WI tour of Eng, July 3-30

[Durhamfootman]

All a bit anticlimactic for WI after such a good performance in their first innings

[mikesiva]

West Indies 143 all out

Braithwaite 47

Bashir 5-41

[Arthur Crabtree]

Disappointing for WI. Great home debut for Bashir.

[Durhamfootman]

Root ended up staying in credit on his run balance sheet

[Durhamfootman]

good to see 5fer for Bashir in non sub con conditions. There did seem to be some question marks

I think this is England's first series win since Pakistan

[Slipstream]

Hopefully Pennington plays the next Test and Potts

Atkinson 2 Tests 16 wickets at 16.37
Bashir 2 Tests 7 wickets at 21.29
Woakes 2 Tests 7 wickets at 21.71
Stokes 2 Tests 4 wickets a 25.00
Wood 2 wickets at 44.00

[alfie]

Hopefully Pennington plays the next Test and Potts

Atkinson 2 Tests 16 wickets at 16.37
Bashir 2 Tests 7 wickets at 21.29
Woakes 2 Tests 7 wickets at 21.71
Stokes 2 Tests 4 wickets a 25.00
Wood 2 wickets at 44.00

Just shows figures aren't everything in a team game . Wood arguably the most influential bowler in the first innings and also a serious factor in the second - even if most of the wickets fell to his teammates bowling at the other end.

Think they will rotate the bowling now , having won the series. Could fit in both the other fellows - though I think if they did it would mean resting Atkinson as they probably wouldn't be altogether happy about going in without either of their experienced pace men. They're doing OK so far so will leave selection to Baz and Ben...

[alfie]

Suppose it was all a bit of an anti climax after the tightly contested first three and a half days...remarkably quick collapse after a good opening stand from Brathwaite and Louis...must have all been caused by Sussex disappearing to the kitchen for forty minutes

But probably not too astonishing : we knew this West Indies batting line-up was fragile (despite that good first innings) ; and England did generally bowl well on a pitch that had just started to play a few tricks with variable bounce . Once Woakes had removed those openers the potential for a bit of panic to set off a rapid decline was always there.

Bashir will be rightly pleased with that 4th innings performance : just what you want to see from your spinner. In truth his first wicket was a total gift , the hapless McKenzie somehow flapping at a long hop and Smith taking a good low catch ; but his subsequent victims were out to classical off spin deliveries - the one to get Holder an absolute pearl. He will encounter far better opponents ; but this went a long way to justifying his inclusion ahead of more experienced alternatives. (Would be nice if he could improve his batting a little because length of tail could become an issue if Woakes is discounted for overseas tours but that is a secondary consideration).

All up a very good England performance . Everyone except Crawley (who was dead unlucky in the second innings : bit of a freak that Duckett's fierce drive was minimally deflected onto his stumps so quickly that he had virtually no chance of reversing his totally normal backing up steps) did well ; so while the opposition might be thought a bit "light" you can't really do more than beat the men you are facing. On to the third match with the series won and hope to see continued development from the newer caps...

[bigfluffylemon]

All a bit anticlimactic for WI after such a good performance in their first innings

Yup. Good test for stats nerds though
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/engl ... rd-1444151

Also Root's gone past Jayawardene and Chanderpaul and is just 13 behind Lara on the all-time run makers list - 8th on the all time table, and the next few aren't that far ahead. He's almost certain to go past Cook now, question is how many more can he get?

[sussexpob]

All up a very good England performance . Everyone except Crawley (who was dead unlucky in the second innings : bit of a freak that Duckett's fierce drive was minimally deflected onto his stumps so quickly that he had virtually no chance of reversing his totally normal backing up steps) did well ; so while the opposition might be thought a bit "light" you can't really do more than beat the men you are facing. On to the third match with the series won and hope to see continued development from the newer caps...

