**Official** England in The West Indies

[Swervy]

Discounting Sri Lanka like that isn't really fair. Especially as it was on the sub-continent.

yeah...why do we have to discount sri lanka anyway

 

[marc71178]

Looking at his signature:

tendulkar= the most overated player EVER!!

I wonder why we're arguing with him?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

no where in the same class as hussain,butcher,vaughan who have shown time and time again that they are quality batsmen

He averages better than Hussain and Butcher though. Yes, he's played less matches, but who are you to say he's not of the same class. Sarwan has performed very credibly of late.

Using the 'what have you done for me lately' theory combined with your beloved away series averages...

Nasser Hussain has an average of 35.47 in his last 10 Away Tests, with 7 fifties and no hundreds.

Butcher is even worse in that spread, at 27, with 1 hundred and 3 fifties.

Sarwan is at 42.33 with 3 hundreds and 3 fifties.

In his last 15 Tests away from home Sarwan avges 45.77 with 3 hundreds and 7 fifties.

Mr Butcher is at 29.75 with 1 hundred and 5 fifties. Hussain is at a creditable 38.81 with 1 hundred and 10 fifties.

In the last 15 Tests for each batsman...

Butcher avges 42.72 with 3 hundreds and 6 fifties.

Hussain is at 36.23 with 1 hundred and 7 fifties.

Sarwan is at 39.70 with 4 hundreds and 4 fifties.

Sarwan may not be one of the best in the world, but I think he certainly holds his own against Butcher and Hussain. Thorpe and Vaughan maybe not, but Lara and Chanderpaul match them fine.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Interestingly enough Sarwan has also scored as many hundreds and more fifties than Vaughan in his last 15 Tests. Sarwan does average roughly 4 less in that time, but it's not that bad ey?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

But it isn't, there's Gayle, there's the young Devon Smith who scored a ton last game, remember? There's Ryan Hinds who looks better than Thorpe does at the moment, and Sarwan's a much better player than one LBW down legside and another that was a bit high, and 2 0s.

If those balls had been properly on target he'd have still missed them due to his bad technique.
Thats not to say he isnt a class act. But if he keeps doing what he's done in the first test he'll struggle to make double figures.

 

[Craig]

Is G Jones playing in this Test or not?

 

[tooextracool]

Discounting Sri Lanka like that isn't really fair. Especially as it was on the sub-continent.

damn....i meant zimbabwe not sri lanka!!sry abt that

 

[tooextracool]

Plus two of those three series were against the 2 best bowling attacks in the world IMO. McGrath and Warne were still playing remember in the Ashes.

so u think that failing against the quality bowling attacks is acceptable as long as he makes up for it by scoring heavily against bangladesh,zimbabwe and at the oval???if u do u must be an english selector!

 

[tooextracool]

Looking at his signature:
I wonder why we're arguing with him?

because hes sooo overated that its not funny....no doubt he is a hella good batsman but for people to rate him as 2nd to don bradman and the best batsman in the world ATM is ridculous. hes not even the best batsman in india ATM....rahul dravid is.
the last time he played a match winning test knock or scored on a dodgy wicket outside of home was too long ago and its all too often that we see him scoring on the flattest pitches in the world, such as sydney.
let me ask u one question...when was the last time sachin had an AWAY series that he could call his series...sorta like hayden could call inda 01 his series or dravid could call england 02 his series???
the hallmark of a great batsman is to have played consistently well throughout an AWAY series...not getting 1 100 and a 50 in a 5 test match series and failing in the rest of the games as it seems almost customary for sachin to do.

