**Official** West Indies in England Thread

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Is it me or is the grunt that Best emits when he releases the ball kind of annoying?

You must be tough to live with if you're so easily annoyed.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

true but it is hard to find technical flaws on a flat wicket.....and it would be foolish IMO to drop chanderpaul for joseph.

If Chanderpaul continues to look like he has better things to do than play Test cricket and Joseph is scoring runs...

 

[marc71178]

Giles days in the england setup are Numbered

I agree, he did so many wrong things today.

That vest he was wearing when on the balcony was shocking!

Giles will only be replaced when a better spin option emerges.

As yet there is none, and he is in better form than he has been for a fair while.

 

[badgerhair]

http://www.caribbeancricket.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1469

See above article (assuming I've done it right) for further evidence of the ECB's disgracefully disdainful attitude towards the West Indian touring party.

Let's hope this rank inhospitality is rammed back down English throats over the next few days.

I don't really understand what this is all about. It looks dreadfully like trying to take offence at any imagined slight. Not being given things which don't exist and have never existed doesn't seem to me to be any kind of insult at all. There is no such thing as an advance ticket for the fifth day of a Test match at Lord's, and hasn't been for as long as I can remember, so why the Windies team expected to be given them, I can't imagine.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[badgerhair]

Brian Lara won the toss and decided to field first, what is up with that? Normally people want to bat first especially in the first test of the series. The Lord's track is not as quick as it normally is and with an inexperienced attack, this could be a large score could be set in Englands first innings. However Chris Gayle is an intelligent bowler.

I suppose the interesting question to come out of today is whether or not Lara's decision to field first was worse than Hussain's similar decision at Brisbane in 2002-3.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I suppose the interesting question to come out of today is whether or not Lara's decision to field first was worse than Hussain's similar decision at Brisbane in 2002-3.

Cheers,

Mike

In all fairness, Lara had the justification of overcast condition which cleared just before the start of play. Also the pitch supposedly had some juice in it.

 

[Swervy]

In all fairness, Lara had the justification of overcast condition which cleared just before the start of play. Also the pitch supposedly had some juice in it.

yep..apparently vaughan would have put WI in if he had won the toss today as well.

The top and bottom of it is the WI bowlers just didnt do the job for Lara

 

[Tom Halsey]

Giles days in the england setup are Numbered

To be replaced by Gareth 'I can bowl. Honest!' Batty, and Vikram 'I flight it' Solanki.

You are even more of a muppett than I thought.

 

[Tom Halsey]

of course there is....you dont pick a batsman who scores on a flat track over a proven test match batsman.
strauss continues his run of form at lords, although he does need to sort out that defence of his....

Yes, I agree, that technique of his is absolutely abysmal.

 

[Tom Halsey]

true but it is hard to find technical flaws on a flat wicket.....and it would be foolish IMO to drop chanderpaul for joseph.

Yes, you cannot spot a technical flaw even if it jumped up and kicked you in the backside, and even though the flatness of a wicket doesn't affect the player in question's technique.

 

[Tom Halsey]

strauss continues his run of form at lords, although he does need to sort out that defence of his....

Ah yes, 'Tresco only scores at the Oval' is back.

Batsmen have favoured grounds of course, but they don't score solely at one ground...

 

[badgerhair]

Originally Posted by badgerhair
I suppose the interesting question to come out of today is whether or not Lara's decision to field first was worse than Hussain's similar decision at Brisbane in 2002-3.

In all fairness, Lara had the justification of overcast condition which cleared just before the start of play. Also the pitch supposedly had some juice in it.

That was what Hussain said at Brisbane, too. The stories that Vaughan would have inserted as well tend to lower my estimation of Vaughan as an astute captain: I was at the ground when the toss was made, and when I saw Lara take first interview slot, I assumed they were batting. I couldn't believe it when it was announced that WI had decided to field, and neither could anyone else anywhere near me.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

That was what Hussain said at Brisbane, too. The stories that Vaughan would have inserted as well tend to lower my estimation of Vaughan as an astute captain: I was at the ground when the toss was made, and when I saw Lara take first interview slot, I assumed they were batting. I couldn't believe it when it was announced that WI had decided to field, and neither could anyone else anywhere near me.

Cheers,

Mike

They say he may have been swung by the overcast conditions that were present right before the toss as well as the history of the team batting second winning as well as the incidence of West Indian losses having batted first in three of the Tests in the Caribbean.

 

[Tim]

In the end, I think it was the bowlers fault. It was ordinary stuff really...and unfortunately it may add to the demise of Lara as Captain at the end of the series (should the West Indies lose).

 

[Swervy]

That was what Hussain said at Brisbane, too. The stories that Vaughan would have inserted as well tend to lower my estimation of Vaughan as an astute captain: I was at the ground when the toss was made, and when I saw Lara take first interview slot, I assumed they were batting. I couldn't believe it when it was announced that WI had decided to field, and neither could anyone else anywhere near me.

Cheers,

Mike

yeah and you were in the crowd, 80 yards from the pitch...the two captains could see the pitch right there in front of them.

i would take a guess that Harmison,Hoggard etc would have used the conditions better.

 

[Swervy]

of course there is....you dont pick a batsman who scores on a flat track over a proven test match batsman.
strauss continues his run of form at lords, although he does need to sort out that defence of his....

you being serious????

 

[Swervy]

Just wondering what WI need to do to get back into this game...remember last year at the oval SA 345 for 2 with about half an hour left on the first day..looked like game over SA win.

But SA were all out 484,and ended up losing by 9 wickets.

If WI can get the bowling together quickly tomorrow,and take all their chances..and restrict England to no more than 500..who knows..Lara might play a blinder and put England under pressure...you never know.

Maybe i am being super optimistic for WI..if England bat like today and WI bowl like today..England should see 700 by just after tea

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Just wondering what WI need to do to get back into this game...remember last year at the oval SA 345 for 2 with about half an hour left on the first day..looked like game over SA win.

But SA were all out 484,and ended up losing by 9 wickets.

If WI can get the bowling together quickly tomorrow,and take all their chances..and restrict England to no more than 500..who knows..Lara might play a blinder and put England under pressure...you never know.

Maybe i am being super optimistic for WI..if England bat like today and WI bowl like today..England should see 700 by just after tea

Quite frankly is England and West Indies continue as they did today, 400 not out is under threat. Imagine the headlines of Robert Key as world record-holder.

 

[Mister Wright]

That was what Hussain said at Brisbane, too. The stories that Vaughan would have inserted as well tend to lower my estimation of Vaughan as an astute captain: I was at the ground when the toss was made, and when I saw Lara take first interview slot, I assumed they were batting. I couldn't believe it when it was announced that WI had decided to field, and neither could anyone else anywhere near me.

Cheers,

Mike

Same thing happened at The 'Gabba when Hussain decided to bat first.

 

[badgerhair]

Same thing happened at The 'Gabba when Hussain decided to bat first.

In what series did Hussain decide to bat first at the Gabba? Presumably a different one to the one in which he made his decision to bowl first and to which I referred.

Cheers,

Mike