England v West Indies, 2nd Test - Trent Bridge

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England unchanged. Rampaul and Shillingford in for the Windies.

Windies win the toss and will bat. A great toss to win - runs galore today.

windies effetcively 3-6

should wrap it up by lunch tomorrow if samuels and sammy go early.

Tim bresnan is 114-7 at an avg of 16.3

bresnan hasnt lost a test match..

lucky charm

eirebilly wrote:

dyrewolfe wrote:Anyone seen gboycottnut lately? He seems to have mysteriously gone missing.

England are doing well so he cant predict collapses

England may be in a good position right now in this test match, but that is more to do with the awful/terrible batting of the West Indians late in the day and throughout this test series thus far as highlighted by both Michael Vaughan and also by the great Viv Richards in which both feel that the current top 4 players in the West Indian batting lineup just aren't good enough at the moment to deal with the swinging new ball.

As for the issue of predicting batting collapses, I had a bad feeling that England's batting would collapse for not that many runs once Pietersen got dismissed very early during the morning session's play by Rampaul, and it did happen by the end of the morning session.

gboycottnut, thats where you and i differ in views. In the Windies first inning's, Jimmy was bowling superbly and setting the batsmen up. The shots that got the batsmen out were bad, i will give you that but i feel that it was more about the leadup work done by the bowlers to get the batsmen playing those shots. In short, i credit the bowlers with out-thinking the batsmen.

You did predict that yesterday but getting one right out of about 5 or 6 predictions does not make you Nostradamus. You have been predicting England batting collapses at all stages during Englands batting this series.

Billy, we all know Jimmy A is one of the best fast bowlers in the world at the moment. But that doesn't take away from the obvious. Darren Bravo except, none of the top 4 deserve their repeated chances in the West Indies lineup. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have better top 3s. Tamim Iqbal, Hamilton Masakatza, Vusi Sibanda, Tino Mawoyo, are all better than these bunch of no hopers from the West Indies.
By sending in such a 2nd rate side, leaving out their better players, the West Indies Cricket Board is doing a massive disservice to every cricket lover.
Bangladesh, when they last toured England played some sessions pretty well. In fact they did somewhat better than this WI side. Tamim Iqbal in fact scored a ton at HQ, and added another in the next test. Even their young seamers tried to put up a bit of a fight. But those days, everyone were calling for taking away their tet status.
But when the West Indies come up with a decent session among a hell lot of utter crap, that become fighting spirit, toughness, belief, and a truck load of similar absolute rubbish.
Anderson, Broad and Swann are world class bowlers no doubt whatsoever, and England have one of the best if not the best, bowling units in the world, but this West Indies top order just has been terrible, and it is no surprise the English bowlers showed them to be what they are, a joke!.

The West Indies had great sessions here too. Unfortunately, as has been the case for the W.I in recent times, when things go wrong, they go majorly wrong.

eirebilly wrote:gboycottnut, thats where you and i differ in views. In the Windies first inning's, Jimmy was bowling superbly and setting the batsmen up. The shots that got the batsmen out were bad, i will give you that but i feel that it was more about the leadup work done by the bowlers to get the batsmen playing those shots. In short, i credit the bowlers with out-thinking the batsmen.

You did predict that yesterday but getting one right out of about 5 or 6 predictions does not make you Nostradamus. You have been predicting England batting collapses at all stages during Englands batting this series.

Well I predicted an England batting collapse in the first innings of the first test at Lords and it did happen then. I also predicted the same happening in the second innings but it didn't quite happen. So 2 out 3 predictions so far isn't too bad.

Batting collapses happen in the majority of innings, at all levels. Scoring 428 in a first innings of a test match will virtually guarantee a win / draw. I'd be happy to collapse to 428 every time.

DouglasJardinesbox wrote:Batting collapses happen in the majority of innings, at all levels. Scoring 428 in a first innings of a test match will virtually guarantee a win / draw. I'd be happy to collapse to 428 every time.

But England at one stage looked like they were going to make 600 in their first innings at Lords.

Bresnan to open up the day

How does the pitch look? England seem to be starting well.

Jimmy his usual scintillating self, beating Samuels on several occasions already. Often bereft of luck, that man.

Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't have said that, as the Windies move apparently comfortably along. A few balls seem to be going to leg. Looking for swing or a bit off line?

Feel that Jimmy is bound to nip one of these out shortly - he is moving it around nicely this morning.
Nothing evil in the pitch really , which makes yesterday's events rather odd :

Day 1 - 300 odd for 6
Day 2 - 320 odd for 6
Day 3 - 230 for 14 !!!

Now there's a surprising stat!

Having said that , a couple of Broad deliveries kept a bit low there ... Might be tricky on day five...

That is , if Sam & Sam can make another 200 stand to give England a chase

My money is on a finish this afternoon.