Coming out of the CC 4-day season, Pope had barely scored a run, Stokes had barely scored a run, Bashir had barely bowled a ball and until Wood came back this test there were a lot of questions about his omission in match 1 being potentially the end for him. And then Anderson departing. In a few days, Pope has made two big scores, Stokes made a score, Bashir won the match in the 4 innings by breaking the back of West Indies, Wood bowled well enough on other days to have taken a few wickets, and Gus produced one of the best debut tests ever. And Crawley scored in the first test.

I guess you have to credit the coaching staff for that turn around. They released the team to the counties and everyone has played rubbish, but now they have them back they are turning their form around quickly.

Or maybe all those medium pacers Rob Key hates are actually quite good bowlers...

[andy]

I have to say the more i watch Harry Brook bat the more i think he will be a GOAT of the time....Easily on form the best batsman in the world right now, and other than a slight issue with the short ball that can be rectified the guy is pure class and is only going to get better and better..i know it's a big call and early days but he is that good

[Arthur Crabtree]

Also Root's gone past Jayawardene and Chanderpaul and is just 13 behind Lara on the all-time run makers list - 8th on the all time table, and the next few aren't that far ahead. He's almost certain to go past Cook now, question is how many more can he get?

Nearly 34 so he has a few years left, if he wants it. Many batters succeed into their mid thirties, or even peak then. Looking at the stats, by about 38, even the survivors (Gooch, Misbah,) go into decline. As ever, the Don is an outlier, he averaged 105 from the age of 38. Chanderpaul is next on 61 (based on more than 10 games).

Root averages 49.95. Be nice if he gets it back over 50.

[Gingerfinch]

5-6 more years could see him get close to Tendulkar. One 4000 behind and he's scored 12000 runs in 12 years.

[sussexpob]

I have to say the more i watch Harry Brook bat the more i think he will be a GOAT of the time....Easily on form the best batsman in the world right now, and other than a slight issue with the short ball that can be rectified the guy is pure class and is only going to get better and better..i know it's a big call and early days but he is that good

I wonder how he would have gone if he went out to India. My main concern about Brook's capacity to stay at the top of the game is the threefold.

Firstly, against top spinners in conditions where the ball grips, his willingness to consistently play against the spin is very dangerous. I doubt had he gone to India he would have got far trying to whack quality spinners around by playing against the turning ball when it moves. In Pakistan he did well, but the pitches were slow and didn't grip much. When I see him carting an Ashwin around in Mumbai, then I will be convinced.

Secondly, its not so much the true short ball but those balls that land at the very shortest lengths to pull the ball. His natural stance is quite open onto the offside, and when he gets shorter balls on the body that come into the middle-leg, leg stump sort of lines he is able to completely turn into the ball and over it. When you get the line tighter on offstump on the outside of his body, he has a tendency to be in a position to hit the ball on the half-turn more, and doesn't get the hands over the ball. The result is he hits in the air into the on side between square leg and midwicket, and I have seen him even get early enough on the shot to hit between mid on and midwicket.

If I were a captain id be tempted to target that hip height ball on or outside offstump, and place my short leg a little further down the pitch, and bring the midwicket into a fly position between short and standard positions, because he hits a lot into that channel. And there isnt much point covering anything square or behind it, because when he hits it well the ball isn't getting near those.

Lastly, and its linked, shorter balls that do target that tighter line on off-stump, he does try to use his high hands and wrists to deflect into the offside. Its a strength at times when he is in and seeing the ball, but at others the ball can fly all over the place. In this respect he has had a lot of luck so far, and in general the way he bats is fine when he's in good nick, but because everything is so close to the bone in terms of everything coming together, the question is going to be when his form dips slightly.

You see a lot of batters of a similar ilk who are famine and feast types. It wouldn't surprise me to see Brook being like that, and wouldnt surprise me to see him go through a long and abject wasteland of form at some stage. And its also common for players who rely on hand-eye coordination to decline significantly earlier than others.

[sussexpob]

AC compared him to KP, but he reminds me so far of what Jonny Bairstow would be if he was better at playing balls that come back into his body.