*Official* England in West Indies

[Richard]

I think this is anyone who made a triple hundred that averaged less than 40 before the match, with their average after the match listed too.

Graham Gooch: 37.92 --> 40.68 (333 vs IND in his 79th test)
Chris Gayle: 36.71 --> 40.04 (317 vs SA in his 50th test)
Bob Simpson: 35.93 --> 41.87 (311 vs ENG in his 30th test)
Gary Sobers: 34.24 --> 48.84 (365* vs PAK in his 17th test)
Sanath Jayasuriya: 38.13 --> 46.29 (340 vs IND in his 25th test)
Hanif Mohammad: 29.90 --> 39.09 (337 vs WI in his 19th test)
Len Hutton: 29.50 --> 66.66 (365 vs AUS in his 6th test)
John Edrich: 28.33 --> 54.16 (310* vs NZ in his 9th test)
Andy Sandham: 24.00 --> 38.21 (325 vs WI in his 14th test)

Astonished that Bobby Simpson and Hanif Mohammed's averages were ever that low after a decent proportion of Tests, never mind that I never knew Edrich's triple came so early in his career.

 

[pskov]

Astonishing to think that was only the second time Taylor had passed 50 in first-class cricket. He clearly has a good eye, if he worked on his batting in the nets more he could be a genuine no. 7.

 

[Steulen]

As a metalhead I must admit this Test does have one highlight: the scoreline of 666/6 that just went by.

 

[Richard]

Astonishing to think that was only the second time Taylor had passed 50 in first-class cricket. He clearly has a good eye, if he worked on his batting in the nets more he could be a genuine no. 7.

Not sure about that - one of such should be able to average 33-34 at worst, ideally 40. Taylor I don't ever see being more than a 26-27 merchant. That is, excluding the early part of his career and going from any point at which he may make a breakthrough innings (maybe he's already done it with that century in NZ) onwards.

 

[BoyBrumby]

This is just painful now.

17 more over to come too. Man...

Debut for Khan in the 5th?

 

[Jarquis]

This is just painful now.

17 more over to come too. Man...

Debut for Khan in the 5th?

Why not, Sidebottom averages 181 in this series, Khan couldn't do much worse!
Should give Rashid a gig, did everybody just see the comparitive averages of the England bowlers? Swann averages 10 runs less than all of the seamers. Spin works !

 

[pskov]

Not sure about that - one of such should be able to average 33-34 at worst, ideally 40. Taylor I don't ever see being more than a 26-27 merchant. That is, excluding the early part of his career and going from any point at which he may make a breakthrough innings (maybe he's already done it with that century in NZ) onwards.

In the 2000s, excluding matches involving minnows, number 7 has averaged 29.91 across all teams. I think if he worked on it he could average something close to that from the NZ century onwards in his career. Remember he still only 24 so has plenty of time for development in all disciplines of the game. The question I suppose would be if that would take away from improving on his bowling which is clearly more valuable to the Windies.

 

[Richard]

That's the 17th 700+ total in Test history, though it's only the 15th excluding games against the joke Zimbabwe teams of 2003 and 2004.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Why not, Sidebottom averages 181 in this series, Khan couldn't do much worse!
Should give Rashid a gig, did everybody just see the comparitive averages of the England bowlers? Swann averages 10 runs less than all of the seamers. Spin works !

Not sure he's ready myself, but we'd hardly be losing much by dispensing with Shah's batting, so there's a case as we need to take 20 wickets to tie the series. Assuming, of course, we don't yet eff this up.

So:

Strauss*
Cook
Bopara
Pietersen
Collingwood
Prior+
Rashid
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Amjad

then.

 

[Richard]

AND BENN GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

z

 

[Goughy]

Why not, Sidebottom averages 181 in this series, Khan couldn't do much worse!
Should give Rashid a gig, did everybody just see the comparitive averages of the England bowlers? Swann averages 10 runs less than all of the seamers. Spin works !

Yeah, lets continue to give out caps like free toys with Happy Meals.

There is the great logic in English cricket that bringing a person that isnt very good will improve the team. In reality any short term benefits are destroyed by a lack of consistency, direction and talent recognition

 

[Richard]

Why not, Sidebottom averages 181 in this series, Khan couldn't do much worse!
Should give Rashid a gig, did everybody just see the comparitive averages of the England bowlers? Swann averages 10 runs less than all of the seamers. Spin works !

If a second spinner is to play at Queen's Park Oval (and we should wait to see the pitch before we decide that) then it should be MSP.

 

[four_or_six]

I don't get how we get to the point where Bopara was a test no.3, or that Amjad Khan was one of our best three seamers. Not to mention Rashid batting 7.

 

[Manee]

Yeah, lets continue to give out caps like free toys with Happy Meals.

There is the great logic in English cricket that bringing a person that isnt very good will improve the team. In reality any short term benefits are destroyed by a lack of consistency, direction and talent recognition

He is unfortunately the best option from the squad, although I would never justify his inclusion in the squad, if that makes any sense.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I don't get how we get to the point where Bopara was a test no.3, or that Amjad Khan was one of our best three seamers. Not to mention Rashid batting 7.

Obviously KP is a better bet at three, but he seems to be allergic to the step up, so it's Hobson's choice. Shah's not a test three either for my money. Nor Bell come to that.

 

[Richard]

I don't get how we get to the point where Bopara was a test no.3, or that Amjad Khan was one of our best three seamers. Not to mention Rashid batting 7.

In my view if a batsman is dropped for the next Test it should be Bopara. Though I don't neccessarily expect it to happen.

 

[four_or_six]

We've already played 16 players in the first 'three' tests, if we play another two in the next one... that would just seem to be bonkers.

 

[four_or_six]

Obviously KP is a better bet at three, but he seems to be allergic to the step up, so it's Hobson's choice. Shah's not a test three either for my money. Nor Bell come to that.

If we're going to play five batsmen and drop Shah, someone should just tell KP to get the hell on with it and bat at three.

 

[Richard]

We've already played 16 players in the first 'three' tests, if we play another two in the next one... that would just seem to be bonkers.

Don't exaggerate so - we played 28 players in six Tests in 1988 and 29 in the same number in 1989.

Little wonder they were the worst two summers in the history of England Test cricket.

 

[Jarquis]

I personally have not seen Khan play nor do I know of his previous success in past county cricket season, all I have to guide me are statistics, statistics and damn lies (or something along those lines).
The fact the England selectors regard him as the 5th/6th best English qualified seamer at this very moment means he should be regarded for selection. He bowled well in the 2 day trial game and took more wickets in 1 over than Sidebottom has in 3 test matches (all be it 16 year old school kids).

Panesar should not be the second spinner IMO, similar to the situation with Bell when there was debate over who should replace Flintoff, to drop somebody and recall them after 1 test match when they have proven nothing as to why they warrant a recall is bizarre. Bell was dropped as he needs to go and play some county cricket, develop some kind of mental toughness and make runs. In this instance Panesar needs to go and take some wickets, learn at least 1 variation whether it be flight, speed or an arm ball.

To me anyway, the idea of playing both Rashid and Khan is entirely plausible.