**Official** England in The West Indies

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Best: Best is far from a bunny IMO he showed great promise with the bat every time I have seen him play 20* vs Aus and today's knock and he isn't scared to get behind the ball and played a couple of fantastic shots that the top order would have been proud of.

I enjoyed watching him bat, purely because he's one of those bowlers who backs himself to score runs and goes for it, but not slogging really.

He was unlucky to get out IMO.

 

[Rich2001]

I enjoyed watching him bat, purely because he's one of those bowlers who backs himself to score runs and goes for it, but not slogging really.

He was unlucky to get out IMO.

Hit 40 odd as well in a recent domestic game as well, so can't be too bad

Liam what was your view on the day in the end, Happy with 300 odd for 9 or not

 

[badgerhair]

Hmm, not what the majority have said about the England bowlers.

I'm not the majority, but this wasn't a great performance by the England bowlers, and several of the wickets were gifts.

Hoggard was Hoggard. Accepting that he is a very good swing bowler but fairly innocuous otherwise, doomed to trying to keep the runs in check, he did the job as required. Jones is clearly ring-rusty and bowled rather better later in the day as he eased himself back into some kind of rhythm. Flintoff was below-par, and Giles was mostly horrible.

Harmison was the only bowler who kept troubling the batsmen, and he bowled with genuine hostility and pace (though the beamer to Edwards was quite clearly a much-regretted accident). To put his performance in perspective, if it had been Jason Gillespie I'd have said he was a bit off, but if it had Brett Lee I'd have been startled at the improvement.

However, if you compare this day's work by England's bowlers with almost any other first day of a series in the last five years, this was excellent, barely adequate though it was in reality. We've usually managed to put ourselves right out of contention by the end of day 1, conceding 330/3 and looking hopelessly undercooked, whereas this was merely rough-edged. And we're in a pretty good position, because this is a decent batting track and their bowlers don't seem all that threatening.

There's no call to put up the bunting and start the dancing in the streets, but this was a pretty good first day by England. Credit to Smith and Hinds for their excellent stand - but the senior WI bats should be kicking themselves that they were so badly shown up.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Hit 40 odd as well in a recent domestic game as well, so can't be too bad

Liam what was your view on the day in the end, Happy with 300 odd for 9 or not

I'm very happy, if only because of Smith and Hinds. However, I think tomorrow will be better for batting, so England have the top card there.

From 101/4, we batted 210/5 which is not too bad given who the batsmen were.

 

[Rich2001]

Everyone seems to be gunning for England even-though at the end of the day they are clearly in the driving seat, all be it not quite so good as they could have been.

IMO and the opinions of the whole commentary team that pitch was a batters pitch and althought the pitch in the past has a reputation to be quite low scoring both teams would and should be looking atleast 400-450 on that and with the West Indies 300 odd for 9 at the end of day one it appears England have done a pretty good job.

At serval stages england could and probley should have gone in for the kill but all credit to the Windies for fighting in there and getting themselves back into the game.

Tommorow is likly to be the best batting day with the pitch speeding up and bring the ball onto the bat making scoring easier so England with a very healthly top order "should" make hey in the sunshine. Vaughan is in form, Tresco is due a score, Butch/Thrope/Nass/Read will be looking to make scores and should do.

The West Indies attack in contrast to the English one is weak really, Collymore will be required to bowl a line and lenght to try and lead the attack and will be a threat, Best and Edwards one their day can be deversating but just as easily be dreadful as was shown in SA, Sandford Iam a bit unsure of but he isn't electric in pace and was avgerage in SA also. There is no real turn so that negates the part-timers in Gayle and Sarwan IMO.

I rec' in 24 hours England will be sitting in a very healthy spot, but then that's just my opinion.

Just a option but why not actually get behind your team and be optismistic rather than always looking for the faults, I sware half of the fans sit at home hoping half their players do badly just so they can be proved right on the forum... you might not agree with the selections but your stuck with it so support them for a change :rolleyes:

 

[Neil Pickup]

Absolutely! There's no fun in watching sport if you aren't totally and utterly supporting one side!

COME ON ENGLAND!

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Everyone seems to be gunning for England even-though at the end of the day they are clearly in the driving seat, all be it not quite so good as they could have been.

IMO and the opinions of the whole commentary team that pitch was a batters pitch and althought the pitch in the past has a reputation to be quite low scoring both teams would and should be looking atleast 400-450 on that and with the West Indies 300 odd for 9 at the end of day one it appears England have done a pretty good job.

At serval stages england could and probley should have gone in for the kill but all credit to the Windies for fighting in there and getting themselves back into the game.

Tommorow is likly to be the best batting day with the pitch speeding up and bring the ball onto the bat making scoring easier so England with a very healthly top order "should" make hey in the sunshine. Vaughan is in form, Tresco is due a score, Butch/Thrope/Nass/Read will be looking to make scores and should do.

The West Indies attack in contrast to the English one is weak really, Collymore will be required to bowl a line and lenght to try and lead the attack and will be a threat, Best and Edwards one their day can be deversating but just as easily be dreadful as was shown in SA, Sandford Iam a bit unsure of but he isn't electric in pace and was avgerage in SA also. There is no real turn so that negates the part-timers in Gayle and Sarwan IMO.

I rec' in 24 hours England will be sitting in a very healthy spot, but then that's just my opinion.

