England Tour of West Indies - 2019

[aditya123]

I`ve probably watched every single test match of the WI in the last few years very very carefully and I`m a bigger supporter of the current WI test team than India. I can surely tell you that the WI side is not lacking in resource or talent. They have as good a talent pool that they`ve had access to in a few years. Despite all those who are not part of the squad, this is a decent test match squad. The batting has some real talent and just needs to get their test match temperament right. Dowrich and Holder are really good as No.7 and No.8. Holder would walk into most test sides as an all-rounder. Hetmyer and Hope are the best batting to have come out of the Carribean in a while. Fingers crossed with Campbell, he looks good. Braithwaite is usually very solid as an opener and Chase is a really proven test match batsman. On to the bowling then. Gabriel, Holder and Roach are a handful on helpful tracks while Joseph has raw potential. I`m excited with what Oshane Thomas can do in a test match setup. This is a mighty good side and the WI would do well to stay consistent with their team selection. On sheer talent, the current WI test squad looks better or as good as Pakistan and Australia. The results will start coming very soon. In fact, under Holder, they`ve had a decent time in tests. They were very close to beating Pakistan in the UAE (narrow loss in the first test at Dubai and a win in the final test). They did draw their last test series against England at home and beat England at Headingley (and competed well in a very close final test). They were good for 3/4th of second the test match in India and competed in the ODIs. When India toured the Caribbean, they managed 2 draws as well. They thrashed Pakistan at Barbados last year (80 all out?) and lost that series in the very last over. Most recent test series in the WI, they thrashed Bangladesh and drew against SL. Fans in the WI need to get behind this side and turn up in large numbers in what could be a pivotal test series!

 

[Morphed]

Wow what a massacre!
Holder 100 off 99
What an all rounder!

 

[Velocity]

If you look at a English point of view, this is what happens when you depend on all rounders too much to take wickets consistently. Sam Curran was not a very good selection, it seems for the next test match Broad or Wood should come back into the side. Without swing, Curran seems hopeless with the ball at best. Stokes has been decent bowling alongside Anderson, but England will need a genuine fast bowler surely.

 

[Bevab]

Wow what a massacre!
Holder 100 off 99
What an all rounder!

Fully deserved too, he’s probably been the best all-rounder in red ball cricket for a while now and has been an incredible leader and gentleman for a team that’s often been in turmoil.

Also, I think the guy that needs to be dropped instead of Curran is Rashid. There’s absolutely no point in having a bowler who bats at 10 as your second spinner when you’ve got a pretty decent spinner already in Ali. It’s almost like he’s a bloke from the stands that has won the lottery and gets to be in the team without doing anything useful. Would have Broad in for him, Wood isn’t good or accurate enough to play in my opinion.

Also, England clearly are suffering from the lack of a reliable batsman apart from Joe Root, which could be why they’re stacking their lineup with so many all-rounders.

 

[asprin]

Oh boy! What an innings from Holder. Never thought he would get the double. It's amazing to see fast bowlers showing so much promise with the bat. Curran, Holder, Cummins should all bat a notch higher than they usually do.

So a win for England is taken out of the equation. It would be interesting to see if they can at least survive the 4th day and hope that rain saves them on the 5th day. Because if we get two days of cricket, it sure would mean WI will end up winning this. They did well to not lose wickets on the 3rd day. Or do we have another twist here?

For a change, it's nice to see England facing some tough times (@zimrahil)

 

[zimrahil]

Oh boy! What an innings from Holder. Never thought he would get the double. It's amazing to see fast bowlers showing so much promise with the bat. Curran, Holder, Cummins should all bat a notch higher than they usually do.

So a win for England is taken out of the equation. It would be interesting to see if they can at least survive the 4th day and hope that rain saves them on the 5th day. Because if we get two days of cricket, it sure would mean WI will end up winning this. They did well to not lose wickets on the 3rd day. Or do we have another twist here?

For a change, it's nice to see England facing some tough times (@zimrahil)

Ha ha I just hope England put up a fight. Having a number of all rounders in the team isn’t the issue for me, it’s sorting out the top 3 plus Roots captaincy this test has been questioned. Don’t pick Rashid if you don’t intend to use him and don’t bowl Anderson and stokes into the ground either!

 

[Gaurav_7]

Wow what a win by the Windies! Holder is such a great player, all credit to this team to pull it off and that too against the mighty England team.

 

[Ahmad94]

Not a bad game. We will see how the series goes before denoting this game as a miracle. Holder - what a player he is turning out to be, especially for West Indies. With more and more players moving towards the T20 franchise side, Holder really has been the backbone of the Test and ODI side for some time now.

