West Indies v England 1st Test - Antigua

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WI win toss and decide to field. Not sure why. This "exploit early life in the pitch" thing is really overplayed. Feel England would have batted had they won the toss. Lot of pressure on Cook now.

Don't see why Nass is puzzled the lbw referral was refused. If BB thought there was an inside edge , the TV zoom in surely didn't prove there wasn't ; so the on field decision must hold , right ? Hence no need to worry about hawkeye...

Strange review decision from the 3rd umpire on Jordan, Looked out, no clear sign of any edge, but was given not out.......

It seemed like bat hitting the pad, that would have led the onfield umpire to think of an edge. There was no clear case for the ball taking an edge. Think that should have been given.
Wouldn't help the DRS case.......

Dreadful from England so far today, this side is definitely still lacking confidence.

Buttler was playing an uncharacteristic innings on the face of some pretty decent bowling from the West Indies, but he couldn't withstand the pressure, edges behind for a 22 ball duck.

This innings folding up quickly ...Buttler never looked happy. Will they get to 400 ? Looks unlikely now...

Good comeback for the WI quicks this morning

400 looking very doubtful now.

West Indies have had their first hour, now Ramdin should bring back his deadly spinners and help Broad and Jordan build a 150+ partnership!.

msp83 wrote:It seemed like bat hitting the pad, that would have led the onfield umpire to think of an edge. There was no clear case for the ball taking an edge. Think that should have been given.
Wouldn't help the DRS case.......

Can't agree there , msp. The referral should only over rule the onfield decision if it is very clearly wrong. In the absence of hot spots and snicko it was not really conclusive that there was no edge ; perhaps Billy thought he heard something ? I don't think you can over rule there ...clearly the TV umpire didn't either ...

The decision may have been wrong. But I think the benefit of the doubt was correctly applied.

Not going to matter much , is it...this innings has just about finished as Broad goes...funny old game this !

Jimmy with the shot of the morning ...on drive for four : why is he at eleven

Think there is a genuine case that broad should bat 11 now

If Roach can't finish things this over, think he should be spelled. The guy is coming back after a long layoff, has had a history of injuries, has bowled well and bowled a lot of overs.......
Has to be Taylor back on.......

Anderson playing a few good shots....... If we look at their respective efforts with the bat of late, Broad can't complain if Anderson is promoted over him.......

Useful little partnership from these two...

Both playing quite sensibly. And finding the boundary regularly. Handy runs.

Its been a good last wicket partnership between Anderson and Jordan. But West Indies haven't bowled badly to give them many free runs.

England closing in on 400, all too familiar story for the West Indies. Anderson to be involved in yet another 100 partnership for the last wicket?

No , indeed . WI have been generally on the money today ....they will need to be careful not to lose it now in frustration ...

Samuels now ? Hmm. Maybe...

msp83 wrote:England closing in on 400, all too familiar story for the West Indies. Anderson to be involved in yet another 100 partnership for the last wicket?

Jinx !

Jimmy follows a Lara-like boundary with a soft out...399 is about par , perhaps ?

In normal course, even 341 was par when the opposition is the West Indies of today.
Any runs from Devin Smith has to be a bonus, just can't understand why a decade long failure in international cricket is persisted with like this!. OK Gayle is away playing the IPL, but isn't there any other option? Brathwaite, Bravo and Chanders are the hopes, and if Samuels gets going, then WI might have a chance. Young Blackwood was impressive in his initial tests....... Looked like he has a good temperament, though the batting technique didn't seem very refined.

Broad putting on his clownish cap so early in the innings!. As always each and every time the ball strikes the pad it has to be out LBW!.

A cricinfo reader was having fun talking about 'lunch watchman'. Smith doing a good job of it, shielding Brathwaite!.
West Indies go to lunch at 5 without loss, all 5 runs coming of Smith's bat.

Another good morning for the West Indies, but it is still a decent score from an England perspective.

I appreciate Anderson and Broad are on their last legs, after being the attack leaders for six years they have effectively gone the full 360 degrees, but please pitch the ball up: be aggressive!

After the expected failure from Devon Smith, all down to Bravo and Brathwaite for the West Indies to build a platform.
They are 25-1 now, nearly 13 overs done with the new ball.

msp83 wrote:In normal course, even 341 was par when the opposition is the West Indies of today.
Any runs from Devin Smith has to be a bonus, just can't understand why a decade long failure in international cricket is persisted with like this!. OK Gayle is away playing the IPL, but isn't there any other option? Brathwaite, Bravo and Chanders are the hopes, and if Samuels gets going, then WI might have a chance. Young Blackwood was impressive in his initial tests....... Looked like he has a good temperament, though the batting technique didn't seem very refined.