Just a option but why not actually get behind your team and be optismistic rather than always looking for the faults, I sware half of the fans sit at home hoping half their players do badly just so they can be proved right on the forum... you might not agree with the selections but your stuck with it so support them for a change :rolleyes:

No doubt England is in the better position, but I'd hardly call the West Indies bowlers weaker than the English brand. The England attack is really nothing to boast about, though they are far more experienced than the Windies attack. Still, I don't think there's that much separating them.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

No doubt England is in the better position, but I'd hardly call the West Indies bowlers weaker than the English brand. The England attack is really nothing to boast about, though they are far more experienced than the Windies attack. Still, I don't think there's that much separating them.

Quoting myself here...

The difference between the England attack and the West Indies attack aside from experience is that the West Indies only picked three specialist bowlers, then Sanford. :P That said, England picked three specialists, then Giles. :P:P

 

[Swervy]

Just a option but why not actually get behind your team and be optismistic rather than always looking for the faults, I sware half of the fans sit at home hoping half their players do badly just so they can be proved right on the forum... you might not agree with the selections but your stuck with it so support them for a change :rolleyes:

isnt that what English cricket followers do...and have done for as long as I can remember

 

[Rich2001]

No doubt England is in the better position, but I'd hardly call the West Indies bowlers weaker than the English brand. The England attack is really nothing to boast about, though they are far more experienced than the Windies attack. Still, I don't think there's that much separating them.

Look I said England would win the Ashes and the WC, so no need to take my word literally all the time - But I think (probley because I've seen the English bolwers alot more) are the better of the two.

Well lets see take the English - Harmy, Hoggy, Jones, Anderson, Giles, Flintoff and whoever else is in the sqaud and the WI's bowlers - Best, Edwards, Sandford, Collymore etc and what would be your starting line up of BOTH sides combined? So basically pick the best 4/5 bowlers from the squads.

 

[Langeveldt]

Great overs by Giles 21 off 2 overs, Marc enjoying flat spin NOW

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE......

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Well lets see take the English - Harmy, Hoggy, Jones, Anderson, Giles, Flintoff and whoever else is in the sqaud and the WI's bowlers - Best, Edwards, Sandford, Collymore etc and what would be your starting line up of BOTH sides combined? So basically pick the best 4/5 bowlers from the squads.

I haven't seen enough of the Englishmen yet. Sanford and Best definitely wouldn't be there though. Best because he's unproven and Saford because he's... well... crap.

 

[aussiefan]

COMMON ENGLAND

 

[Rich2001]

isnt that what English cricket followers do...and have done for as long as I can remember

Your telling me that the English members of this forum, are 100% behind the team and don't always complain about someone from the team?

Richard - I haven't even got a clue who he actually rates
Rik - Harmison, Giles etc

All I ever seem to see on the boards are people moaning about how badly someone has played etc, It would just be nice for a change to actually come on and see people saying... "Oh the England selectors have picked a doggy squad again, but who cares as long as we win that's all that matters"

But what's probley more annoying is when one of these "rubbish" players plays really well and all you see was it was luck, wont happen again his still rubbish.

But we are heading off-topic (no surprise hey ) - England 375/4 @ close tommorow

 

[garage flower]

Read this thread before you make a fool out of yourself please.

It was only a bit of fun and - at a glance as I was in a rush - I didn't understand your explanatory post.

Please cut the condescension and feel free to ignore my posts if that's your attitude.

Thanks
Michael

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Richard - I haven't even got a clue who he actually rates

<Yadda yadda>

But we are heading off-topic (no surprise hey ) - England 375/4 @ close tommorow

Richard? Ramprakash... Geraint Jones...

England? 4 wickets sounds about right, but if England get away that quickly, surely some timewasting will ensue.

 

[Neil Pickup]

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE......

Caps, Rich

 

[Rich2001]

I haven't seen enough of the Englishmen yet. Sanford and Best definitely wouldn't be there though. Best because he's unproven and Saford because he's... well... crap.

LOL - I would probley take

Flintoff
Anderson
Harmison
Jones
Hoggard

Oh sorry my bad - I would probley take Collymore from you guys, he has looked pretty good in the few games I have seen him.

Not Really sure who out of Anderson, Jones, Edwards as all are pretty simalar types of bowlers - I'll hold back until I see Edwards bowl tommorow

Harmison would get picked, just for the pace and extra bounce and annoynace he causes

Flintoff would go as he is more a batsman who can bowl, however if you really want to get a match up, I might be willing to borrow Gayle from you

 

[PY]

It was only a bit of fun and - at a glance as I was in a rush - I didn't understand your explanatory post.

Please cut the condescension and feel free to ignore my posts if that's your attitude.

Thanks
Michael

Was only jesting anyway. Forgot to add some smilies in my post.......:saint:. Apologies.

Just seemed like you were ignoring the fact that Corey is a very well-respected guy on the forums.

Back on topic, I have a feeling that Trescothick may get a big score tomorrow. Edges weren't going to men today and if that happens for him then it could be bigtime runs fest later.

Plus the ball appears to be coming onto the bat well which is what I believe he likes.

 

[garage flower]

Or ideally don't.
Then it might make your silly attempts to make me look silly look even more silly.
Silly fools.

No, again it was merely a bit of fun. You're quite capable of making yourself look silly. Perhaps it might be an idea to stick to usernames that everybody knows or, failing that, create your own humourless little forum for all your first name buddies.