give an indication, the pair added 84 between overs 43 and 48.

 

[wpdavid]

Is it not being televised in England David?

I watched it out here, one of the best partnerships in ODI cricket I've seen for a while. Well paced - both batsmen started slowy by their standards - and increased the tempo dramatically.

To give an indication, the pair added 84 between overs 43 and 48.

It's on Sky, but I'm stuck in my classroom.

They had to start slowly starting at 50 for 3, with only Collingwood, Jones & the bowlers to come. Plus the innings had been bogged down for a while before Flintoff came to the wicket, so they did unbelievably well to get us over 280. Shame about our openers again though - I can't see that the wicket was to blame today.

 

[wpdavid]

I see Collingwood's just put down Smith. Was it a bad drop, or did he do well to get to it?

 

[tooextracool]

Yet again our much vaunted openers have contributed nothing. Given the balance of the WI attack, you wouldn't have thought it was beyond Vaughan to try and see off Best before trying some expansive drives against the white ball. Apparently not.

its bad enough that vaughan seems to go after every wide delivery he sees, but to go after them without getting your feet to the pitch of the ball is just plain ridiculous. IMO its about time he is dropped and the captaincy should either go to tresco or flintoff.

 

[Andre]

I see Collingwood's just put down Smith. Was it a bad drop, or did he do well to get to it?

Would have been comfortably the catch of the series. Diving full to hi right, he actually caught it, but once his arm hit the ground the ball jarred out.

 

[wpdavid]

No matter, Gough's got him now. England will need Gough, Harmison & Anderson to have blinders, I think. If not, I can see 20 overs from Giles, Collingwood & Trescothick going for lots.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

its bad enough that vaughan seems to go after every wide delivery he sees, but to go after them without getting your feet to the pitch of the ball is just plain ridiculous. IMO its about time he is dropped and the captaincy should either go to tresco or flintoff.

He gets out woffting at a wide full ball alot in tests too.

 

[tooextracool]

Dwayne Bravo has the most wicket of the tournament, and Chris Gayle would probably hold his place in the West Indian ODI side as a bowler, bare those in mind....

dwayne bravo bowled absolute rubbish today......it was the other dwayne who was impressive, well at least for the first 8 overs. i thought he managed to control flintoff when he went around the wicket and didnt give him room to free the arms but once flintoff hit him for a 4 he just lost it completely and bowled long hops and wides. i was a bit surprised that bravo didnt try to do the same.
and yes they were a frontline bowler short, they went in with 3.....and really they had inexperienced easy paced part timers bowling overs 40-46,where instead they should have had 3 out of bradshaw,lawson,gayle and tino best. i think those who saw tino best bowling the last few overs of the inning would have realised that they were short of a frontline seamer.
the WI poor fielding once again showed itself, they just never seemed to even come close to hitting the wickets, there were misfields and misjudged catches that went begging.....the outcome of course was that both strauss and flintoff had several lives. and what has been happening for years now, the no balls and wides in the last 5 overs is just ridiculous especially from someone like gayle.

 

[wpdavid]

And now Strauss has dropped Gayle - his second drop in consecutive games, IIRC. We really can't afford to do that, espcially with Harmison & Anderson struggling. At the moment, only Gough's turned up, which isn't what we need. Oh dear.

 

[tooextracool]

This was one very impressive partnership. Much as Flintoff may hog the attention for his blistering hundred, the contribution of Strauss cannot be ruled out.

yes i was more impressed with strauss than i was with flintoff.....i thought he was timing the ball better than flintoff and got his runs from orthodox cricketing shots rather than slogs. however i would like to see strauss play innings like these in places other than lords.....

 

[Andre]

i think those who saw tino best bowling the last few overs of the inning would have realised that they were short of a frontline seamer.

How so?

He conceeded 9 runs from his last 2 overs - 4 and 5 respectively. That's a fine effort in the context for the innings...

 

[tooextracool]

How so?

He conceeded 9 runs from his last 2 overs - 4 and 5 respectively. That's a fine effort in the context for the innings...

thats what i meant.....the fact that bravo and smith got smashed all over the place in the slog overs while best didnt just goes to show how handy another frontline bowler would have been.