Hopefully there's a bit of spin for Swann. Samuels played him very well first innings. Need to break this partnership soon,

Any lead in the region of 150 or more will be a very difficult chase for the English batsmen i feel.

bit of reverse swing for Anderson, gully is looking a good position to be catching in.

Good rescue job being done by these two again.

There is movement out there, these will not be easy conditions for the English batsmen when they get in.
I would give Swann a bowl about now.

Reckon they'll be doing pretty well to get a led of 150 billy...

They have hung in well this morning but enough balls have nearly got through to make me feel a wicket can't be too far away.

Must say Samuels has impressed in this series - will be one plus for West Indies at least from this tour.

Don't kid yourselves. A chase anywhere south of 200 will be meat and drink for this English line-up in their own conditions.

this partnership is frustrating, pitch is lifeless, which exactly why I think anything under 300 will be a pretty easy chase.

I dont know, i think that 150 may prove tricky myself.

These two are good enough to see the Windies to a 150 lead alfie, although i hope that i am wrong.

Well one bonus from this partnership is that the folk who have paid for their seats today will get to see a bit of cricket... Might have felt a bit short changed if the last four wickets had gone down in half an hour and England had been set 25 to win...

Good hour for Sam & Sam ... Both having a good match
And it hasn't been easy , Anderson in particular has looked quite dangerous despite the placid pitch.

Think we might see a bit of Swann now

Uh oh...A shooter. 150 starts to look like a big total.

Wicket - sweet

Bresnan does the trick !

Another lbw and Sammy is on his way ...

Won't be long now

Bresnan strikes, just as we were all lamenting Strauss' decision not to bowl Swann.

The end is nigh.

Some frantic hitting from the Windies coming up now i feel

Incidentally Bresnan now has eight for the match. Ten would be a fair shout for MOM , no?

Would make him hard to drop

Suspect Finn will have to wait a bit longer.

I put bres on MOM anyway- he also had a great partnership with broad and a 39 not out!!

if it wasnt for him with the bat we might not have had a first inning slead

I wonder how long it will be before gboycottnut comes up with the 1991 test against the Windies when England collapsed...

Yep, Bresnan is already shoe in for MOTM.

eirebilly wrote:Yep, Bresnan is already shoe in for MOTM.

Probably , because he has taken wickets on a flat pitch... But there are other fair candidates :

Strauss 141
Sammy a century and a couple of wickets plus a fighting second innings knock.
Samuels a century plus whatever he gets today...and he even took a couple of tail end wickets as well...

I just think that its going to go to a player on the winning team. Strauss will get close but Bresnans efforts changed the complexion of the game and why i feel that he is a shoe in

I will be wrong though

Yes it usually does go to a player on the winning team - sometimes a little unfairly , I think.
I feel a truly outstanding performance in a losing cause should be rewarded.

Imagine if Samuels made another 100 in this innings , but England chased down the 200 odd required without any special individual scores ... Who should get it then?

Poor Jimmy - great bowling there , but only one slip and Samuels survives...Jimmy has bowled far better than four wickets for the match so far...

On the 5th bowler thing England have only conceeded 600 runs in a match once in nearly 3 years now (606 vs Sri lanka) on a flat lords picth last summer....almost all of those games they played 4 bowlers.

The last time they consistently selected a 5 man attack (and collingwood as 6th) was the Aus series in 2009...where they gave away over 600 runs in 3 matches. Aus scored 674 batting second in Cardiff.


5 bowlers is not a magic bullet.

i am happy with the 4 bowler attack- however that 'extra' bat in mogs,bairstow etc hasnt really been providing much anyway!!

Might just need a few runs from the sixth batsman if we are to beat SA...

Why has Swann not bowled a ball this morning?

True Oakey, I can see arguments for picking a specialist batsman (Bairstow/Taylor), picking a batsman bowler(Bopra/Patel/stokes), picking a bowler batsman (Woakes) or even a specialist bowler (Finn)
England are blessed with a very strong batting keeper who can play 6. They also have Broad and Bresnan who are capable of averaging around 30 with the bat long term.
It does give them the option to pick "horses for courses) and use the spare slot to develop players with an eye on retirements. Wheres the next England opener coming from? Thats been a long term concern.

Before this year i was thinking davies may be giving a change at open bat/keeper. but the way prior is continuing its not gonna happen is it.

I would still give Bairstow some time. He has buckets of potential. Its pretty much the only weak link in the England team...

Bresnan going for those lbw - can't blame him , he has got four ... But they are getting a few runs off him to leg when he is too straight.
Reckon I would try Swann in hopes of tempting Roach into an indiscretion now.
This is taking a lot longer than I expected

Fifty for Samuels

roachy gone

Review time ...surely that is stone dead ?

Yes !

Excellent fighting 50 for Samuels

Thats close, must review