England Test tour of WI, March 1-28

[bigfluffylemon]

The England management should see sense and get Broad and Anderson on a plane asap. Overton looked pretty toothless today, and Woakes looks totally shot.... and into that Ben looked knackered at the end of the day, and Wood maybe unlikely to be fit going forward (and certainly cant be risked in a back to back test if hes not capable of bowling now).....

I'd like to see Mahmood get a go as he looks good in the OD shirt, but surely they cant pick Woakes and Overton again? Overton strikes me as the type that will only take wickets in England, and Woakes' record away speaks for itself.

Couldn't agree more. Won't happen though, as the management will think it'll make them look foolish and like they're backing down. Of course, the opposite is true. It's one thing to ask for a new look attack. When half of them get injured, refusing to call up the obvious reserves just looks needlessly pig headed.

Stokes is going to be broken, again, at this rate.

Side note - why can't England keep fast bowlers fit? Just look at the litany of quicks over the years who have looked promising, then got bowled into the ground or mismanaged and left international play before their time due to breaking down. I'm already wondering if we'll ever see Archer in England whites again. Make's Anderson's enduring fitness all the more impressive.

[bigfluffylemon]

If England do refuse to call up Anderson and/or Broad when there is an obvious need for fast bowling cover, might this not have a whiff of the KP situation about it? Makes you wonder if one or both of them have fallen out with Root and/or Strauss.

With KP, it seemed to be 'we've had enough of you, doesn't matter that you have the best record for the team over a number of years, you're scoring country runs and that the team is getting pummelled, you're not getting picked again no matter what'. I was against it then, and I'll be against it again now and in the summer if A&B aren't recalled.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England have already said they won't call up A&B. Of course that means as much as not bowling Stokes, until it becomes advantageous.

[Slipstream]

I wonder if the top order will bat at their usual strike rate on this slow pitch or adapt to the WI style

Crawley s/r 72.72 - 8
Root 92.85 - 13
Lawrence 52.63 - 20

Bonner 34.64 - 123
Holder 37.81 - 45
De Silva 36.36 - 32

Paul Collingwood launched a passionate defence of his under-performing attack after England struggled to make inroads against a defiant West Indies on the third day of the first Test. 'I thought that was probably one of the best efforts I've seen in an England shirt in Test cricket,' insisted Collingwood.
No it was the way West Indies batted. Collingwood much like Silverwood.

[sussexpob]

Collingwood also said that Stokes declared himself fit to bowl, and was surprised he was able to get through that many overs, but that Ben "wanted to put his body on the line for the team". Of course he does, but if that means injuring himself for the rest of the tour or longer, then maybe it would have made more strategic sense to not have bowled him..... even more so when Wood broke down and cant be sure of making the next test.

Its honourable to see Ben soldier on, and he gave it everything (and was by a country mile England's best bowler yesterday), but at a stage the pitch says draw all over, why empty the tank on potentially dead overs in this game when there are matches there are other battles in the future?

We only need to look at Wood .... didnt play 3 days of the warm up, clearly therefore wasnt fully fit to play here, and quelle surprise he breaks down on the second day he needs to bowl. Why did England pick a player with a massive injury history who couldnt even get through the warm up match a couple of days before?

I guess the answer is, this is what happens when you put so much short term emphasis on the result - Strauss' selection, Colly's coaching position and Root's Armband all feel like they are on trial here, so of course we are going to get risky calls made looking at very short term reasons.

[sussexpob]

England's effort cant be faulted as Collingwood eluded to, and its developed into a slow pitch, but I am slightly vexxed once again with England's tactics, and even more vexxed that they doubled down on those tactics the longer the game went on last night.

At one stage Roach had scored something like 2 runs from 50 balls, and Woakes was coming round the wicket bowling leg side bouncers with three back on the hook.... I mean, if this Viv Richards in his pomp maybe he'd have fancied taking on those fielders, but Roach was not in a bazillion years going to take on the shot. They just gave him ample balls to duck and sway under while Bonner slowly took the score past England's.

And the field placing for Leach felt a little clueless. He was coming over the wicket and turning into leg stump targeting the inside edge, yet Root has a slip, silly point and silly mid off in, and of course anyone with half a brain knew when Permaul finally misjudged one it shot off the inside edge it fell to short leg, the only likely place Permaul was going to hit one, and no one was there. They also had a sweeper out to Bonner on the offside boundary at one point where he was scoring at 1 run an over and just trying to do the classic end of over single, and all he needed to do was rock back and poke the ball into the massive gap to get it.

It might have made sense if Leach was round the wicket and coming more leg side, forcing Bonner on a tighter line to try to work the ball into that gap more creatively, but it was combined with a shortish length and off stump line that just allowed him to sit on the back foot and easily hit into it. Was poor tactically from England. If Bonner wanted the single then bring everyone up into the circle ... if he wants to hit it over, then be my guest. Hell, after 70-80 overs yesterday, Id have even told Leach to float a few very full tempters. Bonner was so negative, he might have tripped over his own legs if you gave him a few buffet balls to hit.

I mean, the ball that got him out was a short ball outside a 4/5th leg stump which he just sort of jabbed at trying to deadbat it, so it was a buffet ball that got him out.

[yuppie]

Im surprised that WI did not put England in to bat for a few overs last night.

All the talk of England getting things wrong, i feel WI might have missed a trick here. After a long time in the field and with Englands top order struggling, giving them a 10 over burst might have caused some issues. As it is a good nights sleep and time to think might just give them some resilience first thing.

Of course they might end up at 4 50 again before lunch .

[sussexpob]

Seales didnt last long...

Lets see what England can do then

[mikesiva]

West Indies 375 all out

Bonner 123
Braithwaite 55

Stokes 2-42

[sussexpob]

Booming inswing then..looked out, but might just miss leg.

Yep... swung a little too much

[sussexpob]

Interesting stat that.... England havent won an away test since Boxing day 99 with a deficit as large as this....

[sussexpob]

Lees out identical to the first innings... I guess everyone will be bowling inswing into his legs from now then

[Arthur Crabtree]

He's going to get a good long run at securing his place. Where do they go next? Must be a dozen county openers who have been discarded by England.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I think England will be ok if they lose only a couple of wickets before they get in the lead. Maybe set 200.

[sussexpob]

England about level now. Still think draw is favourite with time and the pitch, I wonder if England will force the pace