England in West Indies

[Sureshot]

I like Bell. I really think he would be good coming in at 3, and Shah down the order. Now I'm no expert on English cricket, but with that stat you provided just proves that 3 would be great for him. You only want to bat once in a Test, and to do that your top order needs to fire. England are more then capable of scoring 500+ with Cook, Strauss, Bell and KP in the top order. Then some late runs by Colly and fast runs by Shah will get you to that 500 mark.

When was the last time that top order got 500?

Judging by CricInfo I think it was May '07 vs WIndies.

 

[Mercules]

When was the last time that top order got 500?

Judging by CricInfo I think it was May '07 vs WIndies.

last summer vs South Africa when Bell got 199.


A couple of knocks aside, seems to have been a good runout for once.

at the minute, I'd plump for

Strauss
Cook
Bell/Shah
Pietersen
Bell/Shah
Prior
Flintoff
Broad
Harmison/Sidebottom
Anderson
Panesar

 

[Sureshot]

Selective memory is fun. My point still stands, I believe this line up should be hitting 500 once a series, easily.

 

[Dare]

Bad news for Darren Bravo the younger brother of Dwayne Bravo who was selected to play for the West Indies A team against England but had to pull out due to a injury he picked up.
Same goes for Kemar Roach who could have claimed a spot for the 2nd Test had he performed against England but he had to pull out because of a injury.
Sewnarine Chattergoon will replace Bravo and Kevin McClean will replace Roach.

Darren Sammy will captain the WI A team.

 

[Themer]

England have won the tour match comfortably obviously they are a paticularly strong team but still its good to start on a positive foot.
Monty once again seems to have been impressive so he has to perform in this series as he has no excuse such as no match practise or being of of form as he was in India.
Hard decision to make over Shah or Bell but it has to be Shah especially as he's got his normal vision back after his eye complaint and scored well in the match unlike Bell.

 

[RoboRocks]

Cricinfo - England take caution with Flintoff

Flintoff has been rested in the game against West Indies A and England are going in with a four seam attack with Swann being the only spinner. Would like to have seen Rashid given another go instead of Harmison or Anderson.

Team

1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Owais Shah, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Ryan Sidebottom, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steve Harmison.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Dang! Was really hoping Rashid would get a chance.

 

[Themer]

Great to see Sidebottom is finally fit again as he was missed imo.
I think Harmy should be dropped if he peforms as he did in the last match bringing back Sidebottom. Shame that Rashid hasn't been given another go but I guess we did need to see Swann having a bowl.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Yeah all very true, was just hoping he would a get a chance.

 

[King Pietersen]

Sidebottom's record is massively assisted by destroying a poor New Zealand batting line-up, especially in New Zealand when the likes of Bell and Sinclair were playing. I can't ever see him being free of injury long enough to maintain a decent place in the side. I would like to see him back though, he'd be very dangerous against Australia I reckon. Just a shame that towards the end of his spell in the side he was bowling far too wide and looking majorly down on pace.

 

[RoboRocks]

Shame that Rashid hasn't been given another go but I guess we did need to see Swann having a bowl.

I would play Rashid and Swann and rest Monty after he's got wickets under his belt.

England might as well play Rashid in the warm-ups since he's obviously not going to play in the tests with England preferring Panesar and Swann.

 

[Mercules]

Sidebottom's record is massively assisted by destroying a poor New Zealand batting line-up, especially in New Zealand when the likes of Bell and Sinclair were playing. I can't ever see him being free of injury long enough to maintain a decent place in the side. I would like to see him back though, he'd be very dangerous against Australia I reckon. Just a shame that towards the end of his spell in the side he was bowling far too wide and looking majorly down on pace.

Poor side or not, an average in '08 of 20.25 is still very impressive and I think he's being written off too early especially as Harmison's success upon his return has been so short lived.

And I know Rashid's got a lot of potential, but he'll have plenty of chances and atm he's not really vying for a first team place so I don't get why people are so desperate to get him in.

 

[wolf]

Sidey also bowled incredibly well in Sri Lanka without any look at all. If he's fit he deserves his place because he has never let England down.

A bit surprised that Ambrose hasn't been given a go. He seemed to get a bit of keeping in the second innings of the last one but I would have swapped him for KP for this one and moved Prior to 6 which might allow him a bit more time in the middle as well.

 

[RoboRocks]

Poor side or not, an average in '08 of 20.25 is still very impressive and I think he's being written off too early especially as Harmison's success upon his return has been so short lived.

And I know Rashid's got a lot of potential, but he'll have plenty of chances and atm he's not really vying for a first team place so I don't get why people are so desperate to get him in.

I know Rashid won't get into the first team. He will gain much experience by playing with a senior England squad than he will carrying drinks. I think we've accepted he won't play a test on this tour so let's give him the best chance to learn and that would be by giving him the warm-up games. Hopefully by next winter he'll be playing a test match.

 

[irottev]

Poor side or not, an average in '08 of 20.25 is still very impressive and I think he's being written off too early especially as Harmison's success upon his return has been so short lived.

Well we did beat England in a test last year, so can't have been THAT poor. Plus the rest of the bowlers weren't great. He lead the attack well. Get off Sidebottom's back. He's a quality bowler. Accurate and swings it and his pace isn't slow by any means.

He's a better bowler then Broad, Harmison, etc. if you ask me.