**Official** England in The West Indies

[tooextracool]

This stuff is beginning to annoy me now.

He has had a bad series, not disputing that. But form is temporary, class is permanent.

I believe in the past year, he averages over 45?

trescothick and class?are u talking about the same class that chris martin has as a batsman?
commone dude u know better than averages.in the last year he came up against bangadesh and zimbabwe which certainly helped boost his average.his performances against SA were nothing special because he failed in every test before his customary good performance on a flat oval pitch.he then failed in SL as well and continues to fail here.
the thing that worries me about trescothick is that out of 10 matches he fails in half,scores 30-40 in the other 4 matches and then scores big either at the oval or against zim/bangladesh.the selectors are still riding on his 214 at the oval which believe me i predicted even before the match started

 

[tooextracool]

I don't think Trescothick will get runs against NZ, because I think they'll set bowling & field plans like they did for Damien Martyn & make him their bunny.

As usual there will always be 1 player that a team will find hard to dismiss...I have a feeling Nasser Hussain may well be that man against NZ.

thats where ur wrong...trescothick will score....at the oval!u dont need to make him ur bunny...he makes himself a bunny, just put the ball on or around off stump and watch him flay at it to the slips.
personally i hope vaughan gets his batting together before that series because if he doesnt england will lose..im pretty sure of it.
hussain is the sorta player who will score when everyone else doesnt. u can almost bet that he would be the mainstay of england at headingly and wouldnt do much at the oval.thats the kind of player he is. i think if collingwood finally manages to get a place in the side he would do well and of course as we all know thorpe would be ready for NZ

 

[Craig]

IMO I think Trescothick is one of England's best players of spin.

I have seen about 75-80% of his Test career to comment.

 

[luckyeddie]

thats where ur wrong...trescothick will score....at the oval!u dont need to make him ur bunny...he makes himself a bunny, just put the ball on or around off stump and watch him flay at it to the slips.
personally i hope vaughan gets his batting together before that series because if he doesnt england will lose..im pretty sure of it.
hussain is the sorta player who will score when everyone else doesnt. u can almost bet that he would be the mainstay of england at headingly and wouldnt do much at the oval.thats the kind of player he is. i think if collingwood finally manages to get a place in the side he would do well and of course as we all know thorpe would be ready for NZ

Trescothick has scored just one century at the AMP Oval - and that's in a career of 45 matches so far. Now I'm sorry, but one century does not an average over 40 make (I cannot be bothered working it out by ground or country)
Whereas an in-form Vaughan will go a long way to giving England an advantage over New Zealand, an out-of-form one will not necessarily condemn England to defeat. There's the matter of Butcher, Hussain and Thorpe to help out too.
Hussain IS the man for a crisis - even if it's just a hard-fought 20 or 30, his gritty attitude is seen as an inspiration to all.
Headingley will be different this year, I'm sure of it (my contacts at Yorkshire CCC tell me that every year ).
Collingwood - so difficult to fit him in the side at the moment.

 

[PY]

hussain is the sorta player who will score when everyone else doesnt. u can almost bet that he would be the mainstay of england at headingly and wouldnt do much at the oval.thats the kind of player he is.

Interestingly enough, he has an average of only 18.69 at The Oval. And just 9.16 at Old Trafford.

 

[Craig]

Trescothick has scored just one century at the AMP Oval - and that's in a career of 45 matches so far. Now I'm sorry, but one century does not an average over 40 make (I cannot be bothered working it out by ground or country)
Whereas an in-form Vaughan will go a long way to giving England an advantage over New Zealand, an out-of-form one will not necessarily condemn England to defeat. There's the matter of Butcher, Hussain and Thorpe to help out too.
Hussain IS the man for a crisis - even if it's just a hard-fought 20 or 30, his gritty attitude is seen as an inspiration to all.
Headingley will be different this year, I'm sure of it (my contacts at Yorkshire CCC tell me that every year ).
Collingwood - so difficult to fit him in the side at the moment.

And how who are your contacts?

I thought Headingly was a pitch to suit the bowlers but you can score a ton of them on it as well.

What will the different Headingly do? Take spin from after lunch?

Or maybe a uncovered wicket

 

[Craig]

Cozier has his say on the WI poor showings

Does he has a point or just full of BS?

 

[luckyeddie]

I have the utmost respect for Tony Cozier, although on occasions he could be accused of wearing his colours a little too prominently on his sleeve.

This is not one of those occasions.

Tony has basically said that there is "Trouble at t'mill", but this time it is a little more than "One o' cross-beams out o' skew on t'treadle" - it's fundamental.

He's saying that players who turn up unfit are doing so because they are ALLOWED to, but even so the players concerned are not children - they should take some responsibility for their actions.

It seems that the first repercussion is the resignation of Ricky Skerritt, but I believe that he is merely the first of many unless there is a serious change of attitude.

