**Official** England in The West Indies

[marc71178]

Giles is batting like a legend...

He keeps doing this sort of knock - a vastly under-rated number 8 IMO.

Oh theyve just gone off for light

At the 3rd time of asking

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

And Dwayne Smith looks to be a handy bowler, ive been more impressed by his bowling than his batting..

Better than Sanford in the bowling and fielding departments... barely better than Sanford in the batting department.

 

[Tim]

Liam, you're pretty down on Smith's batting...South Africa can't have been much chop the day he scored that debut century then?

 

[Langeveldt]

Liam, you're pretty down on Smith's batting...South Africa can't have been much chop the day he scored that debut century then?

I saw the century and as 100's go it was a pretty awful one... The kind that gets lots of critics going on about "the next big thing"... however they didnt stop to think that it mostly consisted of rubbishy shots hit in the air, loads of chances etc...

He is just confirming what I suspected by doing sod all since....

 

[badgerhair]

No, Liam's right, it is terribly boring at times - but England have gone an awful long way to wrapping up the series in the process.

Yes, I know. They've not won the game yet, and even if they do it'll only be 2-0 with 2 to play....

I'm probably the only CW member who can remember our last series win in the islands - I'll suffer grinding performances like this for the next 12 days of test cricket for that reason only.

Agreed, except for the last bit. I didn't know much about cricket at the time, because I'd only got interested in it the previous summer, when we won 3-0 and 2-0, so it didn't seem like much when we won in WI, because we always won, didn't we?

We didn't lose a series from when I started being interested until we got thrashed by the Rest of the World in 1970.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[SpaceMonkey]

I saw the century and as 100's go it was a pretty awful one... The kind that gets lots of critics going on about "the next big thing"... however they didnt stop to think that it mostly consisted of rubbishy shots hit in the air, loads of chances etc...

He is just confirming what I suspected by doing sod all since....

Not to mention the fact South Africa were well in control and basically tried to buy a few wickets and not caring about how many runs they conceeded or how quickly. Bit like Flintoffs 100 against them last summer.

 

[Craig]

I like these quotes from the Cricinfo scorer:

time for drinks, although in Hussain's case a nice strong coffee would be advisable

and

38.1 Collins to Hussain, no run, your favourite Mexican fast bowler and mine, Pedro is into teh attack for the first time today.

Pedro Mexican?

Well you learn something new everyday...

 

[tooextracool]

another reason why i rate giles a better batsman than tresco!!and people say giles should be dropped because he cant bowl....well tresco cant do either so whats he doing in the squad??
i hope this proves that hussain is a better batsman than sarwan. if u look at many of hussains performances you would see that they've all come under pressure...when the teams really needed it. sarwan has scored but on flat wickets. IMO hussain is a less prolific version of steve waugh

 

[luckyeddie]

Pedro Mexican?

Well you learn something new everyday...

Hey, Gringo. You just don't watch enough spaghetti westerns to understand, Blondie.

 

[garage flower]

i hope this proves that hussain is a better batsman than sarwan. if u look at many of hussains performances you would see that they've all come under pressure...when the teams really needed it. sarwan has scored but on flat wickets. IMO hussain is a less prolific version of steve waugh

Yes, Hussain together with Butcher and Thorpe has exemplified the qualities that appear to be missing from Sarwan and the rest of the Windies batsmen (Devon Smith and Ridley Jacobs excluded). I'm thinking of guts, determination, commitment,
pride, patience, concentration, intelligence and all the other intangibles that are vital in producing world class competitors in any sport.

As the Windies' 2nd and 3rd best batsmen and, in terms of international experience at least, 2 of the more senior players, Sarwan and Chanderpaul in particular have been an embarassment in this series. All of their 6 dismissals to date have been poor, some have been inexcusable. I didn't watch all of yesterday's play, but from what I've seen their fielding has also been shocking (Chanderpaul's dropping of Butcher on Day 2 was a huge moment in the match).

If there is not an obvious improvement in their attitude and application during the 2nd inns, regardless of how many runs they score, I would drop both for the 3rd test in the hope that it would serve as a much needed kick up the backside.

As for the rest, Lara was beginning to look out of sorts towards the end of the South African tour and still looks very uncomfortable at the crease (the injury is obviously not helping).

Until someone can get into Dwayne Smith's head and make him aware of the concept of shot selection he must be kept well away from test cricket.

Gayle, as is often the case, seemed to think he'd done his job with an entertaining cameo and promptly lost concentration, gifting his wicket. Having failed twice at Sabina, one would have thought he'd be absolutely determined to convert a good start into a substantial innings. All too predictably, this didn't seem to be the case.

 

[garage flower]

Well, the bowlers have done a great job this morning - England 319 all out. Now let's see whether the batsmen can show a bit of intestinal fortitude.

Great to see Pedro Collins back on the scene in his reincarnation as an effective test match bowler.

 

[Langeveldt]

Not to mention the fact South Africa were well in control and basically tried to buy a few wickets and not caring about how many runs they conceeded or how quickly. Bit like Flintoffs 100 against them last summer.

They were similar situations, but Flintoff's 100 was made of genuinely clean hitting, Smith's was a very ugly affair.. I couldnt believe he managed 50 let alone 100

 

[Langeveldt]

Jacobs promoted ahead of Lara and Chanders...

Hows that for a statement?? Pretty poor tactically though

 

[marc71178]

Is it a statement that Jacobs is the man in form, so we want him to battle away for us?

 

[Tom Halsey]

Uh-oh, partenarship.

Anything over 150 will be hard to get on that.

 

[marc71178]

Well a masterstroke in putting Jacobs at 4 is matched by a masterstroke in giving the ball to Harmison to bowl to Lara...

 

[marc71178]

And Vaughan continues to rotate the bowlers to good effect.

Flintoff on a hat-trick...

 

[Langeveldt]

Jones finishes with 5 wickets....


Nicholas predictably had a fit Theyve done well though...

 

[Tim]

I read at Cricinfo that Simon Jones could be in trouble for over-celebrating after taking a wicket?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

When he got Sarwan out he basically shouted right in his face till butcher came and pulled him away. I think there must be something between the 2 from when Sarwan was at shortleg and Jones was batting earlier.