Englands collapse again here personifies so much about their Test culture over the last year or so. Against India, Curran made the difference with the lower order bat. Now with no Cook at the top, the experience is lacking (although Burns did seem really good), and the middle order just isn't holding up. Maybe a batting order shuffle might be an idea. Moving the likes of Bairstow at the top with Burns (dropping Jennings), allows you to play Woakes in the lower order.

 

[hammadahmed88]

I can't emphasize enough how great it is to see the West Indies dominate with the ball. Their bowling has flown under the radar, but has been quite impressive over the last year. Hope this continues for them. Places like the West Indies produce players not because of their boards, but in spite of them. Just a great game of cricket for me personally.

plus Roots captaincy this test has been questioned

I agree completely. I don't think Root is a good captain. I'm not sure they have alternatives though. Personally I would have gone with Anderson when Cook stepped aside, but he might be nearing retirement now so it's a bit late. England have talent, but are tactically lacking, and that is quite clear to see for me. I also question Rashid's prospects as your no. 1 red ball spinner. I'm not informed on this, but was Jack Leach unavailable? Why wasn't he picked? England should also think about grooming Archer already for when Anderson leaves.

 

[aditya123]

English cricket pundits keep harking back to that 4-1 win against India at home. However, one must keep in mind that England won every single toss and got to bat first in all but one of the games (the game they also lost). That series was essentially a bat first win the game series and it was mostly the Indian team selection and inept management that resulted in the scoreline. From a home team's perspective, it was too close for comfort. Some of the signs were always there. England were 100/7 on so many occasions at home and not every side is India to let games go from there.

 

[asprin]

I've been harping since the India tour of England series about the inclusion of Adil Rashid in the team. I honestly don't see how he is able to hold onto his place despite no notable contribution - either with the ball or the bat. During the India series, it felt that his place in the team was meant to justify his "coming back from retirement". Very baffling indeed.

I do agree that the 4-1 scoreline versus India didn't really reflect how close the series was. Barring the 2nd Test at Lords (where England really dominated India), it was a see-saw battle of nerves where England managed to come out on top courtesy the lower order and in particular Sam Curran. One man won them the series. Perhaps England seemed a bit over confident coming into this match and paid a price for it.

All this makes the 2nd Test really interesting. Can England bounce back or can WI maintain the momentum?

 

[ParkedTheBus]

This game only further exemplified the individual, unpolished talent West Indies possess. So many players good enough to start for the "big" teams, only in need of some coaching and exposure. The fan turnout for the game was also pretty interesting. It wasn't a typical West Indies game with empty stands but the fans who did turn up were mostly in the 30-50 age demographic than 10-20. Not a particularly ideal scenario but a step in the right direction nonetheless.

 

[zimrahil]

I've been harping since the India tour of England series about the inclusion of Adil Rashid in the team. I honestly don't see how he is able to hold onto his place despite no notable contribution - either with the ball or the bat. During the India series, it felt that his place in the team was meant to justify his "coming back from retirement". Very baffling indeed.

I do agree that the 4-1 scoreline versus India didn't really reflect how close the series was. Barring the 2nd Test at Lords (where England really dominated India), it was a see-saw battle of nerves where England managed to come out on top courtesy the lower order and in particular Sam Curran. One man won them the series. Perhaps England seemed a bit over confident coming into this match and paid a price for it.

All this makes the 2nd Test really interesting. Can England bounce back or can WI maintain the momentum?

Yeah if root won’t bowl rashid then no point picking him!
Everyone knows the India series was closer than 4-1 (we still won though ) and agree the lower order of England was the difference
I think combination of over confidence, wrong team selection, no proper warm up and windies better than expected resulted in this loss

 

[LiveLoveABD]

English cricket pundits keep harking back to that 4-1 win against India at home. However, one must keep in mind that England won every single toss and got to bat first in all but one of the games (the game they also lost). That series was essentially a bat first win the game series and it was mostly the Indian team selection and inept management that resulted in the scoreline. From a home team's perspective, it was too close for comfort. Some of the signs were always there. England were 100/7 on so many occasions at home and not every side is India to let games go from there.

England's test team is blunt against AUS in AUS & IND in IND. I think if they play well they can be good in NZ since it's very similar conditions to back home. We can make a team on planetcrikcet and beat Lanka where we like. They're that pathetic.

India/NZ is the best test team inspite of the shambolic selection made by India.

On a side note, there was a lot of hoopla from the carribean about the Bravo's being the next Lara. Don't know about Lara, but boy that Hope fellow can bat!

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Jennings is dropped.