West Indies in England (2012)

Very very good knock by Hales, great find for ENgland in T20's at least. WI lose again but they looked dangerous, some heavy hitting in that game, I refuse to lose hope in this team, I think in Sri Lankan conditions they be much more dangerous, esp that their bowlers will back their batsmen there... WT20 and I still back WI to be the favorites.

Cook ton seals series win for England over Windies To seal something playing a child man invented sports game-- isn't much of a seal! To seal up some of the misery the poor humans on earth have, would be a well appreciated action game!

Openers are always vital to top teams.  Australia had Hayden/Langer in tests, Hayden/Gilchrist in ODI's.  SA had Kirsten/Gibbs, Smith/Gibbs and other good combination which is why they've always managed to be a top team for over a decade now.  England got Strauss/Cook in tests, India Sehwag/Gambhir in Tests, Sehwag/Tendulkar/Gambhir ODI's.  Simply put, all the teams that are in the bottom half of the table only have one or no good openers.  Pakistan once had Younus, Yousuf and Inzimam in the middle, but couldn't crack the top 3 rankings.  It's also why I always credit a lot of India's rise to #1 to the contribution of Gautum Gambhir.  Sehwag was always good in tests, but having guys like Chopra, Jaffer etc meant Dravid/Laxman was always in too early.

Foremost the ODI series, the Poms will have a large quantity of self-belief with them as they played out of their skins. One can be unsure that the calculation of KP Pietersen went grand with according to his motto, posted on twitter; he said “Hope Cookie & the boys go one up today!! Hope Belly is fit & collects the MOM at end of game!! Good luck guys.”

Having a dreadful test team, the table-toppers of T20 cricket and Test cricket have a very physically powerful and unquestionable team in the 50-over layout of the game too. Their assurance will be sky-high as they showed proven performance in the 1st ODI. Well, it was certainly a faultless comeback from the player. Be expecting the ‘Gayle Storm’ to pull through quickly and damage his enemy. The bowling of both the teams looks high-quality, even though the Calypso kings unsuccessful to betray the rulers of Test Cricket. Ravi Rampaul has the capacity to move the ball vigorous as he gave a dazzling start before Ian Bell rang the bells of the West Indian cricket team. Dwayne Bravo also provided fine start but Ian Bell blew gone the impatience of the bowlers. Andre Russell, although gave a load of runs and will look to get better himself. The batting looks wounded with Lendl Simmons and all others batsmen too failed to carry out with liability excluding Dwayne Smith who although tried to take some responsibility but also fail.

The batting at one stage fell like a house of matchsticks, although both teams are in search of wins as it will be a great contest to watch.

Prediction: Expect the West Indies to fight back and square the series 1-1

Edited by Sherlock - 19 June 2012 at 9:19am

Darren Bravo goes back home, no big loss really, wasn't in the best of form.  In a way, i'm happy, as it meant that Lendl Simmons can get another chance to continue his good form before he got injured.

Sledger, place was cold, Windies will never win in these sort of conditions.  I'll excuse them for this one.  

I have always maintained that Ramdin is a fine talent, I don't know what the issue was and why he was out of the team for so long, because this lad always had the ability to play big knocks. That note was unnecessary though, but then I think he got a little carried away.

No posts on the carnage from yesterday !  You either love or hate Tino Best , but you can never ignore him!  He's arrogant and yesterday drove the English attack crazy. In fairness , he played some splendid shots , especially down the ground. Why they decided to bowl short was mystifying and allowing him and Ramdin to put on almost 150 for the final wicket was seriously annoying. Twas a pity that Best didn't crack three figures , but 95 after having a top test score of only 27 was mightily impressive.
                  One day to go and the Windies have an outside chance of a stunning victory. Realistically England should get the 51 needed to avoid the follow on - but daft things have happened already in this match!

                   Maybe Flower and company will think twice about leaving out their two best bowlers in future. Well done to the visitors , that decision by Flower smacked of arrogance and could yet come back to haunt them.


Edited by Sledger - 11 June 2012 at 8:07am

Sam, weather patterns around the world have gone off target.  There is no longer a dry season in the West Indies.  It rained throughout the whole dry season.  One Island where we play T20 cricket, the pitch has been damp on every saturday due to all the unusual rain during the week.  For the last few seasons, the Hurricane season has been quite generous to us.  Not as much rain/storms as people expected.

Originally posted by spin wizard Wow, Windies have named a very good squad for the limited overs leg to England.  Gayle and Lendl Simmons is back.  Simmons seem to still be in good form after coming back from injury, smashing a quick fire 50 against India A.  England's bowling will have to be spot on during those games, a lot of fire power in that side with Gayle, Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Sammy, Russell, Pollard, Dwayne Bravo.

Wow, Windies have named a very good squad for the limited overs leg to England.  Gayle and Lendl Simmons is back.  Simmons seem to still be in good form after coming back from injury, smashing a quick fire 50 against India A.  England's bowling will have to be spot on during those games, a lot of fire power in that side with Gayle, Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Sammy, Russell, Pollard, Dwayne Bravo.

KP's retirement from ODI's and T20's is a huge huge setback for England, as it is ENG have not been a very good team in the Limited overs format and KP was one man who, as I've always said, was a game changer, ENG will surely struggle without him, they will need to find an able replacement, Straus gone, KP gone, Freddie gone ... all of them retired well before they should have, ENG will struggle in the LOI's.

oh Dear, poor old Kirk Edwards out for another duck in the tour match today - 20 runs in 8 innings so far. Poor sod.

Would have been really exciting if we could have seen Gayle, Bravo and Narine in the current squad of West Indies... otherwise it looks an easy series win for England.

Not sure why people bash Gibson so much, but i'd take this currently lead bowling attack under him than all the ones I've seen for for last decade after Ambrose and Walsh left.  For the last 2 years, they have probably conceded 500 runs once, and that says a lot of good things about this bowling.  The batting is the biggest problem, # 1 - 4 can't buy a run at the moment and has been making the bowlers effort go to great waste.

And the WICB is not holding back Jerome Taylor.  Ignore what Holding has said, he is only speaking for Jamaican sake, but Jerome Taylor even got sent home from Pune's squad in the last IPL due to injury. Was that the WICB fault?? The WICB has licensed doctor to continually check after Jerome Taylor for physiotherapy treatment, in which Jerome Taylor have skipped quite a few of those meeting.  Why should the WICB then be bothered with picking him when he doesn't want to do the required work to get back to fitness??  For the record, not even his home Island of Jamaica has picked him in any competitive squad lately.  Why didn't Holding criticize Jamaica for that?  WICB has NO say whatsoever in the selection of regional sides.

Also, it turned out that David Gower knew more than Holding on the subject.  While Holding was ranting off in the commentary box, Gower just said, if he's FIT, playing, and taking wickets, then he should be in the West Indies team.  Everyone know Taylor has been breaking down as soon as he's been selected again.  it's been happening since 2009.


Edited by spin wizard - 29 May 2012 at 11:38pm