England in West Indies

[CoverKing]

The Engish team is not even a shadow of what it was in 07 - 08. If Shah is batting at 3 in any side then I reckon your batting might be a bit thin.
At the moment this is there side:
Strauss - Been very good through out this series. New captain leading from the front.
Cook - Has the ability but been a bit hit and prehaps more miss in this series
Shah - Batting a 3??? WTF
Pietersen - Best Player in there side in my opinion. Has been looking alright in this series
Collingwood - Seems to make runs
Prior - Goes alright, useful with the bat. Completing with Ambrose for this spot. I think hes probably the go at the moment.
Broad - I dont rate him, A bit weak in my opinion,
Swann - No idea the moment.
Anderson - Well I dont know, Sometimes he goes well and can take wickets but then he comes on an bowls like and old lady
Panesar - Useful bowler in my opinion
Khan - No idea, only seen him bowl 4 overs and get killed by Gayle as many bowlers have in the past

In saying all of that they still made 500 odd.
The key in my opinion is the batting. Strauss, Cook, Pieterson and Collingwood.
I feel there missing Bell and flintoff.
There bowling doesnt look like they have enough to bowl a side out.

missing bell?? they dropped him cause he his carp and couldn hit a run...

[centrewing]

did anyone think khan's action is a little suspicious?

[brod]

England vs West Indies
Port Of Spain, Trinidad

Stumps Day Two

ENGLAND 6d/546
PD Collingwood 161
AJ Strauss 142
MJ Prior 131*
WEST INDIES 1/92
CH Gayle 49*

[FD88]

Khan has taken his first scalp in Sarwan, lbw for 14. The poms have got a bit of a sniff.

3/119

[Pup]

The Engish team is not even a shadow of what it was in 07 - 08. If Shah is batting at 3 in any side then I reckon your batting might be a bit thin.
At the moment this is there side:
Strauss - Been very good through out this series. New captain leading from the front.
Cook - Has the ability but been a bit hit and prehaps more miss in this series
Shah - Batting a 3??? WTF
Pietersen - Best Player in there side in my opinion. Has been looking alright in this series
Collingwood - Seems to make runs
Prior - Goes alright, useful with the bat. Completing with Ambrose for this spot. I think hes probably the go at the moment.
Broad - I dont rate him, A bit weak in my opinion,
Swann - No idea the moment.
Anderson - Well I dont know, Sometimes he goes well and can take wickets but then he comes on an bowls like and old lady
Panesar - Useful bowler in my opinion
Khan - No idea, only seen him bowl 4 overs and get killed by Gayle as many bowlers have in the past

In saying all of that they still made 500 odd.
The key in my opinion is the batting. Strauss, Cook, Pieterson and Collingwood.
I feel there missing Bell and flintoff.
There bowling doesnt look like they have enough to bowl a side out.

Of course they are going to miss Flintoff.

I dont know how much English Cricket you watch but they certainly do not miss Ian Bell. As much as i like him his form has been terrible of late and that is why he got dropped for Shah.

Broad is going to be a good player, Handy bat and improving as a bowler.

Panesar has only just come back into the side this test match and his form has been pretty ordinary as well. Swann has been going well and is a work horse but do not think he will do too much damage to a quality batting line up.

Prior and Ambrose is a tough one and they really need to settle on a keeper for more than a period of 3 months. They have probably had 4/5 keeper changes or more since the last Ashes. Prior is a very good bat but his keeping has obvious flaws IMO. Currently has let through 30 byes in the Windies first innings, I have not been watching for the last couple of nights so not sure whats happening with the pitch but that is a awful amount of byes.

61 Extras at the moment.

[Ned]

My England Eleven Ashes 09

Strauss
Cook
Vaughn
Peiterson
Collingwood
Bopara
Flintoff
Ambrose
Swann
Harmison
Anderson

The Side England Will Most Likely Pick

Strauss
Cook
Bopara
Peiterson
Collingwood
Flintoff
Prior
Broad
Sidebottom
Anderson
Panesar

[jackpot jim]

Prior and Ambrose is a tough one and they really need to settle on a keeper for more than a period of 3 months. They have probably had 4/5 keeper changes or more since the last Ashes. Prior is a very good bat but his keeping has obvious flaws IMO. Currently has let through 30 byes in the Windies first innings, I have not been watching for the last couple of nights so not sure whats happening with the pitch but that is a awful amount of byes.

61 Extras at the moment.

A Few observations from watching this match overnight.

