***Official** West Indies in England***

[grecian]

four wides, makes us favourites, I think. I should rant more often

Maybe Dwayne Smith is crap, after all

 

[grecian]

Shah's 50, good stuff

 

[grecian]

England win, I never had a doubt

Top innings by shah, and good support from Dimi.

 

[Fiery]

Well played England, Shah played a gem of an innings

 

[Tom Halsey]

England need two to win, Jimmy Adams pipes up with "Chris Gayle does not want any twos."

Bumble seems to have changed from "start the car" to "fire up the pedalo".

 

[cover drive man]

Well done England. I hope the rest of the matches are as good as this.

 

[cover drive man]

Unlucky for Gayle at the end as well.

 

[Woodster]

Does anyone think that Marlon Samules chucked the delievery that got Collingwood. Just a thought

He did look to bend his arm more excessively than normal to get that extra pace. Yes I noticed that too.

 

[aussie]

England's ODI future looking solid IMO given that Trescothick & Freddie will be back fairly soon. Based on what i've seen i reckon once all are this would be England's best ODI XI:

Trescothick
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Shah
Flintoff
Prior
Mascarenhas
Lewis
Anderson
Panesar

immediate backups
Bopara
Trott
Jones (if ever fit again would start for me)
Plunkett
Yardy

Can't go wrong with that team..

 

[Woodster]

Is this side for 50 over cricket ? If so, I personally would give Cook a chance at the top. He may not be suited to twenty20, but deserves a go in the longer version.

 

[aussie]

Don't feel Cook will cut it just as yet in ODI colours TBH, don't want to clas**** him as another Vaughan in the making but i think Bell would do a better job as opener for England for now.

 

[Woodster]

Don't get me wrong I am a fan of Bell, and could possibly find a place for him somewhere in the side, but his conversion into big scores is disappointing and that is where I think Cook can become a real asset to England's ODI side.

Bell has scored 10 50's and no hundreds, if Cook reaches 50 ten times you can pretty much expect him to go on and make 3 hundreds.

 

[aussie]

Bell reminds me alot of Knight when he started his England career. He nay have not converted many of his starts to hundreds but in the past year it was pretty obvious that Bell had made a conscious effort to be more aggressive as a top-order batsman and really batted well as an opener.

Cook as i said to me even though it does seem harsh to say such a thing about such a talented player seems like another Vaughan in the making, ODI just doesn't look like its going to be his thing, you can always tell that about a batsman when he has to totally come out of his natural game to try and score quickly thus looking awkward.

 

[Woodster]

Bell reminds me alot of Knight when he started his England career. He nay have not converted many of his starts to hundreds but in the past year it was pretty obvious that Bell had made a conscious effort to be more aggressive as a top-order batsman and really batted well as an opener.

Cook as i said to me even though it does seem harsh to say such a thing about such a talented player seems like another Vaughan in the making, ODI just doesn't look like its going to be his thing, you can always tell that about a batsman when he has to totally come out of his natural game to try and score quickly thus looking awkward.

I would agree that in twenty20 Cook has looked awkward, unsure exactly how he should be approaching it. Whether he should try and smash it, which is clearly not his game, or try and nurdle it, of which there is no great need for that in twenty20.

In 50 overs Cook can play a pivotal role, if he can attain a strike rate of around 75, which I'm sure is not beyond him, and bat through the innings, allowing the more expansive players like Pietersen, Prior and the likes to play a few shots.

Time will tell with Cook, I just hope he gets a decent run now to display what he is capable of in one-day cricket.

 

[Flem274*]

Damn I missed this game, Sky Sport better have replays.

As for Cook in ODI's he is a Mark Richardson style player so I wouldn't have him in ODIs TBH

 

[Bob Bamber]

I thought Shah played brillaintly , he manovered the ball superbly and some of his shots were brilliant. Especially the one handed sweep.

England played well , I thought they bowled superbly , Sidebottom imparticular , he didn't look phased and bowled with excellant variation.

I think Cook has the ability to open the batting in the 50 over format. Because he can accumulate like hes does in test matches (albiet a little quicker). But hes not a good enough creative thinker , he hasn't got the invention to open in 20/20's.

England missed Loye once again , and I think that Loye and Maddy would have set up England much better tonight than Prior and Cook did or ever could. Again another mistake by England. But on the whole a much beter performance.



So on to the One Dayers. The squad is much better prepared for this. Again I don't believe that Prior is the right solution at the top of the order , but its what the selectors have chosen , and we cannot do anything about it now.

I don't see the lineup being much different from the Twenty20's we have seen over the past two days. I see Panesar slotting in , but where. If England drop one of the mains seamers , they leave themselves with only two fast bowling options. But if they don't they have to drop one of the batsmen / all rounder.

 

[Woodster]

I can see Yardy potentially missing out, but if thats in a straight swap for Panesar it does leave our batting a little short. Maybe Plunkett will come back in.

 

[Tom Halsey]

I would agree that in twenty20 Cook has looked awkward, unsure exactly how he should be approaching it. Whether he should try and smash it, which is clearly not his game, or try and nurdle it, of which there is no great need for that in twenty20.

In 50 overs Cook can play a pivotal role, if he can attain a strike rate of around 75, which I'm sure is not beyond him, and bat through the innings, allowing the more expansive players like Pietersen, Prior and the likes to play a few shots.

Time will tell with Cook, I just hope he gets a decent run now to display what he is capable of in one-day cricket.

Indeed, that basically surmises the issue. Cook could do a very good jobs in ODIs IMO, however he doesn't have a hope in 20/20.

 

[Perm]

Shah leads England to win

 

[Manee]

It was another good tight game, West Indies fielding has come along and Powell was bowling tremendously yesterday. One thing concerned me, how was Samuels able to bowl a 78 mph quicker ball and repeat the fwat a mere over later?