Story England's tour of the Caribbean

[FishBowlMan]

Originally posted by The_gas
great bowling from harmison, how the hell did you nock his stump out the ground from pitching at leg stump!

Harmison's first spell was 8-4-12-1. He's on fire at the moment. I bowled a cutter to the left hander - reasonably slow pace and the guy just left the ball which moved back off the seam and clipped the bail. About the only ball that has moved so far. This is going to be a hard game!

 

[The_gas]

Originally posted by FishBowlMan
Harmison's first spell was 8-4-12-1. He's on fire at the moment. I bowled a cutter to the left hander - reasonably slow pace and the guy just left the ball which moved back off the seam and clipped the bail. About the only ball that has moved so far. This is going to be a hard game!

keep up the good work mate. Looking forward to seeing the results of the afternoon session

 

[karan_rvd]

good stuff looking forward for full results!

 

[FishBowlMan]

"...And so after that magnificent result from Villa Park where Manchester UTD have beaten the gooners by a goal to nil, its back to the caribbean and Aggers"

"Another interesting session this afternoon with the West Indies continuing to score at 4.5 runs an over. They have moved on to 256/4 at tea after 56 overs.

"Vaughn struggled to find field settings to contain the fast scoring batsmen, but it was loose shots that undid the West Indies pair. Sarwan pulled Flintoff to Giles at square leg for 39 and Ganga was caught in the covers for 74 off Harmison - still the pick of the bowlers. With no help from the pitch whatsoever the bowlers have been pitching short of a length as anything full has been punished for 4.

"West Indies are currently on top with Lara and Chanderpaul at the crease looking very composed, but another couple of wickets and this match is going to be very open again."

 

[FishBowlMan]

Top L & R: Ganga crashes through the covers.

Centre L : Odd field setting to try and curb Ganga. Finally got him. Giles at square leg indicated in yellow.

Centre R : Ganga's spider. Some good strokes to be had.

Bottom L : Lara is hit on the head (again) by Harmison and falls like a sack of spuds.

Bottom R : Ganga is finally caught by Giles.

 

[tigerdes]

wouldn't worry about the big score Fish. They were 303-3 against me and collapsed to 367-8 and it was only some big hitting by O.Banks that carried them to 451. Lara is a little git though so try and give him a single and work on the other end.

 

[FishBowlMan]

"Well, England will have mixed feelings about the 1st innings. In making 395 all out, the West Indies scored at nearly 4.5 / over. Fortunately, a lot of wickets were given away cheaply - at least 5 batsmen slogging and being caught when more sensible batting would have yielded more runs - albeit at a slightly slower scoring rate. Whether this was the right decision will be seen when England bat - and the ever present rain worry.

"Chanderpaul ran himself out going for a 3rd after a misfield by Giles in the deep. In fact, misfields accounted for a good 24 extra runs, and with 91 extras, the total should have been much less. Having said that, England should feel confident as the pitch is still true, flat and quick. Lara (61), Jacobs (40) and even Dillon (7 from 43 balls) were not troubled. Dillon even had the nerve to time a beautiful cover drive to the boundary from Harmison.

"Harmison and Butcher were the best of England's bowlers, with the previous game's hero, Hoggard, struggling for line and length. Anderson is yet to take a wicket on this tour and now has combined figures of 0/102 from 27 overs.

"How good is the score? Only time will tell. England to bat needing 195 to avoid the follow on."

 

[FishBowlMan]

Lara gives it the big 'un!! ... then wishes he hadn't!

 

[FishBowlMan]

Usual plethora of stats for you. Scorecard:

 

[FishBowlMan]

Batting:

 

[FishBowlMan]

Could this be... Bowling? Sure is Stanley!!

 

[FishBowlMan]

And finally, partnerships and a couple of spiders.

 

[FishBowlMan]

"So much for Englnd's poor, grinding batting. The first 7 balls yielded 11 runs which took us up to 12:00 precisely. The next ball was bowled at 15:00 after monsoon conditions came down from the hills. Vaughn, and especially Trescothick seemed to forget they were playing in a test match as they rattled up 50 in 25 balls. Trescothick's 50 came off 22 balls and their hundred partnership came in the 11th over.

"The main reason for the explosion of runs was some idiotic captaining by Lara. Setting aggressive fields on a pitch with no seam or swing for the bowlers, and then bowling reasonably straight and mainly full with the occasional bouncer allowed both batsmen to just lean into drives and flick leg glances for boundaries with ease. When 1st slip is trying to chase a well hit straight drive past the bowler three times in one over, there is something wrong.

"England had reached 96 before Lara set his first vaguely sensible field. This curbed the run rate slightly and England reached tea on 105/0 after 12 overs. If they can bat like this in the 1-day series, they will be invincible."

Author's note: I must confess to stopping and re-starting the save games (I always use alternate save positions incase of irrecoverable rain bug etc) about 3 times and replaying from the 4th over of the England innings. I was tweaking the pitch / outfield settings and shot difficulty as I was getting fed up with everything going to the boundary. The first time I tried this, England's hundred came from about 8 overs - a little silly. Even 100 from 11 is dodgy, but has at least meant that there were a few less boundaries!!

 

[FishBowlMan]

Trescothick "goes on the pull" as they say in certain parts of the world!

 

[karan_rvd]

nice screens specially the "pull shot" one