ljkeane Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 The Windies have won it fairly comfortably in the end. Really good effort from Blackwood to do most of the heavy lifting even if he did get out with a bit of a trademark loose shot. Better to do it after having scored 95 already though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosi Mynn Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Congratulations, West Indies Very excellent from Blackwood. England squandered too many chances. Great to see Archer and Anderson bowling in tandem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortstark Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Like many here i thought the Windies had snatched defeat again.. Pleasantly surprised by the fight shown.. We have a good crop of players.. Hopefully they can grow together to be competitive in the top echelon again.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 Great win by the Windies, especially considering they were 3 down (plus an injured batsman) for 30 odd in the chase, with England ascendant at the time. England really missed a few opportunities for the win - that middle passage of play where they spurned at least 3-4 clear wickets (Stokes catch at slip off Bess, Buttler catch down the legside, Crawley not picking the ball up with batsmen stranded for a potential runout, Anderson non-sighter in the gully, Stokes off a no-ball) was the difference. If even one of those had stuck it may have been a very different story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 I was thinking earlier today: this is probably the first time since I started watching cricket in '01 that the West Indies look like genuine competitors in test match cricket. Yes, their batting is still super-fragile and they have never been able to replace the batting greats of previous eras. But the world-beating pace attack, the commitment and application of batsmen 1-8 and the fact that this team has been playing as a cohesive unit under Holder's leadership for a sustained period give me a lot of hope. Certainly a lot more than at the time of flash-in-the-pan wins like Antigua '03 and Headingley '17. But Broad (and probably Woakes) will likely give the Windies a sterner test in the Manchester later this week. Plus England have been notorious slow starters in recent seasons and were missing their best batsman. Let's see what happens! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Watching England lose fills the soul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosi Mynn Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 3 hours ago, The Winged Shadow said: Watching England lose fills the soul Everyone has that team, don't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Just to underscore the point on Jason Holder, he's now up to #2 on the ICC Bowling rankings - the highest rank of any WI bowler since Walsh in the early 2000s. Marvellous effort that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Denly's been dropped for the next test which is no real surprise. To be fair to him he's largely done what he's been asked to do, occupy the crease and see off the newer ball, but with the current opening partnership showing more signs of solidity there's less value in that now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maltaran Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Archer has been dropped for breaching the bio security protocols. I assume this means Broad will play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 2 hours ago, Maltaran said: Archer has been dropped for breaching the bio security protocols. I assume this means Broad will play. They were already resting Anderson and Wood so I'd assume Broad was already going to be in the side. They've decided to stick with the same squad rather than bringing one of Anderson and Wood back in so presumably it'll be Broad, Woakes and Curran. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Oh come on. Absolutely nothing in it for the West Indies bowlers all morning, they roll the dice bring Chase on and he gets a plumb lbw second ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Bit of a strange decision to bowl first, as evidenced by 55 overs and only one wicket falling to seam bowling. England have a chance to make WI pay if they can dig in. Sibley looks good but the others gifted their wickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 I can see why they did opt to bowl first. The bowling unit’s their real strength and the weather forecast’s similar to the previous test with overcast conditions early then better weather for the last few days. Having said that it was a bit of a gamble on a quick turnaround and Gabriel already coming back from injury. They got a bit lucky with the two Chase wickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 56 minutes ago, ljkeane said: I can see why they did opt to bowl first. The bowling unit’s their real strength and the weather forecast’s similar to the previous test with overcast conditions early then better weather for the last few days. Having said that it was a bit of a gamble on a quick turnaround and Gabriel already coming back from injury. They got a bit lucky with the two Chase wickets. Agree that it's always tempting to field when you have a strong attack. But as you say, the extra rest can really help when you have back-to-back tests. And I still think that batting last is a major disadvantage. As Greg Chappell said: “If you win the toss, bat. If you are in doubt, think about it, then bat. If you have very big doubts, consult a colleague, then bat." ETA: Sibley is starting to look like a genuine find. Good FC record and has batted for over 100 minutes in most of his test innings. He has some technical failings but he wouldn't be the first prolific test opener to have some obvious technical weaknesses (thinking Graeme Smith, who had a similar problem of falling across his stumps). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 That was not a great follow up for the West Indies. England in the box seat to boss this test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 4 hours ago, Paxter said: Agree that it's always tempting to field when you have a strong attack. But as you say, the extra rest can really help when you have back-to-back tests. And I still think that batting last is a major disadvantage. As Greg Chappell said: “If you win the toss, bat. If you are in doubt, think about it, then bat. If you have very big doubts, consult a colleague, then bat." I think there are times when bowling first makes sense but it shouldn't be the default and this is one of the times when it didn't seem like the right decision. England did make some early stumbles but seem to have rebuilt their innings and showed a lot of patience, particularly Sibley. Of course, England always have some risk of a sudden batting collapse. The rearrangement of the bowling attack does have the side-effect that England have a ridiculously long batting lineup again with Woakes and Curran at 8 and 9 while Bess can bat a bit as well and even if Broad isn't the batsman he once was he's still good for a number 11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 You’re right - that’s an insanely long batting line-up, even with Buttler batting worse than Denly. Kemar Roach hasn’t taken a wicket yet in this series...I wonder if that gets into your head a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 26 minutes ago, Paxter said: You’re right - that’s an insanely long batting line-up, even with Buttler batting worse than Denly. There might be a decent argument for Chris Woakes coming in ahead of Buttler, not that I expect that to happen. 29 minutes ago, Paxter said: Kemar Roach hasn’t taken a wicket yet in this series...I wonder if that gets into your head a bit. I hadn't realised that. He has bowled fairly consistently from what I've seen so it seems he's a bit unlucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 Roach is, in theory, meant to be the spearhead (or at least most experienced) so it's odd that he hasn't done well so far. I have the feeling that most experienced overseas bowlers enjoy bowling in English conditions. In places with batting pitches (Australia, South Africa) or pitches that sharply deteriorate (the subcontinent, West Indies) it's pretty obvious that the earlier batting conditions are better, and there's a clear advantage for batting first. But it seems that English venues sucker overseas captains into bowling first a bit more than most, because they're generally a bit greener, so there can be something there on the first day, and the overhead conditions have a good chance to be conducive to swing. There's a disparity with decisions. When you bat first, people judge the toss based on the whole match (because they're waiting for what the pitch will do in the fourth innings). When you bowl first, people judge the toss on the first day (because they're assuming you'll run through the opposition, and if it's the wrong decision, it gets worse and worse with time). So inherently batting first seems to be the safer decision from a PR point of view. A few times some Australian captains have bravely decided to bat first on English greentops (Mark Taylor - Third Test at Old Trafford, with Australia trailing 1-0 in the series - here's a great little article about that match). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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