West Indies A vs England
RB: Well we've been away for quite a while now but f**k me have we got some news for you. A truly astonishing match where both teams seemingly set out to lose the game. England rested a number of their stars with Nasser Hussain regaining the captains armband in an attempt to resurrect the **** poor series he is having. England brought in Strauss, Solanki, McGrath, Clarke, Foster, Batty, Hoggard and Jones more a shoe string side than a second string.
Looking at the dismal bowling line up the Windians decided to bat first and gleefully began carting the England bowlers all over the park. Then realising they were pulling away from this dodgy England side Best dollied on up to mid on. When Hoggard clashed his two cymbals together in a dismal attempt to catch the ball, Best unsatisfied that his efforts to get out were going to waste cried "YES!" before setting off at a gentle trot down the pitch. Hoggard only just had the presence of mind to hurl the ball to Batty, who whipped off the bails at the bowlers end and Windies were 90-1.
Batty proved to be the star of the show here, tossing his ball in to the air getting plenty of rip and he may well have spent the night with ice glued to his groin but my was it worth it. Batty finished the day with figures of 9/36. A miracle equal to Devon Malcolm's inexplicable 9 wicket hall against South Africa. Windies A would have scored a lot less than 230 had it not been for the monumental effort of Smith who crashed the England bowlers all over the park on his way to a massive score of 158.