West Indies in England

[MasterBlaster76]

I think Collingwood will make a great captain, he knows how to lead from the front. England made a decent fist of it later on, but the early batting was abysmal.

 

[Will_NA]

Again, Colly gives 150%. You gotta love him.

I'm confused. If Yardy was aiming to the legside, why did he keep giving himself room when the ball was going across him? He never looked like hitting a six. Ah well, at least he stayed there and got some useful runs,but we needed a boundary hitter.

 

[Animator!]

We have Boundary hitters, they just didn't come off.
Prior, Trott, Pietersen, Collingwood. All very capable, but only Colly came off tonight.

 

[Will_NA]

prior did well. he gave us the start we needed. trott was playing across the line a bit and KP went for a run too many...

 

[Chimp132]

if pietersen didnt take the 3rd run, i think england would have won easily, collingwood would have satyed around as he did, and pietersen would have been playing his normal game, they came close to winning today though. the batting in our odis will just improve from now on imo

 

[Will_NA]

Our bowlers were operating at a fair old pace. Anderson at 89mph, Broad bowled a delivery at 88mph and Sideass clocked at 87mph

 

[irottev]

Collingwood batted well, but was lost at sea in the field when placing fielders. The bowling rotations were also poor. I don't think he's played much Twenty/20 but anyway. That side of things wasn't impressive.

West Indies batted great. I agree with the commentators. The pace bowlers were all too predictable. No variations. They were pretty sloppy as well.

Gayle was much better in his first captain role in the series. I think about 4 wickets fell in bowlers first over after a bowling change. Thats getting it right. Plus the fields were good and he stayed cool till the end, even with Collingwood going pretty well.

However, I believe Dwayne Smith should have been MOTM. Best economy, 3 wickets (most wickets), 2 run-outs and a few runs. Lets face it, it's a batsmans game and Smith bowled very well. I'm not saying Collingwood didn't deserve it, Devon Smith and Samuels also were unlucky to miss out.

Was a good game. Good to see West Indies win something this tour. Lets hope for the next game and the ODI series to be as exciting.

 

[Sureshot]

Well, I'm not too fussed on result in this format as to me it's just a bit of fun. But we didn't play that well, in the field I felt Colly was a bit nervous and followed the ball around a bit, some phone calls to Vaughan should help him out. The bowlers were iffy, I wouldn't say any of them were diabolical but I wouldn't say anyone excelled. Yardy was the most economical () and he went for 16 in his last over! We needed more yorkers, hopefully AD can get that into the mindset of our young bowlers. Surprised to see no Monty, I'd get him in for Anderson today. Anderson in 20-20 isn't that impressive, I think we looked at the pitch too much as opposed to the format.

Batting? Well it started off okay, Prior did alright, Didn't see much of Trott and Cook. Colly was excellent and Yardy did alright. We got closer than I thought.

 

[Vcassano]

I retract what I said about preferring Yardy over Panesar (Although not by much). I had forgotten how repulsive a player Yardy is. His batting technique is abysmal and his slow bowling completely wrong for 20/20.

Also nice to see Cook in the runs, playing nice positive cricket : . We need boundary hitters and frankly we don't have them. This is also appropriate in our 50 over team, but particularly here. We aren't playing punishers in this game which is what you need. I mean Rampaul got away with an economy of about 6, which frankly is appalling from an English perspective.

Collingwood's captaincy seemed a little aimless, often the team seemed to be drifting in the field with no clear direction. I saw this when Vaughan replaced Strauss as captain in the tests and now with Collingwood here. Really shows how good a captain Vaughan is. However I do like Collingwood and believe he can be a solid captain, more of a leader by example than inspiration. He lacks the genius and wisdom of Vaughan, something which I believe Pietersen has. That said it was one 20/20 game, so he could rapidly improve...

EDIT: Sureshot is correct: we looked at the pitch too much, although I disagree about Anderson. I really like him, even if he seems to lack a bit of spine, I think he should be good at the death - has a good yorker and slower ball. Much like Mahmood...

 

[Leicester Fox]

woooooooooooooooo go Broady!
England have done well ater that early Gayle attack

 

[Griffo]

How poor did Richards and Simmons look.... well its not easy with Gayle belting everyone but still!

 

[Skater]

All these people criticising Paul Collingwood's captaincy - shame on you! It was his first game as captain, a Twenty20 and a side who have little confidence with the format. Give him time.

England have done a much better job than they did yesterday, but that's something to do with Devon Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul not being out there - Lendl Simmons and Austin Richards have been a little weak in my opinion.

We mustn't let this good work go to waste at the hands of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samules though. As it stands... I think we will win.

 

[evertonfan]

Anderson can field!

A few wickets and we are right back in it.

 

[Griffo]

England are in a good position but they must adjust their batting order accordingly and a HUGE! six from samuels

 

[evertonfan]

I retract my previous statement.