England v West Indies 1st Test

[canveyshrimper]

Gayle wins the toss and England are batting, Swann in for Panesar, gives England depth in batting with Onions coming in at 10. But can we bowl the WIndies out twice with this attack?

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

England 42-1 in the 11th over, Cook 19*, Bopara 4*. Strauss out for 16.

Big test for Ravi in both senses

 

[canveyshrimper]

88/1 fairly solid session for England and on the evidence of that session it looks to be a fairly benign track, and not much sideways movement. I'll wait for that to come back and bite me on the arse.

 

[number11]

WEll, Cook goes for 35, and KP follows next ball! 93 runs on the board and into the allrounders / limited overs players already!

 

[BrettieAngell]

The Virgin guy was round installing my V+ so the TV was off for 5 minutes and I missed 2 wickets!

Come on Ravi!!

 

[BrettieAngell]

50 for Ravi, 124-4 now.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Gayle wins the toss and England are batting, Swann in for Panesar, gives England depth in batting with Onions coming in at 10. But can we bowl the WIndies out twice with this attack?

Swann isn't in for Panesar, they both played in the last test!

Whilst all the media hype was Vaughan or Bell for the no.3 spot, Shah was the man in possession and Bopara was the most deserving!

Bopara is in for Shah, Onions and Bresnan are in for Khan and Panesar.

Annoyingly I'm not going to be able to watch any of this test and have only just been able to stick the radio on.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Swann isn't in for Panesar, they both played in the last test!

Whilst all the media hype was Vaughan or Bell for the no.3 spot, Shah was the man in possession and Bopara was the most deserving!

Bopara is in for Shah, Onions and Bresnan are in for Khan and Panesar.

Annoyingly I'm not going to be able to watch any of this test and have only just been able to stick the radio on.

You're missing a woeful WIndies fielding performance since Tea. Nash dropped a dolly at square leg off Edwards which would have seen off Bopara. Benn dropped a fairly simple chance from Broad and Gayle just juggled another edge from Broad and dropped it with some help from Devon Smith. All of these off Edwards. Although he did get Prior so now has 4fer where he may have had 6 or 7.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

You're missing a woeful WIndies fielding performance since Tea. Nash dropped a dolly at square leg off Edwards which would have seen off Bopara. Benn dropped a fairly simple chance from Broad and Gayle just juggled another edge from Broad and dropped it with some help from Devon Smith. All of these off Edwards. Although he did get Prior so now has 4fer where he may have had 6 or 7.

So nothing has changed since the winter then. Poor Fidel, he bowled so well in the winter, yet had so little to show for some great spells of fast bowling.

The big question is did Edwards only start bowling well when Collingwood was at the crease? My theory is there is something about Colly that winds Fidel up and gets him roaring into the crease. In the winter Fidel bowled anonymously in his first spell or two, then Collingwood would get to the crease and without fail he'd be steaming in, dishing out the chin music.

 

[BrettieAngell]

No Edwards got Cook and Peitersen in 2 balls before he got Colly aswell!

 

[canveyshrimper]

So nothing has changed since the winter then. Poor Fidel, he bowled so well in the winter, yet had so little to show for some great spells of fast bowling.

The big question is did Edwards only start bowling well when Collingwood was at the crease? My theory is there is something about Colly that winds Fidel up and gets him roaring into the crease. In the winter Fidel bowled anonymously in his first spell or two, then Collingwood would get to the crease and without fail he'd be steaming in, dishing out the chin music.

He's bowled very well since lunch when he started bowling a much fuller length allowing the ball to move. It didn't start with Collingwood but with Cook who played on, KP got a jaffa and Collingwood didn't last long. Prior was out to his first ball after Tea when he spooned one obligingly to cover. Broad doesn't look comfortable against him.

I'd not really rated Edwards before last winter but he seems to have improved incredibly.

Ravi on 97, hopefully he'll go to his second consecutive test 100, and the first England number 3 for God knows how long to get a ton.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

He's bowled very well since lunch when he started bowling a much fuller length allowing the ball to move. It didn't start with Collingwood but with Cook who played on, KP got a jaffa and Collingwood didn't last long. Prior was out to his first ball after Tea when he spooned one obligingly to cover. Broad doesn't look comfortable against him.

I'd not really rated Edwards before last winter but he seems to have improved incredibly.

Ravi on 97, hopefully he'll go to his second consecutive test 100, and the first England number 3 for God knows how long to get a ton.

Cheers Harry. I've liked Fidel for a while, I also liked Tino Best, although he's disappeared off the radar. Both came to England a few years back raw, but with genuine pace.

Edwards' test record is pretty poor, but he's a lot better bowler than it suggests. I've been having a long running argument with a mate about him who doesn't rate him at all. I think he's kicked on from being someone with raw pace into a genuinely test standard bowler and think his test average of the last year is a better indication of how good he is, rather than his overall test average. He had the Convicts in all sorts of problem in Kingston(?) about a year ago and then destroyed NZ's poor batting line-up in Napier with a 7-fer. He then bowled really well for little reward against England and also looked very good in the IPL. I'd say he was top 10 in the world.

How's Taylor doing? I suspect he's lacking match practice.

Last England no.3 to hit a century - Strauss in NZ?

 

[Moridin]

Was the last one Strauss 170 something against New Zealand last spring? I'm probably wrong :D.

Feeling sorry for Castro, love to know how many catches have been dropped off his bowling in the last series to go along with today.....

 

[number11]

Was the last one Strauss 170 something against New Zealand last spring? I'm probably wrong :D.

Feeling sorry for Castro, love to know how many catches have been dropped off his bowling in the last series to go along with today.....

Didnt Bell get a big one at the start of the series against South Africa? was he at 3 then?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Didnt Bell get a big one at the start of the series against South Africa? was he at 3 then?

Damn, good point. I bought Canveyshrimper's bluff that it was ages ago.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Early on Baker was the pick of the bowlers, he had an 8 over spell for 15 before lunch. Taylor has been ok, but not really threatened.

As far as Edwards is concerned I was with your mate as I've never thought he was going to be that good, but the improvement in the last year has been terrific. I am pretty sure he will be in the top 10 before long, he also seems to be getting better in the one day stuff.

I thought Strauss opened in Napier. According to Bumble it was Vaughan v NZ last summer.

100 to Ravi top effort by him, let's hope he goes on from here.

 

[Pubey]

Ravi gets his 100, great knock

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Get in there Ravi. Hundred up.

Vindicates the Moores sacking, as Moores should have stuck with him after Sri Lanka....

 

[samib]

what number was he at in windies?

 

[canveyshrimper]

Damn, good point. I bought Canveyshrimper's bluff that it was ages ago.

:D It was Vaughan against New Zealand last year. I thought it was Ted Dexter. :unsure::nope: