England in West Indies

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

Lol looks like even the Windies have found a good spinner. Australia now the only team left...
Flintoff really playing that steady knock today, strike rate of 30 certainly not use to see him score at that rate.

We have Uncle Mcgain

 

[King Pietersen]

Prior reaffirming his talents at this level. Has looked at ease out there and played some nice strokes. Thats the benefit of picking a proper batsman to keep wicket I guess! Nice to see Fred finding some form as well, nasty blow to the arm though, really blew up quickly, looked in real agony when the physio was prodding it.

Edwards has started this over well

Also, how defensive is this field! :/

 

[barmyarmy]

This is the only series England play that's actually on at a decent time for viewing. Unfortunately I was out tonight so I've missed most of it but should be able to catch days 2 and 3.
The KP question is intriguing as ever. The cricket purists will always damn him for being so individualistic and not caring about the team but he is England's best batsman by a country mile and he wouldn't be the same player if he curbed his attacking instincts. That said I'd still like him to try and curb them a bit!

 

[wolf]

I've no problem with him being attacking, and King Pietersen I know he is our best batsmen and today he dug us out of a big hole, but in a test match when your team has their back to the wall you don't slog. It's clear after three succesive boundaries before he got out his head was inflating and he thought he was invinsible. Obviously picturing himself waving his bat to the pavillion after hitting the ball out to sea. Arrogant tosspot, drop him for a couple of games and he might come back down to earth.

Oh and BBC A SIX COUNTS AS A BOUNDARY SO WHEN YOU SAY A PLAYED HAD SCORED 12 BOUNDARIES AND A SIX IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE!!!

 

[Sureshot]

We rebuilt the innings quite well thank to Freddie, KP and Prior. Today is important and I hope to watch some of the action, at some point. As ever, 350-400 will be competitive, still go Broad to come and we do have a decent attack.

My opinions on Bell haven't changed.

 

[Highlander999]

I'll be back home today so can watch the highlights on Sky

 

[King Pietersen]

It was an intriguing day of test cricket, with West Indies taking early wickets and putting England under the mat. England needed a magnificent innings of 97 from Pietersen to pull them out from the initial setback. Flintoff has been playing well for his 43 and along with Prior, have so far managed to build a fifty partnership. For West Indies, Benn was clearly the pick of the bowlers troubling each and every batsman with his flight and turn.

We watched it, we don't really need a summary of EVERY single match ever played by you. Well done that you've been following alot of cricket, but you don't need to provide everyone with a summary for every match.

I've no problem with him being attacking, and King Pietersen I know he is our best batsmen and today he dug us out of a big hole, but in a test match when your team has their back to the wall you don't slog. It's clear after three succesive boundaries before he got out his head was inflating and he thought he was invinsible. Obviously picturing himself waving his bat to the pavillion after hitting the ball out to sea. Arrogant tosspot, drop him for a couple of games and he might come back down to earth.

Yeh, cracking idea that. Drop a guy that scored 97 runs. Forget the fact he got out the way he did, he played a brilliant knock considering the situation and with wickets falling around him. He played as sensibly as I've ever seen him in that 2nd session against Benn, and looked at his best after tea. I don't hold that dismissal against him, as that's the way he plays. It's the same as the switch hit, people will praise him to the heavens when it comes off, but when he inevitably gets out playing it people will be calling it a stupid shot and Pietersen an arrogant prat. If you're going to plan on dropping Pietersen after getting out in the 90's you better drop Bell and Collingwood for being crap for the past 18 months and also Alastair Cook for failing to convert 1 of his last 8 fifties into hundreds. It's ridiculous.

 

[mattfb]

Really excited to watch the highlights in 1 hour. I saw on FOX sports news KP fell not to short of a century which really is an important innings when I look at the score. Always fun watching KP bat so it should be good.

Feelin Blue? added 2 Minutes and 12 Seconds later...

Reading your post Dan I see Bell failed again which isn't good, like I've said I quite like him as a player. I agree with your post, dropping KP is ridiculous. Absurd idea. Like you mentioned, Cooks conversion rate is shocking, and Bell and Colly aren't playing great. Dropping your best batsmen would be stupid.

 

[Themer]

Today is the day to see if England underpeformed or if the pitch, as suggested by Pietersen, is really a hard wicket to play on when England get their chance to bowl also intrigued to see how Flintoff goes bowling. England will probably be all out 300ish so I think England will be bowling after Lunch perhaps before it.

 

[King Pietersen]

If Fred gets going early, which is a possibility since Edwards is looking seriously out of touch, and with the new ball almost certain to be taken it gives Fred and Prior a chance to make a big score. IF they both get to 3 figures then it'd be one heck of a comeback for England. They're certainly good enough to do it, Prior's actually a class batsman, and not a keeper who bats, he's a proper batsman and would probably stand a chance of getting in the team on batting alone. I can see us getting to 350, and then if Monty bowls well we could have West Indies out for 200-250 with relative ease, just need to get Gayle, Sarwan and Chanderpaul relatively cheaply.

 

[Skater]

A note: there are no seperate highlights of day one on TV. There would usually be primetime highlights, but the match is live then. Instead, you can watch 28 minutes of highlights like I did on Sky Player.

I was impressed by Flintoff, considering he has been poor with the bat since coming back from injury and has had no match practice since he was in India, this was a brave innings. It was proper Test cricket, digging your side out of a hole. He will probably be out in the seventies, but a century is in the offing in this series if he carries on.

Pietersen - same old story, really. Batted brilliantly after lunch but once again got carried away, and we have every right to criticise him for it. He cannot be a true great until he has learned to keep his concentration. Thankfully, Prior has looked good and stayed to the end with Flintoff. Prior likes batting against the West Indies. Shame he is going to miss the fourth Test, but Ambrose will have a go.

 

[King Pietersen]

Why's he going to miss the 4th Test? =/

 

[TLCJones]

Superb knock from KP, he shouldn't be criticised for getting out the way he did, the game was becoming tiring to watch and he added some true entertainment! If cricket hopes to interest more people across this planet we need someone to be entertaining with the bat even in test cricket!

Give KP some credit, he deserves to play freely- that's how he has built up his reputation!

TLCJones added 2 Minutes and 59 Seconds later...

Also, James Foster deserves a shot as our reserve wicket-keeper, he should be playing in the fourth test, not ambrose.

Foster is the best glove man in the country and his more than handy with the bat, given the opportunity he may score well for england!

 

[Skater]

Why's he going to miss the 4th Test? =/

He has asked if he can go and look after his family after the birth of his first child, which they are expecting during the fourth Test. Ambrose will keep in that game. Davies has been named as back-up with Ben Scott taking his place on the Lions tour of New Zealand.

 

[King Pietersen]

I was initially disappointed reading that Ambrose would take over Keeping responsibilities, but I think he'll do ok against the West Indies, especially Powell. If the pitch for the 4th Test has abit of pace and bounce, then Powell's natural back of a length bowling will suit Ambrose to a tee, especially if Powell bowls a little wide. I can see Ambrose struggling against Taylor and possibly Edwards, but he should do well against Powell. Would still prefer to see Davies or Foster in for him though.