The problem is that Devon topped the batting stats in the PCL....

The only other opener to make any runs of significance is Tyrone Theophile, Devon's partner at the Windwards, and Devon outscored him in nearly every match.  I think a case can be made for not rushing Theophile into the Test team, and instead give him a spell in the A team first...I hope the WI selectors follow that course of action.

Johnson Charles is the only other opening batsman to average over 40, so if the selectors are desperate....

Roach with four, and Taylor with three...a good comeback by the WI pacers.

How about the youngster in the squad? Shai Hope? Is he opening material?

Jordan strikes, Bravo goes edging behind, bit of a poor shot.
WI 42-2.

Interesting first over from Tredwell. Samuels throughout the over, showed the intent to attack, and almost perished, stepping out and hitting one back at the bowler with lots of power with the ball carrying, technically constituting a drop though it was nearly impossible to take.

Samuels 27 of only 34. Good approach from him, letting Brathwaite play his game without feeling the pressure. Hope Samuels does not anything stupid, as he tended to do so often in the South Africa series, throwing away starts as effortlessly as he hits his boundaries!.

Good pace from Stokes, but he hasn't hit the consistency in terms of line and length as yet.

A moment of excitement in the last over before tea as the umpires consulted the 3rd umpire on an England appeal for a catch of Samuels of Stokes, but it was a bumb ball and the West Indies go to tea at 84-2. A couple of poor strokes from Smith and Bravo letting the West Indies down.
Brathwaite has taken his time and kept one end safe, Samuels was a lot more adventurous but he has got going and that is what is important for the West Indies. They'll have to start all over again the next session.
For England, Anderson bowled well though there hasn't been much help from the track. Broad has not been at his best, Jordan got the wicket of Bravo but hasn't looked very threatening, Stokes generated decent pace and bowled a few good ones but has given away a few runs. Tredwell v Samuels could be the battle of the next session. Samuels seems intent on taking Tredwell on. Think Tredwell should keep tossing it up, there is every chance that Samuels would get the better of himself and end up doing something silly. But if he gets his way, that West Indies total is going to move rather too quickly for England's comfort.
Think an even session this, hoping for some more good cricket today.......

Broad gets samuels!. Massive wicket for England and Broad. Samuels goes for 33 having looked set to get a lot more, he was looking really good.

Chanderpaul starts with a boundary first ball!. Not the most convincing start though, edged down to thirdman.......

Missed the first couple of sessions. What happened to England in the morning? Poor batting/good bowling/bit of both? Seems that a load of wickets are going down to the new ball.

Lovely bit of bowling just now from Broad to get Samuels. Cuts his fingers across it and just gets it to grip enough to take the edge which just carries through to Buttler.

Chanderpaul nicks one through the slips first up!

Tredwell doing a decent job at keeping things quiet but not looking that threatening. England would like him to chip in with a couple of wickets (Chanderpaul being ideal).

Chanderpaul did not have a good series in South Africa, prompting questions as to whether the decline has set in for a test career that has been 21 years old.

Mike, England batting in the morning wasn't great, but I would say it was more about some pretty good bowling from the 3 West Indies quicks. A collapse of 20-4, and if you add Bell then 20-5 was a bit too much though.

Brathwaite goes now, Tredwell strike goes. Has to be the biggest wicket of them all along with that of Chanders, England all over West Indies. Will they go pass the follow-on target?
Struggling at 99-4.

Holy Poopie. Chanderpaul is still playing! I didn't even realise he still played thought he'd retired years ago.

ShahenshahG wrote:Holy Poopie. Chanderpaul is still playing! I didn't even realise he still played thought he'd retired years ago.

He made his debut when there were still rest days in test matches. Mental

The best part of England test matches are 100% James Anderson playing beautiful cover drives one ball than going to complete poo the next. Thing is he's actually a better bat than Broad now!!

msp83 wrote:Chanderpaul did not have a good series in South Africa, prompting questions as to whether the decline has set in for a test career that has been 21 years old.

Its hard to say since he plays so little international cricket, but hes had a good domestic season and scored bucket loads in recent years against rubbish test sides. If this were a 5 match series youd question his ability to last the course but I think he could be the one West Indian batsman capable of getting them up to competitive totals.

