West Indies in England 2009

[King Pietersen]

Hopefully England'll win the toss and bat first, although I would like to see Anderson, Broad, Onions and Bresnan having a bowl. Just hope there's abit of something in the pitch for the whole game. Most of the Lord's pitches of late have offered abit of something in the first 2 days, but then flattened out as they've gone on. Hopefully we've got a result pitch today!

LOL. Gayle won the toss but bowled first =/ Is he mental. Does he know that Lords has been a featherbed since 2005?

England XI:

Strauss *
Cook
Bopara
Pietersen
Collingwood
Prior +
Broad
Bresnan
Swann
Anderson
Onions

Windies XI:

Gayle *
Smith
Sarwan
Simmons
Chanderpaul
Nash
Ramdin +
Taylor
Benn
Edwards
Baker

 

[Yorkshire_No1]

Very excited to see Bresnan in the Test arena, really has been bowling his socks off for Yorkshire.

 

[King Pietersen]

Cheers Chris. Great decision to bowl first!

 

[Howsie]

Wicket, Strauss gone.

Lets see what Bopara can do, hopefully he goes early.

 

[King Pietersen]

Straussy gone. Bit of a flash outside off-stump, Taylor's bowled better in this over, certainly been pitching it up more. It's RV KING OF SIXERS time =D

 

[evertonfan]

I didn't follow the IPL at all. Did Bopara do well?

 

[Howsie]

I didn't follow the IPL at all. Did Bopara do well?

He made a eighty odd in one of the games, and a couple of thirty's. I just want to see him fail because he should of been in England the entire time. He is a young player, he isn't Pietersen.

 

[King Pietersen]

Bopara was easily the best English player on show in the IPL, was very consistent, and actually vying for the Leading Run-scorer at 1 stage, played really well. I'm a big Bopara fan, so hopefully he'll make some big runs today, would love to see him score a ton. Cook'll be out just after lunch for between 45 and 60.

 

[Howsie]

I remember when England was in New Zealand last year and in the ODI series Ravi Bopara was involved in a fair few run-outs in one game. What's he like these days between the wickets.

 

[King Pietersen]

Still abit dodgy, but seemingly not as bad as Cook. Cook's running has been abysmal this morning, constant hesitation and ball watching. A run out's the last thing we need with such a weak/short batting line-up, can't afford to lose cheap wickets!

 

[aussie1st]

Sorry Strauss made you captain in FC and the result speaks for itself!

 

[Howsie]

Lets see how big Ben goes here, I always enjoy watching him bowl. He probaly wont get much turn, but in New Zealand he varied his pace really well.

 

[King Pietersen]

This has got to be further proof of the Sky Sports Speedometer being exaggerating bowler speeds, there is no way that Lionel Baker is bowling at 89mph. You can normally tell when a bowler is bowling quick, and Baker certainly doesn't look anywhere near as quick as Edwards or Taylor on the TV, yet they're getting about the same speeds.

 

[Howsie]

This has got to be further proof of the Sky Sports Speedometer being exaggerating bowler speeds, there is no way that Lionel Baker is bowling at 89mph. You can normally tell when a bowler is bowling quick, and Baker certainly doesn't look anywhere near as quick as Edwards or Taylor on the TV, yet they're getting about the same speeds.

I don't know aye, I think he still looks pretty quick. Maybe it's just his action, because I remember Brendon McCullum going on about how quick and slipprey Baker is. He does look like that type of bowler.

 

[aussie1st]

It probably is right just isn't fast like an express bowler (Bond, Ahktar, Tait, Lee) would be. Hilfenhaus has clocked 148km/h and that ball didn't look that quick. Even Siddle clocks these speeds but you don't get that feel you get from the express bowlers.