3rd test sunday 15th feb west indies v england

[Beach Hut]

min 26.5 overs remaining

Depends on light as well however I smell victory

 

[vegster]

Depends on light as well however I smell victory

I can almost taste it..... 8 down

 

[Cantona's Flying Dropkick]

322/8 (111.0 ov)

 

[Beach Hut]

353/9 we are on the brink

Come on............

 

[Beach Hut]

Windies very lucky however we should take a lot from this and still feel very confident about winning the series.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Make no mistake, England failed to win this test because they batted too slowly and for too long on the fourth day as I said at the time.

This would never have happened under Fletcher and Vaughan. 500 run lead - that's 82 more than the all-time run chase world record!! 450 and 5 sessions should have been the go what with the rain forecast.

 

[the viscount]

Perfect got the spot on draw which i expected lovely money !!!!!!!!!

 

[keaton]

They were only 80 runs off getting 450. And if add in the 7 overs missed yesterday and 10-15 overs or so they would have had extra, we could have ended up losing if we'd have declared earlier on 450. We had time to bowl them out, Sarwan and Chanderpaul batted brilliantly, the pitch died and only Broad looked like taking wickets and we underbowled him

 

[CHAPPERS]

And Flintoff picked up a knock.

Don't forget Sarwan and Chanderpaul chased down that Australia target set for the world record. I agree with Strauss, there SHOULD have been plenty of time left but he knew Flintoff wasn't 100% (I think he should be rested for the remainder of this series and hope he pulls out of the IPL) and Anderson hadn't picked up any wickets in the first innings, Harmison clearly isn't fit and the pitch wasn't doing a great deal for Swann either. Make the game safe and try to win from there, fair enough. Add the excellent batting of the West Indies tail end and you've just got one of those games that just slipped away.

 

[Seagull over NZ]

They were only 80 runs off getting 450. And if add in the 7 overs missed yesterday and 10-15 overs or so they would have had extra, we could have ended up losing if we'd have declared earlier on 450. We had time to bowl them out, Sarwan and Chanderpaul batted brilliantly, the pitch died and only Broad looked like taking wickets and we underbowled him

Your first bit is masked by the fact that England didn't care about boundaries for about the last two hours, let the ball run for four and had ultra attacking fields. Had there been a risk of losing the game then they could have altered their tactics a bit. Also, if a team senses the chance of a win then often they are likely to make more mistakes so actually giving West Indies a glimmer of hope may have been a good thing. They definitely batted too slowly in that first session of day 4 and should have declared at 450 lead. A great test match though.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

Make no mistake, England failed to win this test because they batted too slowly and for too long on the fourth day as I said at the time.

This would never have happened under Fletcher and Vaughan. 500 run lead - that's 82 more than the all-time run chase world record!! 450 and 5 sessions should have been the go what with the rain forecast.

I wouldn't argue with trying to get a 500 run lead (or not enforcing the follow on), but they could easily have got the required lead before lunch on the 4th day. It was crazy sending in a night watchman who then made progress the following morning slower than it needed to be. the Aussie or the South Africans would have gone out on the morning of day 4 and belted the ball, got their 500 run lead, maybe lost a few wickets but so what, and declared by lunchtime.

The end result would have been WI having to bat for a further hour and almost certainly an England win.

Hopefully Strauss will learn from this.

 

[keaton]

It was a bit oversimplified, butthen you could say we wouldn't have taken as many wickets if we didn't have as many runs to play with. I don't think the decisions were wrong, we just had bad luck and two unfit bowlers

 

[Pavilionaire]

They were only 80 runs off getting 450. And if add in the 7 overs missed yesterday and 10-15 overs or so they would have had extra, we could have ended up losing if we'd have declared earlier on 450. We had time to bowl them out, Sarwan and Chanderpaul batted brilliantly, the pitch died and only Broad looked like taking wickets and we underbowled him

Only 80 runs? That's very nearly a whole session! With their batting line up there was NEVER a chance they would get more than 450, with 400 extremely unlikely.

I find this worrying because we outplayed them completely but ended up with a draw. It seems like we've forgotten how to win test matches, and I don't buy the injuries argument because if we'd have chosen to do so we could have had 5 complete sessions with 4 and a half-fit bowlers.

Tne Windies are not India - sure, when you're facing Tendulkar, Dravid, Dhoni, Sehwag, Gambhir etc you might need 500, but not here.

God we miss Vaughan's captaincy.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Only 80 runs? That's very nearly a whole session! With their batting line up there was NEVER a chance they would get more than 450, with 400 extremely unlikely.

I find this worrying because we outplayed them completely but ended up with a draw. It seems like we've forgotten how to win test matches, and I don't buy the injuries argument because if we'd have chosen to do so we could have had 5 complete sessions with 4 and a half-fit bowlers.

Tne Windies are not India - sure, when you're facing Tendulkar, Dravid, Dhoni, Sehwag, Gambhir etc you might need 500, but not here.

God we miss Vaughan's captaincy.

We still miss Troy Cooley. The bowlers now do not look of the quality of 4 years ago.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I agree about Cooley.

Flintoff is still class, while Anderson and Sidebottom are more suited to English conditions. Harmison does not look like getting a 5-for, and when he was bowling at the death there were simply too many balls the batsman could leave alone - not that clever bowling.

Broad is growing into the 4th seamer / No. 8 role, and Swann looks capable but not particularly dangerous.

 

[keaton]

HOGGARD!
I want Hoggard back
Hoggard!

 

[CHAPPERS]

Broad is growing into the 4th seamer .

I think people are doing Broad a bit of an injustice myself when they say this. He seems the bowler most likely to take big wickets nowadays and actually looked more intimidating that anyone else during that last test match. He'll be the 'go to man' soon.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I don't think he's quite got the pace of a Harmison or a Simon Jones, but his accuracy and confidence are improving all the time, and with his old man advising him his batting can only get better.

We need Simon Jones to come back and Harmison to sort himself out.

 

[keaton]

I don't think he's quite got the pace of a Harmison or a Simon Jones, but his accuracy and confidence are improving all the time, and with his old man advising him his batting can only get better.

We need Simon Jones to come back and Harmison to sort himself out.

And Hoggard!

 

[Uncle Buck]

And Hoggard!

Hoggard is dependant on how he starts the season. He was not overly great for Yorkshire last season, hence not being considered at present.

I suspect Khan will play in one of the 2 final tests, will be interested to see how he does.