England in West Indies

[Skater]

Bell being the most technically gifted batsman in the country is not necessarily a good thing, because it makes his mental problems more glaring. He looks so good when he is failing. Thinking back to 2005, the statement that England won't win the Ashes without him is ridiculous. We didn't rely on him then and we don't need to now. Shah may not look as pretty but he does the job. In 10 innings in the 2005 Ashes, Bell scored 171 runs at 17.10. Most of those runs came from the couple of fifties he made at Old Trafford.

 

[King Pietersen]

Hang on, I've not read this much, but Dan, lets stop the "Bell is God," thing. He's purely out of form, much like Panesar. He's undoubtably a talant, but at the moment, Shah is ahead of him. Owais Shah is better in my opinion.

Sorry, I'm not trying to claim that Bell's more deserving of a place in the side than Shah. If you saw the batting line-up I'd go with I picked them both, dropping Collingwood. I just think the criticism of him is incredibly harsh. Bell's still very young in terms of a Test batsman and when they usually peak. He's been around the game a long time, and being given a long run in the team and that'll only help him in terms of experience when it comes to him being given another go.

I may be wrong, but I happen to be one of the few people on this forum that actually believe Bell's good enough. I'm not trying to claim he's some sort of demi-god, as he's not, but just defending him from all the slack he's been getting from everyone else on this forum. The pure facts prove that he's good enough for this level, an average of over 40 is very good, especially when you consider that someone like Stephen Fleming only just scraped an average of 40 in his last match.

Bell WILL come good, he just needs to sort out the mental problems. I know I harp on about it alot, but he's technically one of the best in England, possibly the best. He just needs to apply that to the Test level and gain some real consistency. He's certainly no Kevin Pietersen, but I just feel he deserves more credit than he gets from alot of people on this forum.

Also, Joe, that was 4 years ago. He was very early into his Test career. Kevin Pietersen struggled for most of that series, and the 158 in the final Test left him with decent stats for the series. You're not claiming he's not good enough for the 2009 Ashes just because of his 2005 record are you?

 

[Themer]

Dan please stop the Bell loving, you said a page back drop Cook he's not getting 100's due to a mental problem yet on the subject of Bell its Bells only got a mental problem leave him in he'll get over it.

Also Collingwood offers alot more to the team that Bell and Im sure, haven't checked, that Collingwood has averaged better that Bell in the last year and only a couple of games ago against one of the best teams in the world he got a century.

 

[Leicester Fox]

Bell might be young. Fine, in that case, he is too young, drop him for a few years, at least England will have a batsmen who can score runs in his place for a while.

An average of over 40 is not very good when you look at when the runs are scored and the fact he is completely unreliable when the pressures on. Steven Fleming was playing in a side which very rarely won and had low expectations, he only had to average 40 because New Zealand doesn't have quality batsmen pushing him for a place in the side. He was also one of the best captains ever and was important to them regardless of how many runs he scored.

You keep saying how Bell will come good but the fact technically he is perfect but still fails would suggest he doesn't have the mental ability to do it.

The point is KP did score that 158.

 

[evertonfan]

Bell's a bottler and that's why he will never make it at international level.

Anyway well done to the lads so far but one can't help but feel it's down to the pitch rather than us being any good.

 

[King Pietersen]

Think we might as well just leave it, and see how Bell's career develops. If he can convert his ability into real Test runs, but he needs to get those mental problems sorted. Just have to see what happens with him. I firmly believe he will come good.

Shah has 50, nice innings, hope he shows Bell and Cook how to convert!

 

[Slowcoach]

Strauss looking good for a double ton here.

 

[Kiko_97]

0ގ sıɥ sɐɥ ɥɐɥs

 

[Dare]

are there referral in this test?

also wondering why Gayle hasn't used Taylor more.

 

[Leggie]

Wow, Shah makes an immediate impact. He looks much more confident than Bell, Looks solid at No.3

 

[Leicester Fox]

KP I enjoyed our little tiff. I hope to do it again some time.

Anyway this pitch is not looking like there's too much in it. I guess there's still 4 days after this one and it has had a little bit of dodgy bounce this afternoon but I can see this being a bore draw. Fair play to them for just getting some cricket on though. Could be completely different by day 5.

I said that 51 all out was the best thing that could have happened to us. We needed a kick up the jacksie. The great thing about having these runs is we can finally see KP not having to carry the team.

@ dare there's no referrals.

 

[Dare]

@ dare there's no referrals.

what happened? was it just a one test thing?

sorry didn't watch it from the beginning.

 

[Leicester Fox]

Yeh the rest of the tests will have them just this game doesn't because they couldn't get it all sorted in time. Or something along those lines. Lee will come with the precise details I'm sure, he seems to be PC's expert on the ground changing issue

150 for Strauss, real captains knock. Cook must be thinking what the hell did I do getting out on this wicket.

 

[aussie1st]

As expected England bounce back with a bang. The worrying thing for the Windies is KP is still in the shed and he will be able to play his natural game to up the scoring rate. Same with Flintoff.

 

[King Pietersen]

150 for Strauss. 2nd of his career, 2nd in the last year. Hes definitely back to his best!