Prior's keeping is Shite. Only keeper to ever concede more than 30 byes twice
The pitch is fine, little bit of low bounce as you'd start to expect after 3 days.
I saw Eng concede 17 sundries in 3 overs at one stage, 2 x 4 byes off Monty, 4 byes and then 5 wides off Kahn.
Strauss has NFI about the referral system. FFS idiot, u get 2 referrals per innings and what does he do? wastes them on marginal decisions instead of waiting for the OBVIOUS blunders like when NASH was on 22 (now 70*n.o.) and went to pull Monty and was PLUMB in front and was given NOT OUT by umpire HARPER. Guess what? Eng had 0, ZERO, none, ZILCH referrals left bcos they had wasted them. dumb dumb dumb.

Panesar and Kahn should be on REPORT for their continuous, excessive and sometimes RIDICULOUS appeals.
Geez there some classic comments on the ball by ball descriptions on cricinfo about their premature celebrations of a wkt thats not even out.
over 60.1 Khan to Chanderpaul, no run, well wide of off stump, Chanderpaul somehow reaches it and appears to have edged it behind. Kahn sprints all the way to fine leg to celebrate like a MANIAC without actually appealing, but it's given NOT OUT. In fact he DIDN'T hit it, the bat hit the ground.

Monty was continually making a fool of himself with stupid appeals and premaure celebrations.
A few quotes " Monty appeals like a LUNATIC again and it wont be long b4 he's hauled into the headmasters office for excessive appealing"
"Monty roars another huge appeal as he claps his hands like a desparate seal"
'Monty celebrates like someone who has just been told he can have an extra serve of hot chips for free"

Gayle is batting in career best form but unfortunatley tore a hamstring stretching for a single to bring up his ton and had to R.H.

Geez, how good has Chanderpaul been over the last 3 years? What a fighter 52* n.o. (162 balls). Battling a groin strain and hobbling between wickets, Eng just dont have the answer to get him out. Remember a year or so ago against them, he batted for 20 - 25 hours over a couple of test without getting out.
If Shiv can make 151 in this inng, it will bring his ave up to 50.00 in test cricket which would be fitting reward for him.

[spell_check]

"Monty roars another huge appeal as he claps his hands like a desparate seal"

I saw that, and it was way over the top. Looked like Ahhhhh! *clap* Ahhhh! *clap* Ahhhh! *clap*

[Pup]

West Indies made 544

Nash made his first test century with 109 and Chanderpaul made 147*

Prior only just missed out on the world record for Byes with 35. Extras scored an incredible 75.

England are 3/80 in reply in their second innings.

[jackpot jim]

If Shiv can make 151 in this inng, it will bring his ave up to 50.00 in test cricket which would be fitting reward for him.

Shiv made 147* n.o. What a Champ. I assume that by being n.o. this would bring his ave to over 50.00 which is considered to being the benchmark of great batsmen in test cricket of which he is.

[silicone skyline]

With this stance, that's a grand achievement.

[jackpot jim]

Whats to say his unusual stance isn't the way all kids should be taught?

After all, ALL the batsmen that i know that use it ave 50 + in test cricket. Thats not a bad success rate 100%

[rod_rooster]

I love his stance. People watch him and wonder how he does it and has success with it but if you watch the position he is in when the ball is delivered it is almost perfect. He just uses an unusual method to get into that position. Very good cricketer.

[silicone skyline]

Darren Lehmann used to wander across, the Kat does too to a degree.

Personally, I like the look of Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting when they face up.

Textbook.

[jackpot jim]

it's about getting the job done and all thoise mentioned do get it done so i suppose it doesn't really matter.
Just whatever feels comfortable for the individiual i suppose is the way to go.

[silicone skyline]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/cricket/the-chanderpaul-way/2005/11/05/1130823438170.html

Chanderpaul developed the strange stance as a way of protecting his face when his father rallied the entire village of Unity to hurl balls at him from point-blank range when he was young.

[mighty_tiger_79]

the poms need 3 wickets from 6 overs to win

[Pup]

WI win the series 1/0.

Good final day. Terrific gritty batting by Ramdin to help them over the line for a draw.

Swann 3/13 from 21 overs.

[whufc]

Here's one for spelly. When last did the Windies win a test series against a country other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe.

[the joker]

Here's one for spelly. When last did the Windies win a test series against a country other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe.

They beat Sri Lanka in 2003. and they beat India in 01/02