I didn't think that was a very good day for England yesterday. The collapse in the end was something like 6-60. This is against a second-rate side, these lower order collapses and the inability to make large scores are rearing their head again.

The bowling was ok, but lacks variety.

I bet the Aussies can't wait to get to England and tear this side to shreds.

It'll be interesting to see how today's opening session goes. The West Indies have certainly got the better of both morning sessions so far but still trail by some way, particularly due to England's dominance in the remainder of day one.

I was unable to watch much live but have just caught up with the tv highlights of the two days. A few quick comments:

* Fine knocks from Bell and Root but it was Stokes who particularly surprised / impressed me with his batting. Well known that he can hit the ball hard but some of his strokes were far more classical than agricultural. Nice timing too.

* Appreciate West Indies have gone into this Test with only 4 front line bowlers but did Benn and Samuels combined really need to bowl as many as 36 overs on day one? Wasn't that just releasing pressure and gifting too many runs?

* Tredwell as nightwatchman. I note Mike's comment that all Test sides would have done the same but that still doesn't make it right for me. Have to declare again that I'm not a fan of nightwatchmen generally but thought the use here was especially unnecessary and was always likely to contribute to England losing the batting initiative on day two.

* Pleased though by Tredwell's bowling. Doing exactly what I thought and hoped he would. Plenty of guile and few bad balls. Deserved his wicket. When watching the highlights, noticed how breezy it was at times - hadn't heard that mentioned before. Tredders may be able to use that to his further advantage.

* Echoing the theme of msp's comments, the West Indies batsmen have shown they can play shots but most of all in a Test environment need to display application and concentration. That huge problem remains with all of their top 4 first dig getting double figures but no one reaching 40.

Guildford, of the top 4, young Brathwaite has got a fabulous temperament for test cricket. He has the qualities to become a successful test batsman. The one real hope for West Indies in the format in a post-Chanderpaul era. Even here, he was always willing to take his time and he was indeed showing great application until that bad shot that got him.......

The morning is going to be key for the West Indies. They have to get pass the follow-on and should ensure that they won't lose more than a wicket at most. All of the 6 batsman who have batted so far have got to double figures, but it is such a pity that Brathwaite's 39 is the highest so far. Chanderpaul and Blackwood have to correct the trend, and West Indies fortunes will depend on their success-failure.
For England, had Stokes not overstepped, things would have been perfect. Now they have a job to do. By the look of things, 3rd day would be the best to bat of the remaining time in the game, so they should look to bat as much of the day as possible. That would mean they would have a good first innings lead on which they can build further, and then it will be too much for the West Indies to do in the 4th innings. Despite their horrendous collapse yesterday morning, England at present, benifiting from their positive batting on day one.

Pretty decent performance from Tredwell, he has not run through the West Indies batting, but just 22 of his 15 overs, and the big wicket of Brathwaite. Now contrast that with the first day performance of Benn.......

msp83 wrote:Guildford, of the top 4, young Brathwaite has got a fabulous temperament for test cricket. He has the qualities to become a successful test batsman. The one real hope for West Indies in the format in a post-Chanderpaul era. Even here, he was always willing to take his time and he was indeed showing great application until that bad shot that got him.......

Fair enough there, msp. On the highlights you don't tend to get that much of an impression of temperament - I'll look out for him. My basic point (which I think is largely your's as well) remains that their leading batsmen in Test cricket need to be prepared and able to bat all day for, say, 120 rather than be in and out for a run a ball 35.

msp83 wrote:Pretty decent performance from Tredwell, he has not run through the West Indies batting, but just 22 of his 15 overs, and the big wicket of Brathwaite. Now contrast that with the first day performance of Benn.......

Blimey, msp, if people look at your recent posts and my first one today they'll think we are joined at the hip!

Looks like an important first session coming up. If England can break through early they may well be able to remove West Indies fairly cheaply with the new ball ...in which case they'll have plenty of time to push for a win. But if Chanderpaul and Blackwood are able to settle in on this basically good pitch and wear the bowlers down West Indies could get up around parity by the days end - and be right back in the game.

Sound start for the West Indies...not much happening for the bowlers , and Broad and Anderson are quickly rested with a eye to the new ball.
Tredwell with Stokes now ...I like that. Might tempt Blackwood...

Not that he needs much tempting as he launches himself at Stokes

And dropped ! Thought Tredwell had that for a moment...nearly...

Good fifty Blackwood

Had some luck , at Stokes' expense ; but an important innings for West Indies. A good foil for Chanderpaul.