West Indies in England 2009

[Howsie]

Pietersen can't be blamed for getting out, that was a jaffa. I hope Edwards can keep this up.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Kevin Pietersen's going to get a king pair. It'll perfectly sum up Dan's username aswell.

 

[evertonfan]

I absolutely love Paul Collingwood. When Flintoff's not in the team he's England's most valuable player.

 

[King Pietersen]

A Yorker First proper yorker of the day, such an under-used delivery in the modern era of Test cricket. If you bowl at Edwards pace, over 90mph, the yorker should be used more. Shoaib Akhtar proved how well it can be used in his career, it's not a matter of bowlers not being good at bowling the delivery either, as with T20 cricket, the yorker's become a key delivery, yet it's not used in Test cricket.

 

[Howsie]

The question I want to ask England fans is do you think Matt Proir would have taken that catch. And imagine if he dropped someone like Gayle, or Chanderpaul. How many runs could that cost you. Is his batting average of 48 worth a drop or two.

 

[evertonfan]

I don't even want Prior in the team full stop. When there's players like Foster around the very fact that Prior is in the team is just a complete fail.

 

[King Pietersen]

Prior would almost certainly have dropped that. He'd have a chance of catching it, but I reckon 8 times out of 10 that'd go down. Prior's extra batting is worth it though with the current balance of the side. If we played someone like Foster in this team, then we'd have to go in with 4 bowlers, which at Lords just isn't enough. With Flintoff's batting form as well, we need a keeper capable of batting 6, as Fred's batting is no longer a certain thing.

 

[evertonfan]

I don't care, Foster is a miles better keeper than Prior and that's what a keeper should be picked on. It's not the keeper and the bowlers' fault if the top order can't get the runs they're supposed too.

 

[Howsie]

Bopara a little bit lucky there, Big Ben should of had him out.

 

[King Pietersen]

You can't realistically depend on 5 batsmen to make 400+ consistently though. You'd need the top 5 to be averaging between 70 and 80 a piece, which is never going to happen. We've only got 1 batsman averaging 50, so expecting them all to average 50+ is not realistic and not good for team balance. James Foster is the best option with the gloves, but he's unlikely to average more than 30 with the bat, so we'd need to drop a bowler to incorporate another batsman for this Test, meaning we'd more than likely not have enough bowling, and then Fred would come in when fit, which just doesn't provide enough batting. Davies would probably be a better all-round option than Foster.

 

[angryangy]

Massively lucky, what was in doubt?

 

[King Pietersen]

109-4. Fidey gets another. Prior in now, further proving the need to have a keeper that can score some runs. We'd have been screwed if it was Flintoff or Foster coming in now. Bopara has to keep going!

 

[Howsie]

England in real trouble now, Prior better make some runs today.

Howsie added 1 Minutes and 24 Seconds later...

Prior in now, further proving the need to have a keeper that can score some runs

He has to make them first.

 

[aussie_ben91]

LOL England are getting owned by MINNOWS... AGAIN

Although England has some pretty minnow-esque players like Broad, Onions and Bresnan.

 

[King Pietersen]

Benn's first ball to Prior read 72.7mph on the speedo, that's ridiculously quick for a spinner. The fastest anyone's been timed at an Ian Pont Fast Bowling Workshop is 71mph :rtfl