**Official** West Indies in England Thread

[tooextracool]

and now we have a bad decsion to even out a bit of West Indies ones earlier in the series,...

yes it was a poor decision, i could see in real time that it was going down leg side, but what disappointed me the most was how quickly taufel raised his finger, almost as though it were plumb.

 

[tooextracool]

As I've been very critical of Lee bowling bouncers at English tailenders, I feel it'd be hypocritical not to say something about England peppering the WI lower order with short stuff.

The question is, why are they doing it? I was always under the impression that pitching the ball up to the tail-enders is the thing to do to take their wicket.

Pitch the bloody thing up lads.

yes im extremely surprised that anderson didnt get much of a bowl considering that he tends to pitch the ball up,bowls a very good yorker and has been pretty good at cleaning the tail in the past.
IMO the bowling after the first session on the first day was extremely poor indeed.

 

[tooextracool]

It was an utterly pathetic effort this morning.

it was poor for most of yesterday too,any team giving away nearly 300 runs for the last 6 wickets when the pitch was in fact offering something is just disgraceful.

 

[tooextracool]

Fidel bowled quite well today and Collymore was good bar one over.

yes the ball that got key was an absolute beauty.
edwards bowled well too, although that dismissal of trescothick was hardly surprising.

 

[superkingdave]

Sh*t 95.8mph Edwards has thorpe in all kinds of trouble!

 

[tooextracool]

this really is a waste of a session here.....15 runs have been scored in more than 9 overs today on a wicket that has gotten quite flat to say the least.

 

[Craig]

Has the bowling been any good so far?

 

[tooextracool]

well for some bizarre reason they've only used 2 bowlers so far this morning....collymore has been his usual self, accurate but not wicket taking, edwards has been fiery but is apparently trying to hit the helmet rather than the stumps. from what ive seen this morning it appears as though both teams are playing for the draw, which IMO is stupid from both sides.

 

[superkingdave]

this really is a waste of a session here.....15 runs have been scored in more than 9 overs today on a wicket that has gotten quite flat to say the least.

Not a fan of good test cricket then? If you need runs all the time stick to ODI's. This is the most important point in the test match, Fidel is bowling very quick and it could go either way.

This morning may have been slow scoring but it has been quite engrossing to watch

 

[tooextracool]

Not a fan of good test cricket then? If you need runs all the time stick to ODI's. This is the most important point in the test match, Fidel is bowling very quick and it could go either way.

This morning may have been slow scoring but it has been quite engrossing to watch

so you call this 'good cricket' then?
you've got one team who for the first time in this series are actually in with a chance, bowling ridiculously short and doing everything but trying to pick up wickets.
you've got another thats batting on what is a flat track and was supposedly going for the whitewash, wasting the first session of the 4th day with hoggard outscoring thorpe.
oh and im not looking for runs to make something worth watching, but if you think that this is good test cricket then you obviously have extremely low standards of what good test cricket really is.

 

[tooextracool]

and already collins looks to be bowling far better than what edwards has in this match....amazing why it took lara such a long time to bowl him today.

 

[marc71178]

and now we have a bad decsion to even out a bit of West Indies ones earlier in the series,...

Is this the Trescothick or the Flintoff?

 

[marc71178]

it was poor for most of yesterday too,any team giving away nearly 300 runs for the last 6 wickets when the pitch was in fact offering something is just disgraceful.

Are you talking about Thursday?

That pitch is better for batting than 108-4 suggested - England had to work for their wickets, and didn't bowl that poorly IMO (Anderson aside)

 

[marc71178]

this really is a waste of a session here.....15 runs have been scored in more than 9 overs today on a wicket that has gotten quite flat to say the least.

By no means a waste - it was a superb example of the art of the nightwatchman.

Hoggard batted quite superbly for those runs and also removed the main threat of the new ball in doing it.

The really bad thing was the over-rate - 22 in 2 hours (even allowing for a short break when Thorpe was hit) - no wonder Collymore bowled unchanged for an hour and 50 minutes!

 

[marc71178]

you've got another thats batting on what is a flat track and was supposedly going for the whitewash, wasting the first session of the 4th day with hoggard outscoring thorpe.

It's by no means flat. And the new ball was taken - England battled their way through that new ball, the only way they could set themselves up to take any sort of lead (which is still a long way off)

If they don't get the lead, I cannot see them winning the game.

 

[tooextracool]

both collymore and edwards got barely any movement off the pitch(or in the air for that matter), which was why edwards went around the wicket in the first place, to angle the ball away because he was struggling to move the ball away from hoggard.
its only now that both collins and bravo managed to get movement of the wicket....collins has bowled beatutifully.

 

[tooextracool]

Are you talking about Thursday?

yes i was.....

That pitch is better for batting than 108-4 suggested - England had to work for their wickets, and didn't bowl that poorly IMO (Anderson aside)

not really..... harmison,flintoff and even anderson got plenty of movement, which was why there was so much playing and missing. the bowling(bar anderson) was good until the first 4 wickets went down, then they lost it completely.

 

[tooextracool]

well its a mini collapse for england....330 all out. bravo gets 6, its amazing how both him and collins barely got a bowl before lunch.
on a slightly different note, geraint jones really does need to stop playing such exravagant shots before getting set.

 

[marc71178]

not really..... harmison,flintoff and even anderson got plenty of movement, which was why there was so much playing and missing. the bowling(bar anderson) was good until the first 4 wickets went down, then they lost it completely.

Or rather Chanderpaul and Bravo started to bat more suited to the conditions.

 

[superkingdave]

ahh well ive just put money on WI at 6-1 for the win

But Now Freddie gets amongst them again. After Taufel's poor decision hes having a good time Bowling!