England in West Indies

[Sureshot]

Because as far as team balance go it doesn't work. There's not anyone capable, or willing to bat at 7. Broad's not willing to do it, not believing he's ready, and Rashid plainly isn't good enough, meaning the batting line-up is nowhere near as strong. We took 9 wickets at the ARG in the 2nd innings, and that was with pretty much 3 bowlers fully fit, with Harmison and Flintoff clearly feeling worse for wear. I think if an attack of Broad, Anderson, Amjad and Swann isn't good enough to take 20 wickets on a result pitch then we may as well bin the lot of them. We do not need 5 bowlers on a result pitch, we needed them on the road in the last game.

Firstly, how do you know it is a result pitch? The WIndies have a 1-0 lead and are playing with 3 bowlers!

Secondly, just because it is a result pitch why rely on 4 bowlers when maybe we've had 2 bowlers taking wickets? Broad and Swann, Jimmy has bowled very well, yet with no reward.

There is no time for defensive attitude. Broad is apt at 7, especially when they have 3 bowlers, including one out of touch bowler, Rashid's credentials as a batsman are better than Broad's, so I'm not sure why you are saying he wouldn't be good enough for 7 when our top 6 are in very good form, with Shah being the most out of touch, but then again he looked good at Antigua.

Panesar over Rashid?

I wouldn't have made the choice, been a while since England had to choose 2 spinners out of 3 options!

The West Indies side is very batting heavy, key is Sarwan and Chanderpaul, former particularly.

Good luck to Amjad when he is bowling tomorrow.

 

[King Pietersen]

Bloody hell, Powell bowled a genuinely good ball =O That was almost unplayable for a left hander. Need Shah or Pietersen to score hundreds now.

 

[Skater]

Need Pietersen to score a hundred now.

Yes please.

 

[Leicester Fox]

Yes please.

Won't that just make him even more complacent when the pressure's really on in the ashes and we know how good he thinks he is so he will probably underestimate them even more because of a century here.

Rashid over Panesar would have been better but at least the selectors showed some balls.

 

[Themer]

I must say that I fully agree with the team they've put out there.

Good start by England so far beautiful delivery by Powell to get Cook aswell.

 

[Dare]

Sucks that there is not Taylor because it means that Powell still gets a spot. Not to mention that Taylor is our best bowler probably.
Simmons can claim a spot in the team with a couple of good innings here.

As a West Indies fan I don't really care what they do to win a test as long as its not cheating but as a cricket fan these pitches are crap and the ICC and WICB need to step up and push for better pitches.

 

[barmyarmy]

Ominous signs early on - this pitch looks just as dead as the others although a lot slower which will reduce the scoring rate and may lead to batsmen throwing away wickets in frustration.
I think that 5 bowlers was the right call but not necessarily the 5 we've gone for. Two spinners was the right call in the previous two test matches but, considering that WI have dropped Benn and spinners have rarely done well in Trinidad it might have been better to play Harmison instead of Panesar. Glad Khan is in; he will be aiming to prove himself and bowling at pace (such as it is on this wicket). R/R of 2.36 is definifely a concern though. It will just be 700 runs scored for 17 wickets rather than 1400.

 

[Dare]

noticed on a few other occasions that Gayle stands deep in the slips to the spinners. When you look at the difference between where he stands and where Smith stands it is really big.

 

[King Pietersen]

This is incredibly boring Test Cricket once more. At least in the last game there were runs available, this is slow, turgid and offering nothing to either batsman or bowler. The ICC really need to bring in some sort of regulations for pitches as it's getting pathetic. More and more pitches are getting flatter and flatter, and what was supposed to be a result pitch has turned out to be probably the worst, least interesting pitch of the series. Very dissappointing.

 

[Leicester Fox]

If the pitches were this much in favour of the bowlers games would be called off.

 

[Dare]

bah 3 run out chances missed, bad fielding by the west indies.

 

[age of the fall]

So what's up with Shah? Really bad hand cramping Cricinfo said. How bad did it look?

 

[Dare]

So what's up with Shah? Really bad hand cramping Cricinfo said. How bad did it look?

couldn't straighten his fingers at all.

 

[King Pietersen]

Pietersen survives an LBW decision thanks to the referral system. Thank god for the referral system, that was never remotely near being out. Pitched miles outside leg. As someone on cricketweb hilarously put regarding the umpire: "are his eyes painted on?" lol.

Shah'll be back on, just needs to get some fluid into him. You'd have thought he'd know how much fluid he'd need in these conditions though, he must have played in humid conditions before? =/

 

[Sureshot]

If he stopped trying to strangle the bat he'd be fine.