To be fair this wasn't a good pitch to judge England's more positive attitude on. It was a grinders pitch and pinchhitters were never going to prosper. Mind you, in this weather, we may not see any decent strips this series.
We'd have lost this game if we'd have had a positive attitude in the first 10-15 overs. Yes we all like to see 70 from the first 10 but that wasn't happening today due to a) the weather and b) the bowling. Give the WIndies credit they did bowl well today, but we bowled better by having 3 good bowlers rather than 1 who did very good. Unsure as to whether Edwards was right MOTM, sure statistically he was but without Shah's 42 I doubt we'd have made 180, I know they fell short of 150 but you'd have thought 180 would've been too low, different attitude, etc.
Ratings. (out of ten)
Cook - 6, did okay and got us off to a decent start, he has a lot to learn to still but he has a good cricket brain and has talent to burn (in a non-Vermuelen way).
Prior - 7, assessed the situation well at the top, maybe needed more attack towards the end of his innings, but not a bad effort. Kept well and did well in the run out of Smith.
Bell - 7, a typical fifty again, slow scoring (quickish at the start though), given the pitch his innings was important to our cause, again like Cook, plenty to learn but plenty to learn with.
KP - 6, frustrated by a lack of boundaries, we know what he is capable of so I don't need to add much else.
Colly - 6, didn't do anything with the bat, but did well in his first ODI as captain.
Shah - 7.5, his innings of 42 from 38 was crucial to getting a target of over 200 and putting enough pressure on the WIndies top order. Looking a part of the team now, very different from the man we saw at the Lords test.
Mascarenhas - 6, not too much with the bat, his fielding was solid and his bowling was decent.
Plunkett - 7, bowled well and got the all important first wicket, first few balls of his second spell were Plunkett reminiscent, but the other 9 and a bit overs were good stuff.
Broad - 8, this lad has talent, held two catches with a good technique, took 3-20, pick of the bowlers. A big summer ahead for him in ODI terms.
Anderson - 8, bowled really well, I was surprised to see him touching 90, excellent bowling though and set the tone with his two wickets in 2 balls. Good throw for the run out.
Panesar - 6, one fluff up in the field, a bit of a howler but with all the other bowlers being capable fielders it's not as noticable as say if we had Harmison and other bowlers who haven't been good fielders. A wicket with a good ball, more flight in his deliveries and slowed his speed down.
Overall I'd say somewhere between 6 and 7 for the whole of the team, no one let us down and with some good bowling from our pacemen and some important knocks we got the job done on a tough pitch and the worst of the conditions. People wanted to see change, it won't happen overnight and I'm glad we didn't attack too much up the top, because with those conditions and the bowlers bowling how they did they'd have been mincemeat, not to mention being criticised by the same people who said they should've attacked (Can't win, eh?)
The next 2 ODIs won't be easy pitches given our weather of late (I'm assuming) so that might hold us in a better position.
My man of the day?
Allan Donald. Not a coincidence that our bowling has improved markedly since he came in, contract talks in place, get him signed on the dotted line!
King Simon, sounds good ey?