TC was equally scathing all through the second test and afterwards, especially when interviewed by David Gower, but this has been rumbling for some time.

Expect a different attitude (and wholesale changes) before the third test.

 

[Mister Wright]

Surely Dillon must return.

 

[garage flower]

I think that Lara has to shoulder a considerable amount of responsibility for the attitudinal problems.

I'm sure the players look up to him and would be inclined to follow his example in terms of attitude to training and general behaviour whilst on West Indies duty.

Unfortunately, Lara seems to have little respect for the coaching staff and, judging by reports, can be a fairly aloof figure off the pitch.

I would suggest replacing Lara as captain, but there appears to be no credible alternative.

Having said that, Sir Viv still looks pretty fit and I'd back him to score as many runs as most of the current top 6.

 

[garage flower]

Surely Dillon must return.

I think that, perhaps unfairly, big Merv would not be at the top of the selectors' list if they were looking to bring in players with a more professional attitude.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Unfortunately, Lara seems to have little respect for the coaching staff and, judging by reports, can be a fairly aloof figure off the pitch.

Indeed, that's the reputation Lara had for most of his career, but reports are that that has changed and his new outlook has been synonymous with his comeback.

 

[garage flower]

Indeed, that's the reputation Lara had for most of his career, but reports are that that has changed and his new outlook has been synonymous with his comeback.

I still find it hard to believe that Lara wouldn't be able to have a profound (positive) affect on player attitudes if he was so inclined.

Certainly there are reports of his clashes with/undermining of Logie and Kenny Benjamin during the South African tour. Caribbeancricket.com has recently published unedited minutes of the WICB cricket committee's meetings and some of these issues are discussed.

 

[tooextracool]

Trescothick has scored just one century at the AMP Oval - and that's in a career of 45 matches so far. Now I'm sorry, but one century does not an average over 40 make (I cannot be bothered working it out by ground or country)
Whereas an in-form Vaughan will go a long way to giving England an advantage over New Zealand, an out-of-form one will not necessarily condemn England to defeat. There's the matter of Butcher, Hussain and Thorpe to help out too.
Hussain IS the man for a crisis - even if it's just a hard-fought 20 or 30, his gritty attitude is seen as an inspiration to all.
Headingley will be different this year, I'm sure of it (my contacts at Yorkshire CCC tell me that every year ).
Collingwood - so difficult to fit him in the side at the moment.

well he had a very good start to his career and its only now that people have figured out his weakness.his average is also inflated by good performances against bangladesh and zimbabwe.
IMO vaughans form is crucial....when in form he is the best player on both sides and butcher,hussain and thorpe were in the losing side in 99.
there is a place for collingwood..if they would only drop tresco, let butcher open and then let colly bat at 5.

 

[Langeveldt]

his average is also inflated by good performances against bangladesh and zimbabwe.

Yawn... Ditto everyone....

I disagree, Butcher should not be opening when he has found form and a niche at number three.. You dont want to change what has been a resounding success....

 

[marc71178]

there is a place for collingwood..if they would only drop tresco, let butcher open and then let colly bat at 5.

And then we lose the bloke who is gradually becoming our most reliable player.

Do not move Butch from 3!

 

[badgerhair]

SH - 57@24.39, Eco 2.86, S/R 51.18
Rest - 157@37.73, Eco 3.54, S/R 63.96

You've noticed, of course, that there's now

SJ 14@23.85, Eco 3.55, S/R 40.29

Cheers,

Mike

 

[marc71178]

Yes, but SH stems from a long time ago...

 

[luckyeddie]

You've noticed, of course, that there's now

SJ 14@23.85, Eco 3.55, S/R 40.29

Cheers,

Mike

I daresay he has, Mike, but I suspect that the reason why Steve Wayward-Harmison was highlighted (I must stop calling him that....... naaaahhhhhh.) was as a counter to the members who tried to highlight him as a weak link in the side. Simon Jones never really had that privilege - he got injured too early in his career.

 

[Langeveldt]

Tony Cozier is a long suffering guy

To me the west indian malaise is caused by three main things...

1.. Poor selection policy.. Surely there are more talented guys in the caribbean than Dwayne Smith and Adam Sanford..

2.. Not getting the basics right.. They nearly got undone by Zimbabwe who are less talented but get all their basics right most of the time.. Stuff like ground fielding, basic shot selection should be drilled in by them before they get anywhere near Test level

3.. Very laid back cricket culture... Contrast that with the general cricket attitude with that of Australia or South Africa where youngsters learn that winning is everything from a very early age...
I just think that the generally laid back attitude to sports which is everywhere in the Islands isnt really condusive to winning on the modern sports field... Although its not necessarily a bad thing, I just think a lot of West Indian cricketers (Lara In particular) seem to be a bit laissez faire with their games... Calypso may look nice, but it doesnt work any more...