West Indies in England (2012)

Originally posted by zuhair_abbasi Originally posted by Sledger Saqlain wouldn't have got much turn , but his psychological effect on the batsmen might just have caused further jitters.  Did I miss something here?

  Just comparing the run chases - with Saqlain killing England off with guile and highlighting the Windies lack of  such skills in this test match.   If the Windies had a talent like Saqlain England just might have bottled it.

Sledger, are you confusing Saqlain with Ajmal??

Baffling to see Barath continuing - he as mastered single digit scores

A day of two halves there, all England then a terrific battle put up by Samuels and Sammy. The wicket went awfully flat in the afternoon session, amply demonstrated by someone with as basic a technique as Sammy's scoring runs so easily, so I reckon at least another 100 is needed before Windies have a par score.

It will get harder to bat on probably around day 4 so if either side can get a handy first innings lead they'll be in the box seat.

Strauss hitting his second ton in two games... WI on the back foot again now and need to ensure they don't allow ENG to go too far ahead. Roach's no-balls are disgusting.

ahh well they nailed him early when I was looking forward to a KP masterclass all day

England only take a 59 lead and Samuels cleans up the last 2 wickets! What a game he is having!?

What an excellent match, we've seen wickets, centuries and a decent run rate!? Windies are really competitve these days, and they are pushing England hard here. Hopefully the Windies can muster up a 300 target for England, that'd be exciting.

Originally posted by Clobber They'll do well do get a 300 lead now. This Windies side seems to be competitive in matches up to a point, then let it all slip. They did exactly the same in the series against Australia, they did so at Lords and have done so here in abundance - it's a team going in the right direction, but one that desperately needs to learn how to win games.

The Windies recipe is missing a superstar/ Gayle - Narine.

Originally posted by Clobber They'll do well do get a 300 lead now. This Windies side seems to be competitive in matches up to a point, then let it all slip. They did exactly the same in the series against Australia, they did so at Lords and have done so here in abundance - it's a team going in the right direction, but one that desperately needs to learn how to win games.Â

Windies are great at getting one excited and then they just disappoint. They are a talented side, no doubt, some of the guys in their side are truly world class. They're really lacking that killer instinct, that same instinct that makes England a world beater.

Edited by Mikey - 28 May 2012 at 9:23am

Dwayne Bravo will bring a no nonsesne approach with the bat and I think Gayle's inclusion will provide more consistent starts. I'd like to see Sarwan come back sometime in the future and if they're going to persist with Sammy then he really needs to bat at 7 so that an extra bowler can play. Sammy is not more than a 4th seamer - his stats don't really tell the real story. I do like Sammy, but he does hold back the bowling attack (as he's batting at 8, it's obvious that he's picked for his bowling, despite his recent ton).

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

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.

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

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.

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.