 

[Swervy]

because hes sooo overated that its not funny....no doubt he is a hella good batsman but for people to rate him as 2nd to don bradman and the best batsman in the world ATM is ridculous. hes not even the best batsman in india ATM....rahul dravid is.
the last time he played a match winning test knock or scored on a dodgy wicket outside of home was too long ago and its all too often that we see him scoring on the flattest pitches in the world, such as sydney.
let me ask u one question...when was the last time sachin had an AWAY series that he could call his series...sorta like hayden could call inda 01 his series or dravid could call england 02 his series???
the hallmark of a great batsman is to have played consistently well throughout an AWAY series...not getting 1 100 and a 50 in a 5 test match series and failing in the rest of the games as it seems almost customary for sachin to do.

all batsmen (apart from Bradman) go through spells where things dont quite click

 

[tooextracool]

Interestingly enough Sarwan has also scored as many hundreds and more fifties than Vaughan in his last 15 Tests. Sarwan does average roughly 4 less in that time, but it's not that bad ey?

oh so let me get this straight here...u are comparing an in form sarwan to an out of form michael vaughan(he was throughout the summer)??why do u look at the last 15 tests then??look at their entire careers both have played nearly the same no of test matches and vaughan averages nearly 10 more than sarwan.
and also have u been looking at the kind of wickets the 2 have been batting on?sarwan gets to bat on those lifeless wickets in the west indies while vaughan has had to bat in england and sri lanka, two very different stories i must say
and despite all of that vaughan still averages 4 more than sarwan in that period..out of form and all....tsk tsk

 

[PY]

so u think that failing against the quality bowling attacks is acceptable as long as he makes up for it by scoring heavily against bangladesh,zimbabwe and at the oval???if u do u must be an english selector!

He averaged 42 against Australia and South Africa. That by my reckoning is pretty good.

You can't just discount the 219 and 69* just because they were at The Oval. He still got the runs. Are you one of the people who argued against Hayden's world record innings being brilliant because it was against Zimbabwe? Same kind of thing really.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

WI win toss and bat, England same team as First Test, West Indies make 2 changes Smith and Collins in for Hinds and Edwards.

 

[PY]

1st ball from Harmison goes down the legside.

Hoggard got big swing in 1st over.

Big appeal turned down for Harmo in last ball of his over.

West Indies - 4/0 (2.1 overs)

Gayle 4*
Smith 0*

 

[PY]

Talk about backlash :O

West Indies - 80/0 (18.2 overs)

Smith 29* (53 balls)
Gayle 50* (58)

Getting whacked about a bit at the moment. Flintoff appears to be the only one with any control.

 

[tooextracool]

He averaged 42 against Australia and South Africa. That by my reckoning is pretty good.

You can't just discount the 219 and 69* just because they were at The Oval. He still got the runs. Are you one of the people who argued against Hayden's world record innings being brilliant because it was against Zimbabwe? Same kind of thing really.

lets just break up those averages.....he averages 29.10 against the australians with not even one major innings to note against them.
against south africa that average has been seriously inflated by his 219 and 69*. yes it can be discounted because thats the only pitch that he can bat on!!he also scored a 161 against the Sri lankans the previous summer. what is the point of having an opener who can only bat at one ground???thats like lara only being able to bat at trinidad and tobago or sachin only being able to bat at mumbai and failing everywhere else.
let me assure u that i have never argued against haydens innings. if a great batsman who has proven himself pretty much all over the world(except england) breaks the record why would i complain?but to see a pathetic batsman who can only bat when his team faces bangladesh, zimbabwe or at the oval continue to be persisted because of 2 good performance in 2 years at the same ground just gives u an idea of how stupid the selectors really are.

 

[tooextracool]

and gayle goes, doing a trescothick.

 

[PY]

yes it can be discounted because thats the only pitch that he can bat on!!

Just because he can bat on a pitch doesn't mean you discount it!!! That's a bit negative to me.

Harmison strikes again!!! Smith gone.

West Indies - 110/2 (26.3 overs)

 

[tooextracool]

got em!!harmison strikes again...smith departs. maybe this might shut up some of those anti harmison fans

 

[PY]

AGAIN :O :O Harmison strikes.

110/3

Lara gets a duck and a fine to go with it if Mike Proctor has